FOUR stars for Hôtel @ The Fringe!!!!

Three Weeks gave Hôtel de l'Avenir FOUR stars!!!!!!

Photo by Lily Gottlieb

READ THE FULL REVIEW:

Hôtel de l'Avenir

"The entire city is like a blank piece of paper." Movement, music,  art and
storytelling combine in the dreamlike world of 'Hôtel de  l'Avenir.' Macnab
plays all six of the quirky main characters with great  panache; she's a
'cant-take-your-eyes-off her' kind of actress. Singer  and accordionist,
Josephine of Café Josephine is particularly charming.  There doesn't seem to be
much of a plot, as such but this is part of the  appeal, and the shadow-puppetry
is mesmerising, with biscuits, boats,  balloons, dogs and ghosts soaring above
the breathtaking Paris skyline.  Maybe I'm just an old romantic, but I was swept
off my feet by the  beauty and very French kind of nostalgia of this wonderful
production.
Venue 13, 5 – 20 Aug (Not 8, 15, 16), 2.45pm (3.45pm), £5.00 – £8.00, fpp269.
tw rating 4/5
[ah]

Edinburgh Fringe in Pictures

Some shots I think we all can enjoy... :) a

"Ariel" primping. Photo by Lily Gottlieb

"Henry jibing" Photo by Lily Gottlieb

"Leo gawking" Photo by Lily Gottlieb

 

 

"Vic (aka Josephine) confessing" Photo by Lily Gottlieb

It mostly rains.

The Castle

Beautiful things everywhere...

The Royal Mile - on the way to the Venue

Veune 13!

The view from one of my "offices" (aka coffeeshops)

...more rain...

...even more rain...

The Venue in the sunshine!

View from our kitchen

View from my room. That's Fishmarket Close running up to 

the Royal Mile

The reviews are in: Hôtel de l'Avenir is "SPELLBINDING" and "a REAL TREAT"!!!

Woo-hoo! Performances here at the Edinburgh Fringe are well underway and the critics are loving the CalArts Festival Theater shows!!! Here are some of the lovely things they had to say about Hôtel de l'Avenir...


" Hotel de l’Avenir is a Parisian gateway between dreams and reality…"

"...this is a real treat for francophiles, silent movie fans, and hopeless romantics."

"The skills of the three performers are evident in every scene."

"It's all rather spellbinding."

-InformedEdinburgh.co.uk

"Macnab is a talented physical performer and a charming mime..."

-Edinburghnews.scotsman.com

I couldn't help myself - I made a new trailer to celebrate!! Check it out! And check out Lily's blog for links to the other smashing reviews of all the other shows too! Little Eyolf, Flesh Eating Tiger, Broken Wing, Daughter of a Cuban Revolutionary, and Silken Veils. It's just too many stars and nice words to count! Here are some great shots from rehearsal - all taken by Lily Gottlieb. We're having a blast!

Genevieve Gearhart and Laurel Koerner (photo by Lily Gottlieb)

Lighting by Adam Frank (photo by Lily Gottlieb)

Who's got the prettiest show? WE DO! WE DO! (and Thanks to Lily Gottlieb we've got plenty of pics to prove it!)

A bientôt!

:) a

Check out the Trailer!

What could be better than warm haggis on a chilly August day? Making this "hipster" trailer!

Also, check out this fabu blog about all of us here at the Fringe this summer made by our very own "-ographer" Lily Gottlieb!

Genevieve Gearhart in tech rehearsal looking fabulous. Photo by Lily Gottlieb.

Oh how I wish you could all come see the shows. There were many openings yesterday and it was wonderful to taste the juicy and delicious fruits of everyone's labor. They're all so great. Thanks to my CalArts comrades for being awesome and making great work. I'm proud to be among you. And thanks to the folks from the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama and everyone at Venue 13 for being so lovely!

Get your tix!! HERE!
:) a

I'll take the high road...

We made it!  The CalArts clan finally all touched down in Edinburgh and the shows open TODAY!  I'm shooting footage for the new Hôtel trailer which should be up by the end of the night! Scotland is rainy and sunny and cold and warm and Edinburgh is full of beautiful, sooty buildings. I already saw one mind-blowing show at the Fringe last night: What Remains by Grid Iron. I can't wait to see all my lovely friends perform! (And yeah, I can't wait to dust off my dancing shoes myself!) Here's the venue; here's the CalArts blog about us!; Here's tickets to MY show: Hôtel de l'Avenir!!! (or call 07074 20 13 13 if you're on this side of the pond)

The Little Prince at OSTF 2011

 I got to spend a few months back in Oberlin, OH working for the Oberlin Summer Theater Festival - my third year in a row as a founding member of the festival - directing The Little Prince.

Opening LP puppet

The desert flower.

 

The Little Prince cleaning out his volcanoes. (That's a seed "from who knows where" landing on the other side of the planet!)

I am so lucky to have gotten to work with such talented and lovely individuals on this show!



The fabulous Anya Kazimierski designed the sets and puppets for the show. Working with her is a dream come true!!



I love my fantastic cast and crew and everyone who helped make the show a reality.

 
We played to 300 seat audiences (!!) and got great feedback:
  
"My family and I came to OSTF for the first time today. We saw The Little Prince. It was wonderful. Everyone from 60 to 6 years LOVED the performance. Thank you for a wonderful afternoon:)" - Heather Moroney Sobiski

"Just watched "The Little Prince" with two of my grandsons. It was a great performance. Thank you for a great afternoon!" - Pattie Buck Eschen

"We (myself, my s-i-l and my children, 10 and 6) just got back from seeing The Little Prince and we all loved it! In my 6 year old's words "That was awesome!". It is so refreshing to see such amazing talent locally. I am personally so grateful to be able to introduce my children to theater in a cheap (free!) and fun way. This is just the beginning, I am sure, of their love of the arts. Thank you for putting on such a quality production!" - Jonna Abraham-Sheffield

In case you didn't get to see it, here's a "hipster trailer" I made for it.  

That's the lovely Marina Shay as the boy from asteroid B-612. 

 
I also got to play with Matthew Wright, Courtney Merrell, Alex Huntsberger and Ralph Johnson in the cast.  We had such a blast!! And my design team was stellar: gorgeous music by Ryan Lester, beautiful lights by Jamie Benjamin, and of course, my one and only Anya K on visual design. Thanks to our great stage manager Mary Heatwole, and extra special thanks to my dear Julia Perez who is good at maths and positive thinking and playing my accordion. We made a pretty show. :)

I tend to inhabit the shows I'm working on. I can't express how moving it was to work on a show that is about the life-saving property of our own imagination, and the diligence of love. The wall of the box is nothing; the sheep inside is perfect.


THANK YOU OSTF for bringing me out again! It was a gift to get to work on this beautiful story.