tag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-07:309668fauxklorefauxklorefauxklore2018-07-30T18:20:53Ztag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-07:309668:422295Last Two Fringe Shows2018-07-30T18:20:15Z2018-07-30T18:20:53Zpublic0I did other things this past weekend, but first let me write about the final two fringe shows I saw (both on Friday night), with a quick dinner (veggie bun from Jenny's Asian and gelato from Dolcezza) at the Wharf in between.<br /><br /><br /><b>An Unhealthy Man Lectures You on Medical Issues:</b> This was Vincent Clark’s one-man show (with some assistance from a silent nurse at various points) about his miserable health. It was a multi-media show, with powerpoint slides and a clip of him performing a song that ran, in part, "I don’t know why / there’s no leg beneath my thigh / diabetes" to the tune of "Stormy Weather." He includes various gruesome details about post-operative complications and calls one drug with nasty side effects "tormentizone." There were some funny lines here and there, but I found a lot of it rather cringy. I think the problem was that it was hard for me to care about him as anyone other than a random sick old man. I needed more context, particularly with respect to the mental health issues (depression and OCD) he mentions more or less in passing. It wasn’t a terrible show, but it could have been a lot better.<br /><br /><br /><b>Tales of the Mysterious and Grotesque: The Works of Edgar Allen Poe:</b> This was an amalgamation of 7 Poe pieces, some (e.g. <i>The Pit and the Pendulum</i>) more familiar than others (<i>Berenice</i>). It was performed by four young actors. The performances were good, but the show was just oddly put together. Admittedly, I have deeply mixed feelings about Poe to begin with. And I am not crazy about audience participation, though it was actually fairly minimal and more or less avoidable by not sitting in the front row. There was still one person who completely failed to understand what he was being asked to do at one point. Overall, this was interesting, but it just wasn’t my sort of thing. I should note that it didn’t help that it was completely full and I was next to a manspreader who kept shaking the leg that was encroaching on my seat.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=fauxklore&ditemid=422295" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-07:309668:422060Two More Fringe Shows - with Music!2018-07-27T17:25:10Z2018-07-27T17:25:10Zpublic0<b>Celebrity Death Watch:</b> Christian Menn designed the Zakim Bridge in Boston. Elbert Howard co-founded the Black Panther Party. Sergio Marchionne oversaw the merger between Chrysler and Fiat. Donald Kaul co-founded RAGBRAI, a famous bicycling event across Iowa. Warren Brown wrote about cars for the Washington Post. Mel Rosen was a crossword constructor and co-wrote an influential book about how to create crosswords. Bill Loud was the father in the TV show <i>An American Family</i>, which was arguably the earliest example of a reality show.<br /><br /><b>Hexagon 2018 – Tweet Land of Liberty:</b> Hexagon is a political satire troop, who do variety shows for charity. This is up my alley to begin with, but another reason for going is that I know one of their members. The premise of this year’s show was that a couple in 2118 is touring the National Museum of American History’s exhibit on the Trump Era. Some of the highlights of the songs and skits were "Trump Girl Left Behind" (about Tiffany Trump), "Spending More Time" (about Paul Ryan, though spending more time with one’s family is a time-honored Washingtonian excuse for quitting or being forced out of a job), "These Colors Don’t Run" (about the Metro), and "Thoughts & Prayers" (a Roy Zimmerman song about mass shootings). The low light was a cringeworthy sketch about a couple on a date who have their lawyers getting signed permission for every step they take. I should also note that the sound quality was uneven, with some of the wireless mikes apparently not working, making some of the singers nearly inaudible. Things tend to be funnier when one can hear them. But, overall, I thought this was worth seeing.<br /><br /><b>Musical Therapy:</b> I chose this show largely because I like musicals. And there were, frankly, not many musicals in this year’s fringe to choose from. Fortunately, it proved to be an excellent choice. The premise is that Theresa is a couples’ counselor, who has her own relationship problems. She’s infatuated with the guy whose office is next-door and tries to manipulate her clients’ relationships so she can end up with him. She uses sock puppets in her therapy, and they provide an amusing chorus for various numbers. There are also a truly astonishing number of euphemisms for a penis. The show is definitely quirky and requires a certain amount of suspension of disbelief – but it is also extremely funny. The music was nicely jazzy and worked well to tell the story. It was also well-performed, even though the performance I saw had a last-minute understudy (who had to carry a binder with her script) for one of the parts. There was no program but looking at reviews on line leads me to call out Katie Rey Bogdan as Theresa. And I want to give a big shout-out to Joey Katsiroubas and Dan Hass who wrote this. All in all, I loved this show.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=fauxklore&ditemid=422060" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-07:309668:421235Two Fringe Shows - America's Wives and Shopworn2018-07-20T19:43:22Z2018-07-20T19:43:22Zpublic0The Capital Fringe is going on and I bought a 6 show pass. Here are my comments on the first two shows I saw:<br /><br /><b>America’s Wives:</b> This play is sort of based on a Yoruba folktale. I think I actually know the folktale in question. I definitely know related ones from a number of cultures in which one family member is rewarded with gifts and another one tries to get the same gifts but misunderstands the whole process and is punished. The twist is that this version, in which the two family members are co-wives, is tied to American racism. The first wife of America is a white woman, while the second is a Nigerian woman, who the first wife abuses. The second wife’s child is stolen by a bald eagle, but she refuses riches and keeps begging for her child back. Not only does she get the child returned, but she gets to keep the riches. The first wife then tries to set up the same situation, but places the riches above the child. The other catch is that it wasn’t her own child, but one she stole from another (Native American) wife. She gets worthless items (e.g. rocks instead of jewels) and, finally, just the bones of the child.<br /><br />That’s an interesting concept and the notion of dealing with race via the multiple wives of America is intriguing. A lot of the language was poetic (including rhyme). However, the whole thing was a bit too heavy-handed for me. I don’t think that, say, shopping at a Columbus Day sale inherently makes someone a racist. And I don’t buy the implication that white people don’t have conflicts over how they feel about America. <br /><br />I liked the concept, but a touch of subtlety would have made this a much better play. Getting hit over the head isn’t likely to change anyone’s minds.<br /><br /><br /><b>Shopworn:</b> The writer of this play, Derek Hills, is also a storyteller and he and I have several mutual friends, though I don’t think I actually know him. The play is set in an antique store in a Southern country town. The store’s owner has died and left the store to her two sons and the young woman who worked there with her. The two sons are very much unlike one another, with part of the tension based on their feelings about their Southern heritage. The one who now lives in Brooklyn has a black girlfriend who comes down to share in the eye-reolling. And then the dead woman speaks, via an Aunt Jemima cookie jar. Which is not the only racially questionable item in the store, leading to more of the conflict.<br /><br />This sounds like it could get preachy, but the humorous interplay of the characters balances things out well enough to save it. There’s some backstory about the mother that isn’t as developed as I’d have liked it to be. And the woman working in the store sometimes seemed quirky without any good reason. Still, this was a funny show and I thought it was worth seeing.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=fauxklore&ditemid=421235" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-07:309668:388281Three Fringe Shows2017-07-24T20:58:18Z2017-07-24T20:58:18Zpublic0I went to three Capital Fringe Festival shows over the weekend. (I had previously seen <i>Mr. Taken</i>.) Here’s the run-down, plus a note about the neighborhood.<br /><br /><b>NoMa:</b> All three shows I saw this weekend were at Gallaudet University, which is at the edge of the NoMa (North of Massachusetts Avenue) area. Since I hadn’t been over that way before and had heard that it’s the hot and trendy neighborhoods, I took advantage of good metro connections to walk around a bit before the first show I went to. Unfortunately, a couple of friends saw me walking in the wrong direction (i.e. away from Gallaudet) and called me, panicked that I was horribly lost. Now, to be fair, I do spend a good percentage of my time horribly lost, but I probably should have answered the phone and reassured them.<br /><br />The highlight of the area is allegedly Union Market, which is pretty much hipster central. I wasn’t all that impressed with it, though it did provide good ice cream. There is a promising looking coffee place there. There are also some charming row houses along M Street Northeast. And the newish REI in the Uline Arena, which was the site of the first concert The Beatles played in the United States. Still, there isn’t really a lot to draw me into the neighborhood.<br /><br /><br /><b>Ready to Serve:</b> Ellouise Schoettler’s story is about a group of nurses from Johns Hopkins who volunteered to serve in France during World War I. Her research was extensive, based largely on letters from the nurses themselves. There was no shortage of drama, with descriptions of the nurses having to wear every bit of clothing they had to cope with the cold and mud, as well as patients with horrifying injuries that they could do little for. It’s important to tell the stories of women’s history and Ellouise does this splendidly.<br /><br /><br /><b>Constructive Fictions:</b> This play tells the story of Rabbi Barry Freundel, who is serving a 6 and a half year prison term after pleading guilty to peeping on and filming women in the bathroom of the mikveh. The set is his jail cell, which is rotated (without much real point, in my opinion) by four women, who comment on his explanation of his actions. They outline their stories, and, while they are supposed to be composites of his victims, there is a lot that seems identifiable to anybody who followed the media coverage. That’s a concern, since the playwright, A. J. Campbell, apparently didn’t talk to any of the victims. A bigger problem with the play is that Matty Griffiths, who played Freundel, didn’t seem to know his lines very well. That was obvious partly due to closed captioning, but also had the effect of throwing off the timing of the women. <br /><br />Despite those problems, the play was interesting, with a shocking ending. Even more interesting was listening to people discussing it afterwards. <br /><br /><b>Life: A Comic Opera in Three Short Acts:</b> Neal Learner’s light opera was the highlight of this year’s Fringe for me. Act One dealt with birth, as Joan is screaming in agony and Charles tries to reassure her everything will be fine. They reminisce about their meeting and reflect on how their lives will change. And then the twins show up, in a very cleverly staged way. Act Two has the kids growing up and asserting their personalities. Act Three dealt with death. This doesn’t sound particularly interesting, but it was well-written and well-performed. There were some questionable rhymes here and there, but I can forgive this in what was otherwise a quite charming and enjoyable show. This has been selected for the Fringe Extension, by the way, so you still have a chance to see it. I will definitely look for other works by the writer / composer, Neal Learner, in the future.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=fauxklore&ditemid=388281" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments