All posts by Josh Fixler:
Josh Fixler is an avid explorer of the DC arts scene and blogs about inexpensive DC arts and culture at www.districtbeat.com. When he’s not enjoying all the plays, concerts, and museums that DC has to offer, he works as the Assistant Educator and Youth Advisor at Temple B’nai Shalom – a Reform synagogue in Fairfax Station, VA. He is also an associate for the JFFixler Group – a consulting firm that provides volunteer engagement strategies to nonprofits around North America. Josh is a proud resident of the Truxton Circle neighborhood in Northwest, DC, where he cooks elaborate dinners with his fiancé, Annie.
The Hunchback Variations
July 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment
The Hunchback Variations feels like a production of Waiting for Godot performed by the Marx Brothers. It is simultaneously high-brow and silly. Although I would have to say it’s less effective than Waiting for Godot, and the comedy is less refined than the Marx Brothers. The effect can best be described as “puzzling”. [Read more...]
Miss Teen Jesus Pageant
July 12, 2010 By 8 Comments
Disclaimer: This show clearly has a target audience. I am not in that target. If you enjoy jokes about drag queens, jokes about ridiculous evangelical preachers, or jokes about JR’s Bar on 16th Street, this show might be for you. [Read more...]
Showcase Showdown
July 12, 2010 By 1 Comment
It was clear that the sizable and chatty crowd in the Burke Theatre was ready to have a blast. The Fringe goers who were looking for a subdued evening of theatre had gone other places. This was going to silly fun. And Speakeasy DC did not disappoint with The Showcase Showdown. [Read more...]
Losing It
July 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Losing It begins with a tantrum. Madeleine Russell, the play’s author and star, storms on stage, bellows, and throws a chair, a stack of books, some trash and a potted plant to the ground. She comes close to chucking a laptop before calming down. It was, needless to say, an abrasive start and, frankly, I was skeptical. [Read more...]
Zero Hour
September 8, 2009 By 2 Comments
A solo show is a difficult thing to pull off. It is a monumental task for one person to keep an audience engaged for a whole show, and the line between wonderful and dreadful is razor thin. [Read more...]
In the Flesh
July 24, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Josh rates it:
I find it hard to review modern dance. I appreciate modern dance as a reaction to classical movment concepts. I took a class in college on modern dance. I really do like modern dance. I just have a hard time figuring out what to say about it in a review. [Read more...]
Captain Squishy’s Yee Haw Jamboree!
July 20, 2009 By 2 Comments
Josh rates it:
Finally, proof that a Fringe musical can be genuinely good. Not just a show I can find the good in, but one that is good from start to finish. And all this from a show with the title Captain Squishy’s Yee Haw Jamboree? [Read more...]
Pepe! The Mail Order Monkey Musical
July 19, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Josh rates it:
Ok. I say this as big fan of musical theater, but musicals are silly. The whole convention of singing when you should be talking is sublimely odd. It is a peculiar form, but wonderfully so. [Read more...]
The Escapades of Farty Johnson
July 19, 2009 By 1 Comment
Josh rates it:
There’s a certain, ineffable quality of some shows that I can only describe as “fringyness”. It is hard to say what makes a show fringy. Certainly there are some theatrical conventions that are fringier than others. [Read more...]
2 Shorts in Black and White
July 18, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Josh rates it:
I was excited to get two shows for the price of one when we went to see the production of 2 Shorts in Black and White. How neat to get to see two plays from veteran writer, Scot Walker. [Read more...]
