AT THE FRINGE: JEANNETTE RANKIN, CHAMPION OF PERSISTENCE

Jeannette Rankin was the first female member of congress, elected from Montana in 1916 and again in 1940. A committed pacifist, she was one of 40 to vote against entry into World War I and the only member to vote against entering World War II. She was a powerful force for women’s suffrage, social equality and was a co-founder of the American Civil Liberties Union. J. Emily Peabody presented a moving dramatization of her career and accomplishments.           

AT THE FRINGE - JOHN HUGHES CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE

John Hughes Choose Your Own Adventure was a long, complex and funny show. There were two premises. One was a pastiche of Hughes’ iconic movies from the 1980s such as Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, 16 Candles, Home Alone, The Breakfast Club, National Lampoon’s Vacation (I’ll never forget the scene in which the Griswold family gets off the highway at a very poorly chosen exit in St. Louis), Pretty In Pink and more. The other device was a riff on the Choose Your Own Adventure books popular with young people in the past. At points in the story, readers would be given a choice: would you like her/him/them to go in this or that direction, changing the path of the story. The program said there were 27 possible scenarios and 3,072 possible variations. The result was hilarious chaos.                   

AT THE FRINGE - WHEN BILLIE & FRIENDS MET

A terrific musical review, based on the lives and music of Billie Holliday and Dinah Washington. Wendy Gordon portrayed both singers, with Marvin Cockerell, the music director, on keyboards, Stanley Coleman on saxophone, Willem von Hombracht on bass and Bernard Long Jr., on drums. Billie Holliday always wore a large flower on the left side of her head when performing. The show explained that early in her career, before going on stage, Holliday burned the left side of her head with a curling iron. She covered it with a flower and it became a trademark.             

AT THE FRINGE - PLAYING DRESS UP

Mary Schmidt presented a show about the meaning and poignance of clothing from our pasts. Families of limited means would reuse, repair and recycle, wasting nothing. Did you have hand-me-downs in your family? Do attics and thrift stores give you a feeling of connection to your heritage? By the way, love her Kansas City Fringe tee shirt.                    

AT THE FRINGE - THE MAGICAL MAYHEM SHOW

 

The Fringe usually has magic shows and there were a few this year. Back for a return engagement were Professor Longhair and John Johnson, who perform as The Magical Mayhem Show. Plenty of audience participation.                  

AT THE FRINGE - WE ARE THE WHOLE CAST

Late post. I got an early Covid booster yesterday since we’re traveling abroad soon and it knocked me out.  Anyway, another favorite show. Carmen Guynn and Ieshah Edwards presented a series of poignant scenes, each with a different character. 

They include: a formerly enslaved woman who channels resilience through a Bomba dance; a warm-hearted waitress; a Bible-toting and liquor flask carrying neighborhood matron; a broom-carrying sass machine; a 16 year old with an intellectual disability who  finds pride and joy in her work and love of beans; a former Broadway star who receives a lifetime achievement award; and an unapologetic woman of the night who uses humor and grit to confront judgment and survive.

Sorry  for the streakiness. Digital projectors and digital cameras don’t play well together. 

                      

AT THE FRINGE - MIDSUMMER NIGHT: A TALE OF PUCK

Potosi, Missouri, is a small town 72 miles / 116 km southwest of St. Louis. It was the center of a lead mining region and has fallen on hard times. Nevertheless, there is a wonderful organization called Sonder Performance Company that gives local girls an opportunity to participate in sophisticated music and dance productions and take the shows on tour. This show was derived from Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, centered on Puck finding her identity. It was the most charming thing I’ve seen in a long time and I could not resist the temptation to show several pictures.

AT THE FRINGE - MOTHER MARY COMES TO ME

Yes, just like the line in the Beatles song. In fact, someone comes out before the play starts with a guitar and sings Let It Be. The one act drama is a staged reading, with the actors sitting, scripts in hand, and reciting their parts. Only the woman in the center wears something like a costume. Her name is Abby (get it?), she is a bit deranged, considers the Blessed Mother to be her mentor and occasionally kills people by whacking them on the head with the statue. Well, it’s experimental.                 

AT THE FRINGE - NEWSAM AERIAL DANCE

One of my favorite acts at the Fringe is Martha Newsam and her aerial dance troupe.  The grace and peacefulness are almost indescribable. Here, Martha herself begins the recital, with her accomplished students soon to follow.             

AT THE FRINGE - RHINESTONES AND FRINGE, QUEENS OF COUNTRY

 

Singer Toni Finch returned this year with a country music review featuring the songs of Dolly Parton and another female star whom I didn’t know and whose name I can’t remember. (Sorry. I don’t go too far with Country & Western, being more Urban & Eastern. My western roots are that I was born on the West Side of Manhattan.) Lots  of the audience wore cowboy hats and boots, and stood up and cheered.         

AT THE FRINGE - CAM BURNS

 

Cam Burnes is a talented singer-songwriter from Kansas City, now studying songwriting and sound recording at Webster University in STL. This is his second year performing at The Fringe. Listen to some  of his work at the link. There was a bit of drama in his show.                  

AT THE FRINGE: THERE’S SOMETHING I MUST TELL YOU

A play set in the State Hospital For The Insane in Jamestown, North Dakota. A young writer, expecting a child, visits a mental hospital established in the 19th Century on the lonely prairie. She is researching the lives of the early patients, many filled with tragedy. Working into the night, the writer is visited by their spirits, including her own great grandmother.                 

OPENING NIGHT AT THE FRINGE

And we’re off. We expect unusual things at The Fringe but this puzzled me. A perfectly normal person (by Fringe standards) walked through the audience before one of the shows with a puppet dressed as a jester, shaking people’s hands with its tiny, hard fist. It was called Surefire. It had a role in the musical performance that was about to start but I didn’t understand was going on. Maybe the concept was still in development.                              

IT’S FRINGE TIME!

My favorite annual event, the St. Lou Fringe, opens tonight and runs through Sunday. I’m still the house photographer and now I’m president of the board of directors so I’ll have a busy week. We have a record 50 shows with about 100 total performances. I’m scheduled to shoot 27. I don’t know if I have it in me but I’ll sure try.

The illustration is a favorite from last year’s festival, Urinetown, which had a long run in New York and was performed here by talented high school students. Locals, come see us!                 

A LONG WAY FROM PORT

Not far from downtown is a small city block surrounded by chain link fencing and a  gate. It contains a non-descript commercial building and a scattered assortment of . . . junked military aircraft. It’s been there for years, with changing inventory. I know nothing about the owner or business, where the stuff comes from or where it goes. It’s a St. Louis mystery. 

The St. Lou Fringe Festival starts tomorrow and I’m going to be one busy photographer.