KC Fringe "Skillet Tag" review by Rabid_Reviewer

It's a whole new game show.
Rating: 5

Skillet Tag
KC Fringe Festival

Skillet Tag is an uproarious, outrageous romp through corporate politics and personal responsibility.  Okay, the plot device of foreign markets and their sinister bands of hit men seems a bit weak, but it doesn't really matter.  It's just a McGuffin to allow our characters to panic instead of doing the right thing.

The cast for this show is uniformly strong in their performances.  Laura Jacobs displays strong comedic timing and delivery as the perpetually drunk cynic.  Aurelie Roque is unexpectedly convincing as the lawyer who only wants to do the right thing.  If you thought this show had any reality to it, you know that goes out the window when the lawyer wants to do the right thing.

Kenna Marie Hall is the adorably hysterical secretary (excuse me, personal assistant) who completely flips her wig over the pressures of both the job and her unfulfilled adoration for her boss.   Matt Leonard shines as the skillfully psychotic boss who must find a way to balance the scales between satisfying his higher-ups and fulfilling his own agenda.

Phillip Shinn is over-the-top cute as the computer nerd whose only real skill is the ability to turn on a computer, which is more than anyone else can accomplish.  He does a great job at being over-eager to please and constantly on edge about doing the wrong thing.  J. Will Fritz rounds out the main cast as the level-headed practical employee who lacks a knack for planning.

Kyle Wallen and Chelsey Tighe appear in supporting roles as the private security officers who have had to cover up far worse than murder at this offbeat retreat.

It's not a murder mystery.  There are no doubts about who did what to whom and why.  It's a frolic about the pressures of corporate America in and ever-increasingly global economy.  And it never lets up on the fun.

It does have a few gross-out moments in it, which achieve the right level of groanage from the audience. It's wrong, but in the right way.

Once the show ends, it still manages to deliver through the most clever and entertaining curtain call I've seen in years.  I have been reliably informed that the producer, Kelsey Marjorie Kallenberger is to thank for that cherry on top of this theatrical hot fudge sundae.

Kudos to the entire team for this production.  It's tied my personal pick for Best of the Fest.