Fringe Snapshot, Day 3

Apologies to any and all who were hoping to see full reviews, as was I, of what I saw yesterday before having to launch into today.

Here's the down and dirty quick snapshot, however, to hopefully tide you over...

Fast Fringe 1 and Fast Fringe 2 - I'm gonna withhold judgment on these two for the moment and let the audience weigh in for a bit. We had nearly full houses for both shows and the actors did a fine job getting through it all. But for this one I was more producer than spectator - all the final little things yet to be done...

Osama Kincaid, Painter of Terror - well, since Tom Cassidy claimed to me to be nearblind while onstage, I could have faked it - but I haven't seen it yet. After tidying up around the end of the second of the Fast Fringe performances yesterday, time was too tight, and I was too tired to risk sitting and listening to just one person's voice. I didn't want to nod off and miss the good stuff. So I'll be catching Tom and Osama later in the Fringe. But I'm gonna take this time to recommend him again - I'm going because Tom and his mom and their act are a hoot. What is it with Fringers and their moms? Instead I took in...

Philosophy: The Music of Ben Folds - 5 stars - most fun I've had at the Fringe so far this year. I love Ben Folds' music and this lively makeshift band of friends truly rock the house and slay the ballads with equal finesse. The sound of Ben Folds is so closely matched that it's almost spooky, in the best of all possible ways. Highly recommended, great fun.

Plants and Animals - 5 stars - speaking of great fun, the delightfully twisted minds who brought us Gilgamesh, Iowa last year have done it again. A different kind of beast (you'll pardon the expression), but the script is dazzling, and the acting even more so. Hilarious and sweet and just a riotous good time.

Knock! - 5 stars - this was a good day, three very different but all very brilliant shows, each in their own way. Jim Lichtschiedl shared the inspired silliness of his "storieography" techniques with three other actors to create a bouncy, peculiar, live-action cartoon set to everything from classical music to the swoony ballad "This Guy's In Love With You" to Michael Jackson's "You Wanna Be Starting Something." Goofy in the extreme and a great way to end the day, and a very long weekend.

Now I'm going to try and elaborate on all of that.

(For more of my writing - plays, past blog entries and more - visit www.matthewaeverett.com)