Edmonton Fringe Review: Rodgers and Hammerstein's ROBOCOP

I have to admit, ROBOCOP and Rodgers and Hammerstein’s music are a combination I never thought I’d hear in the same sentence.

But I was intrigued by Cousins-in-Law Productions which is heavily populated by St. Albert actors who put together Roger’s and Hammerstein’s ROBOCOP: The Musical.

Most people are acquainted with the story of ROBOCOP, a cult classic. The plot follows the exploits of Alex Murphy, a cop who works for the police force in a futuristic Detroit. He gets shot up in a bungled investigation.

Omni Consumer Products (OPI), a corporation hired by the city to advance protection, takes the remains of his brains and gives him a robot body. His new name is ROBOCOP.

Shootouts between cops and gangs, cocaine smuggling, dead bodies, and corporate greed are a daily occurrence in the crime-ridden city and leave a bloody trail.

But St. Albert playwrights Andrew and Lauren Boyd take the hyper-violent story and inject it with scenes and songs from the Rodger’s Hammerstein’s Sound of Music. In this version of inner-city Detroit, wimple-clad nuns are also police offers who pack guns and aren’t afraid to pull the trigger.

The plot is woven together with songs from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s multiple productions. However, the Boyds seem to favour music from Sound of Music adding "I Have Confidence," "Maria," and "Climb Ev’ry Mountain" into the program.

Through the decades many have dubbed the music saccharine, yet in this musical it is the perfect breezy counterbalance to the hyper violence.

One scene to watch out for is Jason Hardwick’s dream sequence. He landed the role of Mother Superior and turns her from a dry, stern nun into a heroic character. In his dream sequence, Hardwick, also a professional dancer, gracefully pirouettes and leaps across the stage to a round of thundering applause.

In addition to the Boyds, an extremely talented brother-sister duo, other St. Albert artists include Jesse Harlton, Ben Healey, and Karlie Christie.