Tagged and It’s Complicated at Toronto’s Palmerston Theatre takes a comedic look at online dating

Tagged and It’s Complicated is the kind of show I always enjoy. It’s a multimedia comedy with live music, singing and dancing that looks at the weird and hilarious world of online dating. I even convinced a friend to pay for their ticket to go with me and my plus one which I sort of wish I hadn’t.

The show wasn’t bad by any means. The actors – Matty Burns and Ruth Goodwin – are adorable and do a great job with the piece and I’m sure the lyrics were funny but unfortunately I could hear very little of them. I know the rest of the audience was in the same boat as I overheard several snippets of conversations on the way out.

The references that I did catch were hilarious. The script is current, witty and definitely funny. The audience that was struggling to hear still laughed all through the show. Throughout the hour long show I kept thinking they’re going to turn up the mikes… now. But it never happened. Hopefully this was an opening night glitch and has been worked out since.

Burns and Goodwin do an excellent job with this show. They are quirky, funny and exactly the kind of couple you would except to find on an online dating site called Molten Lava (if my memory serves). All 11 songs in the show are originals and every time the two danced together I burst out laughing.

I liked the believable costumes – jeans and sweats –  and loved the set. They did so much with that intimate little space. They fit a band and two separate rooms that looked like individual apartments all on one stage without over crowding so they still had space leftover to move and dance around.

My husband loved this show. He had such a great time, raved about the band and caught a lot of pop-culture references that made him laugh. He told my friend and I all of this after the show while we stared at him in disbelief. So I was right, it is a funny show if you can hear it.

I would like to see this show again. I know in spite of my mediocre lip reading skills there’s a lot of good bits that I missed.

Details

– Tagged & It’s Complicated is playing at the Palmerston Theatre (560 Palmerston Ave) till December 1, 2012
– Performances run Nov 28-30 at 8pm and Dec 1 at 3pm & 8pm
– Tickets are $12 in advance or $15 at the door
– Tickets are available online or at the door

Photo of Matty Burns and Ruth Goodwin