daniel tobias
The Orchid and the Crow, which plays through July 11th 2015 as part of the Toronto Fringe Festival is a heartfelt and funny true story of Daniel Tobias’ testicular cancer diagnosis, melded with rock and roll and hilarious tales about Australian Jewish atheism.
The play begins with a rock and roll love song about the romance of two bacon-loving Jewish atheists, who would go on to have a son, named Daniel. One of the funniest moments in this show is Tobias’ Circumcision song, which is followed by a great Passover story. In fact, The Orchid and the Crow is back-to-back, laughing out loud, joyful hilarity, until Daniel suddenly gets a pain in his tummy, which leads to a diagnosis of testicular cancer, surgery to remove one of his testicles and a cycle of chemotherapy. At this point, in attempt to keep himself motivated Daniel turns to cancer-survivor Lance Armstrong, who, in a way, provides this Jewish, Australian, atheist with a God-like figure.
Tobias has a talent of being able to oscillate, within seconds, between complete silliness, and then poignant seriousness, which doesn’t cause the audience’s emotions to yoyo uncomfortably, but, instead, to be really endeared and captivated by the juxtaposition. There is a beautiful sense of triumph at the end of this piece that will make you very grateful that Daniel Tobias is here and singing to us a catchy little tune about balls.
TWISI FRINGE RATING:
The Orchid and the Crow plays at the Al Green Theatre (750 Spadina Avenue) as part of the Toronto Fringe Festival at the following times:
show times
July 10 at 11:30 PM buy tickets
July 11 at 05:45 PM buy tickets
