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"Miss Sugarpuss must die", we were warned a fair few fringes ago as the play by the same name packed houses and won the 2010 Centaur award for best English-language theatre. Six years later, Holly Gauthier-Frankel, the "real world" alias of Miss Sugarpuss, is making good on her threat.

Love and Pasties, Miss S. is what Gauthier-Frankel is calling a killing off of her alter-ego, a strange funeral for one of the Fringe's grande dames.

Aside from the many Fringe shows Miss Sugarpuss has starred in over the years, I'll also remember her as a stripping, gore-covered zombie at the 13th Hour and as a bee dress-clad spokesperson for the festival. Miss Sugarpuss has been a Fringe fixture, hero, and cheerleader for so long. As far as burlesquers go, she's always been at the top of my list, so it's with a heavy heart I attended Miss Sugarpuss' final show-as-funeral. Goodbyes are hard, eh?

The show opens with Sugarpuss, luggage in hand, running toward the stage. We learn she's been strolling the streets of Paris, taking odd performance gigs and crashing where she can, often in the beds of men who clearly aren't worthy. We meet Miss Sugarpuss in a recording session, singing jazz and fighting with her collaborator and latest warm bed.

He's none too encouraging, and finally gives her the boot, sending our heroine looking for another place to lay her head that night. Next we find her dressed as a beatnik, strumming out a folk tune in a smoky Parisian boite. She's equally adept and compelling singing in both styles. A series of titles projected on an overhead screen guide us through the ensuing vignettes, evoking a silent French film vibe. Eventually we meet a handsome stranger (Amir Sám Nakhjavani) who seems intent to deliver a letter to Miss S, a letter it seems she's not terribly keen to read.

The handsome stranger story line weaves itself through the vignettes, each section highlighting one of Gauthier-Frankel's numerous talents: music, dance, and the hard-drinking wisecracking clown that Is Miss Sugarpuss. Sure, there's a little stripping, but it happens between vignettes, incidental to the action, with no fanfare, and serving primarily as a costume change.

As someone who knows how to milk the dropping of a bra strap like no one else, the casual nature of her costume changes certainly challenges the expectations of the assembled crowd. Kudos to director Tamara Brown for creating a great flow and for massaging these transitions into tasty in-between moments.

Some transitions feature video footage of Miss Sugarpuss addressing the camera. I'd always rather listen to Gauthier-Frankel speak to us live, and some of the segments feel less necessary than others, but one stands out. Miss S ponders the "should haves" of her career, wondering if she should have been more feminine, more ambitious; an honest glimpse into the internal monologue of an artist looking for the balance making art and hustling for fame and fortune.

Miss Sugarpuss tells us she "love(s) the hustle", but one can infer that perhaps Gauthier-Frankel may tire of it. She also attacks the critiques that come from outside her own mind, comments about her being fat, thin, not as fat as she used to be, etc. Putting one's body out there comes with a host of opinions from everyone who is watching, it's no doubt exhausting.

Eventually we are treated to the main event: an elaborate scarlet costume that we know will come off in signature Sugarpuss style. Sugarpuss employs an economy of movement that marks a master: everything is deliberate, timed, razor-precise. She dances with a musician's ear, choosing the most delicious accents, winding expertly into a bridge, sitting comfortably in the beat, never hurried. Jody Burkholder's lighting design frames her perfectly, creating a separate dreamy world, the light glinting off rhinestones, catching the warm sheen of her satin dress, the tremble of fringes, each flick of an eyelash. She is fierce and fragile, in absolute control of the room. Way to go out with a bang, Miss S.

Growing as an artist sometimes means letting go of what no longer serves, or has been pushed as far as it can go. Still, it can't be easy to say goodbye to such a fabulous creation. The death of Miss Sugarpuss is worth mourning, but I have faith that whatever Holly Gauthier-Frankel does next will be brilliant, too.

Pour one out for Miss Sugarpuss, and make it the expensive stuff, darling.

Catch her final performance, Saturday (That's tonight!!) at Theatre Ste. Catherine located at 264 Sainte-Catherine E. at 20:45!

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Sue Snyder is part of CJLO’s Official Fringe Team covering the sights and sounds from the 2016 St-Ambroise Montreal Fringe Festival.

2hoot Production’s Jon Bennett is no stranger to the international Fringe festival circuit. The five-time Just For Laughs award nominee is a consistent crowd favourite for works that include "Fire in the meth lab" and "Pretending things are a cock." Shows as such are seemingly tailored for the “anything goes” of alternative theatre.

Last year’s critics’ pick, "It’s Rabbit Night!!!", polarised audiences in a Lynchian performance where the rabbit suit adorned comedian ecstatically proclaimed the shows’ title whilst throwing carrots into the crowd. Jon Bennett: AUSSIE RULES (Playing With Men) -- aka AUSSIE RULES, just like last years’ performance, is a show that cannot exist in a vacuum, but is profoundly reliant on audience engagement.

This time around, Bennett’s comical antagonisation of an audience being pelted with carrots for “failing the rabbit meetup”, is replaced with a comical “pre-game” pep talk to “push through” the performance with him, in an open invitation to figure out together what AUSSIE RULES is actually all about.

Playing at this year's Montreal Fringe, this presentation is a comedy show composed of a stream of conscious anecdotes from his childhood onwards, where the profane and the profound weave endlessly. In his recollections, toilet humour and self-deprecating hilarity seamlessly segues into staggeringly sincere moments of introspection on childhood, memory, aspiration, and loss.

The comedy show is framed within an ongoing metaphor of Australia’s notoriously violent national sport, Australian Rules Football. Jon is our coach, we are his players. Don’t know what the shit Aussie rules is, let alone how to play? No worries, before you even manage to find your seat stumbling in the pitch black of Petit Campus, an instructional video opens the show, matter of factly explaining to you that “Yes, you may use one another as springboards, and hit one another indiscriminate of who has the ball”. “I guess this is a story about sport” he tells us.

The First Half begins. A loose narrative unwinds about Bennett’s time (playing with men) as a professional athlete and touring performer candidly revealing formative moments of his youth, evoking laughter with his clumsy power points, and home videos.

The gifted story teller engaged the crowd so skillfully, within moments of the show starting you had the impression that you had known Jon since childhood. I couldn’t shake the disarming feeling of intimacy for the entire duration of the show, particularly the Second Half, where tragedy strikes, crystallising the seemingly unrelated stories told up until that point.

Whether Jon was aware of it or not, as AUSSIE RULES reaches the final whistle, the show inadvertently ends on a highly philosophical tone. Is there a take away message to be taken from Jon’s performance? Our coach himself isn’t too sure, this is left entirely us (his players). In the short hour running time, Bennett prompts us to on our own aspirations through his relatable hilarious stores.  His comedy show not only demonstrating that humour is found in the everyday, but shows insight into how we conceive of past, future and present.

In the numbing wake of the Orlando tragedy, perhaps this is all that is needed. An opportunity to take stock of our lives, of our experiences, our memories, loved ones and partake in a joyous celebration of the present moment in a room full of strangers at a fringe show.

Jon Bennett’s AUSSIE RULES has a lasting effect on spectators. A show that decisively and unashamedly recognises that it’s not about the destination, whether in life, in a football match or in the performance itself, but the journey and always the present moment.

Jon Bennett: AUSSIE RULES (Playing With Men) is brought to you by 2HOOTS Productions, and continues to play at the Petit Campus, located at 57 Prince-Arthur E., at the following times:

- Saturday, June 18 from 20:30

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Danilo Bulatovic is part of CJLO’s Official Fringe Team covering the sights and sounds from the 2016 St-Ambroise Montreal Fringe Festival. He also hosts Computer Sourire every Tuesday afternoon from 4pm – 5pm, only on 1690AM in Montreal and online at CJLO.com. Follow his Mixcloud for more of his amazing curations.

CJLOXSUONI

REVIEW: CJLO - 1690AM, CHOQ.ca, No Exist, Suoni Per Il Popolo, and CKUT 90.3FM present: Lust For Youth / Dernier Sex / Xarah Dion / The Marquis - Saturday, June 11, 2016 @ La Sala Rossa

From the shimmering synths and slick production on Lust for Youth’s latest release “Compassion”, the band’s trajectory over the past 5 years represents an unassuming sonic evolution. What started as the lo-fi darkwave solo project of Hannes Norrvide, gradually morphed in to 3 piece pop band, through an organic process of collaboration.

There is a similar sense of aesthetic unity and songcraft that ties together Lust for Youth with colleagues of Copenhagen’s experimental underground (Lower, Iceage, Croatian Amor, Puce Mary). 2013’s full length “Perfect View” balanced the obtuse lo-fi minimalism of previous record (Growing Seeds) with warmer, lusher instrumentation. The 4/4 beats on title track “Perfect view’ and the funky break on “Another Day” appear as early indications of the dance oriented trajectory the band would be leaning in. In 2014, Norrvide was joined by longtime collaborator Loke Rahbek, and Malthe Fisher, producer and guitar player for the release of “International”. Consequently the record marked a turning point in the evolution of the band’s sound. The intimate, reverb drenched, lo-fi abstraction of Norrvide’s solo work was channeled into concise song structures, crystal clear production, and synth driven melodies.

This year’s release “Compassion” is a further elaboration of the glimmering synth, dance floor ready direction established 2 years before on singles “New Boys” and “Illume”. Despite this change that has been described by major music publications as a rough stone polished to a crystal, the tracks retain the same emotional textures and themes that are idiosyncratic to Norrvide’s previous releases. The synth hooks and vocals buried under grainy production are unearthed and placed to the forefront.

Montrealers were treated to a great set at last Saturday’s Suoni performance at La Sala Rosa, showcasing the bands early work, alongside newer hits “Better Looking Brother”, and dancefloor favourite “Illume”. For many this was the first time hearing the early discography tracks such as Growing Seeds’ “Behind Curtains”, as a three piece band. Synth player Rahbek with a posh isolation scarf hanging from his shoulders occupied the right of the stage. Phantom-wielding Fischer on the other side, the two framing Norrvide’s nonchalant dance moves. The crowd bobbed effortlessly in the dark venue under austere red lights, made less menacing by Norrvide’s swaying, showcasing the buoyancy and danceability of their earlier songs.

Lust for Youth’s prolific activity, and seamless sonic evolution over the past five years is a testament to a creative process that embraces happenstance collaboration, “letting inspiration hit” rather than working according to a plan. Norvidde explains “We don’t write before, we write while we record”. Lust for Youth is an ever-changing project, whose musical trajectory is remains as unpredictable as the band’s unassuming beginnings.

Whether it’s through their consistent records, sincerity of their performanes, or their disarming and always entertaining twitter feed, it is clear to fans that Lust For Youth is the project of artists who simply “enjoy making music”. This unwritten contract between spectator and performer is particular to Lust for Youth performances. The most diehard fans of Norrvide’s earlier work, goths, punks and new-wavers alike, dared to dance into the early hours of the morning, that unusually cool summer night.

I need to start this review off by being honest about myself in a few ways. The last thing I want to be as a journalist is biased but that's not always possible, so let's put a few cards on the table:

1. I love super hero anything and everything. I don't care how well or poorly it's been done, I'll love it because it's super heroes.

2. I generally dislike musical theatre, especially if it takes itself too seriously.

3. I'm friends with Trevor Barrette, the creator and director of Captain Aurora II: A Superhero Musical Sequel. This may sound like an inexcusable conflict of interests in writing a review about his show, but in my defence, we only became friends after I saw two of his musicals (To Be and Captain Aurora I). In fact, we're friends because I loved both of those musicals so much that I wanted someone so talented and brilliant in my life.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's get started. Captain Aurora II is a brilliant adaptation of an old school style comic book into a piece of musical theatre. It doesn't lose anything in the change of mediums, but it gains everything. All of the heroes, the villains, the universe and everything, including the music, was born from the brilliant mind of Barrette. Let's break it down.

The Music

All original music, and also all live. At the back of the stage sat a trio with a piano, violin and cello. Those three ladies were on point the whole night! Their beautiful playing complimented the show, supporting the singers and always present, but never drowning out any of the plot. To be honest, I kind of forgot the music was live at some point, not because of all of the action was hiding the musicians, but because they were so together that they could have easily been canned. It was awesome.

Every single actor on stage had a beautiful, incredible and powerful voice. I lost count of how many times I got chills throughout the whole show, but it happened during nearly every number, with both the company singing as a whole and with solos and duets. The cast was quite large, so I'm afraid I won't be able to go in depth into how much I loved and appreciated each individual singer, but there are a few things worth mentioning:

1. The company's intonation was incredible. Their unisons were in tune and their harmonies were beautiful.

2. The composition and arrangement was wonderful. There were clear musical themes associated with different characters which carried over from Captain Aurora 1. These themes were elegant in their simplicity. Even though it'd been a year since last seeing or hearing any of this, the themes were memorable. It made the universe we were in that much more immersive.

3. The character's singing expressed who they were in interesting ways. For example, Talos, a cyborg, sang predominantly in staccato, the most robot-like articulation.

4. I'm a sucker for counterpoint, especially if it's executed this well. Listen for it in The New SkyGuard.

I could go on for ages, but we should probably move on.

The Rest Of It

The choreography was awesome. The fight scenes were well planned and well done, and the representation of the SkyGuard's powers were very well thought out (I could go on about that alone for ages but no ones likes spoilers). The creative use of lights in the costumes showed when a superhero was using their power, and the same lights used in the sets made the divide between different places clear. The use of movable set pieces lent an interesting element to fight scenes and otherwise added a delightful visual aesthetic to the show. The costumes were creative and uncomplicated, with everything being simple, colourful additions to plain black. This made costumes changes easy and seamless but also made it obvious who was who on stage. It was very easy to follow.

Lastly, Captain Aurora II is a stand alone piece of theatre with an intriguing cliff hanger at the end. You didn't have to see the first one to enjoy this one, but they also fit together seamlessly. I am a difficult person to impress with musical theatre, but Barrette has been three for three so far. I'll end this off with an open letter to the man himself.

Dear Trevor,

Please don't stop making Captain Aurora musicals. We all want more.

Love,

Erica & co.

They're at La Chapelle for the rest of the weekend. Hopefully there are still some tickets left. See you there!

Captain Aurora II: A Superhero Musical Sequel plays at La Chapelle, located at 3700 St. Dominique, at the following times:

- Saturday, June 18 from 22:00
- Sunday, June 19 from 12:00

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Erica Bridgeman is part of CJLO's Official Fringe Team covering the sights and sounds from the 2016 St-Ambroise Montreal Fringe Festival. She also hosts The F Hole every Monday afternoon from Noon – 2pm ET, only on 1690AM in Montreal and online at CJLO.com.