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Only 12 years old, the New York International Fringe Festival (or NYCFringe) has become an essential part of New York in August, a funhouse mirror that reflects our city's buggy summer soul. With over 200 shows to pick from and a top price of $15, a Fringe binge is a big temptation. But no one can see them all, and probably no one should! So, how do you find a show that'll fit you like a pair of short shorts?
To start, you can take a gander on the NYCFringe's easy-to-use website. Their great search engine breaks down offerings by title, author, venue or style (clown, musical, performance art, etc.). This year, the organizers also sort shows by tongue-in-cheek genres, from safe picks like “My New York Story” and “Ride the Rollercoaster of Love” to oddities “Absurdly Surrealist Dream” and “Outer Space Zombie Adventure”.
Each year, NYCFringe also produces at least a dozen breakaway hits. Some will get profiled in September's Best of the Fringe Festival; others will raise money for extended runs. Here’s our picks for this year’s Fringe.
• "The Books" – So many NYCFringe shows promise the sexy, but so few deliver. This show, which sees a dominatrix and her client bond over favorite novels, dodges that by promising emotional substance. And we'd flagged lead actress Aayda Bedi for her potential in a mesmerizing Off-B'way debut in 2007.
• "Citizen Ruth" – We're sick of musicals that cannibalize movies, but this adaptation tickles our interest. The original flick, a politically-incorrect satire by Alexander Payne (“Sideways”), saw a glue-huffing pregnant gal get caught between pro-life and pro-choice activists.
• "Devil Boys from Beyond" – Usually, we'd warn you away from a show that combines '50s sci-fi with gay camp, but “Devil Boys” looks like it may strike the right note of bitchy wit. Also, it stars Everett Quinton, who helped invent camp/genre mash-ups at the classic Ridiculous Theater.
• "e-station" – Proof that NYCFringe takes “international” seriously, “e-station” comes from Beijing's fringe theater. The show's website (mostly in Chinese) tells us that it “experiments with extreme slowness” and “the relationship between the body and electronic products.” At the very least, it sounds like nothing we've ever seen before.
• "His Greatness" – This play's tag, “Based on the potentially true story”, suggests Daniel MacIvor has more of his trademark enigma waiting for us. His puzzle-box drama imagines what might've happened in the last days of Tennessee Williams.
• "Jesus Ride" – This monologue—about a secular Jew who watched 33 movies about Jesus in one year—sounds more like a blog than a play. But the concept is appealing to us, and its creator, Mike Schlitt, won the '06 Fringe's Outstanding Solo Show.
• "Remission" – True insanity is terrifying. Dan Berkey, in his one-man memoir, explains how, after 45 years of schizophrenia, he awoke from a fiery vision and found himself symptom-free. Berkey works his life story with help from Kirk Wood Bromley, a talented mainstay of indie theater.
• "State of Undress" – As the NYCFringe line-up affirms, the burlesque revival's still going strong. This line-up of ladies have been working their game for a few years now, with a combo of fresh-faced naivity and flesh-revealing savvy.
• "Willy Nilly" – Billing itself as “the anti-Hair”, this rock musical by local theater scenester Trav S.D., satirizes the cult of '60s nostalgia by romanticizing Charles Manson. There's gore, nudity, an acid freakout, and slapstick misogyny—everything we love about the Fringe! We suspect it'll be this year's breakout hit.
What other people are saying...
cashtilton - August 4, 2009 at 10:16 AM
You've nailed it--exactly what I love about the Fringe.
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