Fringe Fest 2024: Day 3
sunday night sex parties
Hell yes. Vavianna Vardot’s Famous Sex Party was a lot of fun, even on a sleepy Sunday night. The crowd? Was there. The entertainment? Entertaining. The sex? Sexy. Now on to the reviews so I can get to bed at a decent hour.
Day 3 Reviews
Ladies of Jazz
Think Postmodern Jukebox. That’s it. Which means, of course, that Ladies of Jazz is a good time, but I wasn’t wowed. Whatever the title is supposed to mean, I heard no references to any great ladies of jazz. Instead, we got a Gwen Stefani cover (the first of TWO today) and some half-time swing. The jazz musician in me (trombone) was a little frustrated with some of the arrangements, especially the accentless Moondance that cut the chorus in favour of Dancing in the Moonlight. An ambitious tap dancing attempt at Caravan was by far the most interesting part of the show. Ladies of Jazz is a fine pairing for brunch, but not quite my tempo.
Golden Grind
The annual Fringe offerings from House of Hush Burlesque are always worth the price of admission. This year, they performed several homages to icons of old Hollywood who, for better or worse (usually worse) paved the way for the successful women of today. Aside from the premise being a bit too much liberal nonsense for my taste (it was the factory workers and socialists in the streets who paved the way for liberation), I can’t help feel this year’s big burlesque bash was not so cohesive as previous shows. Remember Ghouls Ghouls Ghouls, where the performer who served as our guide through the haunted theatre became possessed and closed the show with a shocking, rapturous climax? That’s the kind of through-line and BANG I honestly feel Golden Grind is missing. It’s good burlesque though—especially Charlee Queen, my god!—so see it if that’s your thing.
Alison Wunderland
Alison Wunderland is an extremely difficult show to review. It is at once highly entertaining and, to me at least, rather dull. The show loosely follows the plot of Alice in Wonderland; Mad Hatter, Cheshire Cat, EAT ME! and all that. However, I daresay 90% of the runtime is devoted to merely competent covers. Like, Alison sings the second Stefani song of the day, Just a Girl, because she has resolved to face the Queen of Hearts. After that, the Queen of Hearts sings Paint it Black because… she’s evil? No, really, that’s it. I can’t say the costumes weren’t good or the singing wasn’t good or the jokes weren’t funny, but I also can’t say Alison Wunderland impressed or challenged me.
High School Musical
Thank god for High School Musical. This was easily the highlight of the day, and would have been the highlight of previous days, too. It’s so nice to see an honest to goodness musical performed by eccentric people who love and live theatre. I’ll admit, the show is exactly what you expect—no surprises, no twists, no true weirdness—which means it can’t get perfect Fringe marks from me, but I’ll be damned if I deny it was a great time. Uniform Theatre’s High School Musical is a highly accessible, highly entertaining hit.