Some Nashville Vaudeville at Fringe NYC
Monday, September 13th, 2010
The New York International Fringe Festival Festival (FringeNYC), took place August 13-29. Two hundred eclectic theatre companies from all over the world and in 20 different venues around the city. The concept of the fringe festival gives quirkier, lesser-known companies a chance to perform.
Playing By Air entertained audiences with juggling, humor, and music during their run at The New York City Fringe Festival. Photo by Martin O'Connor on playingbyaircares.com
Playing By Air is a vaudeville type performance by a four-man company based in Nashville. One plays the violin quite well, and the other three juggle. They tried to give the show a narrative structure revolving around the violin player, but the plot never became clear.
However, their incredible talents more than made up for the lack of a story. At one point, while the violinist played in front of a music stand, the other performers brought out an identical violin, bow, and stand. Instead of joining in, one balanced the violin upright on his forehead, another did the same with the bow, and finally, the last man balanced the music stand on his chin. Then they began to play instruments of their own. They sounded incredible, considering the circumstances.
The original Fringe Festival, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland, began when various companies began performing at the same time but not as part of the Edinburgh International Festival--a far more selective and high-brow event. The New York Fringe Festival is modeled after the Edinburgh Fringe, but as there is no concurrent festival to be on the fringe of, the fringe is the festival.
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