Orlando 2016 Fringe Review: 21 Chump Street

21 chump street

21 Chump Street
Purple venue, find showtimes

From the opening lines to the fast-paced rap lyrics, you can tell this show was written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, but Troupe 1139 from Boone High School definitely bring it to life.

This 15-minute show follows the story of Justin, a straight-A senior in high school, who gets caught up in drugs to impress and woo an attractive new girl named Naomi, who is really an undercover cop. The show is based on an episode of “This American Life”, an NPR radio show, which was a part of the show’s Valentine’s Day show titled “What I Did for Love.”

The group’s choreography was very dynamic, making great use of the limited spacing in the purple venue. The performers did a good job delivering the lyrics. I loved how this took place in South Florida the attention to small details about that really made it believable (i.e. one of the cast members wearing a Miami Dolphins shirt).

What I liked the most is how this mini-musical is about youth and the cast of high school performers makes it that much more real and convincing. Plus, I love hip-hop music and rap, so I love how this show—and many more at Fringe this year—are using this art form in their musicals. Thank you Lin-Manuel Miranda for showing the theater community how rapping is truly an art form of storytelling and cool!

Read all of Watermark’s coverage of the 2016 Orlando Fringe Theatre Festival here.

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