I’m not going to beat around the bush; Crossroads is among the best Fringe shows I’ve seen this summer. The show itself is accurately represented in its title. Crossroads is the meeting of two cultures, a combination of the stylings of Jingju, or Beijing opera, and the Western language of English.
What I didn’t realize was that Jingju involved such sublime physical comedy and slapstick. Crossroads opens with a solid act of clowning by Mireck Metelski and Avi Bendahan as two clueless guards and the legendary Robert Montcalm as a general accused of treason. Everyone delivers impressive performances – everything is controlled, right down to the smallest facial movements. Shijia Jiang is especially charming as the beautiful but deadly inkeeper’s wife.
It’s worth seeing for the exhillerating fight sequences, which were so well choreographed and executed that I was sitting on the edge of my seat the whole time. Occassionally, the soundtrack and movements don’t synch up, but it’s hardly noticeable when every other aspect of Crossroads is perfect. Beautiful makeup, gorgeous costumes and an enthralling show.
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I believe Chris Hicks plays the falsely accused General Jiao Zan.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure that this review could be considered unbiased when an actor is called "legendary" despite being so new to the theatre scene.
ReplyDeleteum we can see legends in the making, and here is an whole cast of them!
ReplyDeletePlease don't think that I'm coming down on the cast—I certainly am not. However, when the only "press" review I can find for this Fringe show contains such language, I get really suspicious. This show was really quite good but nothing about it at all made me think that any of them are "legends in the making"—that's awfully high praise.
ReplyDeleteCharpo deserves better reviews.