2025 Toronto Fringe Festival
2025 Toronto Fringe Festival
We will be updating this page as we watch more shows.
It’s Fringe season again! I will be doing my very, very best to review as many shows as possible, giving them an honest but fair shake. No matter what I say, I applaud each show for going the distance and doing something incredibly difficult: putting on a show. As last year, I will be adding a ‘grade’ to each and every review.
A+ – A fantastic show, on my “Must See” List for the year.
A – A great show, but with a few bumps to smoothen out. Still worth seeing.
B – Has many elements of a great show, but needs work before the next production. Go into the show with an open mind.
C – May not be the best show out there, but I can appreciate their hard work and recognize the courage it takes to put on a show. Proceed with a very open mind if attending.
D – Needs a lot of work before giving it another go. Don’t give up, creating theatre is not easy!
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Broken Teléfono
Rating: A++
Broken Teléfono is a chaotic, colourful ride which is part Spanglish comedy, part live-action telenovela, and all heart. Centered around three women navigating friendship, heartbreak, and the messiness of modern dating, this play brings big laughs and bigger sabor. When sisters Sabrina and Raquel take Chloe under their wing post-breakup, what starts as a mission to mend her heart quickly spirals into a tangle of miscommunication, secrets, and unexpected twists.
I love a good mess (on stage, not in real life), and Broken Teléfono delivers just that in the best way possible. The Spanglish banter feels authentic and energetic, and the chemistry between the leads keeps the pace moving. There’s a rawness to the comedy that works especially when the characters lean into the absurdity of dating in the age of ghosting, gaslighting, and group chats.
There’s a whole lot of chisme (yes, the good kind), and the cast leans all the way into the drama, delivering hilarious moments with the flair of your favourite telenovela. It’s a feel-good, high-energy romp through friendship, heartbreak, and the stories we tell ourselves (and each other) wrapped in bold colour, chaotic charm, and a whole lot of heart.
Broken Teléfono is a spicy, sharp, and slightly unhinged ode to sisterhood, second chances, and the things we say (and don’t say) when we’re trying to protect our hearts.
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Divine Monster
Rating: B-
I love a good ghost story, so I was intrigued when it came to the premise of Divine Monster. In the shadowy stillness of Paris’s Père-Lachaise cemetery, the ghost of legendary French actress Sarah Bernhardt (played by Bonnie Anderson) sees a rare opportunity to return to the world of the living — but it means hijacking the body of heartbroken, freshly dumped musician Martha (Hope Goudsward). Somehow, Martha is able to see Sarah and is convinced to unwillingly take part in a ritual to free Sarah’s Soul. The show takes place in the Soulpepper Theatre’s RBC Finance Studio, an incredibly intimate space, perfect for a production like this.
Both Anderson and Goudsward do a wonderful job exploring their characters and committing to their roles, but to me, an absolute scene stealer was Greg Campbell, who played a series of ghosts/spirits of both famous, and non-famous folks. He was able to portray each character from lover to literary icon, giving each character a unique voice.
This show has a lot of potential, but the script honestly needs work. I for one had no idea who Sarah Bernhardt is/was before walking into the play, and even though we as the audience got a brief look into her life, it wasn’t a deep look. It’s possible that a few extra scenes are needed to tell more of a full story, maybe some flashbacks where we can see the highs and lows of Sarah’s life. Unfortunately, this play didn’t inspire me to go and look up who Sarah was, and what she was able to achieve. Martha’s story also felt a little underdeveloped. I hoped we could go more into depth when it came to talking about queer love stories, one of the anchor points of this show. There are some things that feel forced story wise, like why Martha is in France in the first place. Long story short, This script could benefit from a dramaturg’s eye before it runs again, but I believe that playwright Elena Kaufman has the foundation of a great piece.
Divine Monster is a play for anyone who has an established appreciation of Sarah Bernhardt’s history, or looking to see passionate performers tell the best kind of story: a ghost story. It is played beautifully by dedicated actors in an intimate space. Though it needs some work, it is a great example of what Fringe can be: a space for experimentation and development when it comes to theatre.
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The Ensemble
Rating: A+
Saying I don’t like absurdist theatre would be an understatement. I REALLY don’t like absurdist theatre…but I loved The Ensemble. It was genuinely funny, thought provoking, a great tribute to the world of theatre. Lines and monologues are delivered with ease and passion, not a word feeling out of place. The concept is pretty simple, what happens when the leads of a play do not come out on stage, and the ensemble, made up of characters like guard 1 and prisoner 3 have to scramble to figure out their new roles, how to keep the audience entertained—and if they even have any control over their fate. To make matters worse, the theatre doors seem to be locked. This play dives into deep topics like if we have true free will if there is an “author” writing the story.
Christel Bartelse’s direction is phenomenal, having the cast make full use of the Michael Young Theatre, breaking the fourth wall to bits and bringing the space to life as their oddball characters spiral into chaos.Though there isn’t a weak member in the cast, the Three Capuchin Monks (Maya Granic, Julia Middleton, Kaleb Piper) absolutely stole the show for me. And maybe this is silly of me to say, but it was such a delight to see such a large cast on stage, performing cohesively on stage with each other. If you get the chance to see these incredible performers expertly deliver a manic, almost nonsensical story with commitment and joy, go, but keep an open mind.
When I asked a friend what she thought of the show she said, “It is…very fringey” meaning it falls into the strange, experimental, and almost bizarre category of Fringe, but honestly, that is what thrives best in the festival. We focus too much on the blockbusters and lose touch of what the Fringe Festival is meant to do: give a platform to theatre creators to try something new and exciting.
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Songs by a WANNABE
Rating: A
I am a child of the 90s, so naturally, the Spice Girls are sacred to me. I got to see their last ever concert as a 5 piece (which took place here in Toronto), I have all the Spice Girls in the original box, and I even have a photo with Mel B (who is a gem by the way). So when I saw that there was a show about the rise and fall of a Ginger Spice impersonator, I was very intrigued. Songs by a WANNABE has us following Barbara ‘Babz’ Johnston into her dressing room at the final stop on a grueling “tour from hell.” In this pop-fueled solo show, Babz relives the highs and humiliations of chasing stardom in someone else’s iconic boots. Blending original songs with (mostly) true tales from the road, It’s a fascinating, cheeky, heartfelt look at the cost of being (sort-of) famous — and what happens when the glitter starts to fade.
Before I go on, I should say that I didn’t realize there was going to be original music. I mean, I expected music, but not a full blown musical. And honestly…I don’t think it needs to be one. Johnston’s story telling so so captivating and so honest that I found myself becoming more, and more invested in her stories as they went along. The problem was, the songs, to me at least, didn’t add much. There were some songs that were truly excellent using interpolations of Spice Girls songs (which I loved being a fan), and this comment isn’t a dig in the production quality, the singing, or the writing, but a question in necessity. The show I went to was also a bit of a mess, with the mic and the music not being balanced, and a dozen or so script flubs, but those can be forgiven thanks to Babz’s charisma and good, playful energy.
I also found that I loved the show much, much more when I stopped looking at it from the lens of a Spice Girls fan, and from that of a performer/theatre creator lens. I resonated so much with Babz’s determination, and effort to try and make it in the nutty world of live entertainment. I felt a lot of emotions listening to her stories, and admire her, ‘We can figure anything out’ attitude. Yes this is the story of a Spice Girls impersonator, but more so, it’s the story of a performer doing whatever they can to keep performing, and that alone makes it worth the cost of admission.
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WHISTLING PINE (A Dark Comedy)
Rating: A+
For me, one person shows can be…challenging to watch. Either I don’t want to root for the character, or the performance seems contrived and pretentious. WHISTLING PINE for me was quite the opposite. Whistling Pine is both raw and poetic, a solo show that finds moments of beauty, joy, and grace even the greyest, bleakest places. Written and performed by Chris Mejaki, it follows CJ, a young Indigenous man from rural Ontario whose self-destructive choices to deal drugs and use his own supply to regularly get high land him in prison. Though this sounds like a hopeless situation, it’s far beyond that because it is in prison, through a series of characters, both real and otherworldly, CJ embarks on a path toward healing and reconnection—with his culture, his family, and himself.
Mejaki plays all the characters beautifully in this show, switching through them effortlessly, and creating a unique voice and body language for each one, including a trio of squabbling ancestors from the spirit world. Their guidance, sometimes comic and sometimes cryptic, helps CJ navigate not only the prison system but the intergenerational trauma that led him there. Mejaki weaves these complex layers together with the dark humour Indigenous communities know well—often shared quietly among ourselves, as a tool for survival. His other characters, which range from family members to fellow inmates come to life in front of our eyes, and not for a moment do we break from the story through their voices.
I caught myself falling deeper, and deeper into the story, wishing there was an extended version somewhere so I could see a continuation of CJ’s journey. It was a joy to see CJ connect to himself, his community, and his culture, reshaping a new chapter in his life with this lens in view.
WHISTLING PINE reminds us that we are not our past selves, and that change can be found anywhere, yes even in a prison cell. Mejaki’s story is told with compassion, humour, and a quiet, persistent hope. By the end, CJ hasn’t just survived—he’s transformed. We have rooted for the underdog, and we leave the theatre with a wide optimism that he is going to be ok. This play was a true joy to watch, and I hope it gets an extension and a revival!
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Puzzles
Rating: C+
When I read the description of Puzzles, I was intrigued, proclaiming that it is a “gripping family drama wrapped in the intrigue of a psychological mystery”. We follow the character Gwen (Andrea Holstein) who has returned home after years of dealing with the trauma and guilt felt around the disappearance of her little sister. Through time and therapy, she unearths new details about the event, but she needs to speak to her estranged mother.
I must commend the acting in this play and the commitment to the characters. Holstein’s talent is seen from the first scene where she is speaking with her therapist. Her acting is genuine, and powerful, and I really and truly wish that she could of had someone to play off of instead of having to act and react to a recording. The actor in the recording was, unfortunately, just reading the lines so the delivery felt choppy and disingenuous. Plus, the show I went to, there were a lot of technical issues with the recordings. It would have been better to have one of the other actors put on a different outfit, maybe some glasses and a wig and simply play the therapist. Rob Scavone who played the step father was very believable and I enjoyed his stage time, and Anna Tharyan who played Gwen’s mom had some beautiful moments of emotional exploration. However, throughout the play, I could notice issues with remembering lines, and there were times where we as the audience needed a little more enunciation from some of the characters. If this version of the show had just a bit more time to rehearse and truly become polished, it would have done nothing but elevate the show even more.
Unfortunately, I didn’t find myself captivated by the play, created and directed by Joanne John. The majority of the piece felt very slow, without enough layers for us at the audience to dig through. I can appreciate what John was trying to accomplish, and the complex story she was trying to tell, but most of the show was just a lot of sitting and talking, and any sort of “action” or reveals happen at the very end of the piece. If there was a fourth actor involved to play the sister in a series of flashbacks, that would have made the story and the play a lot more engaging and would have allowed the audience to really invest in these characters. It was hard to want to root for anyone other than Gwen, where I feel like John wanted us to love the mom character more than we actually did. There were also some unnecessary moments and resolutions to those moments, like (spoiler alert) when the stepfather character accidentally gets hurt, and Gwen is blamed. In the next scene we learn that she visited the hospital and all is well with her and the new husband, but there is still all sorts of unresolved tension. You really didn’t need to send the character to the hospital and further villainize Gwen to make this happen, there could have just been a huge falling out between mother and daughter. It felt like John wrote that scene to add drama and tension to the script, but it felt underdeveloped in thought.
This play has a lot of promise. I think the concept is absolutely fascinating, and John has written some captivating moments in the show, but I would encourage her to take this script and really give it a good edit to that we can focus the story from being told to the audience to being shown to the audience. I hope in the future I am lucky enough to see a new revised version of a show that has a lot of promise in it.
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Apothecary
Rating: A+
From the moment we walked into the Theatre Passe Muraille, I knew I was going to love Apothecary. The audience is transported into a magical, time-traveling apothecary, which appears to women in need from different eras and places—offering healing without judgment. At the center of this ethereal shop are Lady (Laura Piccinin), a healer from the early 1900s, and her apprentice Tilly (Sydney Marion), a spirited trainee from the 1970s. The duo provides medical care at no cost, but there’s one critical rule: they can only use treatments available during the patient’s own time period. They must also protect the timeline by keeping future knowledge a secret. Because their Apothecary spans decades, we see people from the renaissance period, and we hear mention about patients treated from the 80s. This story has many topics effortlessly woven into it: medical misogyny, domestic violence, homophobia, and especially abortion. It speaks on compassion and the need to build a community for those who can’t access one, and is very much a pro-choice piece.
The set is absolutely incredible, especially when you consider you don’t have a lot of storage space behind the stage. The fact that they could put up walls to create a stunning apothecary was a feat in itself. All the elements to the show were well thought out over all: the costumes, props, lighting, script and the songs. The music featured incredible harmonies, which showcased the strong vocals of the entire cast. You can tell a lot of work went into the development of the music, and that the show was incredibly well rehearsed.
Unfortunately though, this show did have some issues. The sound was not always the best, with mics acting up, the vocals and the music not being balanced, and having difficulty to hear overall. My friend that I went with and I had two main issues with the script, the one has to do with one of the characters needing an abortion. Tilly tells the woman to, call a number and ask fro Jane. This, historically, refers to the Jane Collective, an underground group in Chicago that helped over 11,000 people access safe, affordable abortions when the procedure was illegal in the U.S. Operating from 1969 to 1973, they used the pseudonym “Jane” and even learned to perform abortions themselves, making the process safer since some of the “doctors” weren’t proper doctors. The character in question was dressed in 1950s clothes, maybe pushing 60s, but this collective was operating in the 70s, where Tilly is from. I was super confused when it came to timeline, because how the character was presented and the history didn’t really match (it is possible that she was from 1969 when Call Jane was operational, but still).
(Spoiler alert) My friend also had issues with a husband character who entered the apothecary looking for answers, and in a few moments we as the audience are supposed to believe his story over the wife’s, and feel some bad for him. Now yes, the character had to learn about how their actions hold weight, but to completely question the validity of the woman’s story rubbed my friend the wrong way.
Overall though, I felt that Apothecary was incredible. It felt timely, imaginative, and powerfully feminist. This show is definitely a highlight of my 2025 Fringe Festival, and I hope you get a chance to see it!
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Killy Willy
Rating: A
I was that kid who loved going to Marineland in Niagara Falls, because I fell in love with the animals, especially the Orca whales. To me, they were magical, and I was enamored with them, but after whistleblower Phil Demers exposed exactly how awful Marineland was, followed by the revolutionary documentary Blackfish, I wanted nothing more than for every whale and dolphin tank in the world to be empty. So, when I saw that there was a new musical that celebrated the idea of a free whale. “This folk musical-comedy follows Willy, a captive killer whale yearning for freedom. Through song, dance, and Shakespearean soliloquy, they chart their destiny while wild whales rally to confront their greatest threat: the humans. With a strong desire for mass destruction, orgies, and good old fashion fun, the wild whales place leadership onto an unlikely messiah.”
This musical from the beginning was smart, and very funny. The two halves of the show are Willy the captive orca, and a pod of free orcas trying to figure out how to send a message to the humans who keep harming them. When we get a first glimpse of the whale tank, we see that they really leaned into the cheesy theme park kitsch from the songs to the souvenirs. Maya Fleming who played Willy did a wonderful job trying to balance the character of Willy, who dressed like an alternate reality Charlie Chaplain, sang about how they wanted to be a star like Dame Judi Dench, but then eventually going crazy
Various elements of the show were outstanding: The songs were fantastic, with a highlight moment/song of mine being when they blamed George Clooney for the mistreatment of the whales (George Clooney of course being representative of all humans), The set was elaborate and interesting given the limited set-up time, and storage space the fringe gave them, and the costumes were unique, and well thought out.
An unfortunate truth about Fringe musicals I am learning is that they ALL have issues with sound, with this one being no different. Mics were spiking and causing feedback, and that’s when they weren’t cutting in and out. My only real issue with the show has to do with the script, which had an incredibly strong start, but then took a….interesting turn in the last third of the show. I wish we saw Willy’s decent into madness be more gradual instead of being all at once, and their choices at the end of the show had me wondering if there was a more honest way of telling the story of captive orcas, and what we could do to help them and wild orcas. Maybe I’m biased being a strong advocate for animal welfare, but they had the opportunity to do and say more, and it felt like they rushed the ending for the sake of time. I left feeling a little disappointed because I was really getting into the story. Maybe this show needs further dramaturgy, but it really has something special beneath its fins!
They also had a few added characters that felt unnecessary, like the dolphin and the shark. While I loved these characters in their moments, keeping them on for the remainder of the show seemed odd to me. They didn’t add much after their initial interactions and songs, but I guess it was easier to keep them in than to remove them.
Overall though, I am incredibly impressed by the young team of performers and creators, and this show helps me believe that the future of theatre creation is in safe hands. This show was fun, funny, beautiful, moving, and interesting, and I would hope it gets to have another life after this festival!
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Don’t Fall In: A New Musical
Rating: A
One of my unfortunate realities of the 2025 Fringe Festival was that I didn’t get to see much due to time restraints, but this show was up there as one of my favourites.
Don’t Fall In follows Kara (Reo Reilly), a student at a magical academy racing to complete their final project for Story Brewing 401. Desperate and out of ideas, Kara turns to enchanted ink — and suddenly finds themself trapped inside the very tale they’re trying to finish. What unfolds is a one-hour musical adventure brimming with queerness, spellwork, and self-reflection, as Kara navigates the complications they’ve conjured both on the page and in their own life. This is a show about love, destiny, and how our choices can have deep impacts on those around us.
Debut playwright Holland Ziemann uses the “story within a story” structure to thoughtful effect, with fairy tale figures mirroring and enriching the real-world characters — often in ways that only become clear by the show’s end. Even though I really enjoyed the show and the story, I feel like there were times where the plot felt muddy and unfinished. I encourage Ziemann to keep working on this piece, and even expanding it to be a 2 act piece, even a 90 minute work.
The cast themselves are staked with incredible voices, with a special shout out to Carlos Bastarrachea (Reginald) who I’ve always enjoyed listening to. The show’s talented cast bring the incredible show’s musical numbers to live, with incredible harmonies, and a lot of power behind their voices. The music is brought to life under the musical direction of recent Dora Award-winner Michael Ippolito.
Time flew by watching Don’t Fall In, which is a testament to just how much I personally enjoyed this piece. It wasn’t what one may define as ‘hard hitting’, but it was infused with joy, and passion through its words. This is an example of an incredible piece for the Fringe Festival: a strong piece which after this run should be tweaked and developed further. I applaud the cast and crew of this show, and hope this isn’t Don’t Fall In’s only iteration.
[Review by Shan Fernando]
Toronto Fringe Festival runs from July 2-13th, 2025
Tickets can be purchased here