Fringe review: ‘The Booyah’

The Booyah, the Warren Acting Company, Mount Dora. Green venue, 60 minutes, $10.

By Elizabeth Maupin
Elizabeth Maupin on Theater

Mark Koenig, Brian Flaherty, John Gracey and Ben Smith in 'The Booyah'

Joel Warren’s anarchical sense of humor is all over The Booyah, a stitch of a show that, for the first half hour or so, is sort of a booyah in itself.

[“Booyah: an exclamation used to express extreme pleasure, approval, etc.”]

And for that half an hour or so, everything’s right in the world of The Booyah, a sitcommy comedy in which a bunch of friends gather to celebrate what they think is going to be their friend Stephen’s coming-out.

Warren, who wrote, directed and appears as the obnoxious friend Mark, has a talent for establishing character for these folks right away, and he’s aided by a largely very good cast, including Mark Koenig and Amanda Warren as the host and hostess, Stephen Lima and Michelle Elise as a couple of the friends (Elise is particularly funny as what might commonly be termed a ball-buster) and Tommy Mangieri as an elderly guest.

The plot gets sillier and sillier, unfortunately, and Warren leaves most of his loose plot points flapping in the wind. But it’s still fun, if only to hear Warren’s Mark say he was the Caucasian apprentice to Alvin Ailey. I guess it’s good he wasn’t.

Remaining shows:
Wednesday May 25, 9:25 p.m.
Thursday May 26, 10:50 p.m.
Saturday May 28, 6:45 p.m.
Sunday May 29, 11:45 a.m.

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