Fringe Friday
Aug. 9th, 2008 10:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dreamsharkA couple of fun shows.
Paul Bunyan Runs for President * * * *
presented by Vanderpan Enterprises
Good-natured fun with bouncy background music, clever staging and actors who appeared to be having a blast. This is the rare Fringe show that is EXACTLY the right length. It also has a perfect title: fun to say and delivers exactly what it promises. Although this show did not make use of the extended time slot available at Bryant-Lake, it works perfectly with the "dinner theater" format of the venue. This is the perfect show to combine with a burger and beer, which is exactly what we did.
The Virginity of Astronauts * * *
presented by The Electric Telescope Theatre Co
The plot is ambitious, but presented so sketchily that it is almost impossible to figure it out. However, the music and staging are fun and many of the individual scenes work very well on their own even if you can't figure out how they relate to each other. Richard DID decipher the plot, incidentally, and explained it to me afterwards. He says the secret is to forget about the references to Greek mythology and instead think about Star Wars and Jack Kirby. Phobos Apollo is best thought of as "Q" and the cosmology is akin to some comic book thing called "The New Gods." Our first response was - these are enthusiastic amateurs; maybe they'll get better next year. Then we looked at the program and realized we'd seen them last year and they were exactly the same. Not only that, according to their sloppily printed program this is at least their fourth year at the Fringe. So I guess this is just who they are. Maybe someday they will add somebody to their company that can write a coherent script and they'll be pretty darn good.
Paul Bunyan Runs for President * * * *
presented by Vanderpan Enterprises
Good-natured fun with bouncy background music, clever staging and actors who appeared to be having a blast. This is the rare Fringe show that is EXACTLY the right length. It also has a perfect title: fun to say and delivers exactly what it promises. Although this show did not make use of the extended time slot available at Bryant-Lake, it works perfectly with the "dinner theater" format of the venue. This is the perfect show to combine with a burger and beer, which is exactly what we did.
The Virginity of Astronauts * * *
presented by The Electric Telescope Theatre Co
The plot is ambitious, but presented so sketchily that it is almost impossible to figure it out. However, the music and staging are fun and many of the individual scenes work very well on their own even if you can't figure out how they relate to each other. Richard DID decipher the plot, incidentally, and explained it to me afterwards. He says the secret is to forget about the references to Greek mythology and instead think about Star Wars and Jack Kirby. Phobos Apollo is best thought of as "Q" and the cosmology is akin to some comic book thing called "The New Gods." Our first response was - these are enthusiastic amateurs; maybe they'll get better next year. Then we looked at the program and realized we'd seen them last year and they were exactly the same. Not only that, according to their sloppily printed program this is at least their fourth year at the Fringe. So I guess this is just who they are. Maybe someday they will add somebody to their company that can write a coherent script and they'll be pretty darn good.
