A Near-Alphabetical Mini-Directory of the '05 Fringe Festival

By: Jul. 29, 2005
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The New York International Fringe Festival, described on the website as the largest multi-arts festival in North America, will feature almost 180 companies from around the US and from around the world performing for 16 days (from August 12th through August 28th) in more than 20 venues, including P.S. 122, and The Players, Village, and Lucille Lortel Theaters.

The Fringe Festival is traditionally a haven for shows deemed too quirky or controversial for Broadway (and even off-Broadway). While showcasing more than its share of serious works, many Fringe plays are wild and weird, raunchy and raucous. Urinetown, Debbie Does Dallas and Matt & Ben jump-started at the Fringe Festival, and Silence! The Musical seems primed to be one of this year's more (willfully) offensive shows.

Since there will be so many new plays and musical presented at this year's Fringe, BroadwayWorld offers an abbreviated alphabet of shows--minus the trickier letters, of course.

A is for Amerika. Presented by Redux Productions, the show is "a whimsical journey through the creative process of Franz Kafka, who finds himself trapped in his own novel as his characters attempt to thwart his design for the story." Alex Poe and Joe Varca will co-direct the play, which is written by Poe and based on Kafka's novel.

B is for The Banger's Flopera- A Musical Perversion. The Inverse Theater Company's show features book and lyrics by Kirk Wood Bromley, and music by John Gideon. Directed by Ben Yalom, it is "a musical 'perversion' of that infamous tale of high-class low-lifes, The Beggar's Opera. Watch in arousing disgust as gangstaz, porn stars and street singers rock and rap their way through a world in which dumbshits win elections, thugs make bank, and www.exploitedteens.com gets 1 million hits/day.

C is for The Comedy of TERRORS by Larry Brenner and directed by Jay Michaels. "Hellish humor runs rampant as scantily clad demons outwit the Devil in this fast-paced farce focusing on corruption of an undercover angel; a gaggle of gargoyles taking advantage of Satan's vacation; and two ghouls' hunt for a misplaced soul." The show is a Genesis Repertory production.

D is for The Day The World Went Queer a Moral Decay Inc. production. "The homosexual agenda is realized when the small town of Sanctityville legalizes same-sex marriage...and overnight everyone turns gay! Watch our hetero heroes Bill and Susie fight to stop the homo's before it's too late. Today Sanctityville, tomorrow, THE WORLD!!" The musical features a book by Jonathan Matthew Gilbert, music by Lavell V. Blackwell, and lyrics by Joshua H. Cohen.

E is for Edna St. Vincent Millay Speaks to the Committee on Immorality. Written and performed by Jennifer Gibbs and directed by Mary-Louise Miller, the show is about Millay, the "Poet. Playwright. Actress. Lover. Pulitzer Winner. Breadwinner. Jazz Age Heroine. Sexual Revolutionary. Wife. Daughter. Drinker. Greenwich Village Citizen. Pacifist. Activist. Celebrated. Vilified. Beloved. Notorious. Remembered. Forgotten? Not if she has anything to say about it. Tonight, she speaks to you." The play is presented by First Figs Productions.

F is for Film Noix, written by Ed Malin and directed by John DeBenedetto; the show is a Temerity Theatre production. "El Conde Nasty is being hunted by sexy secret agents from all over the world. What does he know? Did Haley's Comet drive him loopy? Is the truth more druid than you think? Perhaps there's something irregular about Uranus..."

G is for The Greatest B-Movie Ever Told by Todd Michael. "Fade-in...A prizefighter who writes Broadway show tunes gets mixed-up with a couple of dames, gangsters, and other colorful characters. A body riddled with bullets; they embrace; music soars...Fade-out. A spoof of Warner Brothers 1930's melodramas" It's directed by Neal Sims.

H is for Hercules in High Suburbia, written by Mary Fulham, with music and lyrics by Paul Foglino. Presented by Watson Arts, the musical is "a comic rock-n-roll update of Euripides' tragedy set in a gated community where wealth and fame are no guarantees against the power of wickedness or the malevolence of chance."

I is for Icarus. "Created and directed by Nina Hein and with music by Katharina Rosenberger, Icarus is a poetic dance piece about our yearning to reach the sun at least once. Soaring, collapsing, flying, and falling...melting wings into the dark blue sea." The piece is choreographed by Alyssa Dole, Jonette Ford, and Jeffrey Freeze.

J is for JESUS IN MONTANA: Adventures in a Doomsday Cult. "A disillusioned dishwasher from Aspen, Colorado, thinks he has overcome his fundamentalist upbringing, until he discovers Jesus has returned - and is living in Montana! This true story ponders the humorous side of faith, beliefs and everyday cult life." The show is written and performed by Barry Smith and directed by Lynn Aliya.

K is for The Kimono Loosened, presented by Atelier Tsukiko, written by Yuki Kawahisa and directed by Maureen Robinson. "A story of a Geisha and her Doll. The doll that seduces and is seduced. You will see how the doll shed tears." The piece is choreographed by Kawahisa and Robinson.

L is for The Last Days of Cleopatra--with music and lyrics by Charlie Barnett, a book by Charlie Barnett, direction by Christopher Gerken and choreographed by Evan Knapp. "Everyone knows Elizabeth Taylor. She's an American pop icon...her infamous 60's love affair with leading man, Richard Burton, on the set of the film fiasco Cleopatra is laid bare in song and dance."

M is for The Mayor Who Would Be Sondheim by John Doble. Produced by Dawn Elane with Carpe Dream Productions and directed by Tom Rowan, the play tells how "A singing mayor who idolizes Broadway lyricists fights to get elected in a city plagued by crime, corruption, a sanitation strike, and police-community tensions straight from the headlines. A comedy about politics."

N is for The New Bohemia.  "Get seduced by this burlesque murder mystery musical and its wild, free-spirited cast of streetwise story singers, bodacious showgirls and sexy tongue-in-cheek acts." The show is presented by Epicurean Productions, directed by Dennis Hinson and choreographed by Jessi Gayle Peterson. Patrick Bonomo and Shelly Watson are credited as its writers.

O is for Out of Body and Out of Mind by Matt Yaeger. "Scott's online identity is consuming his real one, Chad's manorexic, Abby's stuck in the body of her twelve year old daughter. Don't miss this frenetic comedy about keeping up with a runaway world even as we stare at our screens." Presented by Lucid Theatre, the show is directed by Alexa Polmer.

P is for Pierrot le Quin, from Me, You and Eli Productions in association with the Waterfront Ensemble. "Someone stole from the onion patch! A little dog may be just the thing for Madame LeFevre and her humble servant Rose...but will stingy Madame pay the dog tax? Can Rose save Pierrot, her only friend? Come. Sit. Fetching." Based on a story by Guy de Maupassant, the comedy is written by Sylvia Manning and directed by Leecia Manning and Joe Franchini.

R is for The Redemption. "A middle-aged immigrant from India hides a secret past marred with violence, betrayal, death, guilt, and a failed attempt at a Communist revolution inspired by Mao Tse-Dong. Can his Harvard junior son help him deal with himself and achieve redemption?" The show is written and directed by Sudipta Bhawmik, and is a Ethnomedia LLC production.

S is for Silence! the Musical with music and lyrics by Jon and Al Kaplan, and a book adapted by Hunter Bell from an original screenplay by the Kaplans. The show "is the musical parody of the movie Silence of the Lambs. Featuring songs with unprintable titles, power ballads about decapitated heads, dancing serial killers, and a singing Greek chorus of lambs. It puts the lotion in the basket!" The show will be directed and choreographed by Christopher Gattelli, with musical direction by Brian J. Nash; it's presented by Tesseract Theatre (John Pinckard, Artistic Director), Nash, and Mark Hartman.

T is for Treaty 321! A Musical.  "'Everyone's Dead...but I still have you,' sings Peter Lacrosse, pondering the eternal dilemma: which does he value more, the love of his life or the honor of his country? An irreverent musical—part satire, part social commentary, part miniature schnauzer." The musical's book and lyrics are by Christopher Buckley, with music by Steve Murphy and Lenny. Presented by Jon Loves Suzie Productions, the show is directed by Sam Scalamoni and choreographed by Jennifer DiMinni.

U is for Unholy Secrets of the Theremin, conceived, directed and written by Kip Rosser and Jef Anderson. "Dare to summon a spirit profane: inventor of humanity's first electronic instrument – an unearthly melodic device, played without being touched. In this theatrical autopsy, a volcanic musical tapestry frames the dizzying descent of two heretics into a creator's psychic maelstrom."

V is for Venezuela, written by Guy Helminger and translated by Penny Black. "In the seedy underground stations of Berlin, a teenage group 'surfs' subway trains. Suddenly, their lives are shattered by the death of their leader. But when they cover up the horrific accident, a bizarre fantasy emerges..set in magical Venzeula." Presented by the Impetuous Theater Group, the play is directed by James David Jackson.

W is for Weddings of Mass Destruction. "Weddings honors the vow of its title! A satirical attack on the state of our union: Iraqis wreak homo-rific Abu Ghraib revenge; Queer Eyes transform into pink-faced minstrels; Alyssa Milano gets her lesbian torch-song homage." Presented and created by GayCo Productions, the show features additional material by Matt Elwell and Mary Beth Burns, and is directed by Jim Zulevic with musical direction by Stephanie McCullough and technical direction by Heather Elam.

Y is for You Again, a musical about cloning. "A substitute teacher uncovers a desperate plot to clone the student population in the school's basement. It's about loneliness, longing, and the desire to live forever. Ultimately, it's a search for family with a climactic mop fight." The musical features book and lyrics by Bill Gullo and music by Rob Wagner, and is directed by Gullo with musical direction by Wagner.

For more information on the Fringe Festival and a complete list of shows, visit www.FringeNYC.org. Venues and schedules will be added shortly before tickets are put on sale on July 30th.

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