Last night, the 27th annual Orlando Fringe Festival came to a close, and despite dire weather forecasts this year’s event broke records for the number of sold-out performances. During the Fringe’s closing ceremony on Memorial Day, festival producer Michael Marinaccio presented the Critics Choice awards, which are decided by myself and the Orlando Sentinel‘s Matt Palm.
This year’s big winner was 13 Dead Dreams of Eugene, by Paul Strickland and Erika Kate MacDonald/Theatre Mobile, which was named Best Show of the 2018 Orlando Fringe Festival.
Here are the rest of this year’s Critics Choice selections:
BEST PLAY, COMEDY:
The Jurassic Parks, by Superbolt Theatre
BEST PLAY, DRAMA:
The Encampment of Dr. Moreau, by Marlon Andrew Burnley
BEST PLAY, MUSICAL:
F*ckboys: The Musical, by Infinite Productions
BEST SOLO SHOW, COMEDY:
Kevin, King of Egypt, by Rob Gee
BEST SOLO SHOW, CABARET:
Beneath the Bikini, by Katie Thayer
BEST SOLO SHOW, DRAMA:
Muttnik, by Pipsqueak Collective
BEST SOLO SHOW, MUSICAL:
A Solo From the Pit, by Elias Faingersh/Teater KEF
BEST DANCE SHOW:
VarieTease: Spellbound, by Blue LaLa Entertainment
BEST VARIETY OR SPECIALTY SHOW:
FrogPig, by Joel Swanson
BEST ORIGINAL SCRIPT:
Enter, Pursued by a Whale, by Irene L. Pynn
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE:
Thrones! The Musical Parody, by Chris Grace, Zach Reino, Al Samuels, Nick Semar and Dan Wessels
BEST TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT:
An Excruciatingly Ordinary Toy Theater Show, by Zach Dorn
BEST FEMALE PERFORMER:
Erin Cline, Meet the Replacements
BEST MALE PERFORMER:
Chris Crawford, Hello
BEST ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE:
The cast of El Wiz
BEST DIRECTION:
Scott Browning, Shakespeare’s Ghostbusters
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This article appears in May 23-29, 2018.