Sometimes you’ve just got to listen to your balls.
A manic fever dream of ‘80s cop montages and musical escapades
Police Cops: The Musical is a parody-style tale of an all-American boy who joins the Police Cops to avenge his sister’s death and be the “best damn Police Cop ever”. It’s a chaotic combination of a Naked Gun movie and Starkid musical, and is so jam-packed with jokes, puns, innuendos, and quips that you could probably go see it four or five nights in a row and still catch something new each time.
Police Cops, made up of Zachary Hunt, Nathan Parkinson and Tom Roe, is a regular staple at the Fringe, but their collaboration with composers Ian Coulter and Bobby Goulder have taken their comedy to a whole new level. In a show like this, you might expect the music to be more of a last-minute addition, but Coulter and Goulder’s score is perfectly themed for the ‘80s buddy cop genre. The lyrics are as ridiculous as you might expect from this group, while at times being oddly inspiring: “They could do a backflip but they don’t want to.” The song Now You’re An ‘80s Cop is a similar brand of humour to Lonely Island’s Cool Guys Don’t Look at Explosions, and if that doesn’t sell it I don’t know what will.
Gabriella Leon and Miztli Rose round out this five-person cast, which somehow feels like a team of 20 as those talented actors bounce from character to character within the space of seconds – at one point changing costumes behind an American flag. There is so much movement throughout the show, and the choreography feels like a mixture of gymnastics, clownery, stunt work and interpretive dance. Call me a sucker for a gimmick, but if one man is standing on another man’s shoulders at the end of a musical number I am going to clap.
The audience went crazy for all the creative ways Police Cops used props and physical comedy – particularly a scene with a floating table in the saloon (you had to be there). Other comic moments went by so quickly they probably didn’t get the credit they deserved, like a criminal’s head exploding in a balloon pop during a shoot-out. There’s so much visual genius that can’t be described in a review, so you’ll just have to trust me that it was all perfectly timed and executed.
If you want to watch a manic fever dream of ‘80s cop montages and musical escapades, including a live electric guitar solo during a high-speed car chase, look no further. There’s still time to go see the best thing on at Fringe 2022!
