A funny mystery, a different Disney and more: Orlando Fringe Festival reviews
Today’s Orlando Fringe Festival reviews include “Action Figure Archive,” “An Audience of Amoebas,” “Dick Sweat: Private Investigator,” “Marathon,” “The One With the Ghost” and “Rat Man Happy Place.”
A theater critic has been murdered in “Dick Sweat: Private Investigator” (Blue venue, 60 minutes), a comic mystery with charm and flair. Written by T.J. Washburn, who co-directed with Brandon Roberts, “Dick Sweat” features plenty of laughs and a particularly bravura sequence from Tyler Lawson as a mime and Anna LeFlore as his poetic “translator.”
Washburn takes a lot of familiar Fringe tropes — the film noir style, the double-entendre puns, the character archetypes — but lifts them with fine comic acting, a clever script and a satisfying conclusion. While the mystery builds through witness interrogations, he lets the comedy momentum slip a bit. But this is a diverting romp.
Also diverting: Bruce Ryan Costella’s “Rat Man Happy Place” (Hamburger Mary’s, 60 minutes) takes a look at a certain Mouse-run local theme-park giant in a post-apocalyptic world where the adults have all been killed and children have formed various feral societies.
Costella, who brings a lot to the table just by his commitment to his character, deftly walks the line of mocking Disney World while admiring what it has achieved. He’s not shy about also mocking his own low-tech production values, which adds to the charm. And his attempt to re-create a standard “castle show” is a hoot.
There’s almost a deeper layer; “Rat Man” is right on the cusp of saying something profound about nostalgia and imagination and escape and growing up under the silliness. It will be interesting to see how this new show develops.
In E. Erba’s “Marathon” (Pink venue, 60 minutes), actors Chiara Cimmino and Kimberly DiPersia spend nearly an entire hour running onstage, which is a visually striking feat in itself. The two play friends who go through emotional ups and downs along the way — sometimes encouraging, sometimes disparaging, sometimes kind, sometimes not.
As seen at a preview, director Valerio Vittorio Garaffa plays up the contrast between the women: DiPersia’s character is one of those running fanatics who barrels along, Cimmino plays a more casual enthusiast who wonders why they should continue if it has stopped being fun.
Their race, it will become clear to those who pay close attention or have seen a lot of Fringe shows, is perhaps not the ordinary kind. But there is something compelling about watching two people navigate a friendship under these circumstances. And by the end of this fast-paced hour, you feel it was a race well run.
Turning to abject failure, the notorious 1980s Broadway flop “Moose Murders” is the subject of writer-director David Strauss’s “An Audience of Amoebas” (Green venue, 60 minutes). Going behind the scenes, “Amoebas” charts a comic course to disaster with a lot of laughs and engaging performances from Damany Riley as the doomed playwright and J Scott Berry as his agent/wannabe actor.
It’s all played for laughs, though not every scene ends with the bang comedy needs, and Kendra Musselle goes deliciously Norma Desmond in portraying fading star Eve Arden. “Amoebas” suffers by teasing its audience — telling without showing — but theater buffs will undoubtedly be amused by this look at this infamous Broadway footnote.
Steve McLean’s “Action Figure Archive” (Red venue, 60 minutes) is a silly look at the toys of childhood from an adult point of view. As seen at a preview, even McLean admitted the show was off the rails with only-at-Fringe-style audience interactions taking over. But here’s the thing: It showed that McLean is quick on his feet, can work with an audience and knows his stuff.
For an American audience, the Londoner should lean more into “Star Wars,” which has the strongest enduring appeal here of the various franchises (“Transformers,” “My Little Pony,” etc.) he brings up. But even if his preview — adults only, by the way — wasn’t quite what it was meant to be, I laughed harder and longer than anytime else at the festival.
Finally, “The One With the Ghost” (The Abbey, 60 minutes) is billed as a comedy with a tangential connection to the hit TV show “Friends.” A loud and frantic — really loud and frantic — guy rents a new apartment that comes with a ghost and they become frenemies in a way that’s more “Odd Couple” than “Friends.”
But there’s a very serious development that makes this more like a “very special episode” of a beloved TV show — and you know what that means. There’s not enough depth to do the drama justice, and the comedy gets completely interrupted. One bright spot: Billie Jane Aubertin as an ultra-poised realtor. She deserves her own spin-off.
Orlando Fringe Festival
Where: Shows at Loch Haven Park are in color-coded venues; off-campus locations are identified by name.
When: Through May 29
Cost: $10 button required for ticketed shows, then individual performance tickets are no more than $15.
Schedule, tickets and more info: OrlandoFringe.org
More reviews: OrlandoSentinel.com/fringe. Email me at mpalm@orlandosentinel.com
