Reviews

Hip Shot: Breast in Show They say: Welcome to the “ChemoCafé,” where strangers become friends sharing an unforgettable journey of laughter and tears on the road to healing. Join these warriors on a life-affirming emotional rollercoaster in the musical one reviewer called the “tumor of humor”. Brett’s Take: How did this beat the odds and turn out to be really very good? It sounds like it will be a self-satisfied, preachy, television-special plate of theatrical margarine. Instead, it’s an honest, expertly constructed dish of… er… theatrical fruit compote, or marmalade, or something. You know, the good stuff. Surprisingly hearty and just sweet enough, with actual substance in it. Not to belabor the metaphor too much, but the point is that this is a...

Breast In Show is something of a different beast for the DC Fringe Festival, and on opening night you could see it in the composition of the audience: many older theater-goers, women and men in their 50’s-70’s, many survivors (or “warriors” as the show names them) of and supporters of those that have been diagnosed and undergone treatment for breast cancer. Some, if not many, may have lost loved ones to the disease. But they are one of the most vocal and passionate groups of medical advocates in the U.S. and this musical stands as proof. While the production may lean heavily towards pastiche and musical revue mannerisms, Breast In Show is telling a story that needs to be told and this cast makes sure you hear it loud and clear. The plot mainly follows three women...

Capital Fringe 2014 Review: ‘Breast in Show’ At last. A show that has taken the Capital Fringe Festival 2014 theme to heart: Move Me. Breast in Show, conceived and produced by Eileen Mitchard, is arguably the best titled and best marketed show in this season’s lineup. (Collecting Fringe buttons? Patrons get their own pink Breast in Show button to proudly pin to their chests.) It’s also likely the most aptly named, as it shall prove prophetic when it comes time to clinch the Best of Fringe.[spacer height=”10px”] A musical about cancer, you ask? Or as it’s billed: the musical that ‘puts humor in the tumor.’ When the six veteran thespians first hit their marks in various pink-splotched costumes to belt a brassy opener, you gotta wonder: To whom is this...

Theater review: ‘Breast in Show’ You might not expect to meet comedy in a chemotherapy ward. But irreverent humor bubbles up often in “Breast in Show,” a breast cancer-themed musical whose characters spend a good deal of time in a hospital’s chemo treatment zone. For instance, at one point in director Billy Christopher Maupin’s lively production of the musical — at Virginia Repertory Theatre’s Willow Lawn Stage — a group of gutsy cancer-patient characters interacts with a zany wig vendor, played by Andrew Hamm. Submitting stoically to their IV drips, the patients — who have lost their hair during treatment — look on bemusedly as the exuberant vendor pulls headdresses out of a pink trunk: red, curly locks worthy of a femme fatale; a clutch of ebullient dreadlocks;...

Breast in Show: High-Energy Musical Offers Laughter and Tears The humor of breast cancer sounds like the ultimate oxymoron, but the musical Breast in Show masterfully blends comedy with tragedy as it examines six very different people’s struggles with the way-too-prevalent disease. Playing to a nearly full house at Willow Lawn, talented actors donned multiple roles as they guided the audience through the harrowing, yet sometimes humorous journey of breast cancer diagnosis, treatment, and life (or not) thereafter. Its high-energy musical numbers sometimes garnered laughter, other times silence, and a few time times tears. In between, skilled one-liners zinged the patrons in unexpected ways: “Time, all I need is time” … “My oncologist is the man I adore!” … “How I...

Musical ‘Breast in Show’ was an opportunity to do something important. With humor, musical conveys real truths about the cancer experience.   You cannot accuse Eileen Mitchard of thinking small. She wants “Breast in Show,” the comedy-infused musical she conceived and nurtured, to entertain audiences — but she also wants it to mobilize the entire nation behind the eradication of breast cancer. “We have the ability to accomplish this goal, for our daughters and our granddaughters and our sisters and our mothers,” says Mitchard, who collaborated on the musical with playwright Lisa Hayes and composer-lyricist Joan Cushing. “I hope this show will really get people believing that we can — and we must, and we will!” Her goal might move a little closer to...