FLOP!
No more performances
FLOP! it was not. It was Anton Lipovetskys one-man show for Delinquent Theatre and its the sweetest little mini musical this side of Sondheim.
Lipovetsky is a recent Studio 58 grad and has at the ripe old age of 22 already received the 2011 Ovation Award for Outstanding New Work, Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»Mayors Arts Award for Emerging Theatre Artist and the first Lloyd Nicholson Memorial Scholarship.
FLOP! is a semi-autobiographical work going back to the summer when Lipovetskys characteryoung Jimmy Labbe (pronounced la-BAY)was assistant-directing a show in Toronto that was well on its way to becoming a flop. When the director dropped out (a euphemism for going into rehab), Labbe was left holding the bag.
Broke and licking his wounds from the deluge of terrible reviews, Labbe ends up directing an Okotoks, Alberta high school production of Romeo and Juliet.
Lipovetsky does Labbe as well as all the other characters: sweet, shy Sarah whose audition piece brings tears to your eyes; Robbie, a dude with the backward baseball cap and loads of faked attitude; Stephen, a keen, musical-loving geek; and flaky Kimi, who confuses being the Nurse and being a nurse. The performance is seamless with Sarahs headband, Robbies ball cap, Stephens owlish spectacles and Kimis scarf on and off, on and off in rapid succession.
Onstage with Lipovetsky was Mishelle Cuttler, enthusiastically accompanying him on keyboards.
By the time Romeo and Juliet finally opens, Labbeas well as all the student actorshave learned important lessons not only about theatre but, more importantly, about life.
At the top of FLOP!, Lipovetsky articulates what all theatregoers know: when the curtain goes up, its a moment of infinite possibility. Its the rush were always looking for and this young man delivered.
JL
