Check ‘em out here—some nice snapshots from the Audience Awards and subsequent revelry.

Fringefolk,

Sure, we’ve seen a fair bit of theater, sweated buckets in some overheated venues, learned to turn hangovers into inspiration, and covered 88 shows so far (make that 100 after tomorrow!). No big deal, right? But we can’t be everywhere at all times—just ask this individual—so we rely on you all to keep us honest.

Let us know what you’re loving, what you’re loathing, and what we’ve missed. Our ears, and this blog, are yours.

*That old-school engraving above? William Hogarth’s “Lame theater.” We think it’s neat.

Hopelessly Devoted
Goethe Institut Mainstage

Remaining performances: Thurs., July 23 at 9:30 p.m.; Fri., July 24 at 9:45 p.m.; Sat., July 25 at 2 p.m.; Sun., July 26 at 3 p.m.

They say: Chicago Improvisers/Catholics Vincent Lacey and Natalie Sullivan offer up scenes, songs and secret confessions of being devout fish in a sea of pessimism. Bursting with guilt…err…love Christ, Hopelessly Devoted is a comedy even Saint Peter couldn’t deny.

Ted’s take: “In the unlikely event of the Rapture,” Natalie Sullivan advises the audience at the opening of Hopelessly Devoted, “please pray for your own sins before praying for those around you.”

The chance of rapture here? As advertised, unlikely. The chance of mild amusement courtesy of two talented comedians? Much higher.

Sullivan and Vincent Lacey, two funnypeople of the unrepentant Catholic persuasion, have mounted a pleasant diversion over at the Goethe Institut, a zany, ADD-style compendium of sketches, one-liners, a song or two, and even a borderline-charming hip-hop number about the Church of the Blessed Sacrament, which is hemorrhaging believers and whose few remaining parishioners call it the “Church of the Blessed Sack.” There’s a lot of biography going on here, too: Lacey adapts winning character sketches of his reluctantly devout father and of his dean at Catholic University. Sullivan, meanwhile, steals one of the shows’ more uncomfortable scenes, in which she remains the confirmation sponsor of the ex-boyfriend she convinced to convert, even after dumping him. True story! So, yes: not your run-of-the-mill Christian lampoonery here; this is been-there, still-there, ain’t-never-recanted Christian lampoonery.

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The Escapades of Farty Johnson
The Shop at Fort Fringe

Remaining performances:
July 23 at 6 p.m.
July 25 at 2:30 p.m.

They say: A physical comedy gestation!!! Join Harold P. Johnson, esq. (aka Farty J.) on a messy, manic, dreamy, hilarious dancin’ romp that may land you SPLATT! inside the soft spot in your heart. Door Prize: Can O’Beans.

Ted’s take: Patricia Krauss has found the perfect venue for her one-woman “physical comedy gestation,” in which the irrepressible Tooty Johnson—a metaphysically unmoored character played with the halting muggery of a Dana Carvey—sweats her way through an audition that never happens. Let’s do the math: It’s a 1.) self-referential piece of character acting that 2.) engages the question of how a terminally weird, delusional thespian goes about the agony of self-promotion without 3.) much of a gameplan but with 4.) a mystical reverence for the transmogrifying possibilities of the proscenium. Really, then, this is a show about the fringe (and the people who live there)—if not about Fringe itself.

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The Pirates of Penzance
The Mountain at Mount Vernon Place United Methodist Church

Remaining performances:
Saturday, July 18 at 2:45 p.m.; Sunday, July 19 at 6:45 p.m.

They say: A rollicking band of pirates thwart the efforts of bumbling policemen to win over the daughters of a modern major-general. Back for their third summer at the Fringe, this group of very talented youth, directed by Pamela Leighton-Bilik, must not be missed.

Ted’s take: My, what fun.

Good clean fun, of course—no Fringe-y deconstructionism or naughty bits grafted on or any of that: just an eerily precocious flock of varying ages and heights, all of ‘em with superior stage presence and fine pipes. Also: no shortage of tricorner hats. These folks aren’t just competent, mind you—they really sell lines like “When your process of extermination begins, let our deaths be as swift and painless as you can conveniently make them.” (Even if, you know, they flub the occasional “i’faith.”)

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Hey Fringefolk~

We figure it can be pretty hard to keep all these shows straight. To make it easy on ya, we’ve created this page—a comprehensive rundown on all the shows we’ve covered. (We know…it’s a lot to handle.) Make sure to check back, as we’ll be updating this list every day to provide you with that stress-free, feel-good Fringe experience you’ve been dreaming about. Enjoy!

• 2 Shorts in Black and White: Count Dracula’s Cafe
• 2 shows: PLANT PSYCHIC/DISORDER
• 4.48 Psychosis
• The A Cappella Party
• A.D.
• All That Was Left of Them
• Bad Hamlet
• Bag Lady
• Bare Breasted Women Swordfighting
• Beyond Dark Corners
• Billy the Kid: First Exhumation
• Born of a Fairytale
• Cabaret Carousel
• Cabaret CooCoo
• Closet Land
• Concord, Virginia
• Cover Me in Humanness
• Dancing to Ancient Rhythms
• Deconstructing the Myth of the Booty
• The Devil’s Christmas Carol
• Diamond Dead (Continued…)
• Dorks on the Loose: Facey Facey Face Face
• Dust of Babylon
• The Elephant Man, the Musical
• The Escapades of Farty Johnson

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Slow News Day
The Apothecary at the Trading Post

Remaining performances:
July 15 at 9:30 .m.; July 17 at 7:45 p.m.; July 26 at 1:30 p.m.

They say: Politics? The Economy? Global Warming? Not so much. This news crew specializes in made-up stories and behind-the-scenes shennanigans. Slow News Day brings you the news as you see it—improvised based on your suggestions.

Ted’s take: Reviewing an improv show is less like critiquing theater and more like covering the Mets: You can report what happened, discuss the homers and the bobbles, &c., but there’s no guarantee that what you saw on one day will have any relation to what’ll happen the following. I say this not only because Slow News Day (structured as a triptych of on-air reports, behind-the-scenes buffoonery, and commercial interludes), is bound to vary wildly from one night to the next, but also because it’s a lot like watching the Mets—intermittently worthy, and just as uneven.

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Cabaret CooCoo
The Mountain at Mt. Vernon Place United Methodist Church

Remaining performances: July 11 at 8 p.m.; July 16 at 6 p.m.; July 17 at 8 p.m.; Jul 25 at 4 p.m.

They say: “Classy acts! Captivating Characters! Hosted by Guitar Prodigy Scooter Undercroft, Featuring Izzy and Diz Aster Singing Cheery Songs of the Great Depression, Nicolo the Juggling Accordionist, the Amazing Illusionist Catastrafi, Hotsy-Totsy Dancing Cigarette Girls, the Melodious Pit band, and surprise(d) guests!”

Ted’s take: More clowning reality-reprieve from the resident masters of vintage slapstick.

This year, M.C. Scooter Undercroft welcomes you to the Cabaret CooCoo, which—as the project’s name and pedigree surely attest—is an utterly bonkers evening’s worth of dysfunctional, downmarket cabaret, magical malaprop, and period pasticherie set to a very fetching incidental soundtrack courtesy of accordions, ukuleles, and at least one harmonic saw. The “Hotsy Totsy Dancing Girls” (pronounced “goils”) are also present, but the Flying Zamboni Brothers are not—which sends Scooter AWOL and leaves the rest of the cast scrambling in the service of a show-within-a-show that…well, must go on.

Happenstance, here, is playing to its strengths—vaudevillian funny business isn’t exactly an artistic leap for a group that, as far as Cap Fringe is concerned, has practically cornered the market on the stuff. Which is not to say the performances aren’t versatile: This is an extended family of gifted physical comics, and whether dancing, singing, miming, preaching, mumbling, or staring vacantly at the audience, they execute with equal aplomb. Anchored by the dual charisma of Mark Jaster and Sabrina Mandell—here, Izzy and Diz Aster, respectively—Happenstance mines the physical idioms of Marceau, Chaplin, and Harpo Marx to produce a show about how art—even and especially disastrous (make that Diz Aster-ous), wildly loopy, fourth-wall-busting art—offers its audience a reprieve from the economic doldrums.

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Name: Ted Scheinman
Hometown: Hamilton, NY
Years in DC: ~1.3 years
First CapFringe? Second; I had the pleasure of editing Fringe & Purge last year.
Shows I’m Seeing: For starters: Cabaret Coo Coo, Slow News Day, and The Escapades of Farty Johnson. About the latter, I am unduly excited.
Random Things You Might Find Interesting About My Sensibilities: Into P.G. Wodehouse, James Brown, and Jacques Villon. On the fence about Jim Jarmusch and Das Mötørbike. Very glad that Happenstance Theater and Dale’s Pale Ale are both returning to Fringe this year.

[Are you an artist? A producer? A distant relative who'd like to spot me a fiver? Come find me! I'll be the dude lurking under the Gypsy Tent at Fort Fringe. See above for gruesome City Paper headshot.]