Weekend Top 6 Orlando Fringe Picks.

Saturday May 23, 2015

A $10 Fringe Button is needed for entrance to all shows. Available at the Shakes box office. (good for entire 14-Day Festival.). Anyone can Fringe. I will be at Fringe from 10am to 4pm all weekend doing a Fringe Sketch Tour. If you spot me, be sure to say hi.

11:45pm to 12:45pm $11 + service charge. Moonlight After Midnight. Green Venue (Rep Black Box). 60 minutes. Rated 7+ years old. “A beautiful woman meets a mysterious man in a midnight hotel room.
Starring Martin Dockery & Vanessa Quesnelle”. I have seen Martin Dockery tell stories on the Fringe stages for the past several years and I am always spellbound.

2pm to 2:55pm $11 + service charge. Tales Too Tall for Trailers. Brown Venue (Shakes inside former Philharmonic rehearsal space). 55 minutes. All ages. “Comedian / Storyteller Paul Strickland  and Erika Kate MacDonald  join forces in this off-kilter musical family
comedy! Funny songs, strange southern stories, shadow puppetry, a pet
named “Peeve” and more. The final installment in Paul’s trailer park trilogy.” I saw this show and was delighted with it’s humor, innocent and clever use of shadow puppetry and wit.

4:30pm to 5pm $5 + service charge. Judy Garland. Orange Venue (Shakes Margison Theater). 30 minutes. Rated 18+. “That Judy Garland show from last year that sold out four times and
wasn’t even listed in the program is back in a bigger venue with cheaper
tickets.” This show had me laughing out loud last year, and I have to see it again.

Sunday May 24, 2015

12:30pm to 1:30pm  $11 + service charge. Hoodies. Silver Venue (Large Rep Theater). 60 minutes. Rated 13+. “The third piece in our Beth Marshall Presents: The Trayvon Martin
Project year – long exploration of racism, profiling, gun control and
the tragic loss of too many black teens. A raw and powerful
socio-political play delving deeply into the core of race relations
between blacks and whites today with the purpose of greater
communication, healing and celebration of diversity.” Theater at it’s best. That opens a raw and much needed discussion of race in America.

3:15pm to 4:15pm $11 + service charge. Autobahn. Red Venue (Shakes back courtyard and then upstairs) 60 minutes. Rated 18+.  “From the playwright of reasons to be pretty, Neil LaBute’s Autobahn is a
provocative, darkly comic portrait of America – “from a make-out
session gone awry to a kidnapping thinly disguised as a road trip” – set
within the confines of the front seat of a car, a gritty fable about
the words we leave unsaid.” Incredibly compelling theater. One of my favorite shows this year.

4:20pm to 5:20pm $11 + service charge. Janis Joplin, Little Girl Blue. Gold Venue (In the Orlando Museum of Art theater). 60 minutes. Rated 18+.  “Kaleigh Baker and an all-star band of Orlando’s finest musicians,
including director Andy Matchett, present an in-depth and passionate
look at the life, music and untimely death of one of Music’s greatest
icons: Janis Joplin. Baker swells in volume as she moves from a solo
rendition of “What Good Can Drinkin Do?” to an explosive 8 piece band
backing her on hits like Peace of My Heart and Get It While You Can.” Kaleigh is the one singer who can truly capture the spirit of Janice when she sings. At the rehearsal I was transported back in time.  If you also see Autobahn the same day, you will literally have to run across the parking lot to catch this show but it is worth the effort.