Hy on the Fringe: Your Personal Guide to the
2011 New York International Fringe Festival
This Page Was Most Recently Updated: Saturday August 27th 2011
Libby Winters (Felony Friday), Harriet Harris (Yeast Nation), Hedda Lettuce (Parker & Dizzy's Fabulous Journey)...
...and Jennifer Barnhart (The Legend of Julie-Taymor) and John Amos (Felony Friday)
Having established talent in a production is no guarantee it'll be worth seeing.
But it doesn't hurt, either.
With that in mind, below are FringeNYC 2011 shows notable for the TV, film, and/or Broadway veterans involved:
• Yeast Nation : Stars Harriet Harris, who won a 2002 Tony Award for Thoroughly Modern Millie. In addition, Harris was a cast member of the TV series Frasier (as Bebe Glazer) and Desperate Housewives (as Felicia Tilman); and has acted in Nurse Betty, Memento, and lots more. For a clip of Harris singing (superbly) in Yeast Nation, please click here. Also notable is the show's choreographer Wendy Seyb, who previously worked on the Broadway version of The Pee-Wee Herman Show.
• Felony Friday : Co-stars John Amos, a TV star who was a cast member of Good Times , the weatherman on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, a recurring character on Two and a Half Men, and an older Kunta Kinte on Roots; and who's also performed on Broadway, and in feature films such as Coming to America and Die Hard 2. Also co-stars Libby Winters, who acted in Broadway's American Idiot. and the Las Vegas production of Mama Mia, and was a cast member on ABC's Champs.
• The Legend of Julie-Taymor: The Musical That Killed Everybody!: Stars Jennifer Barnhart, who was one of the original cast members of the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Avenue Q. Barnhart has also performed as a puppeteer on a number of children's TV shows, including Sesame Street (as Mama Bear and Gladys the Cow), PBS' Between the Lions (as Cleo), and The Disney Channel's The Book of Pooh (as Kanga).
• Parker & Dizzy's Fabulous Journey to the End of the Rainbow: Co-stars iconic NYC gay comic Hedda Lettuce, who's a six-time winner of the Drag Queen of the Year Award (via HX Magazine), and has appeared on such shows as Bravo's Project Runway.
• You Only Shoot the Ones You Love : This highly promising one-man show by famed playwright Jeffrey Sweet (please see the Comedy section) is directed by Patricia Birch, who's been nominated for multiple Tony Awards for her choreography of Grease, A Little Night Music, Pacific Overtures, Parade, and LoveMusik.
• Rachel Calof : This drama is directed by Ellen S. Pressman, an Emmy Award winner who's directed such classic TV series as My So-Called Life, thirtysomething, LA Law, and American Dreams.
• Winner Take All: A Rock Opera: John Carrafa, the director/choreographer, is the two-time Tony Award-nominated choreographer of Into the Woods and Urinetown.
• Jeffrey Dahmer Live: The musical director of this comedy with songs is Peter Fish, who's won six Emmy Awards, and created musical themes for such TV series as The Rosie O'Donnell Show, A Current Affair, Extra, and NY1. And writer/actor Avner Kam is a festival celebrity—he's a long-time editor of the FringeNYC newspaper Propaganda and the liaison for international FringeNYC theatre companies.
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Introduction to FringeNYC 2011
Best Video Promos & Sneak Peeks
Shows That Sold Out Performances
Shows That Received Added Performances
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