Ah, Capital Fringe Festival, you do not disappoint! My CapFringe 2012 so far:
The Good: "We, Tiresias": well-written, well-staged, and well-acted retelling/reimagining of the life of the oracle Tiresias, played at various stages in his/her life by 3 actors, who alternately play the other characters, including Oedipus. Also good: "Dead Man's Mambo": a slapshtick-y commedia dell-arte improv mashup by a very talented actor, with the put-upon deadpan foil perfectly played by the young artist I'm housing this year.
I recommend you see both of these in the few remaining performances each has next week.
Also good, BFF with Brian Feldman, performance artist and my new BFF!
Stay tuned for my separate post on BFF.
The Bad: "A Year of Giving": the writer/lead "actor" did a very interesting project (give away $10/day each day for a year) about 2-3 years ago. He blogged about it. But he can't act, and it comes across as schmaltzy on stage. It should have remained a blog.
The Ugly: "City of God" (the David Koresh opera). Omg, where to start with this disaster? The recorded (but original) music was too loud, so I couldn't hear the voices all the time. The singers/actors were very young, and though most could sing well, none really acted well. The guy playing Koresh pranced about stage like a gay pride parade float reject. A cult leader needs more swagger, less swish. The story/lyrics were stilted. The composer can't sing, yet cast himself as a major character. Just, ugh. (Though the penultimate scene, a duet between the baritone FBI negotiator and tenor Koresh, was powerful, vocally, even if I didn't understand the lyrics because these singers didn't enunciate well and were overpowered by the taped music.)
But even in disappointing (terrible, awful) productions, you, CapFringe, have provided a venue to talent who may just need more time on stage so that next time (or the time after that) they may write or produce or direct or act or sing in a worthy production.
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