Toronto Fringe Review: Anesti Danelis: This Show Will Change Your Life

Anesti Danelis. Photo by Dahlia Katz

You know those thoughts you have in your head? The ones you don’t tend to say out loud for fear of the embarrassment of having your messy humanity discovered? The ones that COVID isolation probably made a little more perverse and frequent? Well, Anesti Danelis wrote and performed a one man musical comedy about his own personal messy humanity and it is glorious.

The premise is simple: a millennial bisexual man sings about exploring self improvement and other trends that many of us participated in during quarantine. The wild funny stories about being queer, workplace shenanigans, getting into astrology and healing crystals, and dating as a first generation Canadian in a tightly knit Greek family are all set to such ubiquitous pop melodies that even a nerdy old crank like myself could recognize and feel hip enough to recognize (just please don’t ask me to name one).

Though his energy is high and good natured, Danelis’ humour is often blue, so if you are troubled by such things then maybe sit this one out. But if the idea of a bi man’s internal monologue about the revenge sex with an ex’s parents that he won’t be having, sung to a catchy pop ditty sounds like something you can relate to or laugh at, by all means, join the audience in a celebration of awkwardness of being human.

This show might not change your life, but Anesti Danelis certainly offers a balm for the “post COVID” isolation rawness in the form of tears of cathartic laughter and one can’t do much better than that!

Anesti Danelis: This Show Will Change Your Life is on now until July 16 as part of the 2022 Toronto Fringe Festival. Find show times and tickets here.