The Barbeque King
Green Pea Theatre Group
Music by Steve Thomas
Lyrics/Book by Mark Brownell
Directed by Sue Miner
Featuring: Hannah Miller, Dave Fraser, Stephen Reich, Mark Brownell,
and Deann DeGruijter
Costumes by Nina Okens
Stage Management by Sandy "Smee" Plunkett
Honorary Patron: "License To Grill" Celebrity Chef Robert Rainford!
In this new musical thrilla-by-the-grilla a stressed out cottager battles his nemesis in a winner-take-all cooking competition. The victor will be crowned Barbecue King. The loser will fry up a bitter harvest of despair and regret.
Chosen NOW Magazine’s Best of the Fringe:
OUTSTANDING NEW PLAY
OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION
OUTSTANDING ENSEMBLE
OUTSTANDING DIRECTION
Robert Crew - TORONTO STAR, July 3, 2008
The Barbecue King
By Steve Thomas & Mark Brownell
RECOMMENDED
Heck, even playwrights and directors deserve a summer break, and the Pea Green Theatre (and life) team of playwright Mark Brownell and director Sue Miner is no exception.
Pea Green typically offers rather substantial fare. But in The Barbecue King, Brownell teams up with Steve Thomas to dish up a lighthearted, enjoyably frivolous, musical take on that great Canadian tradition: the cottage holiday.
We're on Lake Muskagogue and Bo (David Fraser), wife Barb (Deann deGruijter) and teenage daughter Macey (Hannah Miller) have arrived for their annual two-week break. Bo is set to defend his crown as reigning barbecue king when a slick new neighbour, Roger (Stephen Reich), arrives to stake his claim to the title and to Bo's wife.
Tensions erupt. Not only does Barb find Roger's saucy advances much to her liking, even Bo's best friend Jerry (Brownell) is flipping sides. Outgrilled, Bo turns to his rebellious daughter for her support.
Nothing remotely serious here, just some pleasantly silly songs to keep things rolling merilly along. "Potato Mabel," is a fun shopping list to music while in "Coming Out Mambo," Macey reveals her deep, dark secret: she is a [SPOILER!].
The actors are also in holiday mood with Fraser's enthusiastic Bo and Reich's villianous Roger among the highlights. Miner's direction is delightfully witty and Miller is a terrific discovery, a recent George Brown graduate with a lovely voice and arresting stage presence.
Both she and The Barbecue King, it turns out, are worth watching.
NOW Magazine Review
The Barbecue King
Play by: Mark Brownell and Steve Thomas
Presented by: Pea Green Theatre
Rating: NNNN
Reviewed by: Jon Kaplan
Steve Thomas and Mark Brownell's summer-cottage musical about a duel to the death for the BBQ crown features a fine cast, smart direction by Sue Miner, varied musical styles and some of the cleverest lyrics at the Fringe. A sure bet.
NOW Preview - 20 Reasons to Fringe
15. PEA GREEN
To catch Fringe history in action, look no further than Pea Green Theatre. Director Sue Miner and playwright Mark Brownell have been part of the fest since it began in 1989, when they staged Brownell’s High Sticking, about religion, art, sexuality and, of course, hockey.
There’s always a note of seriousness beneath the company’s playful scripts, which have covered everything from what it’s like to be in the police force to the last days of a small Toronto theatre company. Pea Green’s last production, Dave Carley’s Conservatives In Love, skewered political positions both left and the right, and there’s sure to be more fun in this year’s offering, The Barbecue King, a musical (with tunes by Steve Thomas) in which two cottagers battle it out in a winner-take-all cooking competition. Hamburgers, anyone?
The Barbecue King runs to July 13 at the Miles Nadal JCC.
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