New York Fringe Festival 2011

You remember Harriet Harris from "Frasier" and "Desperate Housewives", right? She stars in the smash Fringe selection, "Yeast Nation"! (Credit: Jay Sullivan)

New York Summer Guide 2011

Your New York guide to events and things to do this summer

Every summer, the New York City International Fringe Festival teems across lower Manhattan, claiming every small performance space. And every summer, you eye the catalog of 200 dramas, comedies, musicals, improv comedies and stand-up acts. And every summer, you wonder how to pick the two or three shows that will surely be the most entertaining and talked-about ones that you can get for your $15 per ticket.

Sad to say, but there is no sure-fire way to find the next "Urinetown" or "Dog Sees God" (maybe the two biggest hits in FringeNYC's 15-year run) before everyone else—or even to guarantee a quality show. But that's part of the fun of the Fest. Somehow, the eternal question, “Will this be any good?” is heightened by the carnival intensity of the NYCFringe (yes, there are multiple ways to abbreviate the event). You gotta take the gamble―and luckily, Metromix Theater can help you even the odds just a little.

This year, the indisputable hit of the Fringe is “Yeast Nation”. The musical already sold out its five-performance run in record time! Part of that is its artistic team: “Nation” comes from “Urinetown” creators Mark Hollman and Greg Kotis, and it stars Tony winner Harriet Harris (“Thoroughly Modern Millie”). But its popularity is also due to the goofball concept. Literally set in 3,000,000,000 BC, this light-hearted tuner follows a yeast culture, the first life on Earth, in its fight to survive.

It can be helpful to follow the crowds—after all, that's what makes a hit. Several other Fringe shows that have been doing brisk business also sound promising. “Pearl's Gone Blue”, a gospel'n'blues romance set in the 1940s South, was on our shortlist even before its box office started selling performances out. And “Facebook Me” hangs a compelling hook on everyone's favorite social network by investigating how pre-teen girls depict themselves online.

But crowds don't guarantee quality. Unless you like schlock and schtick, you can probably skip “The Legend of Julie Taymor” (“Spider-Man” zingers are so last season). Ditto for “Jersey Shoresical” (a musical parody of “Jersey Shore”, obviously) and “The Bardy Bunch: The War of the Families Partridge and Brady” (a mash-up of “Romeo and Juliet” with, well, you can guess). These shows may be selling tickets, but their creativity is likely limited to their high-concept titles.

Instead, check the program guide for names and shows you recognize―like “Urinetown” and its creators―and for shows with awards and pedigrees. If other audiences enjoyed a show or if legit institutions have supported a script, the chances are better that it's pretty good. Take “Scared of Sarah”. This play debuted at DC's Kennedy Center in the 2010 Page to Stage New Play Festival. Then the script received a workshop at the Lark Play Development Festival in April. That's good enough to sell us on “Sarah.”

Of course, the FringeNYC website makes it easy to find shows according to genre, subject, or even showtime (keep in mind there's no late seating). That's how we narrowed our down our list: “Carnival Knowledge,” a well-reviewed one-woman show about sex in L.A.; “Dystopia Gardens,” a parody of bad '70s sci-fi movies; “Crawling with Monsters,” docu-theater about kids caught in the crossfire of the Texas-Mexico immigration wars; “Browsing,” a multidimensional exploration of libraries; “When the Sky Breaks 3D,” an all-female hip-hop dance crew backed by 3D graphics. We could go on and on 'til our schedule is full….

Every year, Fringe-Bingers gripe that the FringeNYC's artistic mandate is broad to the threshold of non-existence. But why not simply thrill to its democratic attitude and open-minded aesthetic? And why minimize the sense of risk involved in picking a show, anyway? As mainstream drama in Gotham becomes more sanitized (just like Manhattan in general), it energizes us to see that the Fringe retains its anything-goes sense of adventure. Anyway, some of our favorite Fringe memories are shows we got assigned by editors! Will your selection be good, bad, or simply forgettable? Whatever―just enjoy that tingle of excitement as the lights dim and the dice begin to roll.