Charlie is Having a Baby
Directed by Omar Reid
St. Vladimir’s Theatre
Sat. July 4 @ 5:45pm
Sun. July 5 @ 1:45pm
Tue. July 7 @ 3:15pm
Wed. July 8 @ 9:45pm
Fri. July 10 @ 8:00pm
Sat. July 11 @ Noon
Tickets are $10 at the door
Reviewed by Daina Valiulis
Oy — that’s all I can say.
Charlie and Toula are female roommates who have no money despite the fact that Charlie works. Her Nana (who has cancer) is coming to visit and her dying wish is that Charlie be married with babies, so the roomies pretend to be married — Toula in drag as a man and Charlie wearing a fake pregnancy prosthetic.
This production is a mess from beginning to end. Not only was the script poorly written, punctuated by “ums” and “ahs” combined with giant pauses in between lines, it was also dismally executed by all involved — so amateur that it seemed like the actors were taken off the street that afternoon, thrust on stage, and told to improvise.
Things would happen that made no sense — Nana (a man in drag), for example, who is supposed to be dying of cancer, jaunts on stage like a spring chicken and tries too hard to be funny. Also, for no reason at all, it was suddenly revealed late in the script that Charlie actually had been married before, but none of her family knew was because her husband had told her not to tell anyone. Oy. It made no sense! What also made no sense were the arbitrary lighting changes that would occur (late) when a character would enter a scene. It was never clear what time of day it was or how much time had passed since the beginning of the story, and very often when a new scene was presented, stage hands could be seen racing off the scene as the lights came up — one time even throwing a forgotten prop on stage once a scene had begun!
This production had me squirming in my seat. The theatre was freezing, the script and acting were amateur at best, and the production values were laughable. As in the script, Charlie’s attempts at illusion fail. Big time. Oy…
I was present at the first performance for Charlie’s having a baby and this was my first Fringe show and I was not disappointed. I think for their first show they pulled it off well and it was a $10 well spent, good luck on the rest of your show guys!
I’m glad you enjoyed the show! And I hope you see many more this being your first Fringe show. The great thing about Fringe is that there is so much to choose from – there is something for everyone.