So, the Toronto Fringe Festival is drawing to a close. Today and tomorrow are your last chances to do some hard-core fringing this year.
With 145 shows, it’s impossible to see everything. So I asked my writers what they will be sad to miss if they don’t get to see it. Here’s what they told me:
George Perry – George hopes he gets a chance to see One Good Marriage. It was recommend to him while waiting in line at two other shows. It’s from a hotbed of theatre, Winnipeg. It’s also at Factory Theatre, a venue he loves.
Heather Bellingham – Heather hopes to see Headscarf and the Angry Bitch because she’s heard its hilarious – what’s not funny about someone who describes herself as the Muslim “Weird Al”?
Megan Mooney – Megan finds it incredibly difficult to narrow down the list of what she really really wants to see. She’s heard amazing things about Raton Laveur, The Soaps, Love Octagon, Virginia Aldrige, Radio Active Drag Queens from the Year 3000, Tiki Bikini, of course Kim’s Convenience (since she doesn’t live under a rock) and a million more. She hasn’t gotten to very many shows at all this Fringe because she’s been busy coordinating coverage for Mooney on Theatre, CBC, chasing her toddler around and being stupidly pregnant. So, what she really really wants, is to be able to clone herself a couple times and go to everything.
Nadaa Hyder – After having a new found appreciation for dance performances due to some shows in this year’s Fringe Festival, Nadaa would really love to squeeze in a viewing of Bloom. Bloom seems like an intriguing and unusual show with an interesting plot that she is hoping to see on Sunday.
Samantha Wu – So many shows, so little time and with such a wide range of amazing performances to catch, you can only attend so many. The one show I would’ve loved to catch is Kim’s Convenience. Saying that there’s buzz around this show is a big understatement. Kim’s Convenience is the winner of the 2011 Toronto Fringe New Play Contest and holds a pretty impressive star-packed cast. After reading Tiffany’s review of her experience and while also coming from an Asian Canadian background, I feel this show is something I can really get behind. Hope the show gets another run, I’d love to be there. (editors note: Not only is it getting an extra show as Patron’s Pick, but it was also picked up for the Best of Fringe Uptown)
Sonia Borkar – Sonia would love to see Sex, Religion & Other Hang-ups as there’s a lot of buzz around the show and Mooney on Theatre gave it a fabulous review. She also loves that James Gangl has embraced the comment about him having “huge balls” and is going around shouting it out to people that are waiting in line to see other shows.
Tiffany Budhyanto – Tiffany wishes she could see Shotgun Wedding because a) she’s been hearing rave reviews about it, b) she loves musicals, and c) there’s a character from Scarborough where she lives.
Wayne Leung – Wayne is hoping to have the chance to catch Living With Henry because he is interested in seeing a musical in the classic style tackling the serious subject matter of living with HIV/AIDS from today’s point of view.
… the word is that “kim’s convenience” has an extra performance, as a patron’s pick of the fringe, this evening, at seven. … rumor is, tickets went on sale on friday at five in the afternoon and they were sold-out two hours later. (maybe not surprising, as some enthusiasts on friday began lining-up four hours before the afternoon show to make sure tickets were secured.) … but, often there’s a rule at festivals that only two-thirds of a house can be pre-sold, leaving the remaining third up for grabs at the door. … also, there’s a rumor going around that “kim’s convenience” is returning for “best of the fringe” …
I’m late on this one, but… Through normal Toronto Fringe shows only 50% of the house can be sold in advance. However, patron’s picks have 100% of their tickets available in advance. But yes, it got picked up for Best of Fringe Uptown, and I’d be pretty shocked if it didn’t get picked up for Best of Fringe downtown.