3rd
Annual New York International Fringe Festival 
**Fringe Excellence Awards given out August
29th**"The Sad Ballad of Johnny Reb and His Beautiful Wife Cecile" by Scott Turner At the Red Room Reviewed by Melissa Anelli for for Theatre Reviews Limited If you find yourself the target for the ice-darts in Scott Turner's confederate glare, I dare you to look away. I dare you to close your ears to this Ku Klux disc jockey's slur-spewing, or to his perfectly positioned, narrative rock score. I dare you to ignore the well-fleshed portrayals of each of his characters as they twist themselves into a near dissociative identity crisis for Mr. Turner. By knotting together the silver-laced harshness of his music and crazy blend of personalities, Scott Turner's onstage presence is a force to be reckoned with. "The Sad Ballad of Johnny Reb and His Beautiful Wife Cecile," though masterfully exploiting delivery, doesn't sustain the impact hurled by its Southern spinner. This character-driven piece about domestic violence, whiskey, and the Blue Fairy (yes, from "Pinocchio") manages to capture the feel of a dressed-up fable, complete with a suffocating moral lurking around the bend. Its own heavy-handedness is its enemy, but performance soaks up most of its faults. Sometimes the storytelling is simply better than the story. Reviewed on Wednesday, August 18, 1999 (First Performance) "THE SAD BALLAD OF JOHNNY REB AND HIS BEAUTIFUL WIFE CECILE" By Scott Turner. At the Red Room, 85 East 4th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues. In August at the New York International Fringe Festival on the following dates: Saturday the 21st at 8:15 p.m.; Sunday the 22nd at 9:45 p.m.; Monday the 23rd at 4:15 p.m.; Thursday the 26th at 6:00 p.m.; Saturday the 28th at 3:30 p.m. $11.00. For information and reservations visit http://www.fringenyc.org |