The Crow Valley Karaoke Championships

In the antic and darkly comic latest from Bryan (The Figgs), a small town near the Canadian Rockies holds a regional karaoke competition while an inmate escapes from the prison where many of the residents are employed. The action takes place over one night, and Bryan switches, sometimes confusingly, among the points of view of five people connected to correctional officer Dale Jepson, who died in a forest fire the year before. They are Dale’s widow, Roxanne, who works for the mayor; Dale’s best friend and fellow guard, Brett Farquhar; Brett’s wife, Val, also a guard; Molly Chivers, a woman who blames herself for Brett’s death because he saved her in the fire; and Marcel, the escapee who was transferred to Crow Valley from a prison in Quebec. As the show goes on despite the news of an escape, Marcel invades the homes and befriends the children of those obliviously caught up in their performances. Though the many subplots don’t all cohere, Bryan provides entertainment with the ups and down of the competition and the bumbling efforts by Marcel to evade capture. There’s fun to be had, but this often buckles under its own weight. (July)