Orlando Fringe Festival 2018 – Day 2
Orlando, Florida
A Solo from The Pit – Teater KEF/Elias – Brown
Playing second trombone, even at The Metropolitan Opera can make for a lonely life. Elias Faingersh spins a great story about success and failure in New York’s classic music jungle. He learned the instrument as a child, made it to the Met orchestra and found he was bored and did NOT enjoy counting out 100 or more measures between notes. Now he’s somewhere between jazz and EDM and puts up a virtuoso concert of loops, beats and musical fireworks. Along the way he explains opera, explores landlord-tenant relation in NYC, and looks much happier on this circuit than in his old job.
Eddie Poe – The Cold Hearts – Orange Venue
Poor Eddie Poe has a little cash and a lot of pedigree, and after he proposes marriage he’s off to the University of Virginia. Nothing cements a marriage like a two-year separation and his plans for rectitude and study quickly fall into drinking, carousing and gambling. While he’s good at the first two, he’s weak on cheating at cards and you can guess the rest. This two-person team paints a minimalist world that Poe inhabits with lights and a few sticks of furniture. The Cold Hearts do an excellent job of fleshing out his life, his interior monolog and poor coping skills. And the minimal tech gives maximum effect for this descent into poverty and madness.
<!– -bb Flip – Blue Venue
In the not too distant future, a constitutional amendment makes a “Death Switch” mandatory on all Americans. “Why” isn’t reveled, but the effect on one small family amplifies their already precarious life together. Grandpa “flipped” himself, the euphemism for suicide in this town. Now his ashes reside in a soup tureen and his daughter can’t seem to please anyone as a mom. Her current second husband drinks himself stupid, and then gets violent. Their kids aren’t much better off; the younger son is bullied and the older daughter a drop out druggie. The fun gets real with an incestuous rape leads to an accidental mutual suicide. The story is often rough and rough around the edges and the author can’t stop using the word “literally” in this heavy duty, take no prisoners drama. –>
Muttnik – Pipsqueak Collective – Blue Venue
The first living creature to orbit the earth was the Russian dog named Laika. In 1957 she went up for a few record setting orbits, then reentered to end in a streak of space dust. We meet her on this stage as she regales us with stories of poverty, living on the streets, and her eventual kidnapping into the Russian space program. This dog is connoisseur of garbage and poop, she even offers recipes. While the whole concept is bit fantastic, the story is enjoyable, and you almost want to scratch actor Costella behind the ears. Her description of the Russian scientists is a hoot and lovable to boot. She even says a few nice things to say about her Russian handler, and while not really a kid’s show, “Muttnik” offers youthful charm tinged with a slight Russian accent.
