You Really Like Us
Apparently, CAUTIONARY TALES and TRIXIE TICKLES won the "Pick of the Fringe" award in the Musical category for this year's festival. It was based on public voting through the City Paper Fringe Blog. I'm not sure what that actually means, but I'll take it as a good thing.
I was not present at the Festival's closing bash to witness this announcement.
Instead I was in my pajamas, sprawled on a couch. The equestrian made stir-fried tofu and broccoli and we watched 1/3 of Notes on a Scandal (will finish later, it's very good, but required too much thought) and then the whole of a Rowan Atkinson stand up act from 1991.
I was very, very tired. Ergo: very, very lame.
I miss my CT/TT lovelies already though and hope to see their smiling faces soon.
I wish I'd been able to see the other musical that got substantial buzz in the festival: Queen of the Bohemian Dream. There was a U of M grad in the cast, and I know we covered some of Landesman's material in musical theater class.
But I simply couldn't fit it in. I wasn't able to see anything that first weekend because CT/TT and Collaterally Damaged both opened and settled into their respective grooves. So while I was able to catch three shows during the week (Nutshell, Ninja Motorcycle Babes and the Pabst and Popcorn Hour's Tragedy of Faustus) most of my viewing was left to Saturday when I crammed four shows into my day. I won't ever do that again. My legs were all cramped and my bum atrophied by the end of it all.
That said, I'm very glad I saw such a wide and varied range of performances this year. I think last year I made it to, like, two.
On Saturday I saw A Most Notorious Woman, Local Story, Two by Mee, and Birds. Then I stood in the back for the final performance of Cautionary Tales.
There are enough reviews floating around the web for these shows--we hardly need another. Suffice it to say, there were notable strengths in each and every one of these shows and good work evident across the board. Certainly a wide range when it comes to level of professionalism in presentation and whether or not what was aimed for in each production was actually achieved, but everyone was indeed reaching for great things and for that I say Bravo.
Three specific shout outs:
To the Pabst and Popcorn crew for making me excited about theater again. Really great work, so smart and stylized and specific and no awkward attempts to hit me in between the eyes with some great *moral* or *lesson*. And hey, free beer. Did you catch that? Yeah, it made me happy.
To Cecilia and company for their sparkling presentation of A Most Notorious Woman. It was the first time I have watched theater artists in this community and had the distinct sense of "these are the people we will pass on the torch to". I guess I've always felt like I was the one waiting for the torch to be passed, and in this instance felt proud of the young-er visionaries fighting for their voices to be heard. They both deserve to be heard.
To the BIRD's design team, actors and Wendy for a stunning presentation of a very complex and layered play. Really beautiful work. Both Jacob (the set designer) and Wendy (directors) are NCSA alum. Hurrah.
I am sure I will have more thoughts to share in due time.
I was not present at the Festival's closing bash to witness this announcement.
Instead I was in my pajamas, sprawled on a couch. The equestrian made stir-fried tofu and broccoli and we watched 1/3 of Notes on a Scandal (will finish later, it's very good, but required too much thought) and then the whole of a Rowan Atkinson stand up act from 1991.
I was very, very tired. Ergo: very, very lame.
I miss my CT/TT lovelies already though and hope to see their smiling faces soon.
I wish I'd been able to see the other musical that got substantial buzz in the festival: Queen of the Bohemian Dream. There was a U of M grad in the cast, and I know we covered some of Landesman's material in musical theater class.
But I simply couldn't fit it in. I wasn't able to see anything that first weekend because CT/TT and Collaterally Damaged both opened and settled into their respective grooves. So while I was able to catch three shows during the week (Nutshell, Ninja Motorcycle Babes and the Pabst and Popcorn Hour's Tragedy of Faustus) most of my viewing was left to Saturday when I crammed four shows into my day. I won't ever do that again. My legs were all cramped and my bum atrophied by the end of it all.
That said, I'm very glad I saw such a wide and varied range of performances this year. I think last year I made it to, like, two.
On Saturday I saw A Most Notorious Woman, Local Story, Two by Mee, and Birds. Then I stood in the back for the final performance of Cautionary Tales.
There are enough reviews floating around the web for these shows--we hardly need another. Suffice it to say, there were notable strengths in each and every one of these shows and good work evident across the board. Certainly a wide range when it comes to level of professionalism in presentation and whether or not what was aimed for in each production was actually achieved, but everyone was indeed reaching for great things and for that I say Bravo.
Three specific shout outs:
To the Pabst and Popcorn crew for making me excited about theater again. Really great work, so smart and stylized and specific and no awkward attempts to hit me in between the eyes with some great *moral* or *lesson*. And hey, free beer. Did you catch that? Yeah, it made me happy.
To Cecilia and company for their sparkling presentation of A Most Notorious Woman. It was the first time I have watched theater artists in this community and had the distinct sense of "these are the people we will pass on the torch to". I guess I've always felt like I was the one waiting for the torch to be passed, and in this instance felt proud of the young-er visionaries fighting for their voices to be heard. They both deserve to be heard.
To the BIRD's design team, actors and Wendy for a stunning presentation of a very complex and layered play. Really beautiful work. Both Jacob (the set designer) and Wendy (directors) are NCSA alum. Hurrah.
I am sure I will have more thoughts to share in due time.
posted by SAS @ 3:00 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
I am not passing any torches anytime soon. I constantly watch my back looking for someone to try and take my torch. And if it is a torch fight they want, I have my torch right here.
Totally well-deserved, SAS. CTFA&TMAofTT was hi-larry-icious. Very Fringe-plus. Wonderful x7, and out of all whooping and whatnot. Wife and sis had a most excellent time, and it was the perfect show to see a day after those darling Neo-Futurists doing Ta-mill-um-ta-beegle-bee. One Miss Platt equals Five Neo-Futurists.
Also: cat? Mega-adorable. WHy is it that people, seeing cute animals, say things like: "I want to eat its face off?" I never got that. Rest assured, I will never, ever eat your cat's face off.
As for torches, I am hoping that in the coming years, I might qualify for a glowstick.
OK. Back to Huffiana.
And for my part, I promise I will never eat the faces off of the Deceiver and Dcepticon boys, cute as you both may be.
And anyhow, your ladies are both cuter. I won't eat their faces off either.
I'll stop now.
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