FRIGID Festival 2022 (Part 4)
The 16th Annual FRIGID Festival is underway in New York City. The FRIGID Festival is an open and uncensored theater festival that gives artists an opportunity to let their ingenuity thrive in a venue that values freedom of expression and artistic determination. Since this year’s performances are both live and livestreamed, there are many chances to see some Indie theater works. 100 % of all ticket sales go to the artists. There is a tip jar after each show for the festival.
As You Will
The tune “Greensleeves” plays to set the mood before four men burst onto the stage. They welcome “friends, foes, fools” to the show. As You Will is a Shakespearean improvisation troupe. They perform the canon but with audience suggestions for title alterations. At the show I saw “King Queer” was offered and accepted.
The performance very loosely reenacts the original. In this telling the soldiers are “fearsome, huge, muscular, sweaty”. The Tact Man arrives and asks “did someone call for something to be quelled?” All of this silliness is spirited fun and the audience laughed easily. The actors often use a rhyming convention with combinations such as “war” and “whore”. Regarding a suggestion about the latter one remarks “it wouldn’t be tactful”.
In the next scene another is accused of crimes including “desecrating my mules” and “filling my house with butter”. King Queer is good natured ribbing. The accuser is asked to list six more and improvs the crime of having “shaved all my chest hair”. A burly makeover then winds its way into the plot. We learn the importance “to always work your behind and clench”. After the burly transformation is completed more knowledge is shared: “it’s really impressive what a keto diet can do”.
Footnotes are an integral part of Shakespeare reading for students and they are utilized here. A “detailed and intricate fight” scene is presented in slow motion. “S…A…Y…U…N…C…L…E” grabs some chuckles. The plot advances and many lines amuse. Secrets are shared as in you are “not truly burly… art thou?” Also, “such a small knife for such a tall man”.
As You Will is simply fun. Fans of improv with a pinch of Bard knowledge will be entertained. If this were a maxi challenge on Ru Paul’s Drag Race, King Queer would definitely be significantly bawdier. This show frolics comfortably in PG-13. Huzzah!
And Toto Too
Music also precedes And Toto Too. The tunes are instantly familiar. “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” and “If I Only Had a Heart”, amongst others. A lion roars and clips from the MGM classic film sets the stage for what is to follow. Megan Quick enters as Toto to preside over “an evening of my stories”. She asks “did you ever think you’d get so lucky?”
The delightfully effervescent star – Ms. Quick not Toto, to be clear – gives us this dog’s memoir in word, song and dance. She made 16 films; “all speaking roles”. Playfully teasing the audience throughout, someone whistled. A fast ad lib was produced. “Ooh, ruff!” she barked. “I’ll see you in the dog park”.
“Would you hairless perverts like to hear about a dog’s sex life?” Lassie was a major relationship and an early example of gender blind casting. A major revelation is that Lassie is a “doggie style lover”. Then the apology. “Sorry, this (dog) bowl of gin is getting to me”. The humor is adroitly delivered. “I wanted him. He wanted me. We’re dogs”.
In all great autobiographies big names are dropped. Shirley Temple is a “total bitch by the way”. A picture of her on the screen smiling with dimples leads to the warning “don’t buy it”. Terry Spitz (Toto’s real name) is a big fan of Judy Garland with her “milky white forearms”. An on set accident brings dog and teen star even closer together.
Ms. Quick holds a stage firmly and commands her humans to pay heed. At the end of the performance she croons that she is “a one girl puppy / looking for the girl that got away”. A charming, funny, touching piece with a little societal criticism sprinkled in, And Toto Too is a winning conceit and, most importantly, a thoroughly enjoyable entertainment. Laughing out loud is guaranteed.
That sh$t don’t work! Does it?
Howie Jones is the writer, director and star of That sh$t don’t work! Does it? The show is described as a journey down a rabbit hole of how we perceive language and suggestion. With a combination of magic, analysis and hypnotism, his character Howie Hypnotize will “challenge the audience’s perception of beliefs and the capability of the human mind”.
A rope trick begins the performance. Three unequal length ropes are made equal and then unequal again. A nice trick but it takes long to tell and complete. The pace of the entire show is more labored than perhaps ideal. Pages in a notebook contain places he and his wife would like to visit in New York City. (“Anybody hear of Bryant Park?) After excessive page turning a volunteer comes on stage. The trick is anticlimactic to the long buildup.
The perception section will be familiar to anyone who has seen the “what do you see” image of a young or older woman drawing. This filler then leads to the big moment, a hypnotism. He asks for volunteers but tells them to stay in their seats. He leaves the stage with music playing and no ability for the paying streaming audience to see or hear what is happening.
Thankfully one man is finally (finally!) brought to the stage and it does appear that he is under the influence. Everything, however, seems slow in development and cumbersome to view but that could be the effect of streaming this type of entertainment. Furthermore, throughout the show Mr. Jones frequently uses the terms “perfect” and “that’s awesome”. Neither term accurately reflects this entry into the festival.
Performances at the Frigid Festival are running through March 5, 2022. All shows are performed multiple times at either the Kraine Theater or Under St Mark’s. Tickets can also be purchased for the livestream which was effective and provides these artists more opportunities to be seen and supported.