Playbill News: 2003 FringeNYC Shows Will Include Pinafore!, Poseidon! and Poop, Aug. 8-24

2003 FringeNYC Shows Will Include Pinafore!, Poseidon! and Poop, Aug. 8-24

By Ernio Hernandez
June 12, 2003

The 2003 New York International Fringe Festival, which runs Aug. 8-24, will feature nearly 200 new or new-to-New York works, from Poop to Moliere Than Thou to The Night Julie Taymor Cried. The fest features productions from 10 countries and 15 states.

The seventh annual Present Company-produced festival, previously seen in venues in the East Village or Lower East Side, will add many West Village spots this year.

The New York International Fringe Festival (FringeNYC), which boasts the title of "the largest multi-arts festival in North America," will also include outdoor performances (FringeAlFresco), panel discussions, workshops and conferences (FringeU), as well as family-oriented shows and activities for children (FringeJr).

Among some of the eye-catching productions selected for this year's festival are:

Third Floor, Second Door on the Right - M*A*S*H veteran Allan Arbus stars in this world premiere solo play originally written in 1973 by his daughter (with late photographer Diane Arbus) Doon Arbus, directed by Arin Arbus with costumes by her mother, Marieclare Costello Arbus.

Pinafore! - Mark Savage (Naked Boys Singing) re-envisions the famous Gilbert and Sullivan operetta.

Cats Talk Back - A mock theatre talk-back featuring five former cast members of Andrew Lloyd Webber's longest running show in Broadway history, Cats.

McBeth — Over 2 Million Slain - A fast food satire based on Williams Shakespeare's classic starring Kevin Shinick ("Where In Time Is Carmen Sandiego?") as the Ronald McDonald-like title character.

Poseidon! An Upside-Down Musical - A Chicago-imported campy musical homage to the 1972 Irwin Allen disaster film directed by Bailiwick Repertory Theater's David Zak.

"Buddy" Cianci: The Musical - A musical look at the former Providence, Rhode Island mayor who bludgeoned his wife's lover with a fireplace log and later underwent indictment on federal charges of racketeering, conspiracy, extortion, witness tampering, and mail fraud.

Elephant Titus - A comedy by David Lavine which combines Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus with Bernard Pomerance's The Elephant Man following General Titus' returns from the battle with a disfiguring disease.

Other titles to appear include Citizen Walken; Poop — A True Story; The Night Julie Taymor Cried; Molière Than Thou; Mexican Cleaning Lady (or, How I Almost Offended the Dali Lama); Who Popped Papi Chulo?; Hysterical: A Short History of the Vibrator; Lovepuke; Penguins, Puppies and Porn; Say You Love Satan; Who's Your Daddy? and — the longest title — 3 Themes Every Child Should Know: Amortus, Ed R and His Sack Of Beans, & The Fish That Walked Up the Hill and Spilt Milk in His Pajamas.

Past FringeNYC productions include the Tony Award-winning Urinetown and Off-Broadway's Never Swim Alone, 21 Dog Years: Doing Time @ Amazon.com, As You Like It and Debbie Does Dallas.

Tickets to the Fringe Festival are $15. For more information, visit www.fringenyc.org or call (212) 279-4488.