JOB: The Hip-Hop Musical

Although I may be proven wrong in the coming week, I highly doubt that I'll see anything as fresh, smart, well-performed or funny as JOB: The Hip-Hop Musical. A well-seasoned veteran of this year's Fringe Circuit, JOB arrives with great advance word of mouth, and did not disappoint.

Written, performed and directed by the wildly talented team of Eli Batalion (MC Abel) and Jerome Saibil (MC Cain), JOB tells a modern-day version of the biblical loser's tale, through hot hip-hop beats, insanely clever rhymes, wickedly funny choreography and two breakneck, tightrope act performances by Batalion and Saibil. JOB blends literary references as disparate as James Joyce and the Koran, and musical samples from Bizet to the Beatles, into a contemporary cocktail brimming with originality and funk. It's sort of a modern-day How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying… if that musical were performed in Dante's 7th circle of hell.

In a true theatrical coup, Batalion and Saibil portray multiple characters, ranging from a Jewish rap mogul to a daffy valley girl secretary, switching between roles in a flash. What makes it truly special is that the boys both play all the roles, effortlessly passing characters back and forth to each other in a snap of choreography and a simple switch of stance. These are two tour-de-force performances, high octane and thrilling. I left feeling that I had not witnessed a Fringe piece at all, but a birth of something as original and fascinating as Blue Man Group or Rent.

- Morgan LaVere