Marian: Lost in Fiction
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The vibrant and enthusiastic group from Phoenix Tears Productions takes popular fictional novels and popular songs, and combines them into a musical mash-up of love, singing, literature, pop culture, Disney, Greek mythology and kick lines—yes, there was a kick line at one point.
Marian: Lost in Fiction is a cute show about an assistant librarian named Marian who gets knocked out from an intense thunderstorm and ends up in a dreamland. In this dreamland, all these fictional novel characters are messed up and not in the right places, and the Cheshire Cat, who greets her when she wakes up, says it is up to Marian to fix it.
The musical features many beloved fictional characters including Tinkerbell, Peter Pan, Katniss, Jon Snow, Voldemort, Neville Longbottom, Elizabeth Bennett, Mr. Darcy and Zeus. Marian fights her way through the different novels, all in the while trying to stop Zeus from destroying her and not allowing her to fix the stories.
For anyone who is a lover of books and musicals, this is a show to catch. The cast used the space very well, but the repeated blackouts to move around props and have “scene changes” slowed the show down a bit.
There are moments I chuckled out loud, including the musical’s Voldemort character and Arya Stark singing her death wish list to Disney’s “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?” Many small moments like these are what carried the show and made it extremely pleasant and funny.
Marian, played by Aly Oestreich, had a great voice, and Jacob Gowing’s portrayal of Zeus was nothing short of comical and very entertaining. When the entire cast was together singing a musical number, they sounded great and showed that the singing was great as a collective.
I particularly liked how they featured “Pride & Prejudice,” my favorite novel, and I like the song from the television show SMASH at the end.
This is a feel-good, bubbly show I’d recommend anyone see; it’s a Fringe show that would be good to take kids to for some laughs and smiles.
Read all of Watermark’s coverage of the 2016 Orlando Fringe Theatre Festival here.
