{"id":115810,"date":"2025-07-07T15:45:16","date_gmt":"2025-07-07T19:45:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=115810"},"modified":"2026-02-11T11:42:37","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T16:42:37","slug":"scrutiny-toronto-fringe-2025-three-shows-reincarnate-historical-figures-make-sense-present","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2025\/07\/07\/scrutiny-toronto-fringe-2025-three-shows-reincarnate-historical-figures-make-sense-present\/","title":{"rendered":"SCRUTINY | Toronto Fringe 2025: Three Shows Reincarnate Historical Figures To Make Sense Of The Present"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Actress
Actress Sarah Bernhardt at the Com\u00e9die-Fran\u00e7aise, photographed by F\u00e9lix Nadar (c. 1864) (Public domain)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At this year\u2019s Toronto Fringe Festival, historical figures from the past are resurrected \u2014 not only to haunt, but to inspire a trio of creative souls.<\/p>\n

In Songs By A Wannabe, Siranoush and Divine Monster, these figures become vessels for their creator\u2019s loneliness, ambition and constant pursuit of self-invention.<\/p>\n

Whether it\u2019s an impersonator of the Spice Girls\u2019 Geri Halliwell, the iconic Armenian actress Siranoush, or the ghost of the great Sara Bernhardt, these shows, created by women, demonstrate the way the past can infuse itself into the present.<\/p>\n

These three shows contend with what it means to make art in the shadows of legends.<\/p>\n

SONGS BY A WANNABE<\/h3>\n

WANNABE\/Creator: Barbara (Babz) Johnston<\/strong><\/em>
\nSoulpepper Theatre\u2019s Michael Young Theatre<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

In 1998, the entertainer Geri Halliwell quit the Spice Girls, the best-selling British pop group in which she was known as \u201cGinger Spice\u201d on account of her signature red hair.<\/p>\n

In Songs By A Wannabe, a 75-minute, one-woman musical created by and starring Babz Johnston<\/strong>, Halliwell\u2019s sudden departure is a seismic cultural event on par with 9\/11.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you pretend to be someone else,\u201d Johnston \u2014 who spent over a decade travelling the world in a tribute band \u2014 sings, \u201cYou get to be a bigger, braver version of yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

For this wannabe, a celebrity like Halliwell enables her to be a star.<\/p>\n

Directed by Mitchell Cushman<\/strong>, Songs By A Wannabe takes place in a green room in Ferndale, Michigan. The stage (modestly designed by Eric Andrews<\/strong>) features a clothing rack with flamboyant outfits, a vanity devoid of a mirror, and a backstage door producing sounds every time its opened.<\/p>\n

When the nearby presence of another, more successful tribute band threatens the future of her career, Johnston begins to reminisces about her storied past in catchy, dramatic show-tunes (co-written by Anika Johnson<\/strong> and Suzy Wilde<\/strong>) that display her range as an engrossing performer.<\/p>\n

On opening night, despite the missing lighting cues, overloud sound (designed by James Evident<\/strong>e) or forgotten lines, Johnston carried on like a professional whose eminence no force could dim. With her ability to seamlessly slip in and out voices and characters, to transport the audience to the places that she speaks of and the emotional core of those memories, Johnston is living proof each of us contain multitudes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know who I want to be,\u201d she forlornly sings \u2014 but, in the meantime, while she figures it out, there is a sequinned leotard and a ginger wig with her name on it that amplifies her innate charm, and spice.<\/p>\n