Number 52: Warming up the Stage Edition
by Carl F. Gauze
There are more themed Weeks, Months and Days than you can shake a Blackberry at right now. Bikes, drunk college chicks, Arts fests, Green Beer and Mother’s Day – how can you decide? I gave up and did what I always do: make up stuff about how other people make up stuff.
Cabaret for Steve Schneider
Hosted by John DiDonna
Theater Downtown, Orlando FL
June 24, 2006
So where do Community Newspaper back page writers go when the Central Florida arts scene just don’t give that same old thrill? Steve Schneider, long time Orlando hipster, critic, and bon vivant heads up to NYC in a few weeks to pursue higher education. The O-town Theater set gave him a fine send off, with a number of locals pulling together to sing him out of town. This show raised enough money to keep him in Starbucks for a few weeks in the Big Apple.
Most of the singers were refugees from the current production of Psycho Beach Party. The setting was informal, with a suitcase for tips on stage so we were spared the embarrassment of actually sticking dollar bills in Steve’s undies. With Big Don Hopkinson on the keys, we listened to an eclectic selection of current and classic show tunes from “Season of Love” to selections form “Spelling Bee.” Seven Pugh and Adam did a cute song from the Producers. (Sorry, Adam, my note taking was weak and nobody sprang for programs.) I’ll say this – there are some people in Beach Party that can sing lots better then that script allows them.
Mr. Schneider seems moved, and while the singers often chose more attractive audience members to molest during some songs, I’m sure the selection was a personal choice and not any reflection on Steve’s personality or hygene. One of the neater facets of this town is the general good relations between press and talent, and while there was plenty of alcoholic lubrication, the whole thing was heartfelt. Do well, Steve and if it doesn’t work out, well, we’ll still be down here if you need us.
Carl F Gauze
Bath House, The Musical!
By Esther Daack and Tim Evanicki
Directed by Esther Daack
Footlights Theater, Orlando, FL
There’s a saying about preferring bad actors and a good script, but after this show I really wonder. Modest Billy (Evanicki) just came out, and finds the bathhouse scene a little intimidating. Does he sweat it put in the steam room, or just stand around looking cute until Mr. Right Now appears? “Bathhouse The Musical” has the germ of a clever concept, and while it was a sell out at the last Fringe Festival, it leaves a lot to be desired in the slightly larger and much colder space of Footlights Theater.
The fundamental problem is the cast can’t project, and without microphones, you have to focus very, very hard to hear any of the lyrics. Rather than filling your head with sounds, the Bathhouse cast whispers in your ear from a long, long way away, and any energy that might be in the lyrics comes from inside yourself, and not from the stage. The first half of the show has some promise, with clever lyrics and cute styling; but once we enter the horrid Tent Revival Scene, any energy that might have lurked in the smoky recesses of the stage scurried away beneath the fire exit doors. Evanicki’s Billy is likeable as the novice bear, and while the oddly names Hottie (Karl Anderson) has pecs and a tan, his main claim to fame is a decent ability to pliè and jetè. Teddy (Jerry Jobe Jr.) has the cute twink look down pretty well, but tall Maurice (Kyle Harde) just seems lost on stage.
As an introduction to the bathhouse life, I suspect this show might pass on some tips. But rather than suffer through this play, go talk to people out in the bar area. They probably sound better, and the A/C isn’t as vicious.
For more information on Bathhouse the musical! visit http://www.bathhousethemusical.com/index.htm
For more information on the Footlights Theater, please visit http://www.theparlimenthouse.com or http://www.Wanzie.com
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
By Edward Albee
Directed by Julie Gagne
Valencia Character Company
Orlando FL
This is Ozzie and Harridan with a 0.18 blood alcohol content. George (Kohn DiDonna) failed miserably at the Herculean task of teaching history, while his dear wife Martha (Kate Singleton) was equally unsuccessful at producing a new president for father’s college. With livers as big as their heads, they’ve taken to torturing unlucky new comers to this remote college town, such as Nick (John Bateman) and his wife Honey (Leilani Cliffton.) Time means nothing in there hazy world, and inviting people over at 2 a.m. makes perfect sense, at least until the ice runs out. That marks the real alcoholics – industrial ice machines and 50 gallon drums of bourbon gravity feeding the wet bar.
Be glad, be very glad that these people only exist on stage and won’t follow you home. George and Martha would be divorced if they were actual carbon based life forms, and while Nick and Honey are still young and attractive, they seem headed for the same No Exit Strategy warfare their elders live and breathe. DiDonna and Singleton have a sort of chemistry, but here it’s more like mixing sulfuric acid and metallic sodium. It takes a half a dozen neat bourbons to get Bateman’s Nick warned up, but as soon as his wife passes out he’s all up for Martha’s blatant seduction attempt. To bad he fails to impress her or George, but at least he can blame his poor performance on the ethanol.
In a story revolving around the difference between truth and illusion, the illusion that these are the most awfully miserable people is complete. Chained together for some reason only they understand, their pain becomes a template for those who follow, completing a cycle of abuse. While not for the emotionally squeamish, this Woolf will scare the pants off of anyone.
For more information on Valencia Character Company, please vist http://valenciacc.edu/theater/
Kid Simple: A Radio Play in the Flesh
By Jordan Harrison
Directed by Alan Bruun
Starring Sarah French, Kevin Kelly
Mad Cow Theater
Orlando, FL
We live in a world of visual bombardment, from TV to computers to signs along the street. That’s what makes this play so interesting – it strips nearly all the visual off the story, leaving pure narrative punctuated by a collection of other worldly sound effects. Little Moll (French) lives in her room and invents with the best of them. Her parents (Terry Thomas and Kathy Baker Wood) worry a bit, particularly when she stops listening to her favorite radio show. That’s because her very cool “Third Ear,” a machine capable of hearing the unhearable, is stolen by sinister forces lead by The Mercenary (Kevin Kelly) She sets off on a quest with virginal Ollie (Kane Prestenback), destroys the plot to end the world, and maybe helps Ollie clear up that case of acne that’s been bothering him.
You could really listen to this on a radio, late at night, the dark illuminated by the soft glow of the Zenith dial. Acting on stage is minimal, but the sound effects are cued by TV monitors on the side of the stage, so that’s one reason for showing up at the theater. Narrator Kimberly Gray neatly ties the threads of the story together, although she becomes a little more self referential than I’d like to hear. Behind the cast, we see 3 technicians and a bank of electronics – no coconut shells in this radio drama. Over all it’s one of the most unique theatrical experiences around town.
Is there a message here? That’s the big conundrum. I’ve struggled to see one – dangerous technology run amok, girl rescues boy, smart kids are destined to social exclusion, but none really resonates with the text. Perhaps the title really does say it all – the story, despite its whiz bang technology, really is Kid Simple.
For more information on Mad Cow, please visit http://www.madcowtheatre.com
Many of the shows reviewed here are presented as part of the Orlando Fringe Festival. Information on times, ticket prices, and location my be found at http://www.orlandofringe.com/
The Extraordinary Fila Goes To Hell
By The Shredd Ensemble
Purple Venue
2006 Orlando Fringe Festival
Pull out your copy of Bullfinch’s Mythology, because there may be a test at the end. Zeus (Greywolf) has some trouble – Hades, (Ernesto) ruler of the underworld and hot flamenco dancer, seduces Persephone (Jenny) Goddess of the Harvest, which annoys her mother Demeter (Brig) Goddess of the Earth. Some of Zeus’ assistants have gone fishing, so he drafts African deities Xango (Thobos) and Eleggua (Kasa) to substitute as messenger and bouncer at his big party, and try to resolve this unhappy romance. It takes a lot of drumming, dancing and talking to work a deal, but that’s what Shredd excels at – wild costumes, hypnotic drumming, belly dancing, and of course a small boa constrictor, worn as a hat by one of the Shredd Dancers. I don•t know what they paid to produce this show, but you see the money and the skill on stage. Shredd is sure fire winner, sexy without being erotic, and entertaining without a slow moment.
Eleemosynary
By Lee Blessing
Directed by Uri Kogan
Blue Venue
2006 Orlando Fringe Festival
Words are a big part of my life, and I love finding odd or new words like “Tanorexic” or “ Ululatory “ I’ve got at least that much in common with young Echo (Amanda LaMotte), who approaches a Spelling Bee like a kick boxing contest. She has to find some outlet for her emotions, as mother Artie (Carolina Groppa) has pretty much abandoned her, leaving her in the care of eccentric grandmother Dorothea (Janine Papin). Dorothea talks to rocks, suffers out of body experiences, and even in death finds every aspect of the universe an exciting challenge. As you might expect, she and Echo are best friends.
“Eleemosynary” is a delightful tale of three women, tied together by blood and a love of learning, and each applying it differently to their life. Opportunities vary for each of them, as do results, but what we see is that you can make an intellectual life for yourself, even if you don•t have the formal training the exterior world demands. Kogan’s direction leads us all along a wonderful journey, and while I hate to use the word “uplifting”, you know in the end everything will be alright.
Tale of Two Bitches
By Lisa Sleeper and Karin Amano
Pink Venue
2006 Orlando Fringe Festival
True friendship transcends culture, boyfriends and even death. Lisa grew up Catholic, and Karin grew up Japanese. Both backgrounds impose strong obligations to authority figures, and both know how to lay guilt on a young person. When Exchange student Karin shows up at school, Lisa shows her around and Karin chop sockies the big kids, giving Lisa a respite from the swirly patrol. They go on for years, and we tag along to watch them date, get jobs, grow old, and eventual experience some composite born again Shinto after life, where they both get what they want and deserve. It•s a light hearted romp with jokes scattered about like rose petals at a new age wedding. Both women ARE a little bitchy, but then aren’t we all after 30 Fringe shows?
Something You Don’t Want To See
By Peter Hurtgen
Blue Venue
2006 Orlando Fringe Festival
Here’s a way to mess with a comedian – sit by yourself in an otherwise empty section of seats, and them move around when he’s not looking. That seemed enough to get veteran performer Peter Hurtgen off balance, or at least enough to focus his anti heckling energies in one direction. This rather short show contains some clever observational humor about Things You Don•t Want To See – A Mormon Amway dealer, a Tuba Player with bowel control problems or the ghost of Elvis appearing on your toilet. There’s some gross out thoughts, and few too-silly-to-remember jokes, and some fun interaction with the audience, many of who remember Peter from his DCO days.
Classics Condensed
By Marc Ackerman
Brown Venue
2006 Orlando Fringe Festival
I like the concept – roll multiple English Lit reading requirements into single high concept theater event. The execution isn•t that strong, but there are some entertaining moments here. The first act has Holden Caulfield (Rick Corbett) complaining to Yossarian (A. C. Sanford) about phony people in “Catch 22 in the Rye.” I still don•t like Caulfield’s character, he seems pompous and superficial. He rattles on about the prep school Catch 22, which says if you think you not phony, you are, and if people say your not, then you are. Go figure.
The best segment is “The Great Catsby”, with Robert Elitist (Rob Ward) prancing around acting all high class and dissing the press, while Jay Catsby (Jamie Cline) investigates the death of Griselda (or Grisselada, I can’t keep felines straight). Ward is a perfect rich boy ass, while Catsby’s grease pencil moustache never blinks. It makes sense.
Finally, we experience “Brokeback to the Future” which takes Jack Twist (Robert Cunha) and Ennis Del Mar (Chase Sanford) to a folding tent in the future. They huddle around the electric log fire, sent into the future by a mysterious a time vortex, which is a sort of existential rattle snake. It’s hot cowboy love, if you’re into that sort of entertianment. Classics condensed? Short, but not too sweet.
Apple
Orange Venue
2006 Orlando Fringe Festival
Ok, I found it! This year’s really arty show is “Apple,” a project of St Cloud’s Nothin’ Productions. Sixteen extremely enthusiastic young actors in standard issue theatrical black run around and emote like they are trying out for Godot. The story begins with Adam and Eve, and then the evilness spreads, creating oppression and discrimination and the Republican Party. All standard Judeo-Christian philosophy, but when filtered through an earnest artiness, it’s mostly pain we sense during the Running Around in a Circle exercise, or the Sitting and Yelling at the Audience phase, or the requisite Breaking the 4th wall paradigm shift.
I saw a few cool items here, like the interpretive dance of the animals, which reminded me of Voci rehearsing. Symbolic painting were revealed upstage, with the subtle subtext of red, white and blue showing the evil American creates for whatever hot button topic crossed the Daily Show desk. Some of the stories at the end were moving, if awkwardly told. But counterbalancing the cool were overlong dissonant shouting matches and a lot of folderol that felt like 60 avant Garde Theater gone horribly wrong.
Black Voices
By L’Tanya Van Hamersveldt and Sidney Homan
Brown Venue
2006 Orlando Fringe Festival
A black vocal group? Soul and Gospel, right? Not exactly. Black Voices showcases more than the stereotypical music we associate with the race, adding an impressive and exaultatory collection of poetry, spoken word, and tales of the slave days. There are 9 people on stage, and the opening pieces are sung with enough power and resonance to blast sound out into the next theater. There are word portraits of black heros – some well know, and a few quite obscure. There’s a celebration of the black woman’s body, and good looking black men. Most interesting are excerpts from the Slave Diaries, stories collected in the 30’s of those people still alive from the emancipation, showing the joy and sorrow and confusion that arose when one world ended and another arose. All in all, Black Vvoice summarizes the spirit of Black America – a peculiar mix of soaring idealism and rock hard practicality. The Man may put them down, but they always look to Jesus, Martin King, and the soul of their mother to pull them through.
Flowers For Algernon
By Daniel Keyes
Adapted by David Rogers
Directed by Michael Murray
Red Venue
2006 Orlando Fringe Festival
Does intelligence equate with happiness? It seems not, and retarded Charlie Gordon (Louis Correa) is about to discover that in spades. Doctors Strauss and Nemur (Chad Cartledge and Robert Faircloth) have a new, risky procedure that can improve his intelligence immeasurably, but so far it only works on mice. The rewards seem greater than the risk, and off they go to inject him with super duper brain juice. There’s no informed consent form, but who know if he could really understand the risk and even the good doctors are a bit open. Since Charlie is retarded, they feel any loss to society would be small. As the process kicks in Charle’s IQ soars, and he falls in love with his instructor Alice (Darling Murray). Things happen quickly, and the process reverses, leaving Charlie back where he was, and Alice devastated.
This show flies along, and while the production has a few rough spots, it’s a tight drama that highlights the science community’s disregard for human dignity. Correa’s Charlie is excellent, and he deserves the ovation received at the end. Both scientists are a bit wooden, and ultimately don’t seem as mean and callus as they might be. Murray’s Alice disregards the professional distance that should exist between patient and instructor, but no matter, Charlie isn•t the man he started as. “Flowers” ranks as one of the best dramas in this Fringe.
History for Dummies
By the Hystorical Players
Green Venue
2006 Orlando Fringe Festival
Beware of the Ides of March, and beware of the Fringe show with really cool costumes. Hystorical Players presents a dream sequence story about a Grandpa (Roy Scherer) helping his granddaughter (Sasha Camenker) study for a history project. He prays to God (Voice of Jerome Kalisz) who responds with 4 historical figures who all hang out in the afterlife. Ben Franklin (Tom Kemper) is the least annoying, and seems to understand that wit and charm help to pull money out of political supported like the French. Julius Caesar (Michael Deaver) has a bad Italian accent and claims to have invented the Caesar Salad, which in the context of this play is a really minor technical error. Attila the Hun (Jordan Camenker) acts better than the rest, but seems devoted to awful jokes and threatening the audience in a really nice way. And Queen Liz (Judy Scherer) has a real skill, the ability to stand still for hours.
This show is a steady stream of bad jokes, told badly, with bad accents. Timing is everything in comedy, and this group doesn•t really have it. There are other problems with the bracketing device of grandpa, the triviality of God’s Answering Service, and the whole question of whether they are off book, but basically, what is intended as a farce comes across as a collection of weak toastmaster’s jokes. Don•t be a dummy.
Tape
By Stephen Belber
Directed by Kyle C Beach
Brown Venue
2006 Orlando Fringe festival
Where I come from, one of the principal causes of rape was a bounced check. The whole business of semi-consensual sex is a messy one, and Vince (Andrew Snyder) has some issues with the sexual relations between his best friend Jon (Beach) and his ex girl friend Amy (Erin Hill). They did it, no question, but who wanted what and what sort of linguistic pressure was involved might be an issue, and Vince wants it resolved. Vince makes a surreptitious recording of Jon confessing, and while it isn•t exactly blackmail, it IS a sort of pressure he applies to get back at Jon and Amy.
On a nicely sleazy hotel room set, replete with tortoise shell lamps and shag carpeting, Vince attacks Jon. Both seem a bit young for their roles, but become convincing as we roll forward. Vince seems a likely candidate for the micro drug lord role, and Jon is suave and self possessed enough to be any amateur film auteur I’ve ever met. Only Amy carries a feeling of maturity on stage, and while she subliminally agrees tat consent was ambiguous, you can tell she really didn•t want to do it, right then, right there.
We all confess things casually when we think it won•t matter, and Jon seems genuinely hurt by Vince’s actions. Vince’s actions were technically illegal, and his motivation weak, but the point here is not the formality of evidential rules, but how we can screw over the people we once held closest.
Listen to This
4:2 Five
Yellow Venue
2006 Orlando Fringe Festival
They’re not a boy band, but they all boys. There’s not a revival band, because they don•t just re-inflate the dead hits of someone’s childhood. They’re not even a rock and roll band, they don•t have any equipment that goes to eleven. So what are they? A crisp, engaging troupe of young men, capable of making any pop song sound more like a weird Al song than the original. They tell Ashley Simpson Jokes, parody Queen songs, and a very cool version of 16 tons. We have some solid musical talent in this town, and maybe we’ll see then break out to bigger towns. Catch them while you can.
Serious Theater
Directed by Les Caulfield
Green Venue
2006 Orlando Fringe Festival
The line between genius and stupidity is so very, very fine. This collection of skits straddles that line, and I flutter on both sides of the line for the whole show, and for some time afterwards. Our MC was a sit down comic and impressionist Stephen Hawking. They rolled him out, between acts, and he certainly added a high class science note to the show. Between acts were little fake ads for other fringe shows like the Amish version of Chicago, “ “ by a troupe of mimes, and the tasteless Kids Fringe show run by the Orlando Halfway House. The highlight of the show involved painting a girl in a bikini with glow paint under a black light. This improved my attitude enormously, and held the show until the binge eating production of the Typewriter Song. Very messy, very funny, and just a touch racist. Serious Theater makes you think “Is this good? Is this bad? How can it be made better?”
Electra at the Weiner Stand
By Todd Kimbro
Pink Venue
2006 Orlando Fringe Festival
Just as Charles Schultz put complex ideas in the mouths of children, Tod Kimbro puts big words and bigger idea in the mouths of rednecks, achieve a similar effect: the lowly preach to the mighty, swathed by a cloak of innocence. Iffy Rodriguez (Christine Morales) and Orin James Jr. (Nick Sprysenski) share a common father, a convicted rapist. Iffy grows up as a retiring feminist, Orin Jr. vaguely criminal lay-about. Betty Brooks (Tammy Kopko) support Orin Jr. by selling hot dogs from a roadside cart in a revealing outfit. It’s crappy job – beside customer jibes and gropes, the woods of central Florida are aflame and the Christians are convinced she’s headed straight to hooker hell. Iffy and Orin Jr. finally meet each other, and we meet the rest of Betty’s menagerie of losers. There’s Stash Horowitz (Aaron Kirkpatrick) Orin Jr’s Jewish fellow redneck, and Raphael (Jared Sharer), Betty’s Twinkie friend. It’s sex, drugs, and gunfire, and by the end there’s a dead body, a dead love, and a dead soul in delicate Iffy’s heart.
I seem to recall that this show was born in a fiery summer a few years ago, but today it still remains fresh with a solid cast. Kopko seems to vacillate between anger and more anger, and it’s not clear what she seems in Orin Jr. Orin Jr. appears to want to act like he’s seeming to try, but when he gets mad, sinews and blood vessels pop out, threatening to burst a spray vile all over the first row. Iffy has ideals, but nothing to promote them with, and she loses the most by the end, although she is still standing. There’s raw emotion here, and like several other revivals at this festival, the show seems more mature and introspective than its debut. We all age, but Electra does it most gracefully.
Romance / Romance: The Little Comedy
Book and Lyrics by Barry Harman
Music by Keith Herrmann
Directed by Robert Dutton and Kathy Slage
Yellow Venue
2006 Orlando Fringe Festival
Money doesn•t buy happiness, but you do get to be miserable with much better food. Well-to-do Alfred (Todd Allen Long) finds turn of the last century Vienna a drag, and gives up caf• society for long walks around the Ring Road. Ennui fills the life of Josefine (Kristen Owen) as well, and she ditches a boy friend because he’s no longer nuts about her, or at not nuts up to her standards. They both dress down and pretend to the Boho life style, she a pretend milner, he a blocked writer. In this Musical Comedy world, what could possibly happen but they fall madly in love, reveal their wealth and status, and leave the inevitable break up for the second act? I smell a sequel for next season.
Both Owen and Long are gifted vocalists, and this pleasing little operetta showcases their talents as well as the clever writing of Herrmann and Harman. Romance / Romance suffers from a few anachronisms, which push the story up to more modern mor•s set, but you’ll have to listen closely to catch them. Romance/Romance is fun, clean, and a wonderful sherbet to the spicier servings in the other venues.
Dali
Written and Performed by Dan Khoury
Yellow Venue
2006 Orlando Fringe Festival
Salvador Dali may not have been the best artist of the 20th century, but he was the most self promoting. Combining adept draftsmanship with old school surrealism, his works are most enigmatic. No one ever said “Oh, my 5 year old could do that” about him, nor would you want your kid to do paint like this man’s dreams. Dan Khoury writes and produces this intriguing and informative one man show in which Mr. Dali explains himself, his symbolism, and his place in the arts world clearly and succinctly, with a video projection of painting and inspirations. The show is art unto itself.
Self Improvement for Dummies
By Andy Dooley
Blue Venue
2006 Orlando Fringe Festival
Hey! This isn’t fair! This is a REAL self improvement program! I’ll Take Mr. Dooley at his word – he started a highly successful Tee Shirt company, made a million, took the Sak Comedy Improv University course, and still lives at home with mom. Alright, who doesn•t that apply to? But he built up all this negative energy; became crass and cynical, and then discovered Tony Robbins. Tony Robbins is like Jesus, except all his miracles involve money and success instead of lepers and wine.
If you’re feeling down about your Fringe experience, and you need a more positive attitude, he offers 4 realistic things to think about. Thanks goodness Andy is fun to watch as he bounces around the stage with the energy of a 4 year old full of Jolt Cola lucky charms. In a way, his show is uplifting, but you need to go in looking for that. I think he needs a warning – “Caution: this really IS a self help lecture.” I’ll give him this – I felt so psyched up, I went out of the venue and right to the beer tent and bought TWO beers. He’s THAT good.
The Feminazi
Green Venue
2006 Orlando Fringe Festival
I admit it. Every morning, I wake up and think “How can I oppress women today?” It’s the main goal of men, much more important than food or sex or even oxygen. That’s the premise of this one woman, 4 monologue show. We hear from Mary, Mother of Jesus, kvetching away about her Jewish mother guilt. Sarah Whitcomb traded a career for a baby and now terrorizes Open Mike nights throughout New England. Fran Schneider is a 50 year old rap artist, skilled in scratching, mixing, crossing her arms, and making doggerel rhymes sound like social-political commentary. But best of all, there’s the Feminazi, a woman with a riding crop, a bad German accent, and a desire to rid the audience of pigs like myself. I liked her best of all. The monologs portray states of mind and feeling about the role of women in society, yet they do not carry forward strong stories. There are some jokes, some soft moments, but essentially I see this as a parody of the feminist movement, or at least whatever it has evolved into. Check out the banana eating sequence at the end, and we’ll all agree – potassium is HOT.
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
By John Cameron Mitchell and Steven Trask
Directed by Kenny Howard
Starring David Lee and Becky Fischer
Orange Venue
2006 Orlando Fringe Festival
I liked this production of Hedwig much better than the Footlights production few years ago. Not only does the Margeson stage give Hedwig (Lee) more room to sashay and prance and generally assault the rock and roll world, but the band has more room to work, Yitzhak (Fisher) makes better sense, and I didn•t freeze my toches off sitting under an A/C vent. Hedwig grew up in East Germany, listening to Abba and Karen Carpenter and Anne Murray and trying to find his missing half. That half might lie in the glitter pop west, and a friendly US service man and a botched sex change drop Hedwig in Kansas City, singing pop songs to the clean up crew in a seedy coffee bar. There he meets Tommy Gnosis, and the rest is the sort of rock and roll history that fills the later night hours of VH1 classics.
David Lee is fabulous as the sparkly pop star stiffed by the narcissist boyfriend from hell. Somewhere along the line he picked up Hubby Yitzhak, but as a condition of some operatic oath, Yitzhak was prohibited from doing drag acts until Hedwig found his missing half. Ok, it’s not Ziggy Stardust, but the music is better. With a 5 piece backup band and a reasonably well mixed sound, the big hits really pop out here – Tear Me Down, Angry Inch, and even the sing-a-long interruptus version of Wig in a Box. There’s a follow spot, a feather boa, and just the right amount of spray-on body glitter to lift Hedwig from the mundane to the sublime.
Misleading Perceptions
Written and Directed by Tammy Kopko
Green Venue
2006 Orlando Fringe Festival
Take six cranky college kids, put them on a term paper assignment team, and what do you get? A minimalist version of Breakfast Club, with disparate kids finding a common ground to accept if not like each other. Feminist Alex (Toni Williams) dumps her cheating boyfriend for a hot one night stand with archetypal jerk Devin (Chris Holz), then gets her undies in a bunch when he confirms it was in fact a single orgasm relationship. Wanna be drug dealer Shawn (Patrick Clark) hooks up with faking it pot head Melanie (Jill Jones), and over achieving Sharon (Kristen Burke) and closet gay fundamentalist Michael (John Ryan) decide that ultimately booze IS the source and answer to all life’s problem.
“Misleading Perceptions” doesn•t beak much new ground, but the characters are clearly delineated and the video projection backdrop does a good job of stitching the scenes together. If there’s a problem here, the show seems to end abruptly, leaving some loose ends for each player. In particular, I was interested in how Michael would resolve his religious belief and sexual orientation, and if Alex ever gets to a stable place in here sex life. There are laughs, there might be tears, but they are defiantly some slacker ideals in this little show.
Outer Toons
A Musical Cartoon Comedy
Red Venue
2006 Orlando Fringe festival
Everything by Chris Charles
If you can’t play good, play loud. You get that thought standing in the ticket line as they pass out colorful orange and purple ear plugs and warn you to insert them before this act gets on stage. Inside the venue, a colorfully eccentric band troupes on stage, all looking like refugees from Rodger Rabbit. They own the least shiny brass instruments in the world, and are proud of that fact. Set up takes some time, but here’s where we meet them individually, and as the sound check progresses, you get your ear plugs set to the right fluffiness to hear the musical nuances without actually damaging those little bones in your ears.
Outer Tunes fills Orlando’s need for a brass band specializing in Cartoon Music, and if this doesn•t set us apart from Indianapolis, I don’t know what does. This crew normally works in one of those gift shop-infested parks around town, and while they are hysterical to watch, they really could use a slightly larger space then the cramped rehearsal room that passes for the Red Venue. They’ve been together for a few years, and began when leader Chris Charles noticed that “No on in this town is playing cartoon music.” It’s obvious now, but unnoticed insights like this set the geniuses apart from the masses.
Outer Toons may sound a bit harsh, and their jokes trend toward the silly, but they are enormously entertaining to watch. While they can’t actually get rolled flat and pop back to life with a tire pump, they come as close as humanly possible. They’re loud, they’re proud, and they’re funny. Try to sit in the back row.
Stale Magnolias
Written and Directed by Lori McCaskill
Purple Venue
2006 Orlando fringe Festival
Somewhere south of the Mason Dixon Line lies Chippytwins Parrish, a county populated entirely by the illiterate, illegitimate, and ill-treated. The Beauty Mark Salon serves as town social center, and with Swellby’s (Lawrence Benjamin) wedding this evening everyone is in a tizzy. She’s the least blushing bride ever, and Floozy (Matthew Fleming) needs to patch her up as best she can without having a cigarette detonate a can of White Rain. Swellby’s Mother Chagrin (Steve Hurst) slims down on the Judy Garland Diet, and all of this is a wonderment to the new hairdresser Anal (Rob Ward). Babies are birthed, hair teased, and lungs transplanted, but all to no avail as Swellby kicks the bucket in the end, and leaving the town just that much poorer for lack of gossip.
This trashy celebration of trailer life showcases some of the scariest drag queens in the Parrish. Town crank Geezer (Jim Beeson) seems most connected to reality, and keeps a convenient Jack Daniels tap in the kitchen. Floozy looks a bit like a poodle, while Swellby may have played for Florida State a few years back. Elaborate dress and hair changes occur between acts, with a projection of stills providing some fill-in information while the cast is back stage rotating their pumps. If you have a low opinion of small town southern life, this will make you feel good about your prejudice. If you live in a small town, you may recognize yourself. And if you’re thinking of moving to such a place, at least you’ll know where to get your slut hair done for the weekend.
Waiting For Napoleon
By Eric Pinder
Pink Venue
2006 Orlando Fringe Festival
What most scary about this show is not that Mr. Pinder posits a 4 hour, 153 character one man version of “War and Peace”, but that certainly someone out there has already written it. In this much less ponderous one man show, Pinder works at a fictitious Literary Themed Amusement park, and his job is to perform that monster. He has some difficult with the final monologue (as if anyone would still be there), and as he rehearses, the corporate suits chop his professional world into smaller and smaller crumbs. At the end, he realizes something important – that horrid monolog summarizes his profession career, and he’d better embrace it.
This version of a previous Fringe show seems more serious, more reflective, and ultimately more satisfying. But, he keeps the best part intact – a Gilbert and Sullivan summary of the War and Peace Plot. Tom Lehrer, beware!
Lilly & Lila’s Lovely Lesbian Hour
Starring Christine Robison and Leneil Bottoms
Brown Venue
2006 Orlando Fringe Festival
The 50’s are back, and so are these two charming, colorful flash-frozen relics of the Eisenhower administration. Lilly (Bottoms) sold Tupperware and (Lila Robison) sold cosmetics. Both of them traveled the world improving food storage and foundation powder. In an accident so incredible it could only happen in a Fringe show, the two were flash frozen and rethawed in a world where the Sisterhood of Forbidden Love was much more acceptable. They’re here to explain some cultural differences, mix some drinks, and harass a few audience members for the entertainment of everyone. But best of all, they get a trio of hot go-go dancers to strip to the Fairvilla Mega store undies, the high point of the week for some of us. Lilly and Lila is more of a friendly get together than a plot driven story, but the girls are just happy to be here.
Sport
With Mike Gill, Patrick Braillard, Brandon Roberts
Yellow Venue
2006 Orlando Fringe Festival
Theater’s not just a “sit in an uncomfortable chair and drink overpriced wine” experience anymore. “Sport” will get you out of you seat and into some upper body carbio-vascular strenuizatiosn. From the pre-show warm up (beach balls spiked into the front row) to the audience participation boxing rally, “Sport” parodies the entire sweat entertainment industry, with nary a spoken word form the cast. There’s a sponsor, so you can have a commercial logo plastered on every square inch of clothing. There are announces, babbling on about nothing. There are commercial breaks, so you can think about a restroom stop and sandwich. But best of all, there’s no color commentary!
The athletes keep up 45 minutes of pure energy, with everything done with a slapstick mime presentation that will keep you in stitches. Everyone picks on the little guy (Roberts), and if there’s one thing I learned about sports, it’s humiliate the little guy. That•s how you build character in America’s youth.
Oens – A Play
By Wilson Loria
Directed by Fernando Calzadilla
Pink Venue
2006 Orlando Fringe Festival
The enigmatic Wilson Loria returns to the Orlando stage with a beautifully mysterious rumination on modernization and change. Entering the room under a huge whit umbrella, he greets all audience members individually as audio clips of wars and disasters crackle from the sound booth. We begin with the mechanics of sailing around the Horn of Africa in search of the riches of India, as developed by the Portuguese. Only the amazing nautical innovations the Portuguese brought to sailing would allow this small impoverished country to dominate and exploit a wealthy land half a world away. They did as good a job as anyone since, and spread Western ideas and disease as they went. Further along, we hear a beautiful and untranslated Brazilian song, as enigmatic as an unopened letter. But the Portuguese are not evil, no more so than any other culture based on profit, and the tragic romance of Don Pedro and Inez highlights the humanity of the exploiters. Finally, we sit through a rather odd news conference hosted by Mr. Loria, explaining the administrative details of exploitation, including a plan to make the aboriginals sing paper after paper after paper… That’s my favorite strategy for deflecting evilness – bury it in paper work. “Oens” is the most thought provoking show on the program, and it deserves some reflection before you head to the beer tent.
One Bridesmaid’s Descent into Madness
By Gabi Lorino
Blue Venue
2006 Orlando Fringe Festival
It’s rare to find a show where you wish a cell phone would ring, but I found one. Ms. Lorino introduces us to her friends Tara, Christine, and Julie, and they’re all working on Tara’s marriage ceremony. She plays all 4, and swaps tee shirts to make sure we’re all on the same page as she is. That’s a good thing, as they all sound pretty much the same as they whine gently about dating issues, unusable Bridesmaid’ dresses, and unfulfilling jobs. The promised madness seems in short supply, as no one goes wacko, the wedding proceeds smoothly, and they even get to wear regular clothes for the ceremony. Ms. Lorino seems unsure of her lines, both in the recitation and in her use of “whatever” and “without further ado” as narrative elements. I’m not even convinced she’s actully involved in a wedding, but if she is, I hope it’s more entertaining than this little show.
Orlando Vigilante
By Marcie Schwalm and Larry Stallings
Directed by Larry Stallings
Red Venue
2006 Orlando Fringe Festival
Look! Up in the sky! It’s…a chubby guy in a tacky tee shirt and a table cloth cape. Yes, it’s George Lamesil (Stephen Miller), a man out to clean up this tourist trap of a city. His faithful wife Mary (David Alameda) does what she can to keep him from complete stupidity, but as any married woman knows, that’s pretty hard. George takes on bad drivers, pet poop, noisy tourists, and the real menace – guys with 11 items sin the wrong checkout line at Publix. He’s got a day job, so he has to keep Orlando from sucking on weekends, evenings, and national holidays. As he battles stupidity (which is like wrestling with a bowl of spaghetti) a steady steam of urban insults flows on stage – Josh Geoghagan drives his sport utility chair in the wrong lane, violates check out rules, and terrorizes a theme park audience, and equally evil Marcia Schwalm broadcasts the local news and cuts off Fast Pass holders with her sports utility baby stroller. What makes this funny is it IS full of truth – it’s not the wars and famines of the world that make us miserable, it’s the jerk with the cell phone in the library and the 5 second left turn light on 50 and 436 that raise your blood pressure. Even though George’s work was left unfinished by the end of the show, we ALL can go forth and make Orlando a better place. Or worse, evil resides in all of us.
The Glamorous Andrea Merlyn Magic Show
Pink Venue
2006 Orlando Fringe Festival
There’s plenty of drag floating around Fringe, but how often do you see a guy in a dress stick a pointy metal sword though someone’s neck? Ha! I thought not! Andrea Merlyn comes down from Indianapolis of all places, pulls on a wig and some heels, and provides a quirky yet entering mixture of magic and silly stories. There’s a variety of rope and silk tricks, and as is always the case, the entertainment is not so much in the difficulty of the illusions, but the story and patter that presents them. Like any good magic show, audience participation and harassment is a big part of the entertianment, and the climatic trick is a truly gruesome sword trick that tends to leave the victim pale. Besides the magical stuff, Andres sings a Frank Zappa song (Let’s turn the water black) which seems a bit disconnected from the hocus pocus. I found it a bit jarring, although she pretty much stays in tune. I guess there’s some die hard fandom in each of us. It’s a fun hour, but as you should know if you were ever in the army, NEVER volunteers for anything.
Lion Queen and the Naked Go-Go Club
Book and Lyrics by Michael Wanzie
Directed by Kenny Howard
Orange Venue
2006 Orlando Fringe Festival
I’m always astounded by the number of late cues, dropped lines, and failed scenery changes a Michael Wanzie Show can survive and still make people pee themselves with laughter. Apparently this is a parody of some sort of Disney show I missed, so I didn•t get all the jokes, but the ones that connected were still worth the price. Little Timba (Tommy Wooton) stands to inherit the conservative Kingdome of Pride Rocks, even though he’s been dropped on his head. His evil uncle Star (Michael Wanzie) wants to rule instead, figuring he can do better on the graft with the hyenas (Joe Swanburg). Soon Judy Garland (Becky Fisher) sings her classic hit “Don•t fuck with my life”, and Timba’s betrothed Hale (Becky Fisher) can•t see why Judy is such a big deal with little Timba. Ah, if only she had seen the “Mr. Charles” show over in Pink… With Uncle Star on his tail, Timba flees Pride Rocks and ends up in a gay watering hole run by Doug in a Marge Simpson wig. And then we all throw Beanie Babies at the stage.
It’s a robust plot, adorned with completely silly costumes and dozens of in jokes, P-house cross references, and exuberant drag. It’s exactly what you expect, even if the ending is more political than his last few shows. Production values here are very good, with a 20 foot giraffe and some sort of enormous Blue Bird Band tossed in for special effects. The only show with more stuff on stage is Little Women, but I doubt that cast will hang around to catch the late show of this campy classic.
Mr. Charles, Currently of Palm Beach
By Paul Rudnick
Directed by David Lee
Starring Frank McClain
Mr. Charles (Rudnick) claims he can turn you gay with a glance. Perhaps, but it might only take a touch of Straight Fashion sense to deflect him, given his choice of Teal and Tangerine for mathching suit and upholstry. Mr. Charles runs one of those 4 am cable access shows that seem so rare these days, and from time to time his prot•g• Shane (David Barnes) appears to dance on a plywood cube in various states of undress. It’s every stereotype you ever saw, heard, or thought of, all played so over the top that you can•t help but fall in love with the show, no matter which way you lean. There’s not really a plot, but his letters form the listening public are hysterical, and when Shane appears a Robin, it’s enough to make Shane question his own preferences. This is ribald, silly fun, and at 30 minutes it’s just the right length.with out beating a dead horse to water. Swishy is as swishy does.
You’re Being Watched
By Tait Moline
Pink Venue
2006 Orlando Fringe Festival
I don•t think you can go to the men’s room most places without ending up on a security camera somewhere. If you’re in jail, I suspect the problem is even worse. In the year 20-Something Ominous, 4 murders end up in a single cell, with a conveniently common thread of how that all came to be there. Malik (Patrick Oliver Jones) murdered a hooker, Nolan (Ken Passman) did someone in while high on drugs, Astrid (Rosalvia Villard Willis) knifed a boy, and Elinor (Nicole O’Donnell)…well, she’s not talking. In this cell, the government plays mind games with the prisoners, and eventually forces them all to admit to themselves what they had done and why. The payoff is 3 of them get off, and one gets solitary confinement for life.
This creepy psychological thriller offers a cleverly interlocking structure in need of about 15 minutes less dialog. Both Nolan and Malik are fearful creatures, indifferent to death until it stares them in the face, Astrid and Elinor are principled women who did what they had to do, and paid a heavy price. The price paid by the audience is a show just long enough to drag, but just interesting enough to be worth sitting through. A few precise edits and this show will be brilliant. As it stands, it’s merely interesting interesting.
Fat Camp
By James Judd
Brown Venue
2006 Orlando Fringe Festival
Being Gay and Mormon is tough. But being Gay, Mormon, and getting bit in the rear by a toxic flesh eating spider really makes for a tough week at the office. In this hysterical and convoluted story, Mr. Judd’s spider bite leads to a fear of the outdoors, a massive weight gain, and a stint in a seedy weight loss clinic with his 4 Mormon aunts. Sure, EVERYONE’S done this story, but not with Mr. Judd’s panache.
What’s fun about this story is its complete stream of conscious silliness. He jumps from scene to scene, and steps in and out of the story as he acts, narrates and wanders off on tangents that seem to go nowhere yet always come back to the main story. And that main story is discovering who you are, particularly in context to his extensive family. When the aunts corner him in the anorexia factory, it’s not his sexual preference that is the particular problem, but his decision to not have children. It’s true the Bible does recommend offspring, but there was a lot more cheap real-estate back then, plus any number of plagues, wars, and generally crummy health insurance made redundant kids more important back then. The takeaway line from Fat Camp is “Blood IS thicker than water, but you don•t have to drink it.”
King of Farts … It’s A Gas, Man
By Chris Lavigne
Yellow Venue
2006 Orlando Fringe Festival
I enjoy a good fart joke as well as the next guy, but I wish a few more of them made it into this self indulgent one man show. Mr. Lavigne developed an ability to make arm fart noises early in life, and over the following decades improved his repertory to include a decent behind the knee fart, and a truly bizarre neck fart. And at this later point in his life, he dug up a sponsor (Compressed Gas Products) and put on a Fringe show. While not all that entertaining, it does go right to the heart of the Fringe Festival concept – it’s a show you’re unlikely to see anywhere else.
There’s some potential here, but every time Mr L seems to get to a good joke, he knackers his own punch lines, or tells us how weak his armpit farts will be. Well, we have eyes to see and noses to smell, and while we can figure it out, there’s no point in him telling US. And that’s pretty much what this half hour holds. While he look pretty impressive in his purple robe and Burger King Crown, I struggle to think of much more to say other than you get a free whoopee cushion with every ticket, while supplies last. Petomane, he’s not.
Paint Chips
Voci Dance
Yellow Venue
2006 Orlando Fringe Festival
For years I’ve wondered why no one has ever taken Ken Nordine’s “Colors” album and set some modern dance to it. “Colors” hold 30 or so beat poems that advertise paint, each imbuing a color with a personality sharper than a soap opera heroine. Only a few colors can fit on stage, but we begin with Olive, a trendy girl on the cutting edge of fashion, and then join her friend Blue, who is just fighting her way back from depression. Rosy is a bit stuffy, but popular, and Burgundy might need to shed a few pounds. Elegant Black takes three dancers, and a set of cigarette holders. And if a guy is lucky, he might even date that luscious threesome, Crimson…
Bracketing the personable colors are some additional Voci arranged dance numbers. “Contact Improvisation” introduces the Colors girls, backed by a drum and jazz trumpet duo, Mark De Maio and Joe Meadows. In “Behind Raggedy Anne’s Smile” three dancers interchange clothing while in constant motion, and for all I know they end up with what they began with.
With witty choreography supplied by Genevieve Bernard, the “Colors” segments add a new layer of personality to Nordine’s already inspired free verse writing. Occasionally, the dancers appear silently, with music entering after they begin. That part is a bit jarring, sometimes seeming like a slip in the sound booth, and sometimes seeming a deliberate test of our acceptance of the work. Still, it’s an enjoyable set of pieces, and if you want something to talk about afterwards, there are plenty of personalities to gossip about.
A Delicate Balance
By Edward Albee
Directed by Bobby Bell
Starring Peg O’Keefe, Christian Truelsen
Mad Cow Theater, Orlando, Fl
It’s not clear which is harder – facing a life of loneliness, or staying awake through this detailed, symbolic trudge through upper class mor•s. Tobias (Truelsen) calmly accepts the steady stream-of-conscience blather his wife Agnes (O’Keefe) spews as they await the return of daughter Julia (Babette Wagner) from her 4th marriage. Along with alcoholic sister Claire (Jamie Middleton) they cycle through liquor cabinet in alphabetical order from Anisette to Whiskey. Things are calm enough until best friends Edna (Darlin Barry) and Harry (Alan Sincic) arrive, panicked and in terror of …something. Friends are friends, but there are limits, and the nuclear family meltdown reveals the core of everyone’s desire, whether it be solidarity, offspring, numbness, or a room with a big pillow and a lock.
Emptiness abounds, and this neurotic and unpleasant family lives in a room of beige furniture separated by blank canvas frames, lit symbolically with primary colors. Casting puts everyone in a role they excel at – O’Keefe drones drunkenly while Truelsen keeps calm, disassociated, and ready to fly into a rage. Julia wields a large and unladylike pistol, and Alan Sincic does what he does best – appear as a perfectly normal psychopath, nice as milk but with a creepy undertone of unexpressed weirdness.
“A Delicate Balance” explores loneliness and rejection against a backdrop of black humor and alcohol. The story is quite complex, and difficult to decipher, even with the subtle and emotive lighting clues provided by Erin Miner. No one in this closed living room takes the time to listen to the others, and when the humor drops off in the last act, the soporific effects of the alcohol seem to spread to the audience. We see that while family is entitled to acceptance and tolerance, friends must earn that right, and may not press it as far. Here I see Albee as friend, and not family.
For more information on Mad Cow, please visit http://www.madcowtheatre.com
Take Me Out
By Richard Greenberg
Directed by Frank Hilgenberg
Starring Dexter Williams, John Bateman, Daniel Cooksley
Theater Downtown, Orlando, FL
What is baseball, but a magic mix of Tradition and that plucky spirit of What Ever it Takes? Well, if you star slugger doesn•t fit the mold, and pushes that Latino Japahino Redneck Meso American stew just a shade toward the lavender, then NO one is happy. Darren Lemming (Williams) carries three strikes against team unity – he’s half black, gay, and has a spoiled narcissism that the team tolerates only so long as they win. When Japanese pitcher Takeshi Kawabata (M Andrew Dalire) can•t go the distance, up comes the silent and rather dim Shane Mungitt (Bateman.) He’s fire on the mound, but a completely un-PC interview leaves him suspended and bitter, and Lemming about to quit out of sheer childishness. Narrator Kippy Sunderstrom (Cooksley) steps in, helping Mungitt make the needed public penance. Anger runs deep in Mungitt’s shallow thought process, and he beans Lemming’s best friend Davey Battle (Jimmie Marlon Johnson), splitting his head and sending him to the big locker room in the sky.
Baseball is everyone’s favorite metaphor for life, and in Greenberg’s brilliant story that mapping plays true. Everyone gets a good speech, and even thought the first act seem a bit silly; by the end every audience member is transfixed. Lemming has no real friends except his skills and money manger Mason Marzac (Tommy Keesling) who doesn•t even like the game. Bateman’s Shane seems almost too dumb to do anything beyond throwing a ball, yet he is the real tragedy as forces outside him rip his already damaged life to shreds. Dalire had the most interesting speech, a lament about winning as life and losing as death, all given in pig Japanese and translated by Cooksley.
The title is wonderfully ambiguous, and this show features more nudity than your typical Fringe show. It’s not gratuitous, but it is pervasive. But besides bare butts, there’s a world of bared souls inside the hypocrisy of this winning team. Everyone has a different view of this mystical sport, and while the Race Barrier may have officially fallen decades ago, there are plenty of barriers left, and not even raw skill will breach them. But this is just a glorified kid’s game, right? It’s sure a bunch of kids inhabiting that scary dressing room. Really, really professional kids.
For more information, please visit http://www.theatredowntown.net
Julius Caesar
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Dennis Lee Delaney
Starring Johnny Lee Davenport, David Hardie, Dan McLeay
Orlando UCF Shakespeare Festival, Orlando Fla
Politics are politics, and even though today’s losing candidate rarely gets stabbed, not much else has changed. As the Roman republic transforms into a dictatorship, Julius Caesar (Davenport) murders Pompey then manipulates the crowd, deviously refusing what he wants more than anything else – the empire. Jealousy eats thin and bitter Cassius (Steven Patterson) as he convinces his bookish brother Brutus (McCleary) to lead a coup. Things go well enough – Julius is adept at ignoring good advice, and even though the murder drew a few giggles from the audience, Julius is dead and gone by intermission. That leaves the ball in Brutus’s hand, and he’s not very good with advice either – he allows Marc Anthony (Hardie) to speak at the funeral, and that pretty much ends Brutus’s career, but not with out a few bodies and speeches about friendship and valor and all that stuff we love to quote but hate to hear.
With a mixture of Mussolini’s brown shirts and Rumsfeld Body armor, director Delaney set this incipient civil war somewhere in the late 20th century. Caesar is a bit strident, but Mr. Hardies Marc Anthony is one of the best I’ve seen. McCleary’s Brutus is never brutish, but is well meaning thoughtful, and in way over his head. One of the best performances came from Casca (Jim Ireland), who can look drunk from the wrong side of Rosalind Avenue. There’s a bit of symbolism as well, the case with the fatal daggers opens to reveal knives arrayed to look like the commemorative coin issued in Rome to celebrate the murder.
With beautiful weather and relatively little street noise, there was plenty of time to enjoy the ominously lit set. A few sound problems plague the production, with microphones dropping out unexpectedly. The choice of setting and costume helped clarify the politics, and the plebeians transitions from anti to pro to anti made more sense here than in many JC’s. There was even a nice comic segment near the open as Cobbler (Christopher Lee Gibson) got some solid laughs out of his awl / all pun segment. Yeah, the seats still leave wire marks on your butt, but rent a cushion and you won•t notice it till you leave. This Julius Caesar rules.
For more information on UCF-Shakespeare, visit
http://www.shakespearefest.org
Anna In The Tropics
By Nilo Cruz
Directed by Paul Luby
Starring Hamilton Damian Cruz Junco, Natalie Irizarry, Stephen Pugh
Seminole Community College, Lake Mary, Florida
It’s 1929, and everyone’s world is about to collapse. Tampa’s cigar making business teeters on the edge of mechanization, and the tradition of a Lector reading news and novels and politics may not last. Still, the old Lector died so Ofelia Nadia (Garzon Vierday) hires a replacement. She has good taste, and soon handsome Juan Julian (Junco) steps off the boat in into the hearts of Marela (Chanthel Gonzalez) and her marred sister Conchita (Irizarry). For Marela it’s a teen age crush, but with hubby Palomo flying off to the arms of another, it might be time for Conchita to cut her hair and loosen her morals. Palomo burns with the insult, but it’s Cheche (Kevin Ecker), mysterious half brother from New Jersey, who takes a more northern European approach to infidelity. Was it the fault of the books Juan read, or was the situation primed and ready for any spark to set it off?
While the romance feels authentic, and the martial difficulties between Cheche’s brother Santiago (Paul Luby) and Ofelia rings true, there’s a curious lack of tension in this play. Santiago and Cheche seem close enough in the opening scenes, but by the end I’m not clear on why Santiago tolerates him. Stephen Pugh’s Palermo seems blunted in his response to his wife’s infidelity, although he asks an awful lot of questions about the details of the affair. The first act in engrossing, but somehow the energy all leaks out in the second half. Even the big party sequence feels dead, with supporting actors standing still and Santigo going from sober to smashed way to quickly.
This recent Tony winner continues to elude me. The story is pregnant with political overtones, yet the focus is on the triangle between Conchita, Palomo, and her lover. Their motivation may be Juan’s romantic novels and forbidden ideas, but perhaps the real structure is Conchita moving to a new viewpoint in a new world, just as the cigar industry was shifting. Old methods, nice as they are, can•t stand up in the face of the 20th century. But that’s just me speculating, I didn’t hear it in the text…
For more information on the Seminole Community College Theater program, please visit http://www.scc-fl.edu/arts/theatre/
Musical Comedy Clown
With Eric Pinder
Piano by Jason Wetzel
4th Annual Orlando Cabaret Fest
Mad Cow Theater, Orlando, Fl
What child HASN’T been obsessed by Fred Astaire, or dragged his parent to “Fiddler on the Roof” by age 4? OK, I wasn’t, choo-choo trains were more my style, but Eric Pinder’s obsession makes for much better theater. Mr. Pinder been an Orlando stalwart in numerous Fringe Festival and regular dramatic shows, but this afternoon we visit his inner space, and hear the music that moves him personally.
The music is slightly off the normal Cabaret A-list, and I appreciate that. Noel Coward and Cole Porter are the easy calls, but I was very impressed to see a few Tom Lehrer tunes. “Poisoning Pigeon in the Park” pretty much opens the show, right after he removes an astonishing yellow, purple and green sport coat. Of course, we don’t do that sort of thing anymore, at least not publicly, but in 1962 this was a perfectly wonderful comedy song. Cole Porter and Noel Coward appear twice, and they are the easy calls. But the dark streak in him selects sex and booze number like “Nina” and the rarely heard “Mrs. Wentworth Brewster.” And best of all, we hear him reprise his Junior High School rendition of Kurt Weill’s “Saga of Jenny.” That’s another song that would get you kicked off the school board in 2006.
The show is all too short, even with the Pre-Planned Encore “Masochism Tango”, but Pinder and Wetzel make a great team, and maybe you can drag him to a karaoke bar and get some more material out of him. It’s certainly lurking in him.
For more information on Mad Cow, please visit http://www.madcowtheatre.com
For more information on Orlando Cabaretfest, please visit http://www.orlandocabaret.com/
Suds
By Melinda Gilb, Steve Gunderson, Will Roberson and Bryan Scott
Directed by Michael Edwards
Winter Park Playhouse, Winter Park, Fl
It’s easy to hit home runs when you hit the balls with a fungo bat. “Suds” uses that strategy to mix a stock plot to a big bag of proven hits from the 60’s. Cutie pie Cindy (Cristi McKay) runs a Laundromat and pines for a man. A suitable one hasn•t show up in the first 5 minutes, so she decides to end it all with a pair of avocado green Capri pants. Good thing her guardian angels Marge (Laura Anne Hodos) and Dee Dee (Heather Alexander) are on the job – they not only rescue her, but teacher her the meaning of love, and hang out until the Arrival of Mr. Right (Mark Richard Taylor).
Minimalist as it is, that’s just enough story to lift this revue out of the VH1 “Whare are they now?” genera. Stock hits like “Locomotion” and “I Say a Little Prayer” come across as sharp as the day Phil Spector mixed them on his Zenith Royal 6 transistor radio. Occasionally there are pairs of songs with meters close enough to make a nice harmonizing mix (Help Me Girl / Can’t Hurry Love, Respect/These Boots Are Made For Walking). The emphasis here is on silly fun. Marge looks like she’s ready for a hot night of Bowling with the Boys, while Dee Dee gives a great pre-valium June Cleaver impression. The sixty were a rough time, but that’s all forgotten here as Cindy ends up with the cartoonishly good looking Mark Taylor in a white tuxedo. The only thing more you could wish for would be a little starburst glint off his ultra white teeth. I think everyone got what they wanted- Even the audience stood and clapped along time before they left.
For more information on Winter Park Playhouse, visit http://www.winterparkplayhouse.org
Falsettos
By William Finn
Directed by Earl Weaver
Starting Joseph Kemper, Wesley Farrell Miller, Margaret Ellen Jefferys
UCF Conservatory Theater, Orlando Fl
There might be something worse than divorced, Jewish, and gay, but you wouldn•t know it from watching “Falsettos.” Marvin (Kemper) dumped wife Trina (Jefferys) to live with his oddly named boyfriend Whizzer (Miller). Trina’s gets revenge by marrying Marvin’s psyciatrist Mendel (Matt DePasquale). She lost her man, and he lost his shrink – a fair trade, it s
