Excessive pride in my hitherto unlimited intake ability received its long
overdue comeuppance when the Edinburgh Fringe program landed on my desk
today with a thud...  216 pages in FT-microscopic type.  My original plan
of four days for the EIF proper *and* the Fringe suddenly looks utterly
ridiculous.

Within just 4-26 August, Fringe 2002 offers over 20,000 performances of
1,500 shows.  That's more than enough, even for me, ready as I am to take
in "Jerry Springer" and "Parsifal" the same day.

In the Fringe music category alone (while theater remains the leading genre
by far), there are scores of attractive/promising/"unusual" items, besides
"Springer":

* "Figaro's," by Company of Ten, "A cocktail-shaking musical based on the
Mozart opera.  The story takes place in a London nightclub where nothing
is quite what it seems.  Lechery and two-timing have never been so
entertaining."

* "Le Nozze" proper, by Palace Opera.

* Sondheim's "Assassins," "Merrily We Roll Along" and "Side by Side."

* "5678 - Angel Kitty" - Death lurks in the London School of Performing
Arts, doing away with "Fame!" types.

* "Dido and Aeneas" in a concert with other Purcell works and contemporary
music.

* Who but the Swiss - "William Tell, a Musical," performed by the Swiss
Church Music School of London

* Southside Productions' "Anonimo Napoletano" - "a Scottish woman, a
Neapolitan man, incapable of telling each other's love, they rely on an
interpreter, arbiter of their destiny.  Featuring Neapolitan music, drama,
suspense, fantasy and a surprising ending." [I bet.]

*"Bollywood Nights" - "A retrospective of one of Hindi Cinemas biggest and
brightest stars Shah Rukh Khan - Asoka (16/8), Devdas (17/8) premiered at
Cannes this year, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jaayenge (23/8), and, to celebrate
Shah Rukh's visit to Edinburgh, he will be introducing Kabhi Khushi Kabhi
Gham - 3KG - at George Square Theatre on 24th August." [While I am missing
out on Ali Akbar Khan in Marin...:(]

* A Sing-It Yourself "Carmen," produced by Bohemians/Waverly Care.  Come
to Mayfield Salisbury at 2 p.m.  to learn a role, perform at 7:30.  Hey!
It worked for "Messiah."

* Two shows about Jenny Lind - "Queen Victoria's Songbird" and "The
Nightingale at Song," both by Rhonda Bachmann and Peter Gellhorn.

Janos Gereben/SF
[log in to unmask]