Out of the Loop Fringe Festival :: I Sing! and My First Time
WaterTower Theatre is presenting the 2010 Out of the Loop Fringe Festival March 4 through March 14, 2010. With 20 shows on the schedule there is bound to be something to peak your interest. Here are two reviews for shows that played Saturday, March 6, 2010. Both will be shown two more times over the next week.
I Sing!
Club 119 Productions musical I Sing! Is an ambitious but flawed production. With music by Eli Bolin and lyrics by Sam Forman, I Sing! was originally produced off-Broadway in 2001 and a concert version was recorded in 2003 and is available on CD. One gets the sense that Bolin and Forman were influenced by Jonathan Larson’s Rent, as it tells the story of 5 twentysomethings figuring out life and love in the Big Apple. Bolin and Forman clearly swung for the fences, but only made it to first base. The entire show is sung through, overpopulated with indistinguishable songs and has the thinnest of plots. Consequently many of the tunes get weighted down with clumsy lyrics attempting to forward the plot at the expense of the rhythm or melody. This makes for a tough workout for the actors.
Fortunately, Club 119 Productions has assembled a great hard working cast. Alexander Ross is the real deal: a great actor and singer (he’s also pretty damn hot in his skivvies). Angel Velasco plays Charlie, the token gay, flawlessly. Bailey Frankelberg, as the sexpot Pepper, grows into her role and performs two of the better songs quite well ("A Night at the Bar" and "Starting Over"). Trey Tolleson (Alan) nearly steals the show in the first act with "What Alan Likes." Much of the plot revolves around Heidi played by Julie Painter. Ms. Painter is a two-edged sword; her acting is capable but she blows what I imagine is one of the stronger songs ("Daddy’s Girl"). Finally, I Sing! does nail down a musical must: the title/ending song is a great, catchy tune that I found myself humming as I left the theatre.
My First Time
My First Time, presented by WaterTower Theatre and expertly directed by Mark Fleischer at first feels like more of a gimmick than a play. Based on the website myfirsttime.com, all the dialogue comes from over 36 million actual submissions posted by real people describing their first sexual experiences. Four actors on white stools rapid fire describe the variables of these experiences:
Rick, Sue, I can’t remember, Paula... OR... in a car, on a bed, in the woods, by myself. These rapid-fire thrusts are penetrated by interludes when an actor steps forward in the intimate Studio Theatre and presents their entire story. It’s very funny.
However, what starts out seeming like a stunt gradually becomes more poignant as the actors become the anonymous posters and the stories become more intimate: a leukemia sufferer wanting to have a sexual experience before he dies, the woman waiting to seek revenge on a jerk who gets off on deflowering virgins, a seduction, date-rape, abortion, religion. At some point, somewhere, you connect with one of the stories...maybe quite literally as audience members are asked to fill out an anonymous short survey regarding their first experience and at intervals the actors read some of the answers or the screen behind them projects stats such as "30% of this audience did not use contraceptives their first time". Jessica Cavanagh, Bryan Lewis, Kevin Moore and Nicole Stewart are all extraordinarily brilliant in bringing these postings to life. Kudos to the cast, director Fleischer and author Ken Davenport (and quoting the playbill "& People Just like You") for turning a clever act into a thoughtful, insightful, buzz-worthy event. And just for the record: Beth, 21, on the floor.
I Sing! plays again Tuesday, 3/9 at 7:30 pm and Saturday, 3/13 at 2:00 pm in the Studio Theatre. My First Time plays again Wednesday, 3/10 at 7:30 pm and Saturday, 3/13 at 8:00 pm in the Studio Theatre. WaterTower Theatre’s Out Of The Loop Fringe Festival runs through March 14, 2010. WaterTower Theatre 15650 Addison Rd., Addison, TX 75001 For a complete listing of Out of the Loop events and times visit the Water Tower Theatre website.
