Fringe Shows I'm Seeing With Mom - Thursday 8/2 Edition

Mom arrived yesterday afternoon, in time for some dinner and her annual tradition of catching the Fringe Out of Towners' showcase on Fringe Eve (more on that in a bit). She realized that she'd been so preoccupied packing and traveling that she'd pretty much forgotten to eat most of the day, and the day before. Quick! Pizza at Green Mill! Ah, that's better.

I also had done literally no scheduling for her week here yet, so over dinner we sat down and mapped it out.  I'd done my homework, of course.  I could talk knowledgeably about all our options.  And Mom has a number of favorites she's gathered in her years of Fringing.  So between the two of us, we made short order of our scheduling challenge.  "Oh, I don't want to miss that person."  "When else are they playing, I want to be sure we see that one." "Can we do that commute in just a half hour?" As every year, there are still some things Mom's not going to get to see that bum her out, but everything we are seeing she's very excited about.  And after she heads home to Pennsylvania, I'll still have five days left of Fringe to catch more of the things we were talking about.

We'll make sure she's well-fed and fully energized today. A good night's sleep also helped. And we're starting our Fringing slow. No running back and forth all over town on the first day (we'll save that for the weekend :)

 Opening day, we're sticking to the Rarig Center.

5:30 - The Gay Banditos - The Mechanical Division - Rarig Thrust

I described this to mom and she started laughing almost immediately so that's a good sign.  Their Fringe-For-All preview was more foul-mouthed incentive, of course.





7:00 - Christopher Street: A New Musical (like the Fringe does old musicals) - Silver Slipper Productions - Rarig Proscenium

I know a few people in the cast of this one, as well as the director.  And of course "gay musical" is kind of redundant but after all the random bits of backstage information I've gotten on this one, I have to admit, I'm intrigued.  Plus, it's a gay historical musical, so see?  Totally highbrow.  Oh, if the phrase "orgy scene" is an enticement, you're welcome.  And yes, I'm going to see this with my mother.

8:30 - The Music Box - Graber & Napolitano Productions - Rarig Thrust

This partly a "Hey, we're here anyway" reason.  But also, after a super gay start to the evening, we'd like to bring it back to heteronormative reality with a slightly less edgy musical offering.  But also, I just got an email from these folks the other day and have you seen their trailer?  (Click on the Video tab of their show page) It's only 33 seconds long but what the hell was their budget?  It makes me feel sorry for everyone who just turned on their cell phone camera and shot their video trailer in their bathroom.  The two people in this thing are so pretty, it's practically a perfume commercial (except they have clothes on).  That's a damn good trailer.  I was already curious about this one, but now I'm really glad it happened to slot right in on the schedule.

10:00 - Ash Land - Transatlantic Love Affair - Rarig Thrust

Friends keep asking me for recommendations, and I could rattle off a list but if you ask me to keep it simple, I'll say "If you only see two Fringe shows this year, see Ash Land and Sin Eater."  (Need convincing?  Here's two preview writeups with handy extra links.)