The age old adage ‘The show must go on’ is personified by Wings 2 Fly Theatre’s production of Once Upon A Crime by Flip Kobler & Cindy Morcus. Covid stopped their first proposed season and then the new production date suffered from two performers being unavailable and a shuffle of some of the original characters. Despite these set backs the Director Alicia Zorkovic managed to bring a show to the Holden Street Theatre that did the company proud. The story is a mish mash of fairy tales told throughout the play by the actors on stage telling various alternatives to the actual fairy tales.
The cast of young people aged 10+were very well versed despite the problems and limited rehearsals. The diction was quite remarkable for such a young troupe and their timing was excellent with entrances from off stage among the audience not interfering with continuity. It is difficult to pick out individual performers as all played their roles with apparent ease. Suffice to say the tone was set early with the strong clear voice of Charlotte Crago as Goldilocks and all the cast followed suit.
The costumes designed by Emma Campbell were a standout, easily identifying who the fairy tale characters were. The simple set by Kate Prescott and the props were set up to allow the performers to make use of them such as the clever presentation of the three cereal bowls and the layout of the furniture in the cottage. The light and sound design by Ellen Demaagd complimented the actors’ performance.
It is a shame that the amount of work and dedication that goes into putting a show together like this particularly for young people is limited to a very short season. One thing that is obvious is the future of theatre is assured with the efforts of Wings 2 Fly to bring young people to the stage and perform as we saw them today.
