Some shows we won’t be missing in 2016 on our wagon ride through Orlando Fringe.
We like to watch.
The Animatronicans
Presented by Mo Laughs Comedy – Orlando, FL
Yellow Venue – Orlando Shakespeare Theater
What happens when a gaggle of theme park attractions are put into the same house to live together and those attractions stop being polite and start getting real? It’s sure to get real funny when the comedic minds of Jeff Jones, Doug Ba’aser, James Keaton, Janine Klein and Josh Siniscalco are involved. The Animatronicans lets you peek through the curtains as you spy on the 16th president, an imaginative finder of dreams, a Norwegian polar bear and the dad from a rotating theater as they try to live their lives under one roof without getting into each other’s way. Will they all be singing “thank you for being a friend” when it’s all done? Directed by the witty and masterful Michael Wanzie, you are guaranteed to walk out of this show never looking at theme park characters the same way again.
Simpleton: The Legend of President Trump
Presented by Acting Passionate – Lakeland, FL
Gold Venue – Orlando Museum of Art
In the Broadway smash Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda asks how “the ten-dollar founding father without a father” grows up “to be a hero and a scholar?” Simpleton asks no such question because this show is not about a founding father or an American hero; it is about the (most likely) Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump. This musical uses rap, hip hop and R&B to examine the state of the nation and asks the simple question: What the hell happens if Trump actually wins the 2016 presidential election? Written by Thom Mesrobian, Samuel Hammersly and Seth Brown and directed by Mesrobian and Mark Hartfield, this musical parody looks to the future and begs the voting public, don’t let this happen! Hide your kids, hide your wife and hide your liberal values, cause in this show the stakes are high… and the hairdo is hilarious.
IN CLOSE QUARTERS: A Story of Love and War
Presented by Wanzie Presents / D Squared Productions – Orlando, FL
Silver Venue – The Orlando Rep
40 years after the actual fall of Saigon, Michael Wanzie takes us back to Vietnam, and one of the darkest periods in American history, with his newest Fringe show In Close Quarters: A Story of Love and War. Two soldiers are trapped in an underground bunker in an area swarming with Vietcong. They have lost their weapons and to leave the bunker will surely lead to capture or death. Forced together in isolation, the two soldiers forge an unusual bond, knowing that at this moment all they have in life and death are each other. But what happens when that bond is tested as one soldier “comes out” and reveals that he is gay? On the 23-year anniversary of Wanzie’s first Fringe show, he asks, as the bond fractures and fists start flying, can the two soldiers continue to rely and depend on each other when they are in such close quarters?
Blue Star Presents: The Ladies of the Peek-A-Boo Lounge
Presented by BlueLaLa Productions – Orlando, FL
Black Venue –The Venue
Life is always a cabaret when Blue Star and the ladies of the Peek-A-Boo Lounge are in town. Just as with any VarieTEASE show, your emcee Mrs. Blue is bringing you Florida’s finest females as they shake a tail feather to get you in the mood. These delectable dolls will be dancing and prancing in a show filled with comedy, dancing and plenty of tassels, oh myyy! This show is not only performance art ladies and gentlemen, but it’s also educational so bring your pencils and paper and take notes. Reigning as the longest running burlesque show in Orlando, come see why these ladies are the best in the business. Don’t believe me? Just check out their awards. Now get in formation and don’t forget to bring dolla bills y’all.
Screw You Revue
Presented by Naked Bacon Productions– New York, NY
Gold Venue –Orlando Museum of Art
Part stand-up comedy, part musical theatre, part improv, this three-time Orlando Fringe Patron’s Pick winner is back, featuring Lady Winifred and Didi Panache, who have traveled the U.S. and the world and will soon be packing their glittery bags for Orlando. Word on the street is nothing is too taboo for the Screw You Revue, whose stars share both a stage and a dead husband and are committed to challenging the threshold of every audience they entertain. “Like seeing Martin and Lewis if Dean was a sexy, seven foot torch singer and Jerry a stroke survivor,” their website states, this drag comedy duo’s performances in the Gold Venue are obviously for mature audiences only. Want to sample the goods before you dedicates some of your precious Fringe funds? Lady Winifred and Didi host live Periscope chats Tuesdays at 10 p.m. EST on their website, LadyWinifredAndDidi.com.
Slut Like Me
Presented by Logan Donahoo– Orlando, FL
Brown Venue –Orlando Shakespeare Theater
Fringe favorite Logan Donahoo, the safari tour guide for the wildly popular Guide to the Gays shows, returns with a new concept! Slut Like Me is a multi-media, comedic classroom where patrons (adults only, please! ) will learn all of the secrets and skills needed to finally and fully release their inner sluts. Donahoo says Slut Like Me is like an X-rated TEDTalk that mashes up comedy, games and bluntly honest sex advice. In previous years, Donahoo’s shows have quickly sold out so prospective students may want to sharpen their pencils and book tickets early. From flirting to posting on Craigslist to getting that fateful, dreaded phone call from the Health Department, Logan’s Brown Venue show features strong language, hip-hop music, and covers all the important lessons dedicated, quality sluts need to know. Yes, this WILL be on the test, so pay attention!
21 Chump Street: The Musical
Presented by Caliban Productions – Orlando, FL
Purple Venue – Orlando Shakespeare Theater
Want to take in some theater but you’re in a rush? Are you a huge fan of both Hamilton and Johnny Depp? Then 21 Chump Street: The Musical is the Fringe show for you. The action-packed, bite-size musical written by Lin-Manuel Miranda (yes, THAT Lin-Manuel Miranda, he of Hamilton and In the Heights) lasts a mere and frenzied fifteen minutes. 21 Chump Street will take the stage in the Purple Venue and tells the story of a Lake Worth high school student who falls head over heels in love with an undercover cop. The plot is based on an episode of NPR’s This American Life, during which a student in love with a narc found himself arrested for dealing drugs he was selling in order to impress his crush. Unlike many of Orlando Fringe’s other shows, this one is teen-friendly – patrons thirteen years old and up are welcome to partake.
5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche
Presented by 3hreeE Theatre Company – Orlando, FL
Brown Venue – Orlando Shakespeare Theater
Don’t judge it by its title, (even though it makes it sound like a gross YouTube video your brother is always trying to get you to watch), this show is a must-see. Join the Susan B. Anthony society for the Sisters of Gertrude Stein for their annual brunch of quiche and 1950s privilege. Five women host their annual egg pie eating event in an idyllically normal community center, with only three rules – no men, no meat, no manners. Their annual quiche love fest starts out civil, until there’s a threat of a Communist attack, white gloves come off, girls kiss girls, and dated conventions fly out the window. Expect a lack of a fourth wall with complete audience immersion, and expect a million vagina-quiche references. In fact, I challenge you to take a sip from your purple Orlando Fringe “water” bottle every time the word quiche is mentioned. This hilarious (looking) comedy won Best Overall Production at the 2012 NYC International Fringe Festival and looks like a must-see show for this season’s fest.
A Pole Dance Revue
Presented by MissFit Pole Production – Lake Mary, FL
Silver Venue – Orlando Reparatory Theater
You read that right: It’s a pole dancing show. Even though it should be self-explanatory, we’re still a little confused – is pole dancing really theater? Is it dance? Is it an excuse for strippers who can’t do burlesque to make money at a theater festival? Maybe, but it still sounds fun! And maybe your mom was wrong all these years and the pole wasn’t such a bad place to end up anyway. According to its program, A Pole Dance Revue “follows the roots of pole dancing and exhibits the many diverse styles that have emerged over the ages” which means, there is more than one way to hold onto a pole with your thighs. Because art. Maybe they’ll use their hands! The skill level of the pole performers ranges from U.S. Champions to housewives and they’ll be dancing in multiple styles ranging from “exotic to slapstick comedic” which we thought meant that you’re allowed to laugh if they fall, but they’re really talking about someone dressed up like Charlie Chaplin, on a pole. The program says this show is suitable for ages 13+ so feel confident in your parenting skills and bring little Sally to the pole dance show that you know everyone is going to be talking about. Also, let’s make #onapole a thing.
Broken Bone Bathtub
Presented by Siobhan O’Loughlin – Brooklyn, NY
Comfort Venue
Watch a woman come to terms with mortality and the fragility of life, while being naked in a stranger’s bath tub. No seriously, the show is in a bathroom. This is the kind of innovative and off-putting theater that Fringe Festivals like ours should be supporting. Squeeze into a restroom in an Orlando resident’s private home and watch Siobhan O’Loughlin’s solo show unfold with nothing between you but tile and soap suds. O’Loughlin’s idea for the show came from a bicycle accident where she collided with another cyclist and broke two fingers in one hand. She had to use bathtubs at friends’ houses to bathe because of her cast, and thought it would be cathartic to invite in strangers to hear her wax poetic, while she … waxed her legs. We haven’t heard which porcelain theater the brave thespian will be performing in, but at least we know the best seat in the house will be the throne.
Darlings
Presented by Animal Engine – New York, NY
Pink Venue – Orlando Reparatory Theater
This looks like a very promising reimagining of the classic Peter Pan story, told from the view of the parents left behind. It is literally a play about empty nester parents who’ve children have flown away. So sad.This is the premiere of a new work by New York’s Animal Engine duo, most known for their fantastic clowning work. As such, not much is known about the play. What we do know is that the two talented actors have made a name for themselves with strong physical theater skills and spellbinding storytelling. It promises to be a heavy piece, as they attempt to show what happened to the Darlings when their three children disappeared in one night. A ripe emotional roller coaster that I can’t wait to make me cry in public.
Oh Manada!
Presented byBoylesqueTO – Toronto, ON, Canada
Orange Venue – Orlando Shakespeare Theater
A Canadian boy burlesque crew is coming to town to shake their beaver trapping moose knuckles at your sweaty balaclava. They’ll have Mounties and lumbersexuals galore, and they’ll be super nice to you when you stuff loonies and toonies down their ski pants. Insert Canadian joke and Canadian joke. From what we’ve seen on the Edmonton Fringe Facebook page, they also run around the grounds in red short shorts and feather headdresses to promo their shows. So there’s that. So to recap, a bunch of super cute Canadian boys are having a show where they dress up in uber-Canadian regalia and then dance on stage and shake their Cloddhoppers at you. If it was local, it’d be just tacky enough to have a month-long show at Parliament House after the festival.
Sex with Animals
Presented by Lucy Tafler Presents / Ryan Good – Copthorne Bank, UK
Blue Venue – Orlando Shakespeare Theater
We know it sounds like an evening at Hank’s but it’s really just a comedic look at how animals are all fucking sex freaks. If you were like us and you absolutely loved Isabella Rosselini’s paper puppet series about animals doing the nasty, this show is definitely for you. The distractingly good looking Ryan Good (he’s from the UK so he has an ACCENT!) plays Ryan the bisexual lion – complete in lion onesie – puts a magnifying lens to the super weird sexual habits of the animal world as he explores his own sexuality interjected with lessons on things like how awesome humping is. The NY Post described it as “David Attenborough meets Eddie Izzard on Grindr.” Which we’ve totally done already and we had a good time, so we put this show at the top of our list. If you have a minute, do yourself a favor and look up Ryan Good + Fragmented Biography.
Space
Presented by Hubris Theatre Company – Brooklyn, NY
Brown Venue – Orlando Shakespeare Theater
Science fiction and nerd culture have been displacing the gays at Orlando Fringe the last few years, possibly as a result of the rise of nerd subject matter in regular pop culture as a whole. So the presence of a space opera (sans opera) is welcome, but unsurprising. This show looks at what happens when you take four people and put them on the edge of the known universe as they tumble through space looking for some planet or something. Then the Gods shake them up like a dark matter shake ‘n’ bake and we get to watch what happens. It sounds like a Captain Picard in the holodeck with a candlestick kind of scenario. The play was written and directed by Orlandoan Corey Volence (Key of E) and designed by Fringe favorite and Disney Imagineer Evan Miga (Dog Powered Robot). Music is by Kevin Becker, who recorded a totally original synth score for the show. These three specialize in cinematic storytelling flare, so don’t be afraid to puff puff pass on the green lawn before heading to this mind buster.
