Archive - Aug 16, 2010
#fringenyc Day Two
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Mon, 08/16/2010 - 12:00I took much of yesterday off, not seeing any plays and only doing minmal writing. Today. I am on the train back to New York and have some time to write my summary of Saturday on my cellphone.
I've already written about the three best shows I saw on Saturday. Richard 3 was amazing. When Katherine Met Kimleigh was a special performance, particularly coming so soon after Katherine'swonderful production of My Dad is Crazier than Your Dad.
The Beatitudes
Yet I also found time for some other shows. The Beatitudes was a thoroughly enjoyable show that set the words and music of the beat generation to dance. I love the beat poets as much as I love William Blake and I was pleased to see this production succeeded where Eternity In an Hour failed. The performance did meander, but it was only fitting given the meanderings of the beat generation.
(UN)Natural Disaster
The other performance I attended was (UN)Natural Disaster. It wasn't a disaster, but it was there first taste of the fringe my middle daughter experienced and I wished the faire had been better. Perhaps I was jaded after seeing the great production of The Hurricane Katrina Comedy Festival. (UN)Natural Diaster spent too much time with the performers running aroung shouting random fact about natural disasters. It wasn't particularly engaging.
Afterwards I had a nice Indian dinner with my daughter and we tried unsuccessfully to get tickets to Hamlet Shut Up, which sold out while we were waiting in lne.
It was another great day at the NYC Fringe Festival and I hope to get a few more in before heading off on vacation.
Richard 3 at #fringeNYC
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Mon, 08/16/2010 - 07:35I am not a big fan of staged violence and my music tastes lean more towards folk than punk, although I must admit there is some pretty violent folk music if you listen closely to the lyrics. For theatre, I love modern adaptations of the classics, especially Shakespeare. I'm also a big fan of political theatre and I've previously written about the political background of the director of Richard 3.
So, I approached the Less Than Rent Production of Richard 3 with a high level curiosity. A post-apocalyptic rendition of Shakespeare's Richard the Third had the potential to be amazingly good or amazingly bad.
It was great. There were a few rough spots for me as I had problems making out some of the lyrics of a few of the songs they intermixed in the performance, but that did not detract from the amazing experience.
Here in Connecticut, we have Linda McMahon, CEO of WWE running for U.S. Senate. She has defended the staged violence in their productions as following a soap opera theme. I think that is a disservice to soap operas. Her productions are worthless.
If McMahon had any class, any culture, any artistic sensibility; if she sought something higher than soap operas while holding on to the gore, she might aspire to a production like Richard 3. But the young troupe from Less Than Rent Productions has more raw talent, more highly directed energy and much more credibility to pull off a masterpiece than all of McMahon's domain could ever dream of.
There are some great performances at FringeNYC this year, but of the plays I've seen so far, Richard 3 is at the top of the list.
Side note: Normally, I post my music reviews on Monday. Richard 3 makes a great use of music in their show, including a very creative use of "On Eagles Wings", so I'm considering this my Music Monday post as well.
