Shakespeare, Seeger, sweetness and Scrooge
A tribute to a musical American hero, a drag queen doing Shakespeare, a riff on Scrooge and a sweet family-friendly show … today’s reviews from the Orlando Fringe Festival, at Loch Haven Park through Memorial Day, demonstrate the variety of productions on offer.
Randy Noojin reminds us about a lot of things in his highly enjoyable and informative one-man show “Seeger.”
Of course, he’s reminding us of Pete Seeger, that great American folk singer who died in 2014. But he’s also reminding us of the power of music, the importance of following your conscience, the ability of one person to effect change and the constitutional freedoms we should never take for granted.
Noojin doesn’t preach about any of that; it just comes through naturally and brilliantly in his tribute to the great troubadour. It’s the early 1980s — Ronald Reagan is a new president, who won by promising to Make America Great Again — and Seeger is performing at a fundraiser for the Foundation for U.S.-Cuban Normalization.
Noojin embodies the singer with an appealing quiet strength as he relates significant moments in his life, such as being targeted in the McCarthy-era Communist witch hunt, sings Seeger’s greatest hits — “If I Had a Hammer,” “Turn, Turn, Turn!” and more — and tells self-deprecating banjo-player jokes of the best dad-joke variety.
This isn’t just an entertaining stroll down memory lane for old-timers; there’s a strong contemporary message of courage and hope for activists
of any age — especially those wearied by the unrest of the past few years.
As Seeger, Noojin exhorts the audience to sing out (We’re doing our best, considering we’re masked!) — but it’s just as powerful to feel the music touch your heart. “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” may be more than 60 years old, but it still packs an emotional punch.
If “Seeger” pays homage to a cultural icon, splashy musical “Arden” spoofs one — namely Shakespeare.
The large-cast show, from In the Wings Productions, is set in the enchanted forest of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” but also features lovers Orlando and Rosalind from “As You Like It” and the Weird Sisters of “Macbeth” — as backup dancers. Is there going to be a Bottom joke … or six? Of course there is.
Taking a page from the “Moulin Rouge” playbook,
“Arden” features a rainbow of costumes and a troupe of energetic dancers shaking their groove things to mashups and mixes of 1970s and ‘80s pop songs. Madonna, Whitney Houston and Belinda Carlisle all feature prominently. Presiding over the silliness, directed by creator Tyler Scott, is “RuPaul’s Drag Race” star Ginger Minj as fairy queen Titania.
In every Fringe there’s going to be at least one big, over-the-top, nonsense-spouting musical comedy; fortunately, this year’s offering filling that niche is polished and entertaining (despite some microphone glitches on opening night). Minj, of course, knows how to command a stage, play to the crowd and deliver a withering insult with great effect.
But she is not alone among the well-crafted performances. Samantha Grace Sostak is a fiery
Rosalind, and her voice has a gorgeous blend with Nardgelen J. Francois on “Heaven is a Place on Earth.” Francois is particularly charming in such a boisterous show that’s longer on laughs than it is on heart.
Another top-notch singer, Cesar de la Rosa, makes a whimsical Puck and performs a straightforward and gorgeous “What a Wonderful World.”
Bonus for Shakespeare buffs: Listen for a bit of “Hamlet” in the mix.
From one great writer to another, “What? The Dickens!” is a two-person comedy that upends what you think you know about Ebenezer Scrooge. It’s a mishmash of pseudo-British accents, contemporary references and banter that doesn’t have a quick enough pace to truly sparkle.
The fun is in watching Scrooge (Bill Keenan) talk his way out of everything
Charles Dickens accused him of with a plausible, if completely invented, explanation, while the ghost of Jacob Marley (Tracy Perry) — who’s either very naïve or pretty dim — grows more flummoxed.
Some of the scenarios are funnier than others, and a few jokes land solidly, but many of the setups go on too long for the eventual payoff.
Finally, “Coffee and Cedar” is a sweet if one-note story of family, wisdom and strength. A 10 p.m. viewing felt like a children’s bedtime story come to life with its repetition, chapter-like structure and simplicity.
In fact, the play is based on a book by D.H. Cermeño, who adapted his gentle reminiscences for the stage. “Coffee and Cedar” is a memory play (incorporating “The Glass Menagerie” into the story is a nice touch) as a young man recalls growing up with his grandfather and how drawing on the wisdom of older generations can provide strength and comfort.
Director Jac LeDoux finds the laughter in universal situations — the eye-rolling teenager — but the play’s biggest drawback is its world is too placid. For much of “Coffee and Cedar,” the challenges that appear — teasing by schoolmates and the like — cause barely a ripple, so the emotional level never varies.
Russell R. Trahan is wise and loving as the grandfather; Jon Jimenez is endearing as the grandson with a dream. Watching “Coffee and Cedar” is like being wrapped in a warm blanket of memories.