There were not many people in the audience at the Friday show I went to. Which means that a few people missed out that night on the funny and sweet performance by Steve Boleantu.
Welcome everyone, to the other side of the looking glass where you can take pride in yourself for being lazy and follow your own self-serving interests. Throw away those life aspirations and take a great weight off your shoulders!
This is a how-to program to releasing ourselves from those pesky dreams and "dangerous notions" that we should plan our lives and gather our resources.
Our hosts very enthusiastically guide us along in this 'backward' land where we are led to practice living in the now, spending everything we have now, doing the opposite of what we have been told...
PLANK NOTE: There are two casts for this show. The junior cast ages approximately 14-19, and the senior cast 17-25. This review is about the senior cast.)
Awkward Stage Production’s musical comedy Smile is a well polished and entertaining show. Under the direction of Cara Tench and the musical direction of Andy Toth the talented young cast offers great singing, fun characterizations, and a lot of enthusiasm for a full 90 minutes.
The young cast is made up of actors and singers ages 19 to 24 and I was impressed with the precision, poise and focus of the performers. The...
I haven't seen a magician at the Fringe before, though in fact Travis Bernhardt was here last year. He tells how he chose to try to be one, because shy and nerdish, then explains that 'magic trick' is an oxymoron, and how some prefer such terms as effect or illusion.
Manipulating balls and cards, he dexterously confuses us on the meaning of 'one' and 'two' and 'left' and 'right.' He gives two people money, buys bananas from them, and both have more money - too quick for me to figure out. He has a white egg-shaped ball which is suddenly...
Learn more at http://Travisthemagician.Blogspot.Com
When I go to theatre I want a show to move me, and I liked the dance show Species by Seattle-based Sapience Dance Company because it did just that. Contemporary dancers Sarah Seder, Lilah Steece, Amy Weaner, Victoria Jacobs and Leslie Hubbard make up the young dynamic company and this original piece is an collective collaboration born out of a shorter piece they performed earlier in the year. Throughout the creative process Steece doubled as director, Weaner was on costumes and additional choreography was by Ariella Brown.
The company won me over right away with their opening solo. I thought...
The one-man show is a brave and ambitious endeavor to take on for any actor, and the Fringe, in my opinion, is a great place for an actor build some chops. The Sinner King, written and performed by Eric Hinch, as a one-hour storytelling play has lots of potential, and is probably a courageous creative leap for Hinch, but the show I watched seemed more like a work-in-progress than a finished product.
The piece is based on story by Goethe and follows the adventures of a man chasing his mystery woman, and getting swept up in sex and drugs...
Melanie Gall’s one woman musical, The Sparrow and the Mouse: Creating the Music of Edith Piaf, combines great music with a compelling story and makes for some solid entertainment.
The play tells the rags to riches story of Edith Piaf, the great French singer through the eyes of her half-sister and bosom buddy side-kick, the mousy Marguerite Monnot. This perspective gives the play an intimate feel, like we are being let in on what only a close friend would know about someone. The anecdotes about Piaf’s life, are intercut with her songs, each of them serving to illuminate the emotional...
“Stay Away from my Boat @$$hole” is a 30 minute gem of a show and a must see at this year’s fringe. The company is fast becoming the leader in site specific theatre in the city and this time they have situated the action in the water and on the beach below the Alder Bay Bridge on Granville Island.
Cabaret Terrarium is written by Richard Harrington and Chris Kauffman. Harrington (Gustave – the cabaret singer) and Kauffman (Nhar – the “pantomeeme”) are funny guys. If the framing story is never quite as good as the various parts that go into it, and if occasionally Gustave’s songs get one note, and the piece is a smidgen too long, there are still laughs aplenty in this offering.
They are, however, often stifled by the Cabaret Terrarium’s big device – the wooden frogs, and it’s a pity in some ways. I sensed the audience trying to respect the conceit of the frogs...
Written by Melanie Gall, this show is subtitled Creating the Music of Edith Piaf. Turns out that Gall's performance is the real reason to see this show. She sings a baker’s dozen of Piaf’s songs absolutely beautifully, and tells us the story of Piaf’s early years from the point of view of Simone Berteaut Piaf’s half-sister and lifelong best friend.
I believe that the story is interesting but the delivery needs work.
Gall tosses a baby prop around with reckless abandon, one moment it’s a tender babe, the next it’s garbage she drops casually. She also needs to remove the...
