“I have a crush on EVERY BOY!” No, not really, but close!
6. Tod Kimbro. I failed to get to his show, but I saw him everywhere, laughing and enjoying everything. And I regretted not seeing his show intensely. I loved his score for DRIP, and I have made up my mind that he’ll be the first thing I see next year.
5. Max from Six Characters. I don’t know exactly what it was. The way he pulls out his gun in the priest uniform. The way he first flips the bird. I can’t put my finger on it (hur hur). But he just embodies cool. I love him!
4. Willy from DRIP and VarieTEASE. I knew he was in both because I saw DRIP the night his hair protector fell off mid-dance, and the entire VarieTEASE cast was also behind us at that show, continually screaming out praises. But he was so awesome in VarieTEASE that my Fringe crush buddy and I could hardly contain ourselves.
3. Gus the Kissing Camel!
2. Calculus: the Musical! It started out as just a special affinity (also known as a girl crush) for Sadie, but I can’t leave Marc out. This whole show and both these two people are totally crushworthy!
1. T.J. Dawe. Could it be anyone else? He is the Fringe Idol, he is the ultimate Fringe Crush. Well, for girls. Guys (gay, straight, or other) are all up on the Poofy duVey. And it’s not that I don’t love her. I just don’t *crush* her. T.J. Dawe is just magic, and he’s genuinely nice, too. Which works because it makes Maxim and Cosmo that much more believable. Although from what we’ve heard, he wouldn’t really take anyone up on the offer he made during his show.
Like everyone else who came to the Fringe Festival this year, I truly wanted to adore Heart of Coal. Anyone who I had met who was involved in the show, even people whose names appeared in the program that I knew – I really like all of them. And of course the fact that Heather Henson had created the show’s puppets was a huge selling point. I got to learn a little bit about the environmental issue at hand in the show and I agreed with it a great deal. I was really excited before sitting down in the Green Venue to see the show on Thursday night. I even brought a bunch of friends, Fringe virgins, to see it.
At the end of the production, I regretted that it had been my friends’ first Fringe exposure. They hated it. I didn’t have such strong feelings against it, but something about it had bothered me. The set was beautiful, and I even liked the story. Albeit simplistic and lacking the allegory to truly make it a fable, I loved the idea of a fantasy kingdom and the problem seen through the eyes of a little girl. I loved the whimsy of it. I loved the concept and I adored the look of it, its use of music, the video that opened the production.
But it’s taken me this long to figure out what bothered me about it. First of all, the show would have been immensely more satisfying had there been a small, squawky puppet character, as I have come to love so well in other Henson creations. Think of the rats in Muppets Take Manhattan.
In all seriousness, however, I think there is a fine line crossed when the message of artwork overtakes the artistic achievement of the product. I don’t listen to any particular music for its message. But I try care for the earth – I’ve been a vegetarian for years, I drive a compact car (until I can afford a hybrid), I love composting, I am a recycling maniac, and I voted for Dennis Kucinich in the 2004 primary. But I don’t listen to music for any political purpose. There is great political music – don’t get me wrong, but it’s also first and foremost beautiful music. Think Sergai Prokofiev and Bob Dylan. I don’t listen to third-rate fourth-wave punk music just because the bands making it espouse hatred for George W. Bush and love for tofu.
I don’t disagree with the message of the Heart of Coal in any way, shape or form. I doubt there are many people who attended the Fringe who do, although I saw a McCain sticker on a car in the Shakespeare Festival parking lot. But the show’s problem comes in that it needs more development than simply presenting an issue. The same problem is everything I take issue with in Christian rock. A great deal of extremely popular Top 40 or radio rock music is awful, and much Christian “rock” consists of slimy derivatives of that. Yuck. But people listen to it because they agree with its message.
And don’t get me wrong. Heart of Coal was not that. It was completely original (although the Evil King could have done without the eye-patch). And it came close to living up to its potential. But there’s a reason that Schindler’s List is a movie that high school students watch in classrooms all across America and Syriana never will be. Much of Hollywood needs to realize this, too. We as audiences don’t have to put a stamp on something and say it’s great just because it deals with an important issue. There is a decided difference between activism and art. As a piece of activism, Heart of Coal is stellar. As a work of art, it’s a good start. More than that, though, I would love to see the ideas in this play developed into something that pulls together more, possibly developing other characters, and playing around with dialogue more. The bottom line is that to me, the best art doesn’t tell me its important and then try and live up to that label. The best music, theatre, anything really, is that which compels me with a beautiful story, a wonderful structure, and has an artistic impact on me which changes my mind. I think that a work like Heart of Coal has the potential to be that – it just needs more time.
Doodie Humor is back once again, to satirize moral satire and basically gross us out to the point we laugh. Real hard. And with spurting blood, nasty talk, pimps, hoes, flesch-eaters, horror-obsessed best friends (there’s one of those in every single post-Scream horror films, isn’t there? Self-reflexive much?), and the most hilarious mime you will ever meet, they succeed tremendously. At some points the show seems slow, but maybe it’s just the fast edit madness of everything else going on at the Fringe. This is a great show overall, and the perfect late-nite faire to end your day.
The plot is not hard to maneuver your way around. I thought it might include a little more of a 50s doo-wop sort of feel – you know, including high school sweaters and poodle skirts for some unknown reason. But despite it’s typical everyday normal post-collegiate setting (where the football playing bully of yesteryear has grown into a rent-a-cop), it’s still an absolute hoot. All of the actors do a fine job, and the 90 minute show even reaches a satisfying conclusion. Albeit a long one, I wouldn’t think of anything in it that should go. And it just keeps getting funnier toward the end, videos included.
The best part might have to be the projection shown during the “pre-show” announcements. I heard a more incestuous promotional one at the Green Venue earlier that night to see Heart of Coal, but the Zombie Girlfriend pre-emptor included instructions on the projection screen of how to avoid the pre-show announcements. We all threw in a “Hells year mother fuckas!” for good measure.
Overall, Zombie Girlfriend is a fine time to be had, and both for its humor and low ticket cost, a show I’d recommend to anyone and everyone.
It seems the last time we wrote a sparkling review of a then somewhat lesser known artist at Fringe, he won Patron’s Pick. (And he used our quote on his promotional materials, which drove our stock up!) I took a certain sense of pride in knowing that we had picked ourselves a winner. For me, I think when the critical voice meets the things that move people, you have truly great art. Mark Baratelli did that last year, and we congratulate him again this year for winning the Blue Venue Patron’s Pick this year, in a very tough field!
However, we wrote another sparkling review of a show that did not receive such a sparkling review in another publication. May have caused controversy, and yes, I believe that everyone is entitled to their opinion. When I have deep discussions over art and criticism with my mother, she usually says to me, “That’s why they make chocolate and vanilla ice cream.” What one person loves is not for everyone. And any good critic knows that – every good critic, actually. And while I will defend critics and the critique of even shows at a non-juried event like Fringe to the end, it’s nice to say that you can pick a winner.
So we here at Blogging Fringe want to send a special congratulations to the outstanding team behind the Red Venue Patron’s Pick – Calculus: the Musical! What started out as a series of mnemonic devices to remember tricky formulas (I’m really having a Pete and Pete flashback now!) has taken this year’s Fringe by storm, with three sell-out dates and an extremely successful run. Not only that, but Sadie and Marc of Matheatre are two of the nicest people I’ve ever met, and so I just want to extend a special congratulations. We are proud of all of the Patron’s Picks winners, but every blog has to have a darling, I guess.
Hooray for Little Isaac!
Calculus: the Musical! will be playing in the Red Venue at 11am on Monday, May 28th.
Once again, TJ Dawe needs no help with promotions. None at all. His three shows this year are selling hugely, and rightly so. I have not yet caught Dishpig, but 52 Pick-Up was absolutely stellar, not to mention an impressive feat of its two actors.
Maxim and Cosmo was described by the Orlando Weekly (I believe) as another master-class in monologue. Absolutely right. Except that it’s not even really a theatrical piece. It’s Mr. Dawe, sitting down with a microphone and a bottle of vitamin water, and having a one-sided conversation with the audience. It felt like I was back in college, listening to a lecture.
Now I graduated with honors, but I skipped my fair share of classes in my university tenture. But let me tell you – if TJ Dawe had been my professor, I would arrive at every lecture a half hour early and camp out before every one of his office hours. Damn.
And Maxim and Cosmo is just as insightful as a lifetime’s worth of sociological research. Screw reading dissertations male and female relations, just go see this show. I came in with high expectations as a fan of the One Man Trilogies and A Canadian Bartender at Butlin’s, but this exceeded them all. Seriously. Enlightening, insightful, and funny as shit, just go see it already. There’s nothing more I can say. Go see it or you will die lonely and unhappy.
Patron’s Picks are being predicted, already. And you’ve all seen the lines wrapped around the box office computers.
It’s getting tense. There will be more handing out of little flyers, more rushes for tickets for shows you haven’t seen, more final performances for certain shows, more beer tent melees, more of everything, for five more days.
So who better to come out of blogging hiding than BF’s Head Bitch in Charge (otherwise known as the HBIC)?
That’s right kids, I’m back. But I can say that I haven’t seen a show I haven’t liked thus far, so no worries. I’m more selective than I was last year, but I’ve also seen more.
And I probably think too highly of my own opinion. No, wait. I definitely think too highly of my own opinion. But that’s the power you have when you piss people off! There is no bigger ego-stroking to a critic than bad feedback. If you write something worth arguing with, then you’ve arrived as, well, something. Maybe.
Anyway. Thus far this year, I think the Fringe has been better overall. The ticketing system, while it may be strange to carry around a bunch of receipts, works super quickly and is nearly fool-proof. There have been some negative sentiments expressed thus far about the “celebrity announcements” before the shows, but a) I haven’t seen shows in all of the venues and b) I haven’t heard any “celebrity announcers” who had shows this year at the Fringe, so I have yet to be offended by them. The shows are great, as well, although maybe I’m silly but I could go for a little more drama. I love musicals as much as any show tunes singin’ queen, but maybe a few more really thought-provoking shows could help round it out better.
The most significant improvement, and that which beats out all others, has been the relocation of the beer tent. From a simple patio barbeque behind the Shakespeare Festival to the creation of the paper mushroom littered Green, where vendors are thriving and the community feel of the Fringe has swelled to an all-time high. I have met so many people this year and felt like such a part of the Fringe family so far, even just a simple blogger, audience member, and sometimes volunteer. It’s been wonderful so far, and here’s hoping that the Festival’s closing keeps it up.
Here’s to a Memorial Day weekend for the ages! Stay tuned for my recommendations based on what else I’ve loved so far.
Apparently, these two from Austin, TX doesn’t need my help. I was told by a professed math lover the other night at the Blogging Fringe tent that he had wanted to see Calculus, but that it had been sold out every night. I believe it, too. The crowd on Saturday night was packed almost to capacity, and everyone, mostly older patrons, laughed at every single joke fired off. The show was whimsical, surprising, well-executed, and above all, the definition of adorkable.
I can’t take credit for making up that word – I thought I might have been the first, but thinking better of my own cleverness, I googled it and found it littered among long-published blogs. Oh well. But I had never truly discovered the epitome of this newly christened vernacular term until I saw this show.
Everything about it is nerdy. The multi-media, the costumes, the “cameos”, the script, the format, the chemistry between its two actors, the almost lo-fi production feel, the obvious pop-culture and higher mathematics obsessions that went into its creation, everything. You probably heard me say this on the video the other night, but as a former band geek who buddied up with the math and physics kids in high school, this show was the perfect marriage of those two worlds.
The female lead of the show is the cutest person at Fringe so far, second only to TJ Dawe. She somewhat carried the show with her outstanding accompaniment skills and great show voice. The writer and male lead had a hard time projecting, but honestly, that was my only complaint about the show. Everything else about it was 100% satisfying, and will give geeks like myself a strange sense of pride, knowing that we’re not the only one to laugh at jokes about Germans, French pronunciation and spelling, Sir Isaac Newton and this therapist’s obvious concerns, and derivative formulas. I never wanted it to end.
Being my first Fringe show for the year, I guess I had high expectations. Really, I was just excited about being back in this den of debauchery, seeing great performances.
Also, being the VH1 aficionado and pop culture fiend that I am, this show intrigued me. It also intrigued me that this was the same company last year that put on tape – while they were still in high school. Holy shit. I didn’t see their production last year, but being familiar with the movie adaptation of the play, I would have been terrified of the subject matter when I was in high school. One thing’s for sure, these young Fringers don’t play around.
Show:Matt and Ben Company:Penguin Point Productions - Winter Park, FL Venue:pink (Orlando Shakes) Times:5/18 - 9:10PM, 5/20 - 11:00AM, 5/21 - 9:40PM, 5/22 - 7:40PM, 5/24 - 5:30PM, 5/25 - 8:35PM, 5/27 - 12:25PM Tickets: $10
This time around, the subject matter is decidedly lighter. Thinking about it, they mess with your head a little in the sense of a show about actors playing actors, but nonetheless, it’s quite palatable faire. It seemed a little out of date to wax nostalgic over the long lost days of the best buddy-ship of Affleck and Damon, but nonetheless, the players of Penguin Point put on a show worth watching. On their opening night, things were a little shaky. They still needed to get used to some of their lines (and it’s a whole lot of dialogue in its 90 minutes run time), the tech could use some work, and their set seemed to be working against them. That made for some of my favorite parts of the show though. The two actors were more comfortable than ever while improving amidst the mishaps, and the television set provided some of the most laughs of the show.
As for the show itself, it’s quite intriguing, and those who can’t resist at least reading tabloid headlines as they pass by in the grocery line will love this. This show, the brainchild of Mindy (also known as the Indian girl from NBC’s The Office and The 40-Year Old Virgin, who I want to see more of everywhere) and someone else, recounts an imagined (or maybe not so much) story of a struggling BFF team on whose doorstep a brilliant script falls – that of Good Will Hunting, with the boys’ names already on it. Damon and Affleck deal with their sky-fallen good fortune in a variety of ways before choosing to accept their fate and put together the film. Dead on in the subject matter, right down to an Oscar acceptance speech thanking Cuba Gooding Jr., the script it a great laugh. My favorite scene was a reading of one of the more poignant scenes of Good Will Hunting, with Damon of course as a forceful Will and Affleck faking a British accent to be Skylar. The two actors read the scene of the script (how meta!), Damon slams the door, returning soon to laugh it up with his buddy as they nod their heads and say, “That’s so good!”
This show won’t rock your world, but it’s one worth seeing. The script is a proven entity and the set in itself is a wonder to look at. Penguin Point put enormous effort into their set design, increasing the show’s comedic appeal with the dingy room décor and the actor’s “notes”. The actors are energetic and have good chemistry as well, and the Damon impersonator is a near dead-ringer. Affleck’s supposed doppelganger doesn’t quite match the classic All-American Affleck charm and square-jawed good looks, but who does? Any actor (at least a straight one) who looked like Ben Affleck wouldn’t be appearing at the Orlando Fringe. I hope these boys keep coming out with such detailed and well-produced shows. We’ll be the better for it too, when we say we saw them get their feet wet. Every young TJ Dawe has to start somewhere, and these kids are well on their way.
So for me, my last night at Fringe was on Friday. I was happy to be there that day, although because of weather/travel issues, I missed Tape. I was really interested in seeing it not only because I’ve seen the film adaptation (and my boyfriend loves it), but because I am interested to see how a high school production fits into Fringe. I support the kids doing it, and I think it’s fantastic experience to be around so many professionals. I just really wanted to see it and I was sad that I did not get the chance.
For anyone who might be confused, I can only excuse my general absence at many Fringe events for the reason that I go to school full time and work two part time jobs - and I don’t have a car. So if I missed your show, I apologize, but I’m a busy girl.
On the other hand, I was extremely excited to have seen what I did of the festival. I had only experienced the 2004 Fringe before this, but in writing the preview for that year’s Festival, I conducted a great deal of research and had recieved many press kits. I love covering the Festival, and I hope to be able to do it in the future.
The most important thing that I’d like to say, however, is that we are SO PROUD of Mark Baratelli winning the Patron’s Pick for the Blue Venue! I think Ryan will agree with me when I say that we were privileged to have met up with Mark before the Festival began. I am very glad that our efforts have helped to promote his show, but all of the accolades he gets, he deserves.
And while some people might not agree with my initial reviews of Fringe shows and accused me of slight fellatio with my Mark review, I think the fans speak for themselves. When discussing what Fringe is all about, I can simply say that Mark “gets it”, maybe better than any of the shows that I saw this year.
Suffice to say, thank you to everyone who supported this project, thank you to everyone who patronized our site or paid us any attention, and congratulations to Mark! This is the beginnings of great things for you!
The schedule for tomorrow’s shows goes at follows:
Red Venue: 12pm - Bathhouse! the Musical (Already sold out!)
Blue Venue: 1:30pm - Improv Cabaret
Green Venue: 2:30pm - Life: the Evolution of Man
Purple Venue: 4pm - Stale Magnolias
Brown Venue: 8pm - Lilly and Lila’s Lovely Lesbian Hour
Orange Venue: 9:15pm - The Lion Queen and the Naked Go-Go Club
Pink Venue: 11pm - Mr. Charles, Currently of Palm Beach
For all of the “staff” at BloggingFringe.com, TJ Dawe has obviously been a huge part of our experience. Seeing that most of us had already seen Charles Ross’s One Man Lord of the Rings, One Man Star Wars et. al., both of which TJ directed, and most of us girls simply fell in love with him, he was a big name from the start of the week.
And then we got to interview him.
And we saw him at Mark’s show.
And then I saw his show, Canadian Bartender at Butlin’s. Amidst very rude audience members with their cell phones, and TJ himself rearranging the audience, the show went off extremely well. A packed house at the venue where two years ago I saw One Man Lord of the Rings greeted our Canadian friend, who had put fun facts about his home country on the show’s program. Of course, Bartender is all about the experience of a Canuck in the pop culture slums of Great Britain.
Dawe is, as expected, absolutely amazing. He elicits laughter, reflection, sympathy, and more than anything else, true appreciation from his audiences. His physical sensibilities are unparalled and he builds such a clear and vivid setting out of only the black box in which he performs.
And I am not worthy to truly critique such a brilliant performer, but I will say that prefer Dawe’s story-telling - long, drawn out tales that are deftly woven into a completely coherent product - as opposed to his explanations of things, such as British terminology. I could listen to that man talk about windows and television programs all day, but the law of diminishing returns went into effect on about the fifth Britslang definition.
Nonetheless, TJ has been an amazing performer all Fringe long and has been very kind to us. I was even able to snag a picture and a signature after the show, even though I didn’t buy a script afterwards. He’s so dreamy.
I think I am one of many who is looking foward to the premiere of Maxim and Cosmo at next year’s Festival!
Last night, while I hung out with Katharine at the WHiRR booth (where we got fresh with Boris the Robot), Ryan made out with TJ Dawe in the grass between the two main theatres.
He even pointed out where their buttprints were. Amazing.
More details later. Suffice to say, we are all jealous of Ryan. Very much so. I love my boyfriend, but I wouldn’t say no to making out with TJ Dawe. I get to FINALLY see his show tonight, for which I am extremely excited. Yay Fringe!
In other news, when you head to the Green, Red, or Purple venues, or on your way to check out Ryan and TJ Dawe’s buttprints, PLEASE stop by and visit the Dandelion Communitea booth. they having amazing organic/natural/delicious food, as well as very nice people working the booth. We love them. And get some lemonade. You won’t regret it! It will make you healthier than the beer tent will!
Hence asks a character in the ensemble comedy Misleading Perceptions. Someone would probably ask this of me, as a “critic”, of shows that are meant to be “100% unjuried”. I suppose my response to this would be that those who are not judged by any academy must be judged by their peers - and that criticism can be far harsher (I should know).
Regardless, I return with a second (and hopefully less drama-inciting) review.
After my first night Fringing (I love the noun to verb transition), I came away with a few impressions of the Festival thus far. This being only my second one, you might consider me unqualified. Untrue - see below!
The site Blogging Fringe (http://bloggingfringe.com) was created by Ryan Price for the purpose of chronicling and reviewing the Orlando Fringe Festival. Three intrepid bloggers - Ryan, Emily Scott, and Katharine Miller - are determined to capture and publicize as many events of the 2006 Fringe as possible. It is this endeavor’s sincere hope to capture the spirit of one of Orlando’s most significant cultural events.
Blogging Fringe is a channel of Liberatr.net, a media network of podcasts, pro blogs and internet television. The programs and channels of Liberatr.net serve serve a wide variety of interests, including local music, independent film, pop culture, fine arts, comedy, professional football and live music. The flagship podcast of Liberatr, entitled “You Can’t Spell Crapface without PFA” and hosted by Ryan and Emily, has garnered up to 350+ listeners in its first four months of existence. Liberatr.net is hosted by Cervo Systems, an IT and multimedia services provider based in Kissimmee, FL. Cervo was founded by Charles Kreuger and also employs Ryan.
Addtionally, Katharine Miller and Emily Scott are previously published writers and media critics who continue to produce freelance work. Katharine has written several articles about local theatre companies, including Orlando Theatre Project and Mad Cow, and Emily published a preview of Fringe 2004 for the indie (entertainment section for the Central Florida Future). Katharine Miller’s work can be found through her KLM designs website: http://www.blissfullybitter.com/klm/articles.html. Some samples of Emily Scott’s can also be found on her website, although she is continually publishing them online: http://www.geocities.com/sheilarides/writing.html.
Ryan Price can be contacted through e-mail at rprice@cervosystems.com or by phone at 407-484-8528.
