Juicy Woo-Woo Invites You to Keep an Open Mind at the Saskatoon Fringe

by Scott Roos

photo courtesy of John Sobol

There are Fringe shows that make you chuckle. Fringe shows that make you think. Fringe shows with music. Fringe shows with storytelling.

And then there's Juicy Woo-Woo – The UFO Cabaret, which somehow manages to cram all of those things into one evening while asking one of humanity's oldest questions:

What if we're not alone?

Before you roll your eyes, though, creator John Sobol would probably tell you the same thing he told NSMZ.

"This isn't really primarily about the evidence," he explained. "It's more about thinking about what the implications of the evidence are. What it means to you and me and to humanity that aliens are real and that they're here, as opposed to just focusing on trying to prove that they're here."

That's an important distinction.

This isn't an hour spent pinning newspaper clippings to a corkboard with red string connecting everything together. Sobol isn't interested in playing the role of guru or conspiracy evangelist. Instead, he's inviting audiences into a conversation that's become surprisingly mainstream over the past few years.

"One of the things that I talk about," he said, "is that the discourse around UFOs has changed very dramatically just in the past very few years. Most people are not aware of this because it's not really covered by the mainstream media very much."

He points to congressional hearings in the United States featuring military whistleblowers and senior political figures discussing unidentified aerial phenomena in ways that would have seemed impossible decades ago. Rather than arguing whether audiences should believe any particular claim, Sobol wants people to wrestle with a different question.

"What do we make of that?" he asks. "What does it mean for the world? I don't claim to have all the answers remotely. I just have questions and possibilities and things to consider that I think are important."

That curiosity forms the backbone of Juicy Woo-Woo, but don't mistake it for a dry lecture.

"It's supposed to be fun and mind-blowing, both," laughs Sobol.

That's where the "cabaret" part of the title comes in.

Sobol has spent more than four decades as a professional saxophonist, beginning in Montreal clubs when he was just fifteen years old. Along the way he's toured internationally, performed everywhere from jazz festivals to poetry slams, released albums, published books and carved out a career that comfortably lives somewhere between musician, poet, journalist and storyteller.

Music isn't simply background noise during this show... It's woven into the storytelling.

"I have some of my own tunes that are recordings that I did where I stripped out the vocals and the sax, and so I play them live with the backing track," Sobol explained. "It kind of feels like a band without it actually being one."

You'll also hear solo saxophone performances, including what he jokingly calls an "Easter egg."

"It's a kick-ass saxophone cover of a legendary Pink Floyd song."

Honestly, that alone is worth the price of admission.

Sobol's musical roots also reveal just how delightfully weird his artistic tastes really are.

When asked whether he was into oddball jazz like Sun Ra, his answer came quickly.

"Totally."

He even spent a number years performing in a band dedicated almost entirely to Sun Ra's music. That willingness to embrace unconventional ideas without abandoning musicianship gives Juicy Woo-Woo its unique flavour. It isn't trying to scare audiences or convince them they've stumbled into a secret society meeting. Instead, it's using humour, music, spoken word and storytelling to explore an unusual subject with equal parts imagination and sincerity. One thing Sobol was careful to emphasize is that he isn't presenting himself as someone with inside knowledge.

"I have not been abducted by aliens," he jokes. "I was not part of the secret programs. I don't have any inside information whatsoever, and I don't claim to."

Instead, he's tried to build the show around ideas and information that audiences can evaluate for themselves.

"My kind of approach has been, I want things that I can convince an average person by just showing the evidence that they would go, 'That seems true what you're saying. That evidence is pretty convincing to me.'"

Everything beyond that, he says, belongs in a much larger pile labelled interesting possibilities. It's a refreshingly honest approach for a topic that often attracts certainty from every direction. Whether you walk into the theatre believing little green men are hiding behind every cloud, or you're convinced the whole subject belongs in the same filing cabinet as Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster, Sobol seems perfectly content either way.

His goal isn't conversion.

It's conversation.

And maybe a few laughs.

And definitely some excellent saxophone.

That's exactly the kind of strange, wonderful experience Fringe Festivals were built for.

So if you're looking for something that's equal parts concert, spoken word performance, comedy, philosophy session and cosmic rabbit hole, Juicy Woo-Woo – The UFO Cabaret might just be the weirdest ticket you'll buy this Fringe. Which, let's be honest, is saying something. Sometimes the best Fringe experiences aren't the ones that give you answers. They're the ones that send you home still asking questions.

Juicy Woo-Woo - The UFO Cabaret performs at The Refinery during the Saskatoon Fringe Festival. Check the official festival program for performance dates and showtimes.