"Pork & Beans: Attorneys at Law" is the newest musical offering from creative duo Ethan Lang and Sam Daly, following past productions including the loved "Sam's Clam and Oyster Bar' from Fringe 2025. Pork & Beans fits the usual modus operandi for the two creatives, it's fun, it's light, and it's lovably ridiculous.

Pork & Beans is a simple, but hilarious premise. Two estranged best friends/TV-commercial style lawyers, the title characters, are facing off against each other in the trial of the century, where a man has been accused of murdering his wife. If that sounds dark, it's not. The show is a complete comedy, with exaggerated characters and non-sensical plotlines to match.

To start, most of the comedy of the show lands. There's an insanely high joke to minute ratio, so they can't all hit, but the big ones do and the audience I was with were completely into it. It helps that the entire cast played the parody to the max, and got the most of out the script. In particular, Ben Healey as the Bailiff and Sam Daly as Pork stand out for their ability to keep their characters consistent while also being absolutely ridiculous. The show channels the comedic vibe of a bonkers injury law commercial, and it never seems to run out of comical steam.

For the more technical stuff, the plot did not always come through clearly, though you could easily enjoy the show without caring much about that. The show follows an epic break-up between once friends/partners Pork & Beans, but the audience doesn't quite get a satisfying break-up or reconciliation between the two lawyers. Their feud is a compelling reason for the events of the play, however the play could stand to do some more work detailing the feud and why it is the two lawyers separated. As well, the score and lyrics, while amusing and very catchy, could have been better integrated into plot points rather than re-detailing plot points which have already been addressed in the dialogue.

Lastly, the FOH PRO Stage is a frustrating venue. The sightlines are very limited (I was in the third row, dead centre, and was struggling to see) and the venue speakers are low quality. While much of this was not the fault of the production, I do wish the show had taken their venue limitations into consideration more. At points, crucial moments of the show played in the venue's blind spots, and the larger cast felt a bit cramped in ensemble numbers. Many BYOV's which are not traditional theatres will have some limitations, and that is just part of Fringe, but overall the show could have benefitted from being a little more cognizant of those limitations.

All in all, Pork & Beans was a very enjoyable, funny show. However, with the talent onstage and the writing talent, I believe it truly has the potential to be more than just funny. It has all the hallmarks of a Fringe show which could easily be a successful two act musical, and if that ever happens, I'll be the first to buy a ticket.

Andrea Noga, Alberta Youth Theatre Collective.