The Hanover Tap
Aug 1-25, 13-25 (13.15)
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I love it when a show launches a smile onto your face & just leaves it sitting there for the duration – like yoga for the mouth muscles. Last year the Mumble had the delight of seeing Canadian musical comedy duo, Death Ray Cabaret & found them to be quirky sorcerers indeed! At the same their mate, Anesti Danelis, was an Amused Moose finalist. Roll on 2019 & of course I had to go & check out Anesti’s return for those aforementioned reasons – he’s supposed to be quality & I now find myself a fan of Toronto’s ley-line meetings of musical comedy minds.
Anesti Danelis is like, good, so good. A well-deserved finalist & a master of his craft. The eloquent clarity of his singing voice & the lucidity with which he presented his ‘stories’ combine into a bouquet experience, like walking through a country garden draped in blossoms in the morning. The stories aren’t quite so floral as my metaphor, however, they are all wee lantern-lit snippets into his world, where he accidentally says ‘incest’ in a candle-shop & instructs his landlord he has turned into an actual bird to avoid paying his rent.
Myself & the audience were completely enamoured by the pretty flawless songs, among which are scattered buzzing one-liners & clever philosophical epigrams such as ‘how come children are the future when they ruin our hopes & dreams.’ Of the songs, I loved the playground jazz of ‘What Do Men Really Like,’ & of course the song which probably got him nominated for those Moose-antlers in the first place – Goats. I swear down, this IS the funniest song I have EVER heard; a surreal journey on a violin that combines Greek folk music with whatever psychedleic drugs Anesti was on at the time he created the number.
Damian Beeson Bullen
Mumble Comedy 