Review: (Montreal) Once Upon a Disco Ball (Fringe)

Unenchanted Evening
Sarah Deshaies
@sarahdeshaies

Disco queen Sarah needs help, and a Fairy Godmother is there to help her walk through her pain and personal demons in Once Upon a Disco Ball,  a Christmas Carol-esque adventure. The Fairy Godmother ferries Sarah (Shannon Topinka) through different bodies and experiences: a prostitute, a doctor prescribing special help, a bitter old lady.

At each chapter, the Godmother has Sarah find a particular object that will beam her into another person’s life. (As the title suggests, the faceless fairy mentor lives in/emanates from a disco ball.) Sarah takes on each character, experiencing their anguish and troubles. Sometimes, she helps to right the wrongs done or made by them. But will all this help a hard-partying disco child?

Unfortunately, despite the premise, Once Upon a Disco Ball is not particularly enchanting. Topinka’s first one-woman foray into the Fringe was weighed down by endlessly rhyming lines that made this show feel more like a misplaced children’s tale than a series of tales of woe. 

Once Upon a Disco Ball is at the Montreal Fringe