First, a totally random celebrity siting: I was walking home from Fringe show #13 down 5th Ave and I passed Hunter and Susan from [title of show]. Maybe I should have asked them about the recent blog entry that claims the show is moving to Broadway. Not like we haven't heard that before. And not like my fingers aren't crossed. Anyway, I know no one cares about the siting, but I'm excited.
And now, even though my behind is terribly sore from the last show I saw (in an un-air conditioned theatre, with hard wooden seats), my days 2-3-4 Fringe Festival Roundup:
FARMTRUCKS. This show had a problem that I've had with many of the shows I've seen so far at the Festival - it's a good idea, that is initially very funny, but that fizzles out before the end. The premise of the crazy people who work at and visit Starbu... I mean Farmtrucks coffee shops is a very good one. And for the first two thirds or so, the show is really really funny. But at some point, I found the concept had just been milked dry, and I started to lose interest. There are only so many times I can laugh about the almighty district office, and the snooty workers at the rival franchise, and the competition for the number one shop. Things were pretty steady though, until the final section - namely the Barista Olympics, which wasn't particularly well executed. The section starts off with an overlong (and fairly random) musical number. And then we hear about the results of the competition, but we don't actually see any of it enacted. I think I would have liked that section to be a bit more like (forgive me for the comparison) the Fry Cook Games on "Spongebob Squarepants" - that, albeit obviously in cartoon form, was a well executed food Olympic parody. The writer of "Farmtrucks" would be well served to study the delightful yellow sponge. Anyway, I overall did really enjoy the show. Even with the weak ending, there was enough that was really funny and that had me chuckling when I reminisced about it to make me think this is definitely worth seeing.
DIRT. This is a solo play performed in English, but originally written in German. The original German title, according to the program, was "Dreck," and that about sums up my feelings on the play. Dreck. An Iraqi rambles either named Sad (short of Saddam) and or Ahmed, and somewhere around the age of 30, rambles on and on about... I think life in America. I kept waiting for there to be a point, but it just never came. The actor was pretty likeable, so it wasn't quite as painful as it could have been, but that's not saying much.
ROLL WITH THE PUNCHES. The Fringe guide classified this and "Farmtrucks" as "musicals. Farmtrucks had a handful of songs; this show had... I think two. The Fringe guide classification system is truly a mystery. That said, this show was a campy campy hoot. The plot, if I were to try to explain it, would sound like a generic lame murder mystery. But performed by an extremely talented cast - including a drag queen in the leading roll of the woman in the wheelchair, this was really hilarious.
BUKOWSICAL. This has commercial hit written all over it. Get your tickets while they last. The premise is that we are watching a backers audition for a musical about writer Charles Bukowski. The show is perfectly polished, with an extremely talented cast, tuneful hilarious songs, and loads of insider musical theatre references that theatre geeks just love. Not to give too much away, but my favorite section was in the middle, when the audience is randomly treated to a song from an all African-American musical version of Chekhov's "The Three Sisters" - set in the 1960s in a barbershop The song is called "Sistah Sistah Sistah" and it had me falling out of my chair laughing. When a show has a line like "I hope your musical is as successful as "Jane Eyre," well... it just can't be bad!
THE OTHER SIDE OF DARKNESS. The Fringe guide strikes again. Apparently, if there is at least one song in a show, it's a musical, and if there's at least one joke, it's a comedy. This one was labeled "Drama Comedy." After the first line, I wanted to leave. And I still had an hour to go. This is an extremely depressing soap opera, completely with drippy flowery language, and (unintentionally) over the top acting. If I had been closer to the door, I would have left before intermission. As it was, as soon as the lights were up, I grabbed my bag and ran to the door. Beware.
WILLIAMSBURG: THE MUSICAL. I was sold out of this one on Saturday night, but luckily Sunday at noon is a less popular time. Well, maybe not luckily. The show is pretty mediocre. Half of it consists of random musical numbers about how great a place Williamsburg is for hipsters. Those songs, while entertaining, seemed like they might have come from a real estate promotional event. The other half was a dreary mix of a story about an evil real estate agent (I guess that came from the desire to not make the show look to obviously like a commercial) and a really dull love story between a hipster and a Hassid. The girl who played the hipster in the romance, gave a particularly impressive performance, but not enough to make this show enjoyable. It was just a total mess, rarely funny, and not very enjoyable.
ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM. I was excited when I got my program for this, because I found out, to my surprise, that it was written and directed by Dan Fogler, and featured Sarah Saltzburg (Logainne Shwartzandgrubinierre in "Spelling Bee") as well as the original Brian in "Avenue Q." The show is an adaptation of Ionesco's "The Rhinoceros." It's not bad, but I found it far too long. This was another show where a good idea just went on too long. The entire cast was really very good, and the set - made of trunks (get it? Elephants? a set of "trunks"? ha ha) with multiple rolls of backdrops in each was quite creative. Enjoyable, but needs major cutting.
WINTER'S TALE PROJECT. Imagine if Andrew Lloyd Webber's cat wrote a musical of Shakespeare's "Winter's Tale." It might have sounded something like this. Really really awful. The whole thing is set to an 80s pop-rockish score that sounds like a bunch of ALW's reject songs. The lyrics are ghastly (lots of false rhymes). There is one song in the middle that the narrator sings about how random it is that there is a bear in the show. At that point, I wished a real bear would run on stage and slash my throat so I wouldn't have to sit through any more of this sad excuse for entertainment. Really awful.
GAMERS. A total total surprise, but one of my favorites. This is a solo show about a guy who is playing an online role playing game at work. This particular day, his group of characters is planning a major war on the elves to steal back their stolen relic. This, while he needs to deal with answering tech support questions (his job), as well as his cubicle neighbor, wife, mother, and worst of all... wife. Maybe it's just the part of me that's always enjoyed watching other people playing video games (of course here, there isn't actually a game to watch - it's all play-by-play commentary) but I was absolutely riveted and couldn't wait to hear what happened in the war. It's total fluff (duh), but I loved every minute of it. And get this - it was only 55 minutes long. Finally a show that knows how long it needs to be and doesn't try to be a full length play when it's not. I'm perfectly aware that my own particular quirks probably contributed to my extreme enjoyment of this, but there you go. AND, this was in the ghastly Independent Theatre on 8th Street - it had maybe 35 hard wooden seats, and fans instead of air conditioning. And I didn't even mind.
THE LADIES OF EOLA, HEIGHTS. Very much worthwhile. Three sisters (all played by drag queens) come together after the death of their father. And while home, they find out that their brother Jackson is now their sister June, who can only speak by lipsynching to appropriate songs from the stereo. Though the musical numbers are definitely the highlight (did I mention that she has a totally different costume each time she enters?), the whole show is really enjoyable. It starts out funny, then becomes a bit sad, and then finally had a very touching ending. So you laugh, you cry, you have a good time. I didn't really know what to expect from this, but I really enjoyed it, and definitely recommend it. You'll never think of the song "It's My Life" again in the same way again.
LOST IN HOLLYWOODLAND OR THE SLUGWOMAN FROM URANUS. Awful awful awful. At intermission, when the lights came up, no one in the audience uttered a word, but there was a mass exodus toward the stairs (at least half the audience) to escape. Part of the problem is that the show is plagued with performing in the Our Lady Of Pompeii Demo Hall (aka a musty church basement) and my chair was one of the most uncomfortable I have ever sat it. There were three types of chairs: the first three rows had cushioned chairs with no armrests, then a few rows of hard plastic chairs also with no armrests, and then finally cloth-covered chairs with armrests. I thought the cloth ones might have a little cushioning but no, the were hard as can be. Of course, if the show had been any good, I might not have mattered. But it was really lousy. A generic musical score, and the story was just some lame Faust rehash. The last musical number before intermission was about chicken croquettes. And that had been the best one so far. And you wonder why people were rushing to the door?
PRINCESS SUNSHINE'S BITTER PILL OF TRUTH FUNHOUSE. Eh. I thought this was going to be a sort of "Avenue Q"-like adult kiddie show. Which is was to an extent, but it was really very bitter and angry. And on top of that, I thought most of the jokes fell pretty flat (though the audience seemed to enjoy it). Also, this was once again in the Independent Theatre (home of "Gamers") but it seemed really warm and the chairs seemed extra hard this time. Maybe if it was in a less stuffy theatre I would have enjoyed it more. A good concept, but I guess my sense of humor was right for this show.
And now I'm all caught up. Whew. Tomorrow is the non-Fringe "Iphigenia 2.0" and then hopefully a Fringe show after that, if my butt isn't too too sore....
