By Ernest Kearney — From the first mention of this Fringe Festival spin of the classic Tonight Show format with Alex Enriquez as its “Johnny Carson,” I thought it was a brilliant idea, and what do you know. I was right!
As directed by Kate Frisbee and produced by Katierose Donohue Enriquez, Rich Mckie and Stephanie Seiple, Fringe! Tonite Alive! is a perfect model of the late-night format of monologue, guests and musical numbers right down to “Josh Brown and The Hollywood Sound.”
The night I attended Aaron Caponigro and Bill Chott were on hand to discuss their roles: Mel Brooks and Alfred Hitchcock from Pure Cinema; Brett Moore amazed the audience with his encyclopedic knowledge of baseball which is the basis of his show Batter Up: Double Play; The cast of Bigfoot! The Musical performed two numbers from their “Fringe favorite” production. There was also some additional sketch-foolery and the babbling of some guy who spends far too much time staring at the blank white of his screen’s “text area.”
All in all, it was a great serving of “Fringe” offerings in tasty bite-sized pieces.
And at the center of it all was Alex Enriquez who proves himself worthy (along with Steve Allen, Jack Paar and the mighty Carson himself) of entry to the Valhalla of Late-Night hosts.
What is needed, is somehow extending this wonderfully conceived and realized celebration of all things Hollywood Fringe to larger audiences — between movie show times at AMC Theatres, over Facebook, via TVs at local bars and restaurants, playing on a loop outside Fringe Central and other avenues which I’ll to the more social media savvy— but Enriquez and crew have presented the Hollywood Fringe with a great tool for spreading the word and increasing its impact.
They just have to use it.
***
For Tickets and Additional Information Go To: www.fringefestival.org
