Linda Gray

The show failed to hold my interest, but it's hard to say why. I hope another reviewer can provide a better analysis.

A treat--just like the meal for which it is named. Delightful voices and harmonies combine with charisma to make the show bounce. If you only see one performance at the Fringe, see "Brunch."

A rare chance to see Elizabethan drama as the original audience would have seen it--in an outdoor, daylight setting. The actors maintained their concentration admirably against an audibly unpredictable background: during the performance I attended, outside noises included a fountain, the voices of children playing and of passersby, and a plane flying overhead. Halle Galloway projects a sulky Mephistopholes. On the other hand, the dialogues between the angel and the devil in Faustus's head would gain piquancy if the actors used their physical posture and movements to portray the differences between them. "Doctor Faustus" takes us on a compelling journey into internal agony.

Imagine you're floating down a lazy river, whose banks disclose scene after scene, some comic, some serious. You are Alice, and the river is in Wonderland, except that the characters parody opera rather than Victorian poetry. For the best experience, let yourself drift, as in a dream, and go early to get a seat in the front row. The stage in the Arts Umbrella Theatre isn't raised, so rows further back will miss some scenes played close to the ground.