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Hy on the Fringe: Your Personal Guide to the

2012 New York International Fringe Festival

And the FringeNYC September Encore Series

This Ratings Page Most Recently Updated: Sunday September 30th 2012

FringeNYC Show Ratings & Rankings

FringeNYC 2012

 

This section lists the FringeNYC 2012 shows I've seen from beginning to end. (Shows that I walked out of mid-stream—there was only one this year—aren't mentioned.)

 

The shows are listed in rough order of personal preference, with each production assigned one to four stars using the following rating system:

 

**** = Transcendently Great

*** = Solid & Worth Seeing

** = Unless Your Relatives Are in the Cast, Think Twice

* = "I Wanted to Kill Myself"

 

If a title is underlined, you can click it to jump to my review.

 

If a title isn't underlined, I haven't yet written up the show. I won't review every production seen, but will strive to review as many as possible in the time available.

 

I'll be updating the list every single day, so please make a habit of checking this page frequently.

 

Please also note that I very seldom give a show four stars. Last year was the first in which I've ever given three shows in the festival a **** rating. I rated three shows **** this year as well; and there might be another such giant lurking within the Encore productions I haven't yet seen. (Naysayers notwithstanding, FringeNYC continues to get better every year...)

 

All that said, what follows are the 68 FringeNYC 2012 shows I've seen to date from beginning to end::

 

5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche ****

Hanafuda Denki: A Tale of Playing Cards ****

Tail! Spin! ****

COBU: Knockin' On the Cool Earth ***½

Non-Equity: The Musical ***½

Independents ***½

Twelfth Night ***½

Oasis: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Middle East But Were Afraid to Dance ***½

Fantasy Artists ***½

This Too Shall Suck ***½

Canon in D Minor ***½

Mother Eve's Secret Garden of Sensual Sisterhood ***½

The Zebra Shirt of Lonely Children ***

Pulp Shakespeare ***

Snow White Zombie Apocalypse ***

Nightfall on Miranga Island ***

Lennon in Denmark ***

City of Shadows ***

An End to Dreaming ***

Blanche: The Bittersweet Life of a Wild Prairie Dame ***

Phantomwise ***

The Abduction of Becky Morris ***

American Midget ***

Have I Got a Girl For You ***

Vacuum ***

Shiksappeal: Getting the Chosen to Choose Me ***

FriendAndy.com ***

Sleepover ***

Mahmoud ***

The Underdeveloped and Overexposed Life and Death of Deena Domino ***

Salamander Starts Over ***

June and Nancy ***

Wake Up ***

Sweet Tooth ***

Magdelan ***

Dark Hollow: An Appalachian Woyzeck ***

Danny Visconti is Hill-Bent: My Night with Hillary Clinton **½

An Interrogation Primer **½

Steve Seabrook: Better Than You **½

Gil Kuno's Six String Sonics **½

Rated M For Mature **½

Chain Reaction **½

What I Learned From Porn **½

An Evening With Kirk Douglas **½

Men To Be Feared **½

Pink Milk **½

Mallory/Valerie **½

The Art of Painting **½

Dumber Faster **½

Girl in Argentine Landscape **½

All My Children **½

Women of Smoke **½

The Dick and the Rose **½

The Women of Spoon River: Their Voices from the Hill **½

Gay Camp **½

Shelly's Spherical Journey **½

Pieces **

Falling **

Salvage **

The Particulars **

Quest for the West: Adventures on the Oregon Trail **

From Busk Till Dawn: The Life of an NYC Street Performer **

Grimm: A New Musical **

Almost a Fantasy *½

Five Things: A Webcomic in 3-D *½

Super Sidekick: The Musical *½

Below *

Chop *

 

Notable recent additions to the list are Hanafuda Denki: A Tale of Playing Cards, a spectacular all-Japanese dark fantasy comedy that's a bit like anime on stage, utterly unique, and not to be missed; Oasis, a highly professional dance piece that you'll be glad you experienced; Fantasy Artists, by far the best-written play I've seen at the festival; Mother Eve's Secret Garden of Sensual Sisterhood, a highly polished musical comedy packed with laughs—and garnering standing ovations; The Zebra Shirt of Lonely Children, a one-man show by a fascinating performer about the death of his father; Pulp Shakespeare, a hilarious version of Pulp Fiction as the Bard might've written it; City of Shadows, an unusual and highly memorable collection of Australian photographs set to song; Phantonwise, an exploration of the real-life Alice and her genius friend who immortalized her through the looking glass; The Abduction of Becky Morris, a subtle tale of obsession and the complexities of women; American Midget, a mostly-smart allegory about self-doubt crippling us (starts out great, but loses steam as it goes along); Have I Got a Girl For You, an insider look at an escort service that's delightful until (to my enormous disappointment) the story falls apart at the end; and Vacuum, a play about memory, money, and the cure for cancer that includes a number of fine ingredients—though more work is needed to arrive at the right recipe for them—and a performance by resonant actress Dana Brooke that's by itself worth the price of admission.

 

For my reviews of FringeNYC 2012 shows, please click any underlined title above, or click here.

 

Also, please note that I'm continuing to see shows post-festival via the September FringeNYC Encore Series.

 

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Key FringeNYC 2012 Info

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FringeNYC 2012 Awards

 

Hy's Previous FringeNYC Coverage:

FringeNYC 2011

FringeNYC 2010

FringeNYC 2009

FringeNYC 2008

FringeNYC 2007

FringeNYC 2006

FringeNYC 2005

 

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