The Capital Fringe Festival is a time for trying ballsy shows and occasionally finding surprising gems such as La Llorona. It is an intelligent and affecting drama about a woman accused of drowning her two children and the impact of the case on the woman serving as her public defender and her spouse.
Archives for July 15, 2014
Intrigue, a mystery on marley…
A murder mystery dance show? As the curtain rose, I’d already made one critique: murder mysteries are too detail-oriented to work as dance. (There’s a reason why ballet plots are usually broad.) How can the “Aha!” Raymond Chandler moment possibly reach the audience?
The 27 Club
Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Amy Winehouse, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain. Their names are firmly cemented in Rock n’ Roll history, forever associated with musical genius, loyal fans and lasting legacies. But these names are also associated with tragedy, the unfortunate loss of their lives, all at the age of just 27 years old.
Tango, Cabaret, Love!
So you didn’t get to go to Brazil for the World Cup. Fret not. Tango, Cabaret, Love! will surely send you straight to Argentina!
Districtland
There’s a grand spectrum of people and situations to satirize about the District of Columbia, yet Bucharest Inside the Beltway’s production of Districtland manages amazingly to capture only one narrow band of it.
Saving Private Poo
As you enter Redrum at Fort Fringe to see 1UP Theatre’s Saving Private Poo—a violent smashing-together of the film Saving Private Ryan and A.A. Milne’s classic Winnie-the-Pooh characters—you’ll hear mash-ups of pop songs playing from the speakers. This will be your first clue that what you’re about to witness will be a production full of […]
Carrie: The Musical scares up some excitement at Studio
When it premiered on Broadway in 1988, Carrie: The Musical lasted just 16 previews and five performances, earning a dubious place in theater history as one of the Great White Way’s biggest flops of all time.
Dead and Breathing: CATF
Dead & Breathing pairs the formidable Lizan Mitchell with the dazzling N.L. Graham in a battle of witticisms, piercing words and stratagems about life, living, end of life decisions, and the tumultuous journey between.
The Ashes Under Gait City: CATF
At last, a play about planning and project management. If it weren’t for the stage lights and stadium seating, you might think you were at work, trapped in a 100-minute meeting with Powerpoint slides.
One Night: CATF
Playwright Charles Fuller delves into another grim aspect of military life in One Night. His 1982 play A Soldier’s Story dealt with racism and black self-hatred at an Army base in Louisiana during World War II. This new play takes place in 2008 during the Iraqi War and examines rape in the armed forces.
Ten Principles )'(
The Man burns in 46 days. Don’t worry that’s not a line from the Nicolas Cage flop Wicker Man, but Capital Fringe’s intentionally funny Ten Principles, a free flowing oral performance based around the infamous desert bacchanalia Burning Man. Through ten stories, actual festival goers, or “burners,” recount their time out on the Playa, living […]
Séance
Oh to be at Hogwarts now that summer is here! This is most definitely not Hogwarts. This is not even a side street off of Diagon Alley. This is the Lab II at the Atlas Performing Arts Center and they are trying to stir up some magic. But damned if the wands aren’t wobbly and […]