The Orlando International Fringe Festival is a pretty big deal, and this is my first time performing in a show at Fringe.
Our first performance was last night, and it went very well overall!
I'm pretty excited (and a little surprised) about that, because we all felt seriously ill-prepared during our tech rehearsal on Thursday night.
My only big flub during the whole show was when I had a major brain-fart and forgot the words to like half a verse of my big solo in "Up The Ladder To The Roof." Ordinarily, I'm sure I would have been able to fake it, but since that has absolutely NEVER happened to me before, it caught me by surprise and I totally gave it away. Thankfully no one was videotaping that performance, because you would have been able to see me rolling my eyes. I might as well have shouted "FUCK!" out loud, because that's what my face was saying. Oh, well! çe la vie!
Needless to say, that will never happen again. If there are 12 words that I will never forget for the rest of my life they are:
"We'll combine our thoughts, and together we'll travel to fountains of loveliness."
Who wrote those lyrics anyway?
They're über-retarded.
Maybe my brain forgot it on purpose.
My brain was like, "You are NOT saying those words. They're stupid."
Anyway, it was just one minor flaw in a show that ended up turning out really well.
We got our first review this morning, and it was a good one!
From the Orlando Sentinel, today:
OUTLOUD! Too Gay For Fringe?
Why is it that men dressed as nuns are inherently funny?
That schtick starts off Outloud!, a concert performance from seven members of the Orlando Gay Chorus as they sing “I Will Follow Him,” from the comic nun movie Sister Act. And, for whatever reason, it still is funny.
Light and breezy works best in this revue, as a fun take on “Schadenfreude” from Broadway’s Avenue Q tells the audience that it’s OK to laugh at others’ misfortunes, or a raucous sailors’ song titled “Men” is gleeful in its pronouncement to “batten down the ladies’ room, there’s no one here but men!”
A more serious number, “I Ain’t Afraid” tackles religious bigotry in a thought-provoking manner. Other numbers are romantic (Jim Brickman’s “You”) or campy (an Andrews Sisters medley).
The group’s costume changes could be done with more flair and polish. But that’s a minor quibble when the singers sound this good.
So to answer the question posed in the show’s title, is it too gay for Fringe? Nah. Love, respect, tolerance … those ideals should be of interest to Fringers of all persuasions.
- Matthew J. Palm
Remaining performances:
10:30 p.m. Sunday, May 20
6 p.m. Tuesday, May 22
6:30 p.m. Saturday, May 26
9:40 p.m. Sunday, May 27
Pink venue.
$10 with Fringe button.
