Author Archive
Hip Shot: “Please Listen: A Musical Chaos”
Please Listen: A Musical Chaos
Baldacchino Gypsy Tent at Fort Fringe
Remaining Performances:
July 24th 10pm
July 26th 3:15pm
What they say: Arlo and Donovan kidnap a big record executive to force him to produce their band’s new concept album ‘Overwhelming Stimulus.’ Watch the album unfold on stage and experience your first robot ball and more musical chaos.
Matt’s take: Back in 1987, director Elaine May set out to chronicle the hapless adventures of two songwriting man-children who, unbeknownst to themselves, write laughably lousy jingles. The absurdity of their songs was a high point in what has since been denounced as one of the biggest cinematic disasters in history. The overgrown adolescents in question were played by Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman. The film was Ishtar and, for the record, the first 30 minutes are kind of funny.
Since then, the oblivious songwriting duo has taken many forms but it’s always the same story. Two hopelessly delusional but tenacious dreamers fight for the fame and glory they believe is rightfully theirs. The audience knows better. It’s funny until it’s not.
Hip Shot: ‘2 shows: PLANT PSYCHIC/DISORDER’
PLANT PSYCHIC/DISORDER
Goethe Mainstage
Remaining Performances:
Jul 12th 4:30 pm
Jul 17th 7 pm
Jul 18th 1 pm
Jul 26th 1 pm
They Say: “Double Pleasure Double Fun: 2 2 shows in One! DISORDER — PakratPatty combats ‘Collector-itis’ & ‘Disposophobia’ in light-hearted look at OCD. Will Clutter Hoarding ==> Utter Chaos? Will PP vanquish compulsion Let Nothing Go? PLANT PSYCHIC — Twisted Photosynthesis. 2gether Nightly; Order Alternates.”
Matt’s Take: My ability to stand up against peer pressure has never been what it should be, but one trap to which I never succumbed was collegiate excursions to comedy clubs. The dank rooms, the two-drink minimums, the jokes about the subway and the dentist: even then it reeked of sadness and desperation. So you could imagine my surprise when PLANT PSYCHIC turned out to be little more than a stand-up routine featuring comedian David Coyne cracking jokes about a plastic plant named Barbara. In the forty minutes, Mr. Coyne magically transported me to an evening at the Ha Ha Hole I never knew I longed for with jokes about the audience “looking at his package” and “homofolliagesapiens being called pansies.” Wakka wakka! Perhaps PLANT PSYCHIC is intended meant as high-concept performance art in the key of Andy Kaufman. Or, more likely, Mr. Coyne used his Fringe spot as a means of trying out new material without the risk of getting the hook. At one point, using a pun he’s been hanging onto since middle school, Mr. Coyne said he was suffering from reptile dysfunction which was “sad and humiliating.” I couldn’t agree more.
Fringe Blogger Profile: Siblo
Name: Matt Siblo
Hometown: Staten Island, New York. Keep your comments to yourself.
Years in D.C.: Come August, it will be 2.
First CapFringe? It is. If this question is meant to make first-time bloggers feel self-conscious than it has achieved its goal.
Shows I’m Seeing: DISORDER/PLANT PSYCHOTIC (their capital letters, not mine), Listen: A Musical Chaos, among others.
Random Thing You Might Find Revealing About My Sensibilities: Too smart for rock operas, not interested in legitimate opera. Speaking of which, the only performance I’ve ever walked out of was Lost Highway: The Opera. Outside of this description, opera usually does not factor largely into my life.
