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Toronto Fringe Festival: Everyone Loves Sealand

Marine park musical makes waves at the Toronto Fringe Festival

By Lauren Gillett • July 6, 2015

Presented by EXFH Productions
Book and lyrics by Marshall Lorenzo
Composer: Paul Crocker
Directed by Shari Hollett

Everyone Loves Sealand has created quite a splash at the Toronto Fringe Festival this year. The show was forced to change its original name when a certain popular Canadian marine park issued a cease-and-desist letter. Sadly, after all of the media attention, this disco musical parody directed by Fringe regular Shari Hollett falls way short of expectations.

Set in Buffalo at a fledgling marine park, Sealand follows Nathaniel (Kristopher Brown), a fame hungry "actor" who gets more than he bargained for when he agrees to work for Sloane (Maren Sigson), Sealand's greedy PR executive. As he gets to know the other staff—including activist Krystal (Gillian Bartolucci), resident mean girls The Dolphonics: Dorla, Candy and Sandy (Chealsea Larkin, Laura Tremblay and Shakura Dickson), Sloane's henchman, the flamboyant Dick (Nicky Nasrallah) and his brother Bart (Marshall Lorenzo), and a mysterious woman with a popcorn stand—Nathaniel discovers trouble beneath the surface of the family-friendly venue.

Although Sealand contains a few funny one-liners and some enthusiastic performances, the production as a whole is an aquatic disaster. Musical numbers flounder, notes are sung off-key, meanwhile, the lyrics and dialogue are often inaudible due to projection issues. Oddly, the audience had no trouble hearing voices whispering behind the curtain throughout the performance, which added to the disorganized feel of the show. Sealand does succeed in keeping the audience captive, if only because it is so in need of rescuing itself.

Everyone Loves Sealand runs until July 12 at the Toronto Fringe Festival. Visit fringetoronto.com for more information and to buy tickets.

Show Dates:

Fri, 2015-07-03 - Sun, 2015-07-12

Our rating: