As we near the final days of the 2016 Cincinnati Fringe Festival, I invite you to check out CityBeat’s online Fringe hub, where we’ve posted a comprehensive set of reviews as each Fringe production opened. Virtually every show is up and running by now (a few have closed already), and you’ll find 40 reviews there offering commentary and insights about shows to consider attending before the final performances on Saturday.
About a quarter of the productions were granted “Critics’ Picks” by CityBeat writers, a notation that reviewers were invited to apply to a “don’t-miss” production. The following are excerpts from commentaries about “picked” shows that have one or two more performances before the festival concludes on Saturday evening.
Darlings by Animal Engine Theatre Company: “So what happened to the parents of the Darling children after they flew off to Neverland with Peter Pan? That’s the question poignantly explored in Darlings … (which explores) the loss experienced by parents when their children grow up and eventually leave home. Karim Muasher and Carrie Brown make it a simple and powerful message. And it’s almost a certainty that audience members will never again look at the Peter Pan story in quite the same way.” (Ed Cohen)
Clara by Physical Productions: “All this dance troupe needs to visually describe the lifespan of a remarkable woman (director Aly Michaud’s grandmother) is a table, a few chairs and aerial silks hanging from the ceiling. With only these props to embellish the story, the audience can look forward to laughter, amazement, respect for our collective past and tears — so many tears.” (McKenzie Graham)
The Gospel of Fat Kathy by #theatrecompany: “This is gonzo theatre. It’s bombastic and unapologetic. … And it’s quite frankly as eye-opening and provocative a piece as any I’ve seen at the Fringe in all the years I’ve attended. And that’s been since day one, folks. A lot of ink has been spilled about millennials. We of the older generations just aren’t sure what to make of them yet. If this show and the company and its social plea are any indication, the kids are all right. (Rodger Pille)
The Unrepentant Necrophile by the Coldharts: “It’s loosely based on the true story of Karen Greenlee, a California morgue worker in the late ’70s who admitted to finding sexual satisfaction with dozens of corpses. … And did I mention that this is a musical? … (The show) is as unapologetic a piece of theater as I’ve ever seen. It takes a true story and tells it in an amazingly unique way, without commenting on its admittedly difficult subject matter. It’s the reason that Fringe festivals exist.” (Ed Cohen)
Ice Candle: An Un-Documentary by Pack of Others/Erika Kate MacDonald: The solo artist “spent nearly a year in politically troubled Indonesia as a foreign exchange student when she was 17 and 18.” She has little physical evidence of her stay, but “this ‘un-documentary’ has many emotional ups and downs. She does a great job in putting you there in her memory. … This show could be the sleeper hit of the Fringe.” (Joe Gorman)
My Left Teeth by Paul Strickland Presents: Two “women begin to negotiate the terms of the journey they will take together as they enter Peggy Yvonne’s house to piece together a dead woman’s identity while coming to terms with their own. … You will most certainly laugh. If you have buried a loved one and been tasked with an estate, no matter how ragged, you might find yourself moved to tears. That’s the beauty of good storytelling. We are all ‘She.’ We might not paint our window panes or juggle knives, but we want what she wants: home, family, to be known.” (Stacy Sims)
Other shows earning picks include Baby Mama, Daddy Issues, Here’s Hoping There’s a Radioactive Spider in Your Future, Punk’s Not Dead and Neither is Sam (Yet) and You Are the Hero.
Thanks to CityBeat’s dedicated team of a dozen writers, you can read coverage of these shows and more. Walnut Hills High School student Griffin Daly, the recent winner of the Cappies’ “Critique of the Year” award, contributed to the effort, too, reviewing two FringeNext productions.
CONTACT RICK PENDER: rpender@citybeat.com
This article appears in Jun 8-15, 2016.
