Crapp’s River is a musical parody of the popular Canadian sitcom Schitt’s Creek, lasting an hour. It is being performed on the Blether stage in the Gilded Balloon, Patter House venue.
It follows the Peony family of four – Moira (Grace Peknic) and Johnny (Sean Ryan), and their children Alexis (Nora Delehanty) and David (David Irizarry) – in their life in the rural town Johnny bought as a birthday present for his son. With the town preparing itself for the Bicentennial Parade, the family dissolve into a fight over who will win the title of Grand Marshal. The four core cast members are joined by Grace Anderson, Macie Cox and Andrew Sisti in various roles such as Stevie, Roland and Jocelyn.
Crapp’s River contains a number of songs, all of which are performed well – the cast of seven all have impressive and powerful voices, and the choreography is a lot of fun. Delehanty gave a particularly fantastic rendition of “A Little Bit Alexis”, performed with much enthusiasm and charm. The opening and closing numbers are two of the original songs in the show and are well written and thoroughly enjoyable.
Peknic and Ryan share fantastic onstage chemistry in their roles as husband and wife, and every scene with them was incredibly funny. Anderson (in their role as Stevie) was also a stand-out in the show, with their awkward onstage persona and interactions with Irizarry sure to amuse any audience.
Initially, it may take some watchers a little while to settle into the particular brand of humour utilised in the show – with the numerous fourth wall breaks and several absurd plot twists. Despite this, Crapp’s River is overall an enjoyable production and is sure to resonate with fans of the original show. Its constant stream of jokes and references will entertain any audience and keep them laughing the whole way through – it is certainly well worth watching.
