CLICK HERE FOR LIST OF ALL PLAYS REVIEWED CLICK ON PLAY FOR AUDIENCE REVIEWS FOR THAT PLAY
- Abducted
Action!
Asian for Dummies
Ball and Daisy Chain
Can You See Me?
Certain Things...
Chinese Clown Cabaret
Cincinatti
Come Fly With Me Nude
Comedy on the Square
divagation
Faker
Flame and the Stone
Flower Murderer
Framework
Future Folkloric
Hollywoodland
Home/Darkness
Hooray for Speech...
It's Stupid to Steal...
Late Night With God
Long-Form Improv &...
m.i. blue's TWILITE...
Magic @ the Fringe
Moliere Than Thou
nEO-sURREALISTS Present
Other American Stories
Oui Be Negroes
PAIN
Quarter Into It
Rabbit Causes Dog
Rap Canterbury Tales
Reframing the Hourglass
Short and Sweet...
some life
Subhuman-True Tales...
This Love Train...
Thrilling Adventures...
Tonight: The Harsh …
Under the Counter...
Viva Karaoke!...
Viva Vivi
Wrestling an Alligator
Young War
Zeppelin Beach Improv
Play: Late Nite with God
Reviewer: Chad Lent
Reviewer Email: chadlent@sonic.net
Rating: 5 Stars
The IllBilly boys have a smash success with 'Late Nite' constant chuckling
interspersed with roaring laughter. The interviews are oozing with wit and
the banter weaves in some rather intelligent social commentary. In addition
to the comedy, the musical guests are superb: Kid Beyond--incredible! Muhammad
& the Allah-Stars, deeply funky. This bit was by far my favourite of
the Fringe Fest. Chad Lent
Play: Hooray for Speech Therapy
Reviewer: Kurt Fitzpatrick
Reviewer Email: info@kurtfitzpatrick.com
Rating: None
I am the writer/performer of "Hooray for Speech Therapy," and
I would like to address daisy's review. I never said that ALL my former
teachers in Catholic high school were c--ts. I was talking about a few teachers
during my freshman year who made a challenging situation more difficult
than it needed to be. I had teachers at the same school who were very supportive
and nurturing towards my creativity. I say in the show that I began acting
in high school, and that would not have happened at that time had it not
been for the support and faith of certain teachers. I'm very grateful for
that. I appreciate daisy's comment that the "c--t" line comes
off "jarringly angry." That line was in the context of a joke
that consistently got laughs, and there is some anger there, but as I was
performing the show I realized more and more how out of place that line
felt. It doesn't reflect my personality in an accurate way, and the fact
that daisy perceived me as "bitter" just confirms t!
hat for me. Thanks for the reviews, everyone.
Play: Can you see me
Reviewer: ML Hones
Reviewer Email:
Rating: 5 Stars
Debon's one person show is delightful and moving. Her embodiment of the
characters is powerful, and they are great characters. The simple but effective
use of the stage, as well as multimedia elements, make this piece very entertaining
and well paced. I'm so glad I saw it. Highly recommended.
Play: Late night with god
Reviewer: david sophia siegel
Reviewer Email: davidsophia@gmail.com
Rating: 4 Stars
good stuff. nice job, fellas.
Play: The Thrilling Adventures of Elvis In Space
Reviewer: Bill Wiley
Reviewer Email: bwiley@nbc.com
Rating: 4 Stars
Hey Elvis gang. Your show was a lot of fun. It was really tight and enjoyable
to watch. It was part musical, part comedy,part political satire and all
fun. Thanks and keep up the good work.
Play: Magic @ The Fringe
Reviewer: Henry Milstead
Reviewer Email:
Rating: 5 Stars
Having seen this show last year, I didn't think I would have anything to
say in the audience review section, but boy is it a different show. There
are the same staple opening acts, but from there it veers off into a completely
different direction. This time around, Christian shows a little more edge
by being unapologetically abstract in his themes of life, death, destruction,
and restoration. Unabashed in his sentimentality, it comes across as heartfelt
and never heavy handed. Issues of faith and religion are addressed with
an equally tender touch without feeling like a sermon. I would like to see,
in the future, the whole show consisting of substantial pieces like this.
Let's see what the next show holds
Play: Short and Sweet
Reviewer: Leon
Reviewer Email:
Rating: 4 Stars
Great scripts and strong acting. I especially enjoyed Karen Macklin's play
and thought Jennifer Dean and David Stein gave lovely, nuanced performances.
Play: Wrestling an Alligator
Reviewer: An audience member
Reviewer Email:
Rating: None
What I found most exhilarating about this play is that next to the satirical
plotósleazy businessman gets whatís coming to himóthereís
this character, Jenkins, assistant to the businessman, who speaks in free-wheeling
free associations, making a dizzying array of references to highbrow literature
and low-brow products. (And I do mean lowbrowóas in Preparation H).
The effect for me was a play that moves daringly close to the territory
of language poetry, and left me wonderingóand what more can we ask?óabout
the relationship between jobs and words, what we do and what we say. Maybe
the supposedly sturdy language of punctuality and answering phones and taking
memos is the soul-stealing culprit of a corporate mentality, after all.
And maybe the assistantís mad meanderings (which a doctoral candidate
would have a heyday with, by the way, sorting out what line came from what
novel, what phrase from what film. . . )ómaybe the pile-up of references
arenít so mad after all. Iíd lo!
ve to think about "Wrestling an Alligator" more, but sadly, Iím
late for work. .
Play: hooray for speech therapy
Reviewer: daisy
Reviewer Email:
Rating: 2 Stars
I don't know if it was just because I'm too PC, or because I saw the performance
at noon on Sunday, or because the theater was sparsely populated, but this
wasn't nearly as funny as I had hoped/expected. The performer seems more
bitter than funny, and the accusation that all his former teachers in Catholic
high school were c--ts was jarringly angry. I think there's a good solo
performance in there, and I think this guy has the comic timing to pull
it off, but it still needs a lot of work before I would recommend it to
anyone
Play: wrestling an aligator
Reviewer: daisy
Reviewer Email:
Rating: 5 Stars
The perfect fringe festival performance--funny, strange, surreal, and completely
unpredictable. The cast was wonderfully vibrant, especially Jenkins. Fantastic!
Play: Ball and Daisy Chain
Reviewer: Tasaday Lewis
Reviewer Email:
Rating: 4 Stars
Great dialogue! Well-written, funny, political, tightly drawn. Some awkward
moments on opening night but the actors were clearly into it and I look
forward to seeing more from this playwright. Yay Kriz!
Play: Short and Sweet
Reviewer: Barbara
Reviewer Email: barbsharon@aol.com
Rating: 5 Stars
Short and Sweet -- three emotionally packed, moving plays about women facing
crises in their lives. The acting is uniformly professional, with great
depth and intensity, credited, in great part to the innovative and effective
direction by Karen Macklin. My favorite of the three was "Commit Me
To Memory," a beautifully lyrical piece about a young woman coming
to terms with life and death, and, in the process, trying to help her lover
to come to terms with life and death as well. The interaction between the
two players alternated between tension and softness, anger and love. The
emotions were genuine and the outcome of the play poignant. The other two
pieces were also well done and all three made for a balanced production.
A must see
Play: Action!
Reviewer: Melinda
Reviewer Email:
Rating: 5 Stars
Undeniable comedic genius. I don't even know the lady, but I hate her. I
hate her because she thought of "whistle dance" and I didn't.
Don't see this show if you have no sense of humor.
Play: Can You See Me?
Reviewer: Felix Freddo
Reviewer Email:
Rating: 5 Stars
Catherine Debon's one woman show is brilliant and moving. She creates a
nuanced and powerful character--her 93 year old French grandmother and demonstrates
the profound love between the grandmother and granddaughter. Debon's use
of multimedia--photographs, phones, and the sheer physicality of her performance
with a dancer's strength and versatility are awesome. Sound and light well
done as well.
Play: Neo Surrealists Present...Half Baked but Well Done
Reviewer: Muzz
Reviewer Email: bigmuzz@bigmuzz.com
Rating: 4 Stars
Overall a crazy and fun theater experience. Some of the skits didn't do
much for me-- the lawnmower, the cheese-throwing, hat trick, etc. Some were
good-- I'm-not-talking-to-you, the Improv comedy, the fart sequence (although
a bit drawn out), the Mr and Mrs. Marcel Marceau. And the No Child Left
Behind / Compassionate Conservatism spoof was absolutely brilliant! The
ending was spectacular as well. Note: This show should have had a nudity
warning in the desciption, since it was literally in-your-face (which is
fine if the audience knows what to expect).
Play: Hooray for Speech Therapy
Reviewer: Muzz
Reviewer Email: bigmuzz@bigmuzz.com
Rating: 2 Stars
I really wanted to like this show, but a few things soured it for me. First,
the 5th-grade-esque naming of the villain, his former speech therapist ("Asshole
McShmuck" of something like that). It's somewhat insulting to the audience--
we realize that this is supposed to be the bad guy in the story without
having to have it driven in repeatedly. And it makes it hard to identify
with the protagonist when instead of endearing himself to us, he resorts
to name-calling so early on. Secondly, some of the humor was really off
color. What sticks out in my mind were the jokes about Southerners not having
teeth, being inbred, etc. We've all heard these jokes before. It amazes
me how racism and sexism are almost taboo (and they should be), but ignorant
regionalism seems to be alive and well. That the audience actually laughed
at these jokes says something really disheartening. Ok, there were some
good things in this show. The impersonations and side-jokes were great.
And the storyline is one that should be very endearing and uplifting if
it weren't lost admist everything else.
Play: The Thrilling Adventures of Elvis in Space
Reviewer: david sophia siegel
Reviewer Email: davidsophia@gmail.com
Rating: 4 Stars
This was funny. It moved fast, it kept my attention, it was witty and creative
- very inventive... Elvis was great (esp. the "Wa-wa" face)...
Stevie was fabulous (I love stevie), robot charlie hodges was super duper...
nice job, everybody!...
Play: MoliËre Than Thou
Reviewer: kensek
Reviewer Email:
Rating: None
Impressive solo peformance, even if you're unfamiliar with Moliere's works.
You have to pay attention to get the nuances of the humor. This performance
is about as far from the neo-surrealist's brand of humor as you can get.
Nice word play. Some audience participation. Moliere Than Thou reinforces
the fact that "some things never change" as one of his bits has
to do with paying off a judge. A nice way to spend an hour of humor from
another time, as "Moliere" goes off on one of his soliloquies.
Play: tHE nEO-sURREALISTS present
Reviewer: kensek
Reviewer Email:
Rating: 2 Stars
3 if you've never seen it and are into sophomoric humor. 2 if you aren't
into sophomoric humor. Fortunately, most bits were short. Only a small handful
were really funny. Sorry, I graduated out of flatulent jokes several years
ago. Retire the cheese. The energy level of the performers was high. This
probably made some of the material better than it was. Perhaps if I had
had (several) beer(s) before the performance, I would have enjoyed it more.
If you like Letterman/Dennis Miller for humor, take a pass. If you still
laugh at the Three Stooges, you'll like this
Play: Cincinatti
Reviewer: Jeanine DeBacker
Reviewer Email:
Rating: 5 Stars
Wow! This was just excellent. Ms. Tagano was incredible. I was expecting
something different from a "one-woman show" (i.e., a memoir) and
this just blew me away. Mia knows her stuff and really became the character.
I liked the staging as well. All in all a great evening!
Play: The Thrilling Adventures of Elvis in Space
Reviewer: Nikole
Reviewer Email: chicken.lady@juno.com
Rating: 5 Stars
I have a special place in my heart for Memphis, so seeing this play made
me immeasurably happy. I thought that the play was hilarious, and I was
grateful that the actor playing Elvis could REALLY sing. I think that Rimma
Dreyband's portrayal of Robot Charlie Hodge was perhaps the highlight of
the show. Oh, how I love to watch robots dance. If you want to see Elvis
in his blue suede space boots, if you want to hear some fascinating commercials,
if you want to laugh and have a good time, then you'll see this play
Play: This Love Train...
Reviewer: Heather S
Reviewer Email:
Rating: 5 Stars
This is fringing at its best (no, I am not a friend of the performer). A
talented actor with a gift for telling a story that is personal and universal
at the same time. This one deserves best of show
Play: nEO-sURREALISTS
Reviewer: Heather S
Reviewer Email:
Rating: 1 Star
I wish there was -1 star rating. Truely, the emperor is not wearing any
clothes, no really, he is naked and REALLY shouldn't be. I felt like I was
held captive with a bunch of frat boys and their friends while they "acted"
out with bad gags and kindergarden routines, mostly at the audeinces expense.
I know these guys have been around and have developed a following but they
have out lasted any respect they may have deserved. If your idea of entertainment
is tiny penises (viewed at 12 inches from your knee) or cheese being thrown
at you than this is your show but if you appreciate good theatre, stay away,
far away
Play: Elvis in Space
Reviewer: Barrett
Reviewer Email:
Rating: 5 Stars
Really funny, creative play. Great concept, strong direction and clever
story. Good script too. Stevie is hella funny.
Play: Magic@The Fringe
Reviewer: Morgan Ludlow
Reviewer Email: morgan@onereel.org
Rating: 4 Stars
This show is a winner! Cagigal is immediately engaging from his first leap
on to the stage to his final ìtrickî which manages to be both
metaphorical and emotionally evocative. Cagigal easily wins the audience
over with his personality, wit and humoróplus he has some stunning
tricks that will have you grinning, gasping and laughing before the show
is over. This is theatre at its best
Play: Wrestling An Alligator
Reviewer: Audience member
Reviewer Email:
Rating: None
What I found most exhilarating about this play is that next to the satirical
plotósleazy businessman gets whatís coming to himóthereís
this character, Jenkins, assistant to the businessman, who speaks in free-wheeling
free associations, making a dizzying array of references to highbrow literature
and low-brow products. (And I do mean lowbrowóas in Preparation H).
The effect for me was a play that moves daringly close to the territory
of language poetry, and left me wonderingóand what more can we ask?óabout
the relationship between jobs and words, what we do and what we say. Maybe
the supposedly sturdy language of punctuality and answering phones and taking
memos is the soul-stealing culprit of a corporate mentality, after all.
And maybe the assistantís mad meanderings (which a doctoral candidate
would have a heyday with, by the way, sorting out what line came from what
novel, what phrase from what film. . . )ómaybe the pile-up of references
arenít so mad after all. Iíd lo!
ve to think about "Wrestling an Alligator" more, but sadly, Iím
late for work. . .
Play: Rabbit Causes Dog
Reviewer: Ploo
Reviewer Email:
Rating: None
Would have loved to have seen his play but the outgassing in the Jon Sims
studio was so strong that my throat was burning within five minutes. I don't
know if it was the mylar floor or maybe the wall hangings were dipped in
a fire retardant but the smell was so strong I couldn't stay for the play.
Now I'm a Midwesterner; smoke-free bars & scent-free zones are new to
me; but I couldn't hack the smell. Bummer.
Play: Divagation
Reviewer: sandy w
Reviewer Email: ginger_altoids@hotmail.com
Rating: 2 Stars
I would have made it 5 stars if all she had done was sing! She has a beautiful
voice! The rest was a good concept but lacked the polish it needed to be
carried out
Play: Elvis in Space
Reviewer: sandy w
Reviewer Email: ginger_altoids@hotmail.com
Rating: 4 Stars
This was a fun romp. Elvis can sing, thank god. All the actors were wonderful.
If you are looking for more of an intellectual show then look elsewhere,
this is plain and simple. Good times
Play: Young War
Reviewer: sandy w
Reviewer Email: ginger_altoids@hotmail.com
Rating: 5 Stars
You must see this show! It's beautiful
Play: Wrestling an Alligator
Reviewer: sandy w
Reviewer Email: ginger_altoids@hotmail.com
Rating: 4 Stars
The show is smart, witty with a surprise or two. There are associations
galore. I am sure I only caught half. I am still in the midst of trying
to remember which film included the Christopher Walken bit. The actors were
wonderful. I have taken 1 star away because I felt there might be too much
information to process in such a short amount of time. I think someone with
attention deficit disorder may find this play a challenge. I believe I spotted
a few in the audience. It may not be for everyone but if you enjoy spotting
layered references, if you appreciate humor that isnít 'dumbed-down'
for the audience's sake, although there is some slapstick, it does plays
off beautifully from the dark places we are taken to in this business world,
then you will love Wrestling.
Play: Future Folkloric
Reviewer: Rose
Reviewer Email:
Rating: 4 Stars
This refreshing, fun, heartfelt piece is a must see. I was pleasantly surprised
at how well the multi-cultural, multi-lingual sensibility worked. The combination
of magic realism, dreamscapes, and bread and circus qualities made this
show a fun ride to experience. The particular high points were Mirror Watches,
SambaBall, and Birdsong.
The only critique I have is that while the performers clearly seemed to
be enjoying themselves, they were a bit uneven in what they were individually
able to give at any given point. Perhaps the director could have focused
on that to make an even better show.
There's room for improvement. I will be on the look out for what this group
is up to in the future.
Play: Rabbit Causes Dog
Reviewer: Ben Eckstein
Reviewer Email: beneckstein@hotmail.com
Rating: 5 Stars
It's been a week since I've seen this show and it's still on my mind!
Great ensemble work, originality and precision come together to deliver
surprise after surprise and the over all feeling is of sheer delight.