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(407) 906-9249
Leave a voicemail of your crush, a quick show review, or a Fab Fringe Moment, we'll put it on the podcast!
You kids are taking this public?
The interview will be posted soon.
I am noticing a trend here...none of the other reviewers get the bitch bitch bitch from the moderator...hrmmmmmm...anyway.
Technically, you're not supposed to be breaking the fourth wall, either, but I sure like it when it comes crashing down! Viva experimentalism!
I think the people who can make it happen have recently met and can make it happen very easily with some planning.
Optional Scene 10 has been great. It's the part of the show that is different each time. So far we've had suggestions about what to do with bridesmaid gowns (such as donate them to the Cinderella Project or give them to kids for their dress-up fun), heard comments from a "Male Bridesmaid," (that would be you, Ryan), and I even had to put on the bride crown once and answer some questions about Tara the Bride. (She is 32, her man is 27, and he is in grad school to become a pharmacist.)
Keep in mind that this is a narrative, and your socks will not be blown off by my acting. They will remain comfortably on your feet throughout the show. I've had an internal debate going all my life- am I a writer or actor? introvert or extrovert? and all I can really say to answer those questions is that I am as much of all of those things as I can be. I was a writer and introvert first, so perhaps my Fringe shows have been part of a transition.
Readers, fellow bloggers, and whoever else is out there reading this, I hope you enjoy Fringe and see some fantastic shows! They are definitely out there!!
Gabi
I was pleased with how Wilson got his message across to the audience with his performance piece. He used song, dance, movement, and words to paint the picture for us. He also did a lot of research for the show, which is explained at the end when he provides statistics for us to think about. In all, I'd recommend this show, and wish Wilson the best of luck at Fringe!
My first comment after the show was "WOW, they just gave Fringe and experimental theatre the middle finger!"
Everyone give Mandy the Fringe Virgin a pat on the back for seeing a challenging show as her first!
Now, in true Blogging Fringe tradition, I will rebut.
I wasn't really sold from the time Jay-Z started, or even when I saw the projector. I guess it could be said that they used it to give the audience a geographic and temporal context for what is going on, but I thought theatre was there for us to believe the setting and the geography without having to see it. Since this is a parody of film, I suppose the visuals help to sell that idea.
Don't get me wrong, I would recommend this show to everyone reading this review. Endearing and funny. I just didn't agree with some of the reviewers comments.
For other shows within the Fringe, Hedwig and the Angry Inch as well as Serious Theatre both use projection (at least out of the shows I've seen) in completely different ways than Perceptions did. Look for those reviews elsewhere on this site.
Finally was able to catch "Improv Cabaret" yesterday and loved it. I laughed out loud a lot, which is something I didn't even do during TJ Dawe's amazingly funny show! Really some great songs too, like "Praise God for the Untalented" and two songs about homicide. "Speaking of going nowhere... I moved to Orlando." Hilarious.
Maybe by next year it (blogging/podcasts/etc. of Orlando Fringe) will reach the level of the Minnesota Fringe. Probably not, but here's hoping!
I am really excited about the Sentinel's blogging of Fringe. Have you seen their great postcards inviting Fringe patrons to come to the blog and leave comments about shows they've seen?
I haven't seen the show or anything at Fringe this year, but I completely empathize with Emily's position on this. The performer seems to argue that Emily's criticisms are unfounded because the show is just fun and isn't meant to be analyzed with such criteria. As a professional critic myself, I have to grapple with writing intellectually about films that aren't meant to be intellectual, and that doesn't make my jabs at the film's credibility less valid. Just because a work of art is only geared toward a lowest-common-denominator audience doesn't mean that work of art is not subject to the same critical objectives we hold to all works, regardless of form and genre.
Don't sell us critics short - we can appreciate lowbrow humor and light comedy too, if it's original and provocative, but most aren't (Hence there's one TEAM AMERICA for every ten DEUCE BIGELOWS), and it's our responsibility to convey our disgust in efforts to ignite a progressive, changing climate in art.
Again, I haven't seen your show, I'm just sayin'...
I do recognize him from a past production! I saw him in You Can't Take it With You at the Rep (Which was wonderful!). He played an old man who made illegal fireworks in the central family's basement. The guy who played the father is also in Sport (I think?) Sport was giggle-licious fun. I'm glad I saw it, and encourage others to do the same.
I am totally here to cause drama! Now you're all going to expect me to live up to my Simon Cowell-esque persona!
Yeah, the site is wonky to proteect against spam (and trust me, there is almost more spam than regular comments). Your first comment has to be approved, then you are considered legit.
James, what was the Fringe producer commenting on -- generally?
Just kidding. This site is wonky. ;)
Any reason my comment was deleted?
I hope my comments do not make anyone think I disliked the show: in fact I am thinking of going back tomorrow, and I told Wilson this when I saw him on the lawn.
This is also why we have two-way discussions on this blog - now you can question my writing.
Wow, that was a really in-depth interview. "Desperate Authors" sounds like it could be good if done right. Oh, and about the last thing Gabi said, that her character says in the play, "Don't try to find love on the internet. It's just a terrible, terrible idea," that's contradictory to the great notices coming out from the Purple Venue's "Real Time."
I'm sorry, but I have to side with Emily. Yes, the objective of the Fringe is to have a good time and enjoy some offbeat theatre. However, being that Emily was asked to write a review and not a fluff piece, she was perfectly in the right to be critical - that's what she was asked to do, and that's what a review is. To simply write "Wow! This guy can act! He's funny! People had fun!," it's basically like writing for Pitchfork - gratituous and mastubatory.
Simply being a performer isn't enough - is simply being a musician enough? A singer? A writer? Just because you have a job title doesn't mean you're good at it. At the same time, however, it doesn't mean you're not good at it. A review also gives nods to those aspects that were well done, something else Emily did to great detail.
Emily knows the ropes of criticism. She's not only written reviews for papers in the past, but she actually teaches people how to write and improve their own reviews and writing. She knows what reviews entail and she knows what should and should not be included. To commend her on her "attempt" at a review is misguided and, frankly, inappropriate on all fronts. And, just for the record, Emily is a musical performer.
It's fine for the people involved in a performance to be stirred up by a review - that's part of the intention of a review, to give not only one's opinion of a performance but to also tell the pluses and minuses of said show. Reviews are intended to keep performers of all levels on their toes in addition to informing a larger audience of what they may be in store for. That's what she was asked to do, and that's what she did.
- Nicole
I really liked this show a lot. It's one of those shows that makes us think and discuss while leaving the theater. And after as well... Just one comment on Ryan's line "audience members will likely be lost as to the meaning of the songs." Why do we have to know every single word and every single thing that happens during a show? Music is meant to be felt not to be understood. What about American songs being exported to parts of the world where English is not spoken but still they are listened and eventually consumed? Why do we have to understand every single word? Why must we have everything translated in this country? Why do we have this necessity of "rationalizing" everything that is presented to us instead of letting ourselves "feel" a piece of Art? Oens is surely worth seeing it. Don't miss it!
The poster for this show is confusing. I originally thought it was a Reduced Shakespeare Company-written play I had somehow failed to hear about. Alack and alas, this is not so. I wish that weren't the case.
No prayer necessary, TJ will be returning next year with his seventh all-new solo work, "Maxim & Cosmo." Should be his most topical show to date. The first must-see of 2007.
Yay for Fringes!! And Boris!!!!
Someone should go back and count the number of times Mark says