Review: HOLLYWOOD FRINGE ROUND-UP PT. 1 at Various

The Hollywood Fringe Festival is hitting new highs this year, and with 416 shows to choose from, there’s something for everyone. The sheer number of shows means there is essentially no way to see them all, but I’m giving an overview and mini reviews of some of them. This is part one.

TIFFANY CAPUTO: A PSYCHIC EVENING WITH LONG ISLAND’S OTHER MEDIUM

Theresa Caputo, the Long Island Medium, who had a long-running show on TLC, has had the spotlight for long enough. Or at least according to her cousin Tiffany Caputo, who wants the chance to show she is just as talented at reaching the other side. In a leopard-skin dress and platinum blond hair, Tiffany (Charlotte Moroz) takes to the stage at the Hudson on Santa Monica and she is a force of nature, grounded only by her husband and partner in crime, Gary (Mike Nelson). Written by Moroz with characters co-conceived with Nelson, the show is riotously funny as she relates stories about her home on Long Island as well as pulls audience members on stage to perform real psychic readings. With sharp direction by Katie Northlich, Moroz fully inhabits Tiffany Caputo, slipping into her skin (as well as her accent) as tightly as she does her dress. The chemistry between her and Nelson — as well as with the audience — is electric. Nelson, with his pornstache and peek-a-boo nipples, is a dynamic counterpoint. The improv aspects are smart and the show is, in the end, moving.

Two more shows are scheduled: July 19, 12pm, at The Elysian (as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Percolator) (https://www.elysiantheater.com/shows/percolator0719?rq=Edinburgh%20) and July 20, 6:30pm, at Hudson Theatres (Guild) (https://www.onstage411.com/newsite/show/plays.asp?skin_show_id=32.6134&show_id=6134).

PUMP UP THE VOLUME

A two-and-a-half hour musical based on an obscure ’90s film at Fringe? It’s an outlier, but it’s a joyous outlier, bursting with verve and vinegar. Set in 1990 Arizona, the show focuses on Mark (Anthony Norman), a shy teen who doesn’t it in at his school. At home, however, he’s set up a pirate radio station and takes on the role of “Hard Harry,” who incites his fellow schoolmates to eschew the traditional and staid lives they’re tasked with embracing or have already failed to achieve, just as resonant now . Norman is fantastic, changing entirely from dork to DJ and back again. It’s not like Clark Kent whips off his glasses and is suddenly  Superman. Norman becomes an entirely different person, the transformation remarkably reflecting the two selves we all are (especially in high school), out with the unwashed masses and when we are free to truly be ourselves. Director Dave Solomon gets fantastic performances from the entire cast, with standouts being Will Riddle as a troubled classmate of Mark’s, Darcy Rose Byrnes as a girl being groomed to be a princess, and their tyrannical high school principal (Michele Ragusa). The book and lyrics by Jeremy Desmon and music by Jeff Thomson bring every character to vivid life, the songs all standouts. While this was a staged concert production (some actors had scripts), this is headed to Broadway and I look fervently forward to a full production.

Los Angeles Awards - Live Stats

Best Musical - Top 3

1. JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR (Hollywood Bowl)

5.9% of votes

2. HEATHERS (Backyard Playhouse: Treetop Production)

5.7% of votes

3. HAIR (Conundrum Theatre)

5.5% of votes

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