By Ernest Kearney — Ah, there’s the rumbling that’s music to my ears. A rumbling rising up from actors emoting, directors interpreting, producers frothing; from the scores of all artists hustling, bustling and husking, the solo performer rehearsing his light-hearted adaptation of Jean-Paul Sartre’s Being and Nothingness, to the producer expounding on his Grand Guignol opera on Lizzie Borden, and what inspired him to make the production clothing optional.[1] This growing, roiling, growling, moaning, rumbling, deafening joyous cacophony of creativity can only mean one thing –
IT’S TIME FOR THE 2024 HOLLYWOOD FRINGE FESTIVAL!!
Each and every day from June 13th to June 30th, morning, noon and night, over 40 theaters and venues stretching out from the intersection of Santa Monica Boulevard and Vine, you’ll have over 400 shows out to entertain, to shock, to awe, and now and then to confuse you.
What kind of shows, you ask?
Well, I just so happen to have here a small sampling of the banquet that awaits:
[1] Relax, these were all shows from last year’s Fringe.
VIVIAN VANCE ALIVE AND WELL RUNNING CHINESE TAKE-OUT
*
Vivian Vance, co-star of I Love Lucy, wonders what the world would be like without Ethel Mertz, so she fakes her death. Now it’s time for a Sitcom Second Coming that guarantees to be more entertaining than the first one.
Created and directed by John Wuchte the mad genius behind 2022 Fringe Fav Housewife ’52. Music by Wuchte and Michael Teol.
Featuring Fringe Veterans Dagney Kerr (Housewife ’52) and Casey Alcoser whose H.P. Lovecraft homage Coffee, Tea, and Gin was my pick for HFF 2023’s Best Show People Should Kick Themselves For Missing.
FOXY LADIES LOVE BOOGIE 70’s EXPLOSION
*
Maestro Fritz Brekeller conceived this rock musical revue as a funky time machine to ferry audiences back to “The Me Decade” to celebrate the women who shaped the period from Karen Carpenter to Donna Summer. With over 70 musical numbers and “groovy choreography” by Ashley Wren Collins, under the musical direction of Joel Rutkowski.
Yes, the 70s — Richard Nixon, rise of the religious right, the Jonestown Massacre, Kent State, Three Mile Island, the Iran Hostage Crisis, and the Reagan Administration. Yeah, let’s stick with the music.
THE DOLPHIN I LOVED
*
Girl meets dolphin, dolphin moves in, things get weird.
A fact-based, one-woman show by writer/performer Kelly Reilly that tells the true story of Margaret Lovatt, who joined a study with Dr. John Lilly, the man who wrote the book on how to sweet-talk a Dolphin.
Lovatt and a Dolphin named Peter lived together in an apartment, more “love pool” than “love nest,” as Lovatt tried for three months to train Peter how to communicate with her in English. (Three months? Good luck there. My wife Marlene has been working on that for 32 years!)
REMEMBER 92 : SIERRA LEONE WILL RISE AGAIN
*
The tale of the tragic Sierra Leone Civil War is recounted by one who was swept up in the violence of that period. Caroline Ducrocq directs Jonima Diaby’s drama.
THE DEATH OF THE SWAN
*
For the ballet lovers, a two-person show with live music on the life and art of famed Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova. With Maddie Natoli as the dancer and Mason Williams as Death.
THIS SHOW IS SURROUNDED BY TRUE EVENTS
*
Pamela Quinn Eberhardt’s denunciation of that codified cesspool known as the American criminal justice system is described as The Innocence Project meets SNL that will deliver belly laffs with a side order of “gut-retching.” Scott Leggett of Skullduggery: The Musical Prequel to Hamlet and The Poe Show (Best Comedy HFF 2015) directs. Featuring Tyler Hayes Stilwill.
SCRAPBOOK: PIECES OF FACEBOOK, GOD AND AN EVER-PRESENT ORANGE CLOWN
*
Performer Wilson Bell takes a stroll down the Green Mile Memory Lane of the last nine years. Covid, QAnon and Trump, oh my!
THE GODMOTHER
*
Screw “apple pie;” in the 70s the truism was “As American as coke snorted in a stall of a disco’s restroom.” Griselda Blanco (1943-2012) made that memory possible by blanketing America beneath a glistening white blizzard of “Colombian Nose Candy.” And in the process earned her network an estimated $80 million a month. Performed by writer, producer, dancer and social media figure Melina Farahani.
WHIM
*
“A not for infants fairy-tale” and to be avoided by those who suffer from the scourge of alektorophobia. But for all the history junkies, Francophiles, and aviation fans out there here’s a show for you! It’s France in 1783, and with Louis XVI among the anxious spectators, the Montgolfier brothers launched their newly invented hot air balloon into the sky above the Palace of Versailles with a duck, chicken and sheep aboard.
Writer/Director Vincent X. Kirsch offers a farcical fable of the farmyard creatures who opened the path Neil Armstrong would follow.
1972
*
A new work by John Wuchte and Kick Boom Theatre, “An exploration of theatricality, physicality, musicality, and gravel” as teacher and student run afoul of gossip. Think The Children’s Hour with live percussion.
TEHRANGELES
*
After decades of political repression, in the late seventies, thousands of Iranian students took to the streets demanding the Shah step down. The Shah made the number one mistake of political strongmen: he sent in the army leaving hundreds dead on the streets. And just like that the Iranian Revolution was on. The Shah was forced to flee the country on January 16, 1979, and Ayatollah Khomeini took his place. Which brings us to the number one mistake of revolutionaries: never trade a fox for a wolf. Ayatollah’s strict theocracy caused tens of thousands of secular Iranians to leave the country, with a sizable number settling in Los Angeles. “TehrAngeles” is a musical drama based on that great Iranian diaspora by those who experienced it; Playwright/Director Nakta Pahlevan, Co-Director Afshin Katanchi, music composed by Ali Azizian, with choreography by Aaron Gilliam.
QUEEN BEE
*
A satirical musical based on William Golding’s debut novel Lord of the Flies featuring an all-girl cast! Throw in some pleated skirts and that’s my recipe for a perfect night at the theatre. Written and directed by Remy Rose Small. With Violet Morris, Rachel Stubington, Siena Mehta, Ava Alexiades, Sabrina Harris and Ellen Relac as “Big Bitch.”
RECTANGLES
*
Writer, Musician, Artist, Singer, Producer, Stylist Maddie Forrest’s solo clown “horror opera” promises absurdity, the artistic sensibilities of Bjork, the mad-cap horror of Pee-wee and people pleasing pooping!
THE BEST MAN SHOW
*
HFF 2023’s Mark Pleases You won TVO’s Best Male Solo Show for Mark Vigeant whose nuclear fused performance had positively charged protons bouncing out and disrupting traffic on Santa Monica Blvd. for miles. Mark returns with a new show that he promises will be “better, bolder, and more beautiful.”
LAUGHABLE
*
A one-woman musical by Stacie Burrows recalling with humor and harmony her search for tranquility after having fled the evil kingdoms of Texas and the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Directed by her highness of most regal royalness Katierose Donohue Enriquez.
GOOD CLEAN WHOLESOME FUN
*
A serving of sketch comedy by some of LA’s “best up and comers.” (Let us assume they mean comics.) Directed by Ashley McQueston and Harris McGrade, written by Chambers Stevens.
SUCK MY TONGUE
*
A dark comedy written and directed by Fringe Vet Benjamin Schwartz, about an inept PR team will be the debut production of the Catharsis Theatre Collective.
CONNIE CONVERSE UNIVERSE STARRING HOPE LEVY
*
Ah, here’s one that should please those interested in the saga of women to obtain legitimacy on the American musical scene during the 50s, or anyone who loves a good true-life mystery.
When Bob Dylan was still going by Robert Allen Zimmerman, Converse was the first female folk singer to scratch at the music industry’s glass ceiling. She had a loyal, but slight cluster of fans and a career that went nowhere. Then in 1974 Converse vanished never to be seen by friends or family again. In 2009 some of her songs were re-released, and an excellent biography was published: To Anyone Who Ever Asks: The Life, Music, and Mystery of Connie Converse by Howard Fishman. Hope Levy pays tribute in this show to the vanished Converse and her forgotten music, directed by Tom Lavagnino.
THE EASTER BUNNY
I saw a virtual version of this show by Tom McAteer during HFF2021 and was amazed at the intensity that radiated off McAteer’s sinisterly subdued inner monologue of a sexual predator calmly waiting for the arrival of his next victim in her own the apartment. I’m looking forward to seeing it live.
ROCK BOTTOM
*
From Northern Ireland, actor Charlie Day gives us Shakespeare’s most beloved character as having to suffer the slings and arrows of an actor’s life in today’s world.
CASTLE WALLS
*
L.A. actress and German expat Diana Cignoni returns to the Fatherland for a vision-walk bordering on a Kafka short story. Directed by Steven Vlasak.
MAEVE’S POST COLONIAL 12TH HOUSE PARTY
*
Astrological charts consist of twelve “wheels” corresponding to the months of each year. The 12th house is apparently the most difficult for those who read these diagrams. That is where you find stored the specters from childhood, shades of past generations and other things that go bump in the night. Fortunately, Maeve, of Irish mythology fame, will be on hand as our guide. A show for those who are astrologically curious. Keri Burno directs Jennifer Caldwell.
AL FINE
*
An intriguing premise and the most dramatic of settings: The sinking of the Titanic in 1912. (Al Fine is Italian for “to the end.”) This ten-minute show focuses on the ocean liner’s five-man orchestra moments before the ship sinks below the icy waters taking them and 1,500 others to the bottom. Directed by Jacob Collard, written by Lauren Raymond.
NOT MY GRANDMOTHER’S DAUGHTER
*
A graduate in Puppet Arts from the University of Connecticut, Harley Walker uses her craft to reconstruct her grandmother’s life. Michael Franco directs.
LEGACY OF WAR
*
From Germany, this experimental solo show written and performed by Nicole Meier explores the trauma and guilt of the German nation following WWII. Based on accounts of those who experienced it.
IN SOME DARK VALLEY: THE TESTIMONY OF REVEREND BRAND
*
This show has been appearing at L.A.’s theaters in the weeks leading up to the Fringe and the words I’ve heard about it and Writer/Performer Robert Bailey have been good ones. Bailey presents a portrait of Reverend Brand, an itinerant preacher and confederate Job, wandering the Appalachian range as he grapples in his religious fervor over God allowing the Southern defeat. Bailey performs period music throughout. Billy Siegenfeld directs.
THE RABBIT QUEEN
*
I love nothing more than when some obscure historical figure is the subject of a creative endeavor and I think this year that prize may go to the Color and Light Theatre Ensemble for a musical based on Mary Toft who when her crime was exposed made her 18th Century Britian’s most celebrated nine-day-wonder. (William Hogarth even immortalized her in one of his engravings.)
Her crime? Convincing the most learned doctors of the age, including the king’s own physician, that she could give birth to bunny rabbits.
To quote from the poem by Alexander Pope:
Most true it is, I dare to say,
E’er since the Days of Eve,
The weakest Woman sometimes may
The wisest Man deceive.
DOG SEES GOD: CONFESSIONS OF A TEENAGE BLOCKHEAD
*
In Bert V. Royal’s bent homage to the iconic cartoon strip Peanuts, Charles Schulz’s beloved characters have lost their childhood innocence and grown into troubled teenagers plagued by gender confusion, drugs and depression and have come together at the funeral of Charlie Brown’s (Marcus Wells) dog.
The play ran off-Broadway in 2005 and was staged in Los Angeles at the Hudson Theatre Guild in 2009. Royal has rewritten his play for this production to reflect the difficulties faced by today’s Millennials and Gen Z’ers. Directed by Ryan Warren.
THE DAY I ACCIDENTALLY WENT TO WAR
*
The success of Bill Posley’s HFF 2018 solo show The Day I Became Black reached supernova level. This new show is another autobiographical chapter exploring his decision to escape poverty and family problems by joining the armed forces and experiencing deployment. Bente Engelstoft who directed Posley’s 2018 hit returns to work her magic once more.
MEDICINE WOMAN
*
From Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of), Veronica Osorio, a sexy, sassy shamanic clown, intends to employ her skills in dance, juggling, tarot card reading, burlesque, a hug or smouching until she has healed her audiences.
MURDER BLOOD BEAR STORY (PART TWO)
I am a sucker for puppets, and if they’re murderous, blood-covered puppets – save me a seat! This stand-alone sequel by Writer/Performer Katelyn Schiller continues the saga of a traveler and her bear seeking happiness in this world; a work that has been described as “poetic, complex, deep, and challenging.”
Steve Troop, whose puppet creations were last seen in HFF2015’s Sci-Fi spoof Alien vs Musical, provides the creatures for this tale. Paul Bugallo directs.
JENNY LIND PRESENTS P.T. BARNUM
*
Shelley Cooper has presented superb solo shows based on historical personalities which allows her to display a musical prowess that generally leaves audiences in openmouthed awe. This was certainly true in La Divina: The Last Interview of Maria Callas at HFF 2021. Her new show is based on the life of the “Swedish Nightingale” Jenny Lind (1820-1887) one of the most praised opera singers of the 19th century. Cooper is a wonderful actress, a masterful singer, and she never disappoints.
GRAPE CULTURE
*
Comedian Toni Nagy and performance artist Sarah Buckner juggle, dance, show film segments, storytell and employ aggressive clowning in this tragicomedy indictment of the violence in our society, unmasking an ugly truth that is even uglier when exposed. Produced by that tsunami of talent Michael Blaha.
NO MATTER WATT: SILVER
*
If you asked me what the Fringe would be like without a new installment of Gordon Stephen Matherson Jr’s absurdistsaga of the repressible Shubop-du-bayhad, my answer would be: Beats me, but it certainly wouldn’t be as much fun. Gordon celebrates the salvation of sobriety with sincerity, song, and infectiously silly seriousness. Assisting Gordon with this autobiographical triptych of his own recovery will be director Steven Vlasak, costumer Christine Vlasak and choreographer Fernando Christopher. Featuring Ronald Elroy as Bumdinger Chasenipples and Linda Alznauer as Annabelle Watt The Hell.
A BELLA INCARCERATION
*
Activist and clown Bella Ventricle (Ann Noble) finds herself in a holding cell following her arrest for an act of civil disobedience where she is visited by the ghosts of history’s past radicals.
SEX THE UNSPEAKABLE HISTORY OF (WOMEN IN) VENTRILOQUISM
*
Sex? History?? Unspeakable??? Oh, pinch me, I must be dreaming! Ventriloquist Hannah Leskosky and her puppet friends will delight audiences at The Three Clubs with tales of biloquists of the fairer sex and their contribution to the craft.
SEXAME STRIP: THE NAUGHTY PUPPET CABARET SHOW
*
What? Burlesque?? Striptease??? Naughty puppetry???? I’ve died and gone to heaven!! The ladies of Booty Burlesque take the audience for a walk on the wild side through the redlight district of the Sexame Strip.
TALES FROM A HARLOT NUN
*
Playwright/Performer Mary Leveridge portrays Russian poet Anna Akhmatova (1889-1966) who suffered the repression of the Stalinist regime and observed firsthand the horrors of the 900-day siege of Leningrad during WWII. Lover of the artist Amedeo Modigliani, friend of the writer Boris Pasternak and poet Robert Frost, she was twice nominated for the Nobel Prize and is regarded today as one of the most significant Russian poets of the 20th century. Directed by Jane Fleiss-Brogger.
GOO CHECKERS
*
This one-act comedy by Devin O’Brien and Aaron Rutt offers a judicious warning about the danger we face from those assigned the duty of keeping us safe.
PURE CINEMA
*
In 1977, master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock met funny man Mel Brooks, for breakfast to discuss the latter’s new comedy, High Anxiety. Aaron Caponigro and Bill Chott star, with Matt Ritchey directing. Script by David Neipris.
PLATINUM PUSSY
*
Talk show host Jimmy Lange interviews Sex Therapist and Author Serena Abbasi about her bestselling book Platinum Pussy. With Sarish Khan and Anthony Notarile, directed by Stephanie Chloe Hepner
A TRANSCRIBER’S TALE
*
Another tasty offering from producers Michael Blaha and Lee Costello, this show focuses on Joanna Parson, a young typist entombed in a hectic transcription office in New York with nothing but her humor and guitar for defense. Aimee Todoroff serves at the direction helm.
AND FINALLY –
FRINGE! TONITE! ALIVE!
*
A “late-nite” talk show about “all things Fringy!” Full of interviews with your fellow Fringers and selections from their shows. A great way to check out who’s who’s and what’s hot!
Starring that Host with the Most, just back from entertaining our boys overseas, the man who put the “oo” in smooth Alex Eriquez!
There are a ton and a half more shows being offered at this year’s Fringe.
There are shows about James Joyce, Judas Iscariot, James Baldwin and Ronald McDonald.
There are three shows about Edgar Allen Poe, six shows based on Shakespeare or his plays, and three productions about someone called Donald Trump.
There’s a musical about chess and a hip-hop musical comedy about gender identity and vampires.
There’s a play about the assassination of Lincoln and a play about the 638 attempts to assassinate Castro. And there’s even a play about a hairdresser entitled “Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia.”
So I urge you to check out the performance schedule on-line at https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/schedule.
And let’s all Fringe like there is no tomorrow!
