From March 27 to March 29, the FSU School of Theatre hosted the Spring Fringe Festival, a celebration of student-led and independent creative work. On opening night, I was drawn to see Moo Deng vs. Pesto: The Musical. I walked into a small auditorium with a small prop-rock formation centered on the stage, unsure of exactly what I had signed up for but still excited.
Before the show, director Megan Audette ushered everyone into their seats, thanking those who could make it before the show as seats filled with classmates and friends of the small cast and crew.
When the lights came down, I was immediately caught off guard by the birth of a hippo surrounded by its guardian angels. Moo Deng, the titular hippo, enters the world under the not-so-watchful eye of an unwilling guardian angel who sets her loose to cause chaos. This chaos and humor carry through every part of the show and only add to the central message of self-love and confidence that the writers and actors worked to convey through each of the musical numbers and scenes they were in.
Moo Deng, played by Sara Vanderford, is introduced to us as a little insecure and self-conscious from the beginning, allowing me to feel for her as a character and tune into how these feelings impact her actions.
Coming to this show, I did not expect to see the echoes of my preteen self in a baby hippo, but Vanderford did a fantastic job showing how small comments can overwhelm everything you think you know about yourself. Moo Deng is confused about how her hippo-ness changes how people see her, and we spend a good amount of time and an impressive musical number watching Moo Deng lose herself in the way others have been referring to her thus far.
Just as things are looking up, Casey the Zookeeper, played by Alex Blanton, introduces the world to Moo Deng and her cuteness via TikTok.
Later, we see how social media “fame” hits Moo Deng and how this changes how she sees her value as a person, or rather, as a hippo. Her ups and downs depend on how many views she can garner rather than who she is. She’s adored in a way many people will never be, but she’s also desperate for adoration in a way nobody else understands.
Fellow animals in the zoo, Gerry the Gorilla, played by Allyson Mowery; Gari the Gator, played by Alma Pichardo; and Rexie the Lion, played by Danielle Pedroso, try to support Moo through the stress of fame, but they just don’t understand. Playwright Danielle Wirsansky masterfully shows how jealousy and a lack of perspective can change relationships when someone gains fame or notoriety.
Pesto, a viral penguin from Australia played by Hal Presley, struts onto the scene covered in sequins and ready to shine. His simultaneous rise after Moo Deng has peaked leads to a manufactured beef that genuinely pushes the musical’s humor to the forefront. A mix of second-hand embarrassment and sympathy overtook me as Moo Deng fought Pesto, and he waddled his way to the top anyway.
Even after his win, Pesto seems to play into Moo Deng’s desperation until he reveals that they should’ve been friends all along and that their strength lies in who they are rather than anything they manufacture to give the world.
The fickle social media rivalry and the support of Moo Deng’s friends remind me oddly of the “beef” that popped up between our favorite makeup and lifestyle influencers during the fall of beauty YouTube in the late 2010s. This adds to the many hints and digs that Wirsansky manages to get in about influencer culture.
Chaotic and amusing, Moo Deng vs. Pesto: The Musical is a pure expression of what makes theatre and events like Fringe so important. An idea, a penguin, and a hippo brought together a group of amazing creatives and reminded me that true confidence comes from who you are and who you choose to be, not what others think of you.
I was taken off guard by the chance to see such a strange but complicated character grapple with self-image, confidence, rejection, identity, and rejection in ways that most professionally funded shows struggle to convey. It reminded me of why I spent my whole life loving theatre and loving what comes from it. If you couldn’t catch the show this time, the incredible cast will bring Moo Deng vs. Pesto: The Musical to Atlanta Fringe this summer from May 26 to June 8.
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