Britney Spears and K-Fed a “trailer trash Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald?”
Britney Spears and Kevin Federline compared to Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy?
Read this theater review from the New York Post: FRINGE DARTS TARGET TART, By FRANK SCHECK. 3 stars.
It hardly comes as a surprise that Britney Spears is a character in not one but two of the offerings in this year’s Fringe Festival (and that’s just over the first weekend). While she’s merely a supporting character – a ghost, actually – in the cheekily titled “Perez Hilton Saves the Universe (or at Least the Greater Los Angeles Area): The Musical!” she’s the title subject of the “Behind the Music”-style musical fable, “Becoming Britney.”
“Perez Hilton” depicts the adventures of the notorious showbiz blogger as he attempts to find love, keep his site constantly updated and battle bomb-wielding Islamic terrorists – all in one day. Written by Timothy Michael Drucker and Randy Blair (the latter also plays the title role of the pink-wigged gossiper), it certainly doesn’t suffer from any lack of audacity.
From its opening number – wherein a dreaming Perez whips a half-naked Zac Efron – to its depiction of Kathy Griffin (the hilarious Laura Jordan) as a crazed villainess, to its wicked lampoons of such notorious celebs as Amy Winehouse and R. Kelly, the show is raucous, satirical fun. While its shelf life may not be much longer than a typical item on Hilton’s blog, it fits in perfectly with the Fringe’s camp aesthetic.
In “Becoming Britney,” the oft-troubled pop star finds herself at “Promises, Promises,” a rehab center that caters to “the exceptionally beautiful and the moderately talented,” and relates the story of her checkered life to her therapist and fellow patients via such songs as “Millionaire Whore,” “Cross That Line” and “Push It Out.” (That last number, about giving birth, features this immortal refrain: “I feel like I gotta poo!”)
Molly Bell and Daya Curley’s book and lyrics lack the wit to lift the material above the obvious, but there are several fun moments, such as when Britney, amusingly played by Bell, warbles with husband K-Fed (Keith Pinto) like a trailer-trash Nelson Eddy and Jeanette McDonald. And the several suitably lip-synched music video-style numbers all too accurately approximate their inspirations.
