Fight Song!

What I liked

Fight Song! beautifully marries larger than life/philosophical concepts with the mundane. I love that. The writing of this production is nothing short of genius. The direction is very strong, and is evident in every aspect of the production. The actors were beyond excellent. Each character had their own distinct personality, and the performers embodied them so well. A few standout performances: Samuel Camp as Lucifer was charming, strange, frightening, and powerful. Fiona Casper-Strauss as Jean delivers a crazy performance, but really embodies the complexity of the “mean girl”. The mean girl is scary, but as the show goes on we see her vulnerability and that she has clearly gone through something terrible. And Olivia McKown as Mary: soft, pleasant, kind, and pure. Her role is small, but it balances out the madness and we feel for her throughout the show.

I’m impressed by the lighting and sound design that the Fight Song! team accomplished in this smaller space. The costumes and the makeup were appropriate and created a lovely and fitting atmosphere. The blood was great.

What I didn't like

I loved the show. If anything I think this show needs a larger space- while the designers did an excellent job, this story belongs on a bigger stage. It’s actually amazing that they were able to successfully capture the purgatory feeling in such a small venue. There was a bit of yelling which is not ideal for this small space, but the yelling is truthful and seems necessary for the nature of the story.

My overall impression

Incredible. Out of the countless shows I have seen at the Fringe over the years, I have never experienced something that affected me or captured my attention quite like this. Right from the beginning, Fight Song! drew me in. So intriguing. What will a person think when they realize that they may have just died? Furthermore, as someone who grew up in the sixties, I am so moved by specificity of the writing. It was very accurate, and I find it brilliant that the playwright chose this time period for this story. It provides a very thought provoking parallel between the wild and chaotic world of the sixties and what we’re dealing with today in the US.

Put it this way: when a play ends, and it feels like it had only just begun… the play is a success.