By Ernest Kearney — On September 19, 1783, the Montgolfier brothers inaugurated the French ballooning craze. Soon, there would be women astride horseback floating over the French countryside and even a duel fought by two antagonists from their separate Montgolfier-style hot air balloons. (The winner shot his foe’s balloon.)
But on a September day, in front of the Palace of Versailles and before a prodigious crowd of onlookers which included King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, the first passengers who “slipped the surly bond of earth and danced the skies” were a rooster, a duck and a sheep.
As presented by La Compagnie de la Basse-Cour Royale (The Royal Farmyard Theatrical Company) Vincent X. Kirsch’s re-telling of the “small step for a rooster” moment comes across like a mish-mash of No Exit, Animal Farm and Night at the Opera
Justin Huen (who also directs) aptly portrays Coq the know-it-all Rooster, Dana Schwartz is delightful as Canard the ostentatious duck and Robert Paterno handles the role of Mouton the sheep with aplomb.
This farmyard trio, through the magic of double casting, is joined by members of the Royal court and peasantry; all of whom share, in common, a self-obsession that, completely, blinds them to the wonder and the significance of the event in which they are all a part of.
All in all, Whim is a delightful little farce that suffers somewhat from a venue that swallows sound thus muddling the rapid-fire text at times; otherwise it is a certified audience pleaser.
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Playing During the Hollywood Fringe Festival 2024
at
ACTORS COMPANY (OTHER SPACE THEATER)
916 N. Formosa Ave
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Saturday June 22 2024, 9:00 PM | 1hr
Saturday June 29 2024, 11:00 PM | 1hr
Sunday June 30 2024, 4:00 PM | 1hr
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For Additional Information Go To www.hollywoodfringe.org
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