MAX & ELSA: NO MUSIC. NO CHILDREN.

Like HAMLET without Hamlet (as Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern tell it) THE SOUND OF MUSIC without Maria and the children is a wacky vision indeed! Although Max and Elsa stood on the sidelines for Rodgers and Hammerstein, here they're center stage in their own pre-WWII Austrian Alpine world. It's a pretty funny one, thanks to slick, skillful staging by Mason Flink and especially to the VERY good performances of the small cast. Clayton Farris (who looks like Peter Sellers) is OUTSTANDING; Megan Rose Greene (who looks like Jane Alexander) is consistently clever; and Frank Smith (who looks like Charlie Brown playing Captain Von Trapp) never makes a wrong move and detonates every laugh that lands in his path. (I especially loved watching the reac... full review

See http://cahighways.org/wordpress/?p=10344 for the full review, with links. Max and Elsa No Kids No Music (Norton School / Theatre Asylum)userpic=fringeIn Judaism, there is this concept of a midrash. A midrash tells the story between the lines; it explains the story that appears in the formal scripture by providing the back, side, and around story. Classic examples of midrashim include the story of Abraham smashing his father’s idols or the story of Lillith. Neither appear in the book of Genesis, but both are the explanations of the story that does appear. Yesterday, we saw our second 2015 Hollywood Fringe Festival (FB) show: Max and Elsa. No Kids. No Music. This show is a midrash on the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The Sound... full review