Fringe Review: Skill Focus Burlesque Does Fringe
As someone who spent much of his virtually sexless adolescence playing Nintendo and Dungeons & Dragons instead of going on dates, all I have to say is, where the hell were girls like this when I was in high school?!? Director Dorothy “Ruby Darling” Massey’s Skill Focus: Burlesque — my favorite Orlando exotic entertainment troupe…
Fringe Review: Jitters
Don’t believe that the Fringe can change your life? Just look at Bernie “O’B” O’Brien. Five years ago he was a semi-retired working stiff without any stage experience; today he’s a published author and sought-after storyteller — and it couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. O’B’s latest one-man opus, Jitters, involves a return to his…
Fringe review: You Can’t Bring That Bike in Here
About 25 years ago, Tom Snyders was an itinerant, stand-up comedian playing obscure clubs in places not exactly known for being citadels of comedy – Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas – what’s funny in Kansas? When his car broke down and he was 1,500 miles away from his next gig, he made the ridiculous decision to bicycle…
Fringe Review: The Worst Show in the Fringe
The Orlando International Film Festival has been home to plenty of “wonderful but painfully-produced theatre,” but nothing in its 66 year history has approached the awfulness of My E-mails with Shakespeare, local thespian Thomas Wayne’s (Eric Pinder) self-indulgent solo shit sandwich of “syphilitic ravings.” At least, that’s according to the notice from Orlando Weekly-Sentinel theatre…
A Parisian Affair: The Art of Andre Renoux opens tomorrow at the Polasek
Through Sept. 23 – A Parisian Affair: The Art of Andre Renoux Albin Polasek Museum & Sculpture Gardens 633 Osceola Ave., Winter Park 407-647-6294 polasek.org $5 He was known as the “father of urban realism,” and through his paintings, Algerian-born-turned-Parisian artist Andre Renoux depicted everyday streetscapes of a 1960s City of Light. His works trade…
Fringe review: Blue and Tod – Too Drunk to Fringe
Dean Martin made a career out of acting drunk and happy. The charade — he was actually drinking ice tea — allowed him to make it look as if his artistry was carefree and unrehearsed. Tod Kimbro’s persona is drunk, happy, gay and debauched. It allows him to pass off his artistry as cool and…
Pixar’s “Ratatouille”, “Wall-E”, “Up” and “Toy Story 3” Heading Back to Orlando Theaters
Next weekend is memorial day weekend, and what better way to spend it than chilling with Wall-E and Eve? Or maybe Remy and Linguine are more your speed? Or Carl and Russell? Or Woody and Buzz? Or maybe all four? Pixar is trotting out their famous and Oscar winning films through AMC Cinemas for four…
Yann Tiersen tomorrow at the Beacham
Tuesday, May 22 – Yann Tiersen with Piano Chat 7:30 p.m. The Beacham 46 N. Orange Ave. 407-246-1419 thebeacham.com $20-$25 To bridge his classical education and his current sensibilities, acclaimed French composer Yann Tiersen crafts indie pop with the expanse and nuance of a symphonist. Like a more organic M83, he is making some of…
Fringe review: Scientist Turned Comedian
“Science can be fun” sounds like one of those lies we all tell our kids, like “Colored pencils are just as good as crayons” and “Sex can exist without shame.” But standup comic Tim Lee is ready and willing to prove the first of those three axioms — if only you listen carefully enough. Scientist Turned…
Fringe review: Kirikou and the Sorceress
If you fondly remember the 1998 animated film Kirikou and the Sorceress, you won’t have much trouble following along as the Orlando School of Cultural Dance retells the classic African folktale. If you’re less familiar with the story, you may get a bit waylaid by their long, technically uneven and only fitfully energetic production. Narration,…
Fringe review: Dance for Grandma
Dance for Grandma has a setup that’s practically genius: On his deceased grandmother’s birthday, doting Scott Whittemore ascends into her attic, where he rifles through her personal effects while awaiting a sign that she’s doing O.K. in the Great Beyond. And get this: We’re all the ghosts of his other family members, sitting in wait…
Fringe Review: 4 Truths and a Lie
A son comes to terms with his occasionally abusive stepdad. A stand-up comic confronts a joke-stealing competitor. A Catholic school playground dare turns into a teeth-shattering brawl. A drunken third date turns into an anatomical disaster. A young man finds himself cornered by a Costa Rican hotel clerk with a copious porn collection. Answer quick:…
Gregory Orr reading at Atlantic Center for the Arts
Monday, May 21 – Gregory Orr reading 7:30 p.m. Atlantic Center for the Arts 1414 Art Center Ave. New Smyrna Beach 386-427-6975 atlanticcenterforthearts.org free Much-decorated poet Gregory Orr (a Guggenheim fellowship, two National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, an award in literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Rockefeller Fellowship at the…
Fringe Review: Blood Sisters The Musical in Concert
The setting is fictional “Metro City U.S.A.,” where five Smith sisters are living under one strife-stricken roof until Mama decides she needs her “private time” and gives them all 5 months to get jobs and move out. It sounds like it could be a hit sitcom on FOX’s fall schedule, but it’s actually the story…
Sunday Film News Roundup — May 20th, 2012
Well, the first week of Cannes is over and if someone held a gun to your head and said “pick a frontrunner for the Palme d’Or”, you’d have to say it’s Jacques Audiard’s Rust & Bone, though it likely won’t win (going by the buzz, Marion Cotillard seems like a high choice for Best Actress,…
Fringe Review: …SINCE CARRIE: A Celebration of (Recent) Broadway Bombs!
Here’s my confession: I’m a closet fan of Taboo, Rosie O’Donnell-produced Boy George musical. No numbers from that nuclear bomb are included in …SINCE CARRIE: A Celebration of (Recent) Broadway Bombs!, a celebration of critically and commercially cursed shows that failed to recoup their Broadway production costs. Eric Michaud, who admits to attending Dance of…
Fringe Review: Cannibal! The Musical
As a certified connoisseur of campy cult movies, I can confidently claim that the original film Cannibal! The Musical is a complete pile of crap. Though the zero-budget 1993 flick shows a few flickers of the genius that writer/director Trey Parker would fully develop in South Park and Book of Mormon, try as I might…
Fringe review: 9/11 — We Will Never Forget
“Too soon.” “Tragedy plus time.” Performers are always looking for the magic mathematical equation that will tell them when it’s O.K. to comment on real-life calamity. The answer is both simple and seemingly unfair: For great performers, almost any time is a good time; for bad performers, “never” is more like it. Jason Nettle isn’t…
Fringe Review: The Monkey King
“You’re too clean to be here, young man,” the wizened white-haired figure (writer/performer Viet Nguyen, 2010’s Reincarnation Soup) challenges, with the sound of chanting echoing softly in the distance. “Did the government send you here? Or the Christians? Or the Buddhists?” From atop a landscape of garbage, “where dreams flow like rivers of sewage,” this…
Fringe review: Celebrity Squares
Seeing a Fringe show is always risky business. The only thing you can be sure of is that you’re going to give up about an hour of your life. Michael Wanzie’s Celebrity Squares adds an extra note of certainty: Somebody in the audience is going home $89 richer rather than $11 poorer. Yes, a genuine $100…
Poetry ‘n Lotion perform Devo tribute show
Saturday, May 19 – Poetry ‘n Lotion Performs Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! 9 p.m. Will’s Pub 1042 N. Mills Ave. 407-898-5070 willspub.org $5 The members of Tampa band Poetry ’n Lotion aren’t shy at all about waving a flag for their teenage influences. Although the quartet’s main gig is dishing…
Fringe Review: Little Lady
A contorted figure (Sandrine Lafond) lies prone, facedown on the floor, clad in hooded red dress and fur stole. She slowly wakes to circus music, her white face framed with oversized glasses opening wide to greet the morning with a giggle. The little lady limbers up her feet and props herself precariously on tiptoes, tottering…
Fringe Review: AAAaaaggghhh ZOMBIES!!!…Because Zombies $ell
Stop me if you’ve heard this one: two critics, one sponsor, and a half-dozen unsuspecting Fringe-goers walk into a closet. The tiny storage room (dedicated to Jamie Mykins, who is our host on opening night) is decorated with glow-in-the-dark ghouls, Christmas lights, and a tiny puppet stage. For the next seven minutes, the terrified subjects…
Fringe Review: TJ Dawe in Medicine
T.J. Dawe has been one of the most sought-after soloists on the Fringe Festival circuit for over a decade, and his latest piece, Medicine, makes a compelling case why. Dawe’s followers are used to the dexterous way he interweaves wacky stories from his colorful travels, but this painfully personal new work is somewhat of a departure…
Teresa Jacobs relents! The Domestic Partnership Registry (or whatever it is) now actually includes domestic partners
In what can best be described as an unexpected move – or a birthday present for Billy Manes (me! May 22! 40! Yikes!) – Orange County redrafted its innocuous HELP ordinance yesterday to something way more palatable and fantastic than it was just a week ago. We’d like to believe that our impassioned plea in…
Avengers scene sparks shawarma cravings nationwide
So apparently Robert Downey Jr.’s ad-libbed bit about shawarma in The Avengers (“You ever try shawarma? … I don’t what it is, but I want to try it.”) — which led to one of the funniest post-credits scenes of the summer, in which a roundtable of superheroes chows down silently on meat-stuffed pitas — has…
Winter Park Urban Farm hosts Food Revolution Day
Saturday, May 19 – Food Revolution Day 10 a.m. Winter Park Urban Farm 1650 Pine Ave., Winter Park 407-590-5499 livepretty.com/foodrevorlando free, but registration required While Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution was good TV – watching the self-destructive citizens of Huntington, W. Va., give Oliver’s attempts to save them from diabetes and stroke the cold, pudgy shoulder…
Fringe Review: Theme Park Diva
Do you dream of the chance to shine six days a week, wearing an itchy green lamé costume while dancing in click-track shows filled with dignity and class? Then come audition for a role performing at America’s most-awarded theme park, GalaxyWorld USA — it’s awesome! Street sweeper Sal Shoestring sets up the story, which should…
Fringe review: Well … Since You Asked
It’s a general rule of life that if you ever encounter someone who proudly calls himself “opinionated,” you should run very swiftly in the opposite direction. And if said person declares that other folks actively solicit his colorful opinions well, that’s usually when I start looking around for the nearest wooden stake or silver bullet.…
Fringe Review: Bursting Into Flames by Martin Dockery
Martin Dockery (creator of past Fringe hits Wanderlust, The Bike Trip, and The Holy Land Experience) begins his latest monologue Bursting Into Flames by barging onstage with blazing excitement in his eyes and a bottle of wine in his hand. His previous performances have been exemplars of off-kilter exuberance, but this time he takes surrealism…
Fringe Review: Toxic Audio in Voice Activated
Toxic Audio was born at the 1998 Orlando Fringe Festival when five theme park performers — Michelle Mailhot, Shalisa James, Paul Sperrazza, Jeremy James, and René Ruiz — banded together to sing in an abandoned downtown storefront. The show was a huge hit, and in the years since the quintet (along with technical director John…
Repo! The Genetic Opera shadow cast tonight at the Enzian
Friday, May 18 – Repo! The Genetic Opera shadow cast 11:59 p.m. Enzian Theater 1300 S. Orlando Ave., Maitland 407-629-0054 enzian.org $10 Take an open mic night, swirl it around with some self-posted YouTube musical mimicry, and pour it over a generous helping of Rocky Horror-style audience participation and you have “shadow casting,” the all-new…
The Queen of Mean, Lisa Lampanelli heads to Hard Rock Live tonight
Friday, May 18 – Lisa Lampanelli 7 p.m. Hard Rock Live 6050 Universal Blvd. 407-351-5483 hardrock.com $45 Good news for sensitive types: The first few rows of seating for this show have already been sold, and if you don’t know why that’s a good thing, then you haven’t truly seen the Queen of Mean, Lisa…
Drinking Events
Orlando drinking events, festivals, pub crawls and more.
Fringe Review: Jokes, Songs, a Hat, Etc!
“Comedy is a subjective sport, and should be judged on difficulty like gymnastics,” proclaims comic/musician Paul Strickland at the start of Jokes, Songs, a Hat, Etc! “If you don’t laugh at some of the jokes, it isn’t because they aren’t funny, but because they are hard.” He doesn’t have to worry, since that disclaimer is…
Live Local Music at the Fringe Festival
Oh, yeah, sure, the Fringe Festival is like Thankschristmasbirthday for Orlando’s vibrant theater community, but it’s also kind of a nice windfall for local music fans too. Nearly every night during the festival, there will be local artists playing the outdoor stage near the beer garden. This means four excellent things: 1) local music, 2)…
20th Annual Celebration of International Heritages tonight at Orlando City Hall
Thursday, May 17 – 20th Annual Celebration of International Heritages 5:30-8 p.m. The Rotunda Orlando City Hall 400 S. Orange Ave. 407-894-5740 worldtradecenterorlando.org free Each year the president decrees the third week of May as World Trade Week, spurring industry hubs like New York City to hold business seminars and awards banquets. But here in…
On Sale This Week: Toadies!
On Sale: Friday, May 18 Toadies with Helmet 7:30 p.m. Friday, July 27 House of Blues 407-934-2583 hob.com $20-$23 Down the road: Mike Epps, May 25 at Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre Apparitioners, May 26 at Will’s Pub K.D. Lang, May 27 at Hard Rock Live Maps And Atlases, May 27 at The Plaza Live…
Peperoncino
Dr. Phillips trattoria schools patrons and area restaurants in the way of Italian cuisine
Whitewood Mediterranean Grill
New addition to Orange Avenue’s power lunch and late-night scene is more than welcome
Darling Companion
A career-ending third strike for legendary writer-director Lawrence Kasdan?
The Are We Sunk? Index
How quickly is Florida sinking into the ocean this week?
Summer indie movies we already love
The best indie movie prospects under the sun
This Little Underground
Bao Le-Huu takes on Phil Longo’s momentous 40th birthday party and Beach House at the Beacham
DVDs Nuts!
Lesser-seen OW approved titles
How to Fringe
Your survival guide for Fringe’s 13 days of fabulousness – tips, tricks and wisdom gained through the ages
Dubstep star Rusko on hip-hop, weed and Madonna
Rusko 8 p.m. Friday, May 18 House of Blues, 407-934-2583 hob.com $32-$35 Dubstep star Rusko has a new EP with Cypress Hill, a crazy haircut and a gig in Orlando this week. We talked to him about the new project, his favorite production tools and Madonna. Orlando Weekly: You played Orlando last year. How did…
Happytown
OK, it’s official: We are sick of writing about this. We shouldn’t have to explain to Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs (or anyone at all) why domestic partnership – or gay marriage, for that matter – is an essential right, a civil right and just fucking right.We’d like to say a personal “I hate you,…
On the edge
Some people find Fringe fest outrageous; some whisper that it’s going family-friendly. New producer Michael Marinaccio is confident that the festival is right where it should be
Master Legend
A Q and A with Orlando’s real-life superhero
Orlando literacy group Page 15 releases teen anthology
Young writers answer the question “What do adults do wrong?” in the book Wars Are Dumb
Seth Kubersky’s 20 most anticipated Fringe shows (in alphabetical order)
4 Truths and a Lie Ex-Orlandoans Audrey Kearns and Brian Bradley hit it big in Hollywood; now they’re back telling (mostly) truthful tales with a rotating team of local celebs (including OW’s Steve Schneider). Blood Sisters the Musical: In Concert This original piece about a matriarchal African-American family features Broadway-credited director Marion J. Caffey and…
Fringe Fest 2012
Orlando Weekly arts columnist Seth Kubersky counts all the ways he loves Fringe
Rotation: What local artists are listening to
This week: Eternity
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19) Is there a difference in sound quality between relatively inexpensive modern violins and the multi-million-dollar violins created by master craftsmen in the 1700s? In research done at the Eighth International Violin Competition, most violinists couldn’t tell them apart. (Read more here: tinyurl.com/ViolinResearch.) In accordance with the astrological omens, I urge you…
Savage Love
From time to time, I go to a bathroom on a mostly deserted floor, go into a stall and rub out a quick one
Billi Kid curates Art of Basketball show in downtown Orlando
Friday, May 18 – Art of Basketball (Wave 3) 6-9 p.m. through June 15 Church Street Exchange 101 S. Garland Ave. 407-648-7060 orlandoslice.com $15-$20 New York City street artist Billi Kid is typically known for illustrating a wide range of famous faces, anywhere from Sarah Palin to Jim Morrison. But as curator for The Art…
Orlando Historic Preservation Board soliciting photos of Lake Adair area
People have been attempting to combat the “knock down and build anew” mentality since there have been objects to knock down in the first place. It’s not an easy battle to fight in our disposable culture, and the Orlando Historic Preservation Board is enlisting the community’s help to try to recognize some of the cool,…
Orlando vet to go on tour with anti-meat movie
A local veterinarian is launching an organization to raise awareness about animal abuse in the food industry. Inspired by a documentary produced by an organization called Mercy For Animals, Randall Cannon of Fairbanks Animal Hospital has formed a local group called Take Your Blinders Off, Inc. (TYBO). Cannon plans to drive around the state in…
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Newly Announced Shows in Orlando [Father Figure, Toadies, Nerdapalooza, and more]
A small handful of new show announcements for this week, including a rare show by Father Figure (ex-Summerbirds in the Cellar and current Viernes dudes), a not-so-rare-but-still-cool show by Ben Prestage, THREE DAYS OF NERDAPALOOZA downtown, and Toadies and Helmet out at House of Blues. Here’s a video of the very first song from the…
The FCAT splat!
As if we weren’t already wandering around worried about our kids’ futures – much less their emotional perceptions of their futures, like whether they’ll ever be able to get a job – today’s big news of slaloming FCAT scores (like, literally, down into the 20-percent rage), probably speaks more to the state’s giant fumble when…
Lance Armstrong set to compete in Central Florida Ironman Triathlon
Lance Armstrong has proven himself as a super-human athlete: He’s a seven-time Tour de France cycling champion, a cancer survivor and, through his Livestrong campaign, an advocate for cancer research. And this weekend, Armstrong’s remarkable comeback continues as he heads to nearby Haines City to compete in the Ironman 70.3 Florida. Armstrong joins 2300 other…
2012 National & International Fringe Artist Preview Show tomorrow night
Wednesday, May 16 – 2012 National & International Fringe Artist Preview Show 7 p.m. Lowndes Shakespeare Center 812 E. Rollins St. orlandofringe.org $10 plus Fringe button Every year, dozens of artists from around the world converge on Loch Haven Park to share their fabulousness with us and hopefully earn enough for a ticket home. The…
