Review: The Brady Project (Heidi Mole Productions)

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Heidi Mole’s The Brady Project is a hilarious comparison between her life and the beloved TV series, playing at Toronto’s Flying Beaver Pubaret

I’m not exactly sure what to call The Brady Project – it’s part Power Point presentation, part Trampoline Hall lecture and all fun.

Heidi Mole steps on the tiny stage at the Flying Beaver Pubaret dressed in a green cardigan and high, thick-collared button-up shirt, choices totally characteristic of the Brady Bunch‘s era.

If you’re unfamiliar with the Brady Bunch, America’s most beloved blended TV family from the 1970s, Heidi Mole wastes no time introducing them to the audience by playing the iconic theme song.

The first half of the presentation is organized by theme. Mole draws comparisons between her life and the Bradys on topics such as feeling special, celebrations, lessons, romance and the supernatural.

Mole pits herself in opposition to the Bradys for the second half of the presentation. It is a competition in four rounds and Mole emerges the victor in each category: TV Commercial, Willpower, Cookbook and Talent. Spoiler alert: Mole’s latent talent is that she can hula well for an extended period of time.

When I watched this performance, I saw the potential for three more shows, mostly ones expanding on the details of her life that Ms. Mole introduces. So often my inner voice screamed, “O, wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?”

I am a junkie for dysfunction and I still hunger for elaboration. Like that time Mole thought she had lyme disease. Details, please! Or the identity of the mysterious sender of the biting candy gram she received on Halloween 2000. Or what it was like growing up looking like Estelle Getty from the Golden Girls.

There is no story arc but for what the show is, it doesn’t matter. My new friend Damian, a clown pal from across the pond, thought the show was ideal for a dinner theatre setting. If you want a grittier show, he told me, you’d have to be somewhere else.

This particular incarnation of The Brady Project would be brilliant at a Brady convention. Ms. Mole and I spoke briefly after the show and she told me this development was potentially on the horizon.

The Brady Project is a super fun and funny experience. I suppose if I want my curiosity satisfied, I’ll have to return next Saturday, buy the lady a drink and probe her for explicit details. I’ll be sure to bring my cardigan.

Details

  • The Brady Project is playing at the Flying Beaver Pubaret (488 Parliament Street)
  • Remaining shows are Saturday October 26, Saturday November 2 at 7pm
  • Tickets are $10 in advance, $15 at the door
  • Tickets can be purchased by phone at 647-347-6567, online, or at the door

Photo of Heidi Mole by Callback Headshots