Banned in the USA at Fringe

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Gerard Harris from London grew up watching James Bond films rather than become a spy, he ended up becoming a comic. Being a comic does involve some international travel and his one man show is about how he has been treated like a spy or threat by the world’s super powers when he travels. His one man show was about trying to get through airport security. The posters he designed for his Fringe show at the time were not a help. One was designed like a Cuban Soviet poster. The title of the show, Banned in the USA also didn’t help as he tried to get to this year’s Fringe.

The set consisted of a  was a red couch and a folding chair to hold his laptop computer. He seemed to be making the show up on the fly with the laptop as a back up for details he might have forgotten. He is a manic storyteller. He crawled all over the couch at one time sitting on the back as he told his tale. He used to work at a tech company and his boss who usually went to conferences to talk about the companies goals and mission was not able to go so Gerard was asked to go.

The entire show was about being held up in the airport and the struggle to try and get to the conference on time. The petty nature of international borders was the ongoing theme. At one point the office that could resolve his issues was just a few yards away  but it was in another country so he couldn’t stroll over for the answers. Despite his rapid fire delivery he started to run long and so he had to wrap up his story quickly at the end. We seemed to be the guinea pigs for a dinner party story he had told many times before he decided to convert it into a Fringe show as we watched.

Spotlight Cabaret Series featuring Janine Klein.

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 Janine Klein returns to the Winter Park Playhouse Spotlight Cabaret Series
premiering her latest solo cabaret, “Nobody Does It Better.” From “Dr.
No” to “Spectre,” James Bond films have given us some of the most iconic
movie themes of the past 50 years. Janine takes her audience through an
evening of popular Bond theme songs and stories that will definitely cause some laughs.

Pam Schwartz and I went to a rehearsal. It turned out that it was Janine Klein’s birthday. She put on a gorgeous sequin gown and had Christopher Leavy, the musical director at Playhouse Theater, zip her up. He was wearing an orange t-shirt and asked me to sketch him in a dress shirt. He then discovered that he had a dress shirt in his office. In theater you always have to be ready with a change of costume.

Janine gave a hilarious and irreverent performance. She gave a hilarious list of some of the Bond Girls, like Pussy Galore, Plenty O’Toole, Holly Goodhead, Xenia Onatopp and her favorite Octo Pussy. She was at ease and the show became largely a comedy as she lambasted the Bond mystique. She might reign in the irreverent jokes when there is a full house, but I hope not. The microphone was only a prop. It wasn’t live, so for some numbers she spared her voice. Even as she glossed over the difficult passages she was always entertaining. She was even more entertaining as she growled out some lyrics and held the microphone provocatively.

The cabaret
showcases a different professional singer each month up front in the
beautiful lobby bar. A truly “New York-style” cabaret, each performance
is approximately 55 minutes in length with no intermission. Shows are September 27th and 28th at 7:30pm. Doors open
at 6:30pm for General Seating. Tickets are $20 for general seating.

A Pecha Kucha rehearsal is as much fun as the main event.

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Pecha Kucha means chit chat in Japanese. The event features speakers who give fast paced presentations. Power point is used to show 20 images and the speakers have 20 seconds to talk about each slide. The slides are timed and run automatically, so there is no going back or speaking for too long. All the presentations on this night were about movies. For the rehearsal, the audience consisted of fellow presenters. They offer encouragement and notes for each presentation. They had rehearsed in past weeks, so they got to watch as their talks evolved and got better.

Kent Vanderberg gave a moving talk about video production and the need for play in the life of adults. He filmed a documentary about people from a renaissance fair here in Central Florida. He followed several characters everyday lives and compared that to their Renaissance Fair personalities.  We all need to seize every moment of every day. It is the playful and intimate moments that make life worth living. All work, and no play, makes Jack a dull boy. Worrying and rushing through life leaves little room for what really matters.

Eddie Selover, who keeps Pecha Kucha alive here in Orlando was a presenter as well. He reminisced about James Bond. Eddie, back in 1963 had a model of James Bond’s car, which could fire missiles, had bullet proof glass and many other high tech spy features. I used to have a very similar car. I also remember having a brief case that had hidden compartments and a toy knife that would detach at the tap of a button. Eddie grew up on Bond films until his parents cut him off because the films got too sexually explicit. Eddies experience with the opposite sex was very different than 007’s. Whereas Bond might confidently have a woman in every port, Eddie was surprised any time a girl noticed him. His life took a swift and exiting change when Eddie met his wife.  Life is an adventure that should be lived to its fullest. You don’t need to be a spy to recognize that.

Matt Moeller from SAK comedy lab gave a fast paced rap presentation on how to write a script. It was a real education, and hilarious at the same time. The lyrics came fast and furious and the beat stayed constant throughout. When the lyrics worked and he hit his stride, the presentation was pure magic. He followed the hero’s journey using images from Star Wars as examples.

Mark Your Calendars! Pecha Kucha, “Talking Pictures” will be on Friday February 6th at 7pm at the Orange Studio, (1121 North Mills Avenue). Tickets are $11. This show is sold out.