Feet Don't Fail Me Now

From Caberet XXXY

I went to the Fringe festival in DC last weekend.  The forecast called for temperatures in the mid-90s (36 Celsius) and a good chance of thunderstorms.  From my last visit to the Fringe, I remembered some venues were hotter inside than outside.  In fact, throughout the first show the performers were wiping away sweat; before the show, they had spray bottles and were watering the audience.  The first photo here is one of the performers.  She was collected "secrets" from the audience.  More on her in a minute.

I did something I rarely do ~ I wore shorts.  Since I wore shorts, I went with sandals.  My toes were painted a couple of weeks ago and I didn't wish to remove the polish before going out... so I didn't.

I like to people-watch (I've mentioned this before) and through a train ride, long walks through DC (between shows) and sitting at the shows, I saw exactly one young lady look at my toes, look at me, look back at my toes, and smile.  Exactly one.

The performer also offered "tattoos" to audience members.  There were bench seats in front of the perfect for several days.

Before going to DC.  Yes, they're girl sandals (flats)

stage and to each side.  There were three or four small tables with three seats at each in the front.  I was at one of those tables, in the chair facing the stage.  She pulled out the tattoo and asked if I wanted one.  I said "sure."  I don't know what they were, but it went on with a spray bottle of water and it stayed on a LONG time.  Mine looked

I also said "I'm gonna make you walk" and pointed to my calf.  She put it on my (hairless) leg and made no comment about my nails.  Since the show was kind of raunchy (they started the show by pulling out a HUGE dildo and they slammed it down right on our little table) and she was making comments about audience members I can only assume she didn't notice.

The show was called Caberet XXXY: Who Do You Think You Are? and I thought XX XY, and the subtitle meant there was going to be gender content.  No ~ it was about being yourself (whoever that might be) and the XXXY referred to the fact that the show was XXX (it wasn't) but now there was a guy as part of the troupe (he had a little Y on his shirt).

After the Fringe

Ah well.  It was fun.  The show was put on by "Pinky Swear Productions" and that's what was on the tattoo (also on the condoms they left on the tables).

I took in two other shows, one was OK; the other was The Agony and the Ecstacy of Steve Jobs: The Musical.  I  saw Mike Daisey's original production, before the controversy.  It's a type of show I don't enjoy, but I enjoyed it.  I was afraid the musical would be dumb but it was excellent.  The main actor (there were five) looked a bit like Daisey.  He also played Steve Jobs at different parts, and he did not look like Jobs.  The original was just Daisey sitting on a chair behind a table for 90+ minutes speaking without notes but with an amazing amount of passion.

If there's a Fringe festival near you, it's worth going to.  You never know what you'll get but it's an inexpensive day's entertainment.

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