Crawling onto the darkened Orange Venue stage, muttering incoherently into her microphone, the legendary Judy Garland has made her triumphantly teetering return to the Orlando Fringe. Improviser and food-truck impresario Mark Baratelli has revived his impression of the late-career chanteuse after several well-received prior Festival appearances. Crawling onto the Orange Venue stage while muttering incoherently, Judy slurs her way through a few extemporaneous songs (accompanied by keyboardist Anthony Riley) and banters boozily with the audience, while trying — and mostly failing — to remain upright and unentangled in her microphone cord.

Over the years, Baratelli’s Garland has evolved away from pure impersonation into an outrageous creature all its own, whose rainbow-related ravings are underpinned by Mark’s own delirious deranged style of interaction and deceptively well-developed singing voice. The show is barely 30 minutes long, and Judy starts shouting at the tech booth for time checks before it hits the halfway point, so don’t expect any story arcs or emotional growth here. However, if you want to unplug your brain and have a half-hour respite from the dark themes that seem to permeate this year’s Fringe, you’ll find Baratelli’s Garland an ideal drinking buddy.

Judy Garland: Stuck in a Bear Trap With Nothing to Wear
Orange Venue

Thursday, May 18, 10:30 PM
Saturday, May 20, 10:45 PM
Tuesday, May 23, 9:15 PM
Wednesday, May 24, 10:30 PM
Thursday, May 25, 5:30 PM
Saturday, May 27, 7:00 PM
Sunday, May 28, 3:15 PM
tickets

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This article appears in May 10-16, 2017.