Chase & Stacy Present: Joyride

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Chase Padgett and Stacey Hallal teamed up to create a hilarious sketch comedy improv show at the Orlando Fringe Festival. Chase hails from Orlando and his experience at the Orlando Fringe presenting 6 Guitars lead to him hitting the road and traveling to Fringe Festivals across the country. His girlfriend at the time was less than enthused by his career. On the Fringe Circuit however, he met Stacy who trained at the infamous Second City and together they present a show that is as playful as two 10 year olds pretending to put on a show at bed time with flashlights and imagination.

There is adult humor. At one point Chase and Stacy used the Mics and sound boards to playback moans and groans of pleasure. The couple were in the darkness with just the scrim light behind them to show their silhouette. In the scene the couple were on a date and about to kiss. Stacy stressed that there would be no sex. Chase was resigned to the idea that this was always the case. The lights dimmed and the first moans began. They could play them back and the interwoven moans began to feel like a rap tune. I tapped my toe to the rhythm and laughed as I sketched. Stacy then whispered into the mic “Put your hoo ha in my ying yang.” That stopped the beat. Chase questioned her phrasing and she came back with a series of absurd names for his and her privates. When she came up with “The Cave of Wonders”, Chase said, “I can live with that.” The rap-moan orchestration began again.

Another sketch presented Stacy as a ribbon twirler who was in tears because she couldn’t get her ribbon to work. As she cried, Chase came leaping out of the wings twirling his ribbon with graceful abandon. He coached Stacy but repeatedly she failed. Finally she got her emotions in check and together their ribbons flowed gracefully. The audience clapped enthusiastically.

In one scene, the couple asked the audience for a place that a couple might meet. Someone shouted out, “a library!” Chase and Stacy then presented a long form comedy set in a library. The endearing thing about Stacy is that you could see by the expression on her face, that she was always on the verge of laughing herself. At one point, Chase pretended to whisk open some curtains to present a surprise to Stacy. She paused, not sure where he was going. He explained that it was a moving truck so she could bring her cherished books and be with him. She replied, “That’s amazing, because that used to be a wall!” Their quick wits sparred playfully until they had each other laughing as well as the audience. This show is a must see!

There is just one show left of Chase and Stacy Present: Joyride!

May 24th 3:15pm to 4:15pm in the Pink Venue at the Orlando Shakespeare Center (812 E Rollins St, Orlando, FL) Tickets are $11 plus the $9 Fringe button required to get into all the shows.

Truth or Dare with Pepe!

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As part of the Fringe Theater Festival, Pepe is performing at the Black Venue, known as The Venue (511 Virginia Drive Orlando, FL) owned by Blue Star. Pepe, played by Rob Ward, is a Fringe regular. He speaks with a gregarious, affected Miami accent and does everything with a flair. No expense was spared on the set which consisted of a bubble lamp and his signature red high heeled chair. Pepe always has guest performers and for the first show I saw, they were, Logan Donahoo, Paul Strickland, Adam McCabe, Blue Star and Lady Raptastic who was remote on Skipe.. The guests were shown slides of celebrities and asked to provide cutting commentary. Blue despises Miley Cyrus who was shown with her legs spread wide.  Logan did a hilarious job roasting Madonna.

“Yellow Shots” were offered to the entire audience. His “Shot Boy” only had his underwear on which showcased his large bulge. Pepe came up with the idea of starting a restaurant chain called “Bulges” which would be like a Hooters for gay men. It is a million dollar idea. The jello shots were actually orange but Pepe’s pronunciation changed their color. We all raised the shots as a toast and then the room went silent as everyone sucked down the shots. Consuming one of Pepe’s jello shots is a bit suggestive. You have to stick your tongue out as far as you can, and then slit the tip of your tongue all around the edge of the tiny cup to dislodge the jello from the cup. Then you have to wedge your tongue under the jello to dislodge it from the cup completely. If your tongue is long enough and your licking was thorough enough, the entire mass cap pop into your mouth. I grew self conscious half way into the process and tried to suck the jello down prematurely. The loud sucking noise that resulted was more embarrassing than if I had continues exercising my tongue. The many chunks left behind had to be dislodged with further tongue explorations anyway.

A guest from the audience was asked onto the stage and given the choice of Truth, or Dare. He chose a dare. Pepe had a stack of playing cards and the guest was asked to pick a card. The number on the card would result in the guest having to remove that number of items of clothing. He picked a card with a high number and soon he was standing buck naked with his tight cheeks facing the audience. Everyone went wild. When he turned around, Pepe put the jello shot tray over his privates.

Another performance had Fringe comedians doing improve on stage with Pepe as the MC. As one of the straight performers, Chase Padgett was offered a makeover. He stood behind a small table covered in cosmetics and Chris Dinger stood behind him to act as Chases arms. Chase put his hands in his pockets and Chris slipped his arms under Chases pits. They began by applying a powder which Pepe noted is usually the last step in a makeup regimen. Powder got on Chases T shirt and everywhere else. Red lipstick followed which resulted in a huge Bozo ring of red around Chase’s mouth and on his left nostril. The lipstick went everywhere but on his lips. Eyeliner and mascara followed which resulted in black and blue raccoon eyes. By the end of the session, he looked very much like Judy Garland minus the black gloves and high heels. Everyone was laughing so hard they were crying.

The All New Nashville Hurricane

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This Fringe show by Chase Padgett was absolute magic. Chase was originally from Orlando but he has since moved to Portland Oregon when he isn’t on the Fringe circuit. The stage was set with a single chair and a lone guitar. A spotlight illuminated Chase as he opened with an incredibly dexterous guitar performance. He warmed up the crowd by asking innocent questions. One question he shouted out was, “Who is with the love of their life?” Hands shot up. He turned to the couple to his right. “I see a problem hear” he said. “Her hand shot up like a lightning bolt, but your hand sir didn’t budge from your diet Coke.” I felt a bit guilty that my sketching prevented my hand from going up. Chase also asked a few people what their one true passion is in life. It is surprising, funny, and a bit sad that some people have no clue.

Then Chase began to relate the story of a child prodigy. This kid could repair any electronic device and he was a natural on the guitar. The prodigy’s story was related from the view points of three separate characters, his white trash mom, a conniving promoter and a kind low income southerner who was a recovering alcoholic. Chase would switch between characters or a dime propelling the plot forward. Although incredibly talented, the prodigy wasn’t as he said, “A people person.” His mind wandered in the intricacy’s of stellar dust and sub-atomic particles. He was a nerd’s nerd, unable to meet anyone’s gaze.

The promoter prayed for a ticket to the big time. His prayers were answered when he saw the boy play guitar. He saw the boy as a gold mine and he managed to steal the him away from his dead beat mom. He put sun glasses on the him and promoted him as “The Nashville Hurricane”. He bullied and forced the boy to perform, until the joy once found in playing guitar became a misery. A sunrise seen towards the end of the show made the boy realize that we are all a small part of a much bigger cosmic plan. There was  no longer a need to fear the abuse and mistreatment by others. That glowing, life affirming message is what made the show resonate. Strength and inner peace replaced uncertainty and fear when the boy faced his life head on. This is my favorite show to date, but with so many talented story tellers and shows, I know there are other treasures to be mined at this year’s Fringe. Chase’s other show, Chase and Stacy Present: Joyride was a hilarious improve show that was hilarious I highly recommend show that as well.

The remaining shows for The All New Nashville Hurricane are…

Thursday May 22,  10pm to 11:15pm

Saturday May 24,  7pm to 8:15pm

Sunday May 25,  3:15pm to 4:30pm

Tickets are $11 and the show is in the Orange Venue in the Orlando Shakespeare Center (812 E Rollins St, Orlando, FL.)

Judy Garland: Is it Just Me or is it Just Me?

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At the last minute, Clandestine ARTS had to pull out of the Fringe. Their show, Tuesday Morning, was replaced by the incomparable, Judy Garland performed by Mark Baratelli of thedailycity.com. Many of the seats in the Blue Venue had small questionnaires, asking which Judy Garland songs people might want to hear. The MC warmed up the crowd and Judy stumbled around back stage. Then she began to slur the lyrics to a song and she came out, greeted by thunderous applause. Props on the stage were covered with dark fabrics and she stripped them bare as she sang. Yellow medicine bottles hung from her necklace.

Her legs were often crossed or akimbo as she wavered in the spotlight. Her high heels caused her to stumble and fall more than once. Misplaced mascara gave her raccoon eyes and the lipstick was smeared all around her lips. The dark wig often hid her face and the baggy man’s dress shirt hid her supple figure. Judy is 93 but she still belts out those tunes with a vengeance.

The MC announced that local artist Thomas Thorspecken was in the audience drawing. He wasn’t talking about me however. Chase Padgett was in the audience posing as me. Chase did a sketch of Judy but he was supposed to imagine her nude. I couldn’t bring myself to go there. Judy’s medicated antics were laugh out loud funny. At times she was on the floor slayed out as she sang and other times she tried to escape into the shadows to avoid the spotlight. Some songs were just improvised on the spot to hilarious effect.

Don’t miss Judy! She is hilarious and the shows are selling out. The remaining show times are…

Tuesday May 20, 11:30pm to 12:15pm

Friday May 23, 10pm to 10:45pm

Saturday May 24, 1:30pm to 2:15pm

Sunday May 25,  8:15pm to 9pm

Tickets are $8 and Judy can be found in the Blue venue in the Orlando Shakespeare Center (812 E Rollins St., Orlando, FL.) If you are trying to find information about Judy in your printed Fringe program, she isn’t listed. She was a last minute replacement for Tuesday Morning.

Fringe National / International Preview

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On Wednesday May 15th the Fringe National / International Preview was held in the Orange Venue at the John and Rita Lowndes Shakespeare Center. 44 shows from out of town performers had two minutes to get patrons interested in their show. If and performer went beyond two minutes, Bikini Katie would get up and escort the performer off stage. Michael Marinaccio, Fringe’s producer, and Chase Padgett hosted the event.

The first performer up was Miss Hiccup, Shoshinz from Tokyo Japan, and I placed her in the sketch.  Her show is called “A Day in the Life of  Miss Hiccup“. Her loud flower covered costume was hard to resist. Her physical comedy looks like it could be a fun show. Alexa Fitzpatrick from Aspen Colorado told us about her show called “Serving Bait to Rich People.” Alexa works as a bartender at a Colorado dive in a mountain town where men outnumber women two to one. She got serious for a moment, “I’m in the middle of a break up.” She paused to let that sink in. “But I’ll  be OK, the couple was already having trouble.” I laughed out loud.

That reminds me, there was a guy seated in the front row who had the loudest guffaw of a laugh, I’ve ever heard. One performer commented, “I love your laugh, It’s like you’re hurling acceptance at me.” Oddly a woman in the audience chimed in saying she hoped it would stop. Chase was very diplomatic and stressed that different people have different laughs, and at the Fringe , laughs from all walks of life are accepted. Sadly the guy seemed to have become self conscious and didn’t laugh as loud or as often. Then again, seeing 44 previews in a row can wear an audience member down.

I was impressed by the performance of Qurrat Ann Kadwani from NYC. First off she lamented that her parents gave her a name that no one could pronounce. I can identify with that. She switched
characters often as she talked about what it was like growing up Indian
in the Bronx. I circled “They Call me Q” in my program. Jason Nettle educated us about Fetishes. He said Bronnies and Clappers are individuals who get off on “My Little Pony.” He said he could explain why Michael keeps asking George for a Blimpkin. I obviously have much to learn, so I circled “Fetish” in my program. 

Patrick Combs got one of those fake checks from publishers
Clearing House for $95,000 dollars. He thought it would be funny to
deposit it at his bank signed with a smiley face. He forgot about it and
later discovered that his Bank (Bank of America) had cashed the check
and he was $100,000 richer. When he went to the bank to straighten
things out he was greeted by armed gun men in black suits. His two
minutes were up at the mic, and the audience all went awww. Because we
all wanted to know what happened next. Bikini Katie walked him off stage
with “Man 1, Bank O” written on her thighs.

Chase Padgett and Paul Strickland teamed up to do a guitar duo.  They made up lyrics on the fly and Chase came up with lyrics about laughter that tied into the evenings ongoing theme. I circled, “Chase and Paul: Solo Shows are Hard“. Gemma Wilcox from London took us for a ride in her “Magical Mystery Detour“. She played a dog, a driver and a motorcycle side car, switching between characters in an instant. I suspect this show is a must see, although she moves so fast and so often, she might be hard to sketch.. “Little Pussy“ by John Grady isn’t about Sex, but about a little kitten named faith that he rescued from sprawling LA traffic. Martin Dockery is a master storyteller. I saw him last year and recognized his frenetic energy. I definitely want to see “The Dark Fantastic“.