While doing some web surfing, I noticed some video of the Silent Rave Dancers on the Green at Loch Haven Park.
Then I started clicking around…
There is some great stuff in there, like this one with Brian Feldman doing some audience participation. I don’t know if the gay lover story was the same every night, but I’m really sorry I missed that show.
Props go out to Tisse and her camera. But don’t forget, she’s “Not just a photographer” (her words). She also does a brand of life coaching she calls Artist Development, and she’s organizing some events around town, like Artissed Night.
Why did I start a blog about Mark and finish it about Tisse? Mark was how I first heard about her, and they have been working together a lot lately on the Orlando Arts Blog, which has always been awesome, but now is starting to be even more multimedia. Please go check them out.
Ryan leaves his thoughts about TV iMature in the Green Venue. Call 321-441-3964 to leave your review.
Thank you to Cervo Systems for providing bandwidth and hosting for Blogging Fringe.
The file is just an MP3 - no iPod is required to listen to this show, although that is a popular way to enjoy podcasts. We have also made our feed available for easy linking to iTunes or other feed readers.
Where does one begin? I often find that when writing these theatre reviews, it’s a good idea to gather my thoughts, think about what I want to say and in what order; I don’t have time for that, I’m going back to see the last showing in an hour!
I first learned about this production through a friend who helped to workshop the format for this improvised 90-minute board-game inspired murder mystery… she and several other students, under the direction of David Charles, PhD. - Assistant Professor of Theatre and Dance at Rollins College. The whole play is improvised, so there are bound to be some times during such a long show where the scenes may be stronger or weaker - to counteract that, “Dr. David” and his class developed dozens of devices to help them create a sustainable story throughout the length of the show.
We begin at the stately home of a Mr. Phil Reynolds, a successful lawyer with a deceased rich wife. His business partner Toni and spouse Gene the artist will be guests at tonights party, along with his child Bobby and sibling Toni, servant Pat, and lifelong friend Dr. Chris. An unexpected guest arrives, and, inevitably, there is a murder! Some classic (yet improvised) scenes are played on the stage of the Annie Russell Theatre, which has been masterfully converted to the perfect setting for these 8 unlikely murderers or murderesses to play out their little drama. You’ll laugh, you’ll scratch your head, and above all you’ll have fun.
I’ve got so much more to tell, but no time to tell it… we continue our recap when I return from the last showing of Murder We Wrote tonight!
**** Continued ****
As the play begins, you see a man sitting at a bar, and as he turns to the audience, he gives us the look the look that says “Are you ready for this?”. At all three showings, David’s entrance gave us a laugh. This audience was ready to have fun. The story is set up as an “exploration of the human psyche” where “a seemingly random series of events” may yield “murderous results”, and the setup for the game begins. Three decks of cards are passed out to the audience and shuffled, then used to select a victim, a murder weapon, a location and… the murderer. The recited banter during this section kept us paying attention, instead of looking down at our “ballots” where we would later guess whodunnit. Only the Assistant Director and the killer know all the details of the crime before the final moments of the play when a confession is yanked out of the murder him or herself.
Once the setup is done, we the audience have also suggested a song title, a nervous habit, an annoying catch phrase, and several other ways for the players to use to make us feel as much like the writers of the story as the people on and off stage. Just before, however, is perhaps the most exciting part: the character cards are shuffled, and 7 of the 8 roles are completely randomized by members of the audience. All the parts are non-gender specific, including the married couple, and relationships between siblings and children. Even the order of entrance for the characters is ever-changing, decided by the backstage team of a dozen or more people who are constantly feeding the actors suggestions, props, cues, even their catchphrases, and reconciling any plot holes during intermission. There are countless challenges for the lighting and sound team as well, and opportunities for them to drive the story as much as anyone down at the stage level.
The most rewarding parts of the show come in the second act, where the details of the murder are spoon-fed to us at fixed intervals (or as much as can be with an improvised show). We already know the victim before we take the intermission and make our guesses, and immediately after, the location of the murder is revealed. I don’t know to give credit to one person for this, or the whole team of students, along with Dr. David who playtested and researched this last summer, but there is some expert game design at work here.
Then someone suggests “we should split up and search the house”, and each of the 8 characters takes one of the doors leading to various wings and levels of the house, only to frantically burst out of the door in a ballet of “who am I on stage with, and what do we do now?”, the inner workings of which I know is my job to keep a secret, but congratulations to J. Hannah White, the lighting designer for her brilliant stroke on that one. There’s also a more traditional improv game set up in the coat closet, at the bar, and up on the balcony, where the players pass lines to each other like a hot potato that is always unpredictable and fun. It’s these sort of moments that make us forget we’re watching the story being written in real-time.
Last but not least, all the cast re-assemble in the main hall to try and figure out for themselves who the murderer is. Things at this point can get rather tense, and apparently, a wrestling match broke out during this scene on Friday between actor Seth and Dr. David. The atmosphere teeters on melodramatic as actors are eliminated, concealed weapons are pulled, dead bodies lie on the couch and revealing letters are read… or none of these things happen and they just wing it, it’s really different every night.
What’s that? Sorry you missed it? I feel sorry for your too. This show could run every night down on International Drive if the team were so inclined. I don’t remember how much of Sleuths Dinner Theatre is improvised, maybe I’ll have to go back and do some post-game research. So far, the closest things I’ve seen to this level of story plus improvisation in such a long form are The Adventurer’s Club at Pleasure Island, which I would consider a distant script-heavy cousin of Muder We Wrote (all the endings are decided, most of the jokes and songs are repeated, but the cast is always changing), and SAK Comedy Lab’s The Early Show, which plays every other Friday at Midnight, and is completely improvised with no backstage magic, just the performers left to their own devices.
What makes these other productions around town the same or different from this show? In Murder, we the audience are all following this global discovery as we ourselves and the rest of the actors and around-stage hands and minds try to figure out the story. In regular improv or something more scripted, we either have a better or worse idea of where the ending is. We have an idea of how we think it could happen, and the several dozen people actually driving do as well, but there’s no way to know until the last possible moment when the killer reveals his or her secret and we have a collective pay-off. There’s lots more to say about what’s happening here and how they pulled off the format, but then this would be getting into research paper territory, and I’d need to start giving examples from other historic or contemporary works, and… well, we’re only blogging here!
I’ve never taken a theatre class in my life, and I graduated from UCF 4 years ago (almost to the day), but my biggest takeaway from this was a desire to enroll at Rollins under Dr. David Charles. You can tell everyone involved on this play was having such a great time, and the fact that people were coming back to watch a second, third, or even more showings is a testament to the fun and intrigue of this production, and the charm exuded by David and his cast. Congratulations to Megan Borkes, Ana Eligio, Joseph Bromfield, Chelsea Dygan, Erica Leas, Seth Strutman, Emily Smith, Roberto Pineda, Michael Neil Mastry, Danny Tuegel, Liz Weisstein, and Rob Yoho, along with all the other cast and crew, on an excellent run.
Arts journalism is being cut back at newspapers all over the country, including the Sentinel, because somebody higher up the chain of command thinks it’s not important.
Now you know and I know that that’s not the case. If arts journalism were to go away, the arts would have a hard time getting their message out. And all of us would suffer.
One suggestion was for the board members and high-rollers at each arts organization to lobby the people they know who run newspapers. Tell them how important the arts are, and how much you want to read about the arts in the paper.
Now, today, the Sentinel’s public editor, Manning Pynn, has made a related suggestion in his Sunday column. The Sentinel wants its readers to tell us what you’re interested in, he says. We’ll shape our coverage to please you.
So PLEASE. If you love theater, and you love the arts, write to Manning Pynn and tell him so. Tell him you want more arts coverage, not less, in the paper. Tell him how important it is to Orlando’s arts community and to our society that the arts be encouraged to flourish.
To write him, just email public@orlandosentinel.com. Of, if you’re a telephone person, call 407-650-6410.
To the editor:
Please take a moment to consider the ramifications of including less arts coverage in the local paper.
First of all, including articles from the associated press or syndicated from other papers is hardly what I’d call original and creative, so please none of that.
Second, on printed or online arts and culture coverage.
A large part of what defines the fingerprint of a community are those things that can only be found in the local area - those who grew up locally or who started working in the local industries (in our case, entertainment, engineering and military) and then branched out to do their own thing. SAK Theatre and Mad Cow are great examples of this, as well as Jester Theatre Company or the Orlando Fringe Festival. The first reason for any of these entities to exist is because of the vision of the founders and organizers - locals who are dedicated to their craft.
There are countless other examples in other areas of the arts besides theatre - take the Broken Speech Poetry Slam at Stardust or Preacher Bill’s songwriter showcase at Taste. Local art at Dandelion and all the cafes in town; shows at Back Booth, Crooked Bayou, Underground Bluz, Orlando Brewing Company and the like.
As the only main stream publication in town, you have a responsibility to the community to help give Orlando’s fingerprint more definition, not only to the locals but to the millions of tourists and passers-by who visit Central Florida every year.
Cutting coverage of Arts and Culture is a step in the wrong direction, and in fact encouraging the homogenization of a city desperately trying to imitate other major cities, thinking that by building some condos, allocating money to new developments and hiring designers who have worked in other distinctive cities that we can catch some of the glow created by these places in some sort of sad mirror. Mirrors, however, are not designed for looking at others, but at oneself. Help this city see the glow we have already achieved, and we may shine all the brighter.
My best wishes to you in a time of transition for the Sentinel and the Tribune Company as a whole.
Peace,
Ryan Price
FloridaCreatives.com
BloggingFringe.com
OrlandoScene.TV
RyanPriceMedia.com
In Edinburgh, venuemanagers choose their plays. Professional work, which deserves a wider audience,debuts at the festival. Producers and talent scouts swarm the city, expecting andenjoying a certain level of quality.By contrast, the lottery system that has sustained and nurtured festivals throughoutNorth America contains a flaw that will always curtail growth. Truly challenging andtruly brave theatrical art drowns in a sea of amateurism. Edmonton’s most talentedwriters, directors and performers launched their careers at the festival, using it asan opportunity to learn and grow, but it’s hardly a destination for the country’s — oreven the city’s — best players. Some nights, sitting with two other people in Acacia Hall, as an accountant stumbles through a series of cliches about his cat, thedarkness of divorce and globalism, the Brave Fringer can’t help but wonder:
Shouldn’t I be watching a real play, or sleeping in my bed?
Surely Mayne and his colleagues know this, but the Fringe needs better plays, notbetter access to tickets, for a genuine breakthrough. And the only way to ensurequality is to circumvent the lottery system, partially at first, with juried venues.
As I write this, Muapin is out of town… ha ha! the whole town to myself!!!
I must say that I’ve never had a face-to-face conversation with anyone involved with Hate Mail… What does this mean? Well, I think it means an un-biased attitude. OK, I have had a little interaction with the Technical Director, but I’m not sure that counts for a review.
I think the ‘gimmick’ and also one of the least important parts about this play is that every single line that is spoken is in fact part of a letter or a note… I didn’t know this going in, and it didn’t affect my perception one bit. The story is strong enough to carry the narrative along no matter what happens.
Second, you will notice the performance from the actors… I must say Act II is better and Act I, I guess because more memorization is needed? In act I, I heard David noting that he used so many adjectives that he couldn’t help but use his crib notes / props to help him remember his lines… I also talked to a performer in attendance about memorizing SO many lines without having anyone to bounce them off of… he thought it would be a boon as opposed to a challenge.
Really, I thought both performers were exceptional, especially in the context of opening night. I’m an “A for Effort” guy, but no grading curve is needed for Hate Mail - absolutely worth the $15 ($12 for students), even if parking makes it a hassle.
The set design, especially for a minimalist space like the Studio Theatre, was EXACTLY what it needed to be, not an iota more or less. I totally understood the major changes of scenery with no coaching whatsoever from the lines (although such help was available). This being my first Jester Theatre production, I’m glad Jay moved away from improv (SAK) to pursue “real theatre”.
This brings me to another point… in February the Jester Theatre Company will host its first show (the repeatedly popular Musical of Musicals: The Musical) at the new Garden Theatre in historic downtown Winter Garden… a sight to look forward to… with NO PAID PARKING.
Resident curmudgeon Linwood Sassy posted some link bait for me… I’ll bite!
Dammit! I never got the friggen chance to reveal MY “Cringe Crush” at this year’s fest. (Some of us are Entertainment LEGENDS and had SOLD OUT shows to do, ya bastards!)
I loved Poofy du Vey. A woman in a clown nose turns me ON!
Oh…and thanks a bunch to you folks that crushed ME. Watch the videos below, ya bastards.
When your work appears on the internet and you suggest that the only info you could find was on Maupin’s blog, you’d better be ready for some bloggers to find you and slam your shit. Rick Pender from the all-knowing, singing, dancing, elephant-taming CityBeat A&E Blog seems to think that if you can’t find information about Patron’s Pick on the official website, then it must not be true.
Seriously man, the first comment gives you THREE LINKS to follow! You couldn’t find those? Try using the words “orlando” “fringe” and especially “blog“, why dontcha! Add the word “calculus” (because that’s what you’re searching for) and watch our review sit right below the one you linked to, and then tell me you couldn’t find it! I know you live in Cincinatti, but I think the internet tubes that run there are the same as the ones down here, and I’m pretty damn sure Google works the same everywhere.
He then proceeds to call Patron’s Pick by the wrong name, calling it audience pick, like he can’t use the right terminology. Is he trying to discredit our festival or Calculus: The Musical! Just because you don’t like something is no reason to keep dragging it through the mud every chance you get! Your Fringe reviewer liked the show, why all this hate? More than one person can play this game, CityBeat! Get off your ass, we’re watching now!
P.S. Rick: We have these things called Web Stats, ever heard of them? I know for a fact that the night before this blog was published, someone searching for “Calculus the Musical” did in fact find our blog, so for the last time, don’t say you can’t find the info.
“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.
Hot on the heels of posting about Emily’s record review, let me point you to P-Sha Productions on YouTube (which I’m sure is temporary until they get a real web site) for one. P-Sha is Denna and her friend Joey’s creative venture. You’ve seen their work in the “Little Mark” videos and Fringe Crush of course. They also did a great announcement for the Broadway Across America 07-08 Season.
Jamie is an actor currently in school and I’ll be sure to let you know when and where she’s performing this season.
One of last year’s contributors, Katharine, is currently attending art school in Toronto and keeping up with Boris and WHiRR. She’s also been producing a web comic called Robot of Leisure on and off for almost a year now.
As for myself, I have a few things I’d like to talk about. Orlando Scene TV is a brand new project I’m working on with a number of people including Fringe’s own Mark Baratelli. Orlando Video is a simple blog where I showcase online video produced locally, and anyone can submit a video. I will soon be re-launching Liberatr.net, the parent website of all my projects, with a new look and feel and loads of new features, like a local bulletin board, a Wikipedia-esque directory of local people and places, event listings, reviews, and links to stuff you want to find. Think Blogging Fringe but for all of Central Florida. The interesting thing is, it will never be complete unless the community gets involved.
Last but not least is the Florida Creatives Happy Hour. Right after I started this group I found out about a few others in town that had more history and more consistent attendance, but I really believe we need a discipline-agnostic, wide-reaching powerful group with the ability to educate, unite disparate groups, and exist independent of a government or corporation. We get together on the third Monday of every month at the Crooked Bayou in downtown Orlando (and hopefully other cities in Florida soon) to have a beer and meet up. That’s it. No agenda, no membership fee. You even get a free button! Event listings and RSVPs Upcoming.
Please keep Blogging Fringe in your subscriptions, as we’re going to do our best to keep some great content coming out here all year long, particularly for Orlando Puppet Festival this fall. We still have a few more reviews to post, a few more videos to upload and lots more reflection to do for next year. I might be trying to make it to another Fringe this summer - I’ll keep you posted.
That’s right, we have a real live music reviewer on our site, and she wrote a fabulous review of the music from the Red Venue Patron’s Pick. One of my favorite bits of the article is when she had to explain the Fringe to a fickle, theatre-agnostic, indie rock loving audience:
… One incredible thing about Orlando (there’s at least one) is that the City Beautiful is home to the longest running Fringe Festival in North America. For a city generally associated with Disney and conservative thought, I guess we do have some cultural significance. The Fringe itself started over 50 years ago in Edinburgh, Scotland, and put most simply, is a non-juried festival of art, theatre, music, and mayhem, open to anyone who would like to put on a show. Essentially you could almost say the first Fringe was the very first ever indie rock festival. There are festivals all over the world, and Orlando’s is somewhat notable. Every May, the Fringe rolls through, bringing with it public nudity, copious amounts of alcohol and joints, hysteria-driven writer/actors, strange pets, dance troupes, zombies, hippies, and more drag queens than you probably should shake a stick at. It’s a sight to see, but as I found out by exposing some of my certifiable nerd friends to the chaos, it can be almost too much to take in.
If you want to know what Emily thought of the record, head over to RetroLowFi.com and check out the full text. Please leave a comment, as well - it’s good Blog Karma. Emily is one of 5 or so contributors to the site, with music, live performances, television, film and books being among the main subjects discussed. It has a decidedly international focus, which I never seem to be able to achieve with any of my projects (I don’t have any affiliation with the group except friendship), and the reviews are top-of-the-line and very biased - like good reviews should be. If you’re in to fringe pop culture, check out RetroLowFi.
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.
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.
You asked for it, you got it… MORE FRING CRUSHES!!!!! I’ve put them all on a player! Keep checking back so you don’t miss a one… who knows could be you that gets Fringe crushed!
Day 5 aka Tuesday is a repeat day of Monday, you know the kind, it just seems the amse but different. I find myself in place to break my personal record of 32 Fringe year with 19 shows seen before the half way point, which is today!
My 5 started at one of those shows that is near and dear to my heart (and maybe on day to my wallet) Mark Baratelli’s Improv Cabaret in the blue venue. I am very lucky to have seen this show grow since it’s conception last year. Mark almost never stops making me laugh! I laughed so hard I cried. If you missed it last year, don’t miss it this year!
I stayed in the blue venue for the next 2 shows. The White Guy and Born to Be Asian both shows on ethnicity both in the blue…. Coincidence?? Who knows.
The White Guy is one of two show from Pocketchange (Out of Pocket is their other) at the Fringe. It’s a one mans story of his “white” life. Mark is a great story teller and I found it charming knowing that this based on his real life. Now I just want to see a picture of his baby! Born to be Asian is a ensemble show all about.. you guessed it being Asian. The 365 gang stopped by for a little preshow, all tied together with a nice message at the end.
Across the Green to the purple venue (aka Trish’s house) for Bat Boy: the Musical. What a huge production. I think they might have the most cast members in their show out of the entire Fringe. The Winter Springs Performing Arts, a new arts group, brings the big show to the Fringe. Another fun fact- all of the musical sound you hear in the show was created by a cast members. Wow!
And last but not least… back across the green to the pink venue to see Gemma Wilcox in The Honeymoon is Officially Over. Amazing! I loved all the specificity of all of the characters. I especially like the personification of the animals in her story. Last nights audience was full of Fringe performers which was really cool. A good time was had by all!
Check out the tattoo Queen of influx Dance (Rye) at work even when seeing a show! Now that’s dedication
