Today was the first day of The New York International Fringe Festival - a 17 day bonanza of low-low-budget theatre, most of which ranges from excruciatingly bad to mediocre, with a very small sample actually being enjoyable. Being a glutton for punishment, I plan on seeing as many shows as possible.
I only went to see one show tonight, but I am happy to report that it was a success. Perhaps this is a sign of good things to come from this year's festival. Tonight's show was "Show Choir: The Musical." Not without it's fair share of problems, I have to say that it was overall very enjoyable. The show is about, as you can probably guess, "the art of show choir." Act I traces the founding and rise to fame of The Symphonic Sensations - a high school show choir that grows into an international sensation. The first act is pretty much just fun, tongue-in-cheek fluff. I will say that I found the story was wearing a little thin by the end of the act (I think it was around an hour and a quarter) and at intermission I found myself wondering why the writers just didn't end the show there, because the silly story seemed to have run its course. But then there's Act II, which is a weird sort of a mess. In the second act, we see how the show choir members deal with their newfound fame (not well), and what that does to the choir. The second act really seemed to drag in the middle, the low point being one of those epilogue scenes where each character steps out and says what ended up happened to him/her... particularly strange because the show wasn't actually over when we were subjected to that scene. Luckily, things picked up near the end and the audience is able to leave satisfied and with a tune stuck in their heads. The whole story is set up as a kind of "Behind the Music" type-story (called "Beyond the Facade") which I can't say really made all that much sense.
The choreography is very impressive - definitely a hoot to watch (lots of show choir "jazz hands"). The cast is very enthusiastic and very very talented.
Considering it's part of the Fringe festival, I didn't really expect a polished, perfect show. So with my rather low expectations, for a show to leave me entertained with a tune stuck in my head, well that's good enough for me. I don't really see this as a breakout hit like "Urinetown" (and lets face it, isn't that really the only reason most anyone really goes to see anything the Fringe Festival?) but it's certainly a fun enough was to pass two and twenty minutes.
And now, back to circling interesting stuff in Fringe Guide - I'm only up to letter 'G'. Oy.
