I saw My Boyfriend’s Girlfriend this weekend at the Fringe Festival in Edmonton. I wasn’t really sure what to expect going in, but I’m so glad I attended. I feel like this show is groundbreaking in it’s content and the cast delivered a really beautiful and genuine performance.
At the time of this posting there are 4 more showings (Aug 15 at 10pm, Aug 17 at 12pm, Aug 19 at 2pm and Aug 20 at 8pm) so there is still plenty of time to get in there. I saw the opening night performance and while you could tell there were some nerves rolling around on stage, it was lovely to see the actors hit their stride and fully sink into the experience
The story hits both hilarious and deeply poignant moments, navigating through love, relationships, sense of self and personal identity in a way that is very easy to understand and relate to. The character evolution was flawless and the songs were epic. My personal favourite was “I Believe in Shades of Grey” about realizing that the opposites and limitations we learn about growing up don’t necessarily apply anymore, especially when you’re learning who you are. Other gems in my top list are “Liar”, “Stop Messaging Me”, “The Coming Out Song” and “Leave a Message Anyway”. They’re all lovingly written and performed, but those are my tops from the show if I have to pick some. There’s so much emotion in this story and it was really touching to watch. It was so interesting to view and there was a nice sense of connection with the struggles the character were going through. There was an understanding that I might have trouble grasping based on my own life experience and I always love when media is used to broaden perceptions.
In “The Coming Out Song”, I had this moment of realization. Obviously I was aware that people of the LGBT community come out, but it didn’t quite click in my brain that it would happen more than once. It’s a process and some people come out dozens of times to different people. It would be exhausting and probably scary, because you never really know how people are going to react, you just sort of have to pluck up the courage and hope for the best. They can’t just not say something, not correct people when they’re called something that’s not who they are. Some might not think it’s a big deal, but the explanation of it within the play really helped me understand the difficulty of having to constantly remind the world of who you are. People shouldn’t have to go through the exhaustion of convincing others of something they know is true every day. It hammers home the importance of being kind and conscientious to people. You may never know what others are going through, which is why I stress the kindness part. I just want to say a very big thank you to everyone involved in the play for widening eyes I thought were already pretty open.
Émanuelle, Mandi and Oliver did an excellent job. They and their crew put together an unforgettable performance. So proud of all of you!
As posted before, here is the description of the musical:
Sage isn’t sure about her boyfriend. Decker isn’t sure about monogamy. Tricia isn’t sure about their gender. One thing they are all sure of is each other. A musical comedy about video games, polyamory, transition, and friendship. …It’s about queer people and it has a happy ending?! Whaaat?! XD
Tickets can be purchased here: https://tickets.fringetheatre.ca/
If you’d like to preview some of the music from the show, check out Must Be Tuesday on iTunes. The album Cover Me I’m Going In contains several pieces from the musical (tracks 1, 7, 10, 11 and 12)
Go Fringe it up, support local and international artists sharing their craft out there.
Thanks for stopping by!
-Erin