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| Comedy magician Christopher Bange |
I have been a big supporter of the St. Lou Fringe festival since its inception three years ago.' This year I was out of town for most of the festival's run (June 18-22), so I only got to six events. Rather than writing a review of each one, I have decided put them into three groups: hits, near missies, and flops (a.k.a. “I want my 45 minutes back”). We'll start with the hits.
Most Fun: "More Bange for Your Buck" – Actor, clown, and comedy magician Christopher Bange served up a heaping helping of laughs with his own unique take on some classics of the conjurer's repertoire.
If you've seen even a few magic shows in your time, you've probably seen the Linking Rings, the Miser's Dream (in which the magician seems to pull an endless supply of coins out of thin air), and the Zombie Ball levitation. Mr. Bange, though, made these effects entirely his own, with a skillful mix of jokes, mime, and superb physical acting.
The Zombie Ball, in which a sphere seems to float around the stage on its own power, was typical of Bange's approach. It came at the end of a long routine in which sponge balls appeared and disappeared rapidly, and repeatedly popped out of his mouth, apparently of their own free will. In apparent desperation, Bange threw them all into a hat and tossed a scarf on top, only to have a giant size sponge ball emerge under the scarf (we know it's a sponge ball because it pops up on top of the scarf and runs up Bange's arm at one point) and start tearing around the stage under the scarf, apparently dragging him with it. Mr. Bange's skill as an actor is what made it work, reminding us of Houdini's observation that "it's not the trick, it's the magician."
Highest Energy: “In Full Swing” by The Four Fronts – This quartet of swing dancers—two men, two women—presented an amazingly intense survey of 20th century popular dance styles, from the Peabody (a foxtrot variant from the ragtime era) to West Coast Swing from the 1950s. The Lindy Hop (a dance named after aviator Charles Lindbergh which formed the basis of West Coast Swing) figured prominently throughout the show. The music was recorded, as were the reminiscences of the swing era and, in particular, of the legendary Savoy Ballroom in Harlem, where white and black dancers mixed to the rhythms of the (yes) the Lindy Hop.
The Four Fronts are not, as far as I can tell, professional dancers but rather swing enthusiasts who have taken their love of the genre to professional heights. They don't have the lockstep precision that you might get from professionally trained dancers, but with this kind of democratic vernacular dance that's a great advantage. Each one of the Fronts has a distinct personal style, just as dancers did back in the Savoy days.
If the energy and high spirits of the Four Fronts could be captured and stored, it would power a small city. Their show was irresistibly joyful and “family friendly” in the best sense of the term.
Most Polished: “Riffs in a Set of 10” by Chris Limber and friends – The veteran St. Louis actor/director assembled an impressive cabaret act that (as the title implies) knitted together ten big band and Great American Songbook classics from the 20s through the 40s with original image-rich poetic soliloquies that sounded like they would have been right at home coming from a skinny guy with a goatee, black turtleneck, and shades in an underground coffeehouse circa 1958.
The songs included hits like "Basin Street Blues," The Joint is Jumpin'," and "How High the Moon" (with new and gently satirical lyrics), as well as lesser-known novelties like "Frim Fram Sauce," which was introduced by Nat "King" Cole back in the '40s. That famously chilling song about lynching, "Strange Fruit" (recorded by Billie Holiday in 1939), was essentially tragic relief in a show dominated by a mood of spirited playfulness.
Mr. Limber surrounded himself with other fine musicians for this show. When I saw it at the final performance, his collaborators were Michele Isam on sax and vocals, Joe Dreyer on piano, Dave Torretta on bass and Rose Fisher on vocals. Pretty much everybody had a hand at the drum set at one point or another, and even Mr. Torretta got a vocal solo. Quite an impressive array of talent.
For a festival as varied as the Fringe, 3 hits out of six shows is a pretty solid score.
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