I ended up not sticking with my Fringe plan yesterday (to see all five shows at the Connolly) mostly because the bathroom at the Connelly broke after the third show, I decided I really didn't care about the fourth show there, and the last one was going to get out too late.
The first two shows at the Connolly ("On Off Air" and "Night") were good but had sort of confusing endings, and the third ("Animals") was just plain lousy. Interesting though, was that one of the stars of "The Medicine Show" (his name is Ryan O'somethingorother) also starred in (and wrote, in fact) "Animals." Can you imagine working on TWO Fringe shows? Oy.
So then, after I found a working bathroom and had dinner, I decided to see "Pogo and Evie" at the (*warn glow and chorus of angels singing*) Skirball Center. It's written by the guy who wrote "Urban Cowboy." The book is a godawful mess - an oh so cliched mess about two people who meet and fall in love, but... *dun dun dun dun* their families hate each other. I'm sure you can imagine how it all turns out. The jokes are basically all clunkers. Particularly strange was that they made the black guy from New York have a Jewish mother for apparently the sole reason of letting him stick random Yiddish words in his sentences. Uh huh.... Oh, and for some bizarre reason, they randomly stuck an intermission in. Not after a big song, just after a not particularly important random scene. The show is only 90 minutes long (including that intermission) so I'm not really sure why it was there. The cast is very enthusiastic and likeable, and they're all very talented except for the man playing Evie's father, who can't act (I imagine he was originally just part of the band and they decided to give him some lines) and the woman playing Evie's best friend who couldn't sing - remember that karaoke scene in "My Best Friend's Wedding" where the blonde bride-to-be gets up and has everyone sticking their fingers in their ears? She sounded something like that. Luckily she had only one song to sing in - and it was a duet. Though that song probably would have been actually enjoyable had it not been so lopsided as far as talent went. But she was pretty and could act and dance, so I guess that's how she got the part.
The music doesn't actually further the plot (more like a play with music), but is pretty enjoyable country toe-tapping type fare. By far, the best part of the show is the big dance numbers, which were really just a ton of fun to watch. They almost made me want to take a dance class so I could join in on the hoedown. Almost.
So actually, though I was cringing half the time over the book, I actually did find the show enjoyable. Call it a guilty pleasure?
And of course, The Skirball Center is the Taj Mahal of Fringe venues - air conditioned, comfortable seats, big stage, and so many seats that I don't think even "Bukowsical" would have sold out there.
