Clever biblical hip-hop is a Fringe festival gem

With Job: The HipHop Musical, you couldn't axe for more: a clever and engaging script, energetic acting and all the fun of hip-hop rap, without the expletive booty and bitch-slapping. In other words, it's waxed, buffed and simonized. 

The story, of course, isn't new. But here, Montreal's Foqué dans la tête Productions has taken the Old Testament allegory of sin, suffering and punishment, and given it a decidedly modern spin, as hip-hop record-company executive Job Lowe (say it aloud) has his Beamer, dental plan, vacation and his very job taken away as a test of his devotion to the company's president. 

With virtually no props, costume changes or other theatrical tom-foolery, Eli Batalion (aka MC Abel) and Jerome Saibil (MC Cain) take on multiple roles and spin out the tale with a rhyming, rhythmic ease. Their production gets the point across and engages the audience from start to finish, with no holes. 

— Bruce Deachman