With a title like Johnny LegDick: A Rock Opera this show gives you a pretty clear sense of what you’re walking into right off the bat. A musical about a group of travelling circus show freaks who break free of their oppressive owner (who happens to be named “sucka-da-cocka”), is without a doubt silly to its very core. But just like a good Meat Loaf song, every now and then who doesn’t want an epic power ballad in their life?
For a festival full of minimalist stages it’s a treat to see a Fringe show full of elaborate props, costumes, and a live band. The songs of course are meant to make you laugh more than make you think (unless of course, you really do want to ponder how a man pees when “he has a leg where his dick ‘suppose to be…”).
The funniest part of all is that everyone in the show is quite the talented singer. And somehow that brings a gravitas to songs about bananas, horse men with no pants and homo island. The lead of the show especially (whose real name I can’t seem to find anywhere online!) will blow you away with his voice. I sincerely hope that actor goes on to star in many other musical productions in the future.
Dick jokes aside, this is a solid show that is more than worth the price of admission. It would be great to see the play get some funding so they could go even further down the rabbit hole; expand the show into a two-hour odyssey of outcasts falling in love and standing up to the man. In many other cases of Fringe shows the standard hour length production is more than enough, but in this case I was definitely left wanting more.
After you’ve seen the show, make sure you like Playwright Hero Productions’ Facebook page and then you too can get all those insane songs suck in your head for a week.)
Johnny LegDick: A Rock Opera plays at Theater Sainte Catherine until Sunday as part of the Montreal Fringe Festival
