The F#@%ing Wright Brothers
Book by David Zellnik, Music by Eric David Zellnik and Eric Svejcar;
Directed by Abigail Zealey Bess
Part of the 2018 New York International Fringe Festival
Off Off Broadway, Musical
Runs through 10.23.18
FringeHUB, 685 Washington Street
by Sarah Moore on 10.22.18
The F#@%ing Wright Brothers.
BOTTOM LINE: The F#@%ing Wright Brothers is a hilarious new musical about a musical about the Wright Brothers.
A cross country bus and truck tour of children’s theater—what could possibly go wrong? The F#@%ing Wright Brothers takes the premise of a children’s theater tour (in this case, an educational show about the Wright Brothers called Orville and Wilbur Did It!) and turns it into its own show. What happens when you put a group of young actors together in a van on a cross country tour?
Jen (Montana Lampert Hoover) is the ambitious stage manager and van driver. Zack (Randy Merrill) has done one of these tours before and is back because he needs health insurance. Pandro, Melitta and Jasper (Harrison Chad (of Caroline, or Change), Tam Young, and Jordan J. Ford, respectively) are all thrilled to be on the tour and getting their Equity cards. And Scraggs (Jarid Faubel)—well, Scraggs is another story.
The conceit of the show is truly clever, and I’m pretty sure this is the first musical about a musical about the Wright Brothers, wrapped up in a story about a bus and truck tour. The writing is hilarious (book by David Zellnik of Yank!) and remarkably polished for a Fringe show. The songs—all in the show within the show—are really catchy, while still definitely hitting all the marks of educational kids’ songs.
Expertly directed by Abigail Zealey Bess, the pace of the show is perfect, and the cast is uniformly great. The ensemble has great chemistry and while all individually talented, they also feel like real friends. Catch this show at the Fringe if you can, but I'm sure we'll see it somewhere else soon.
(The F#@%ing Wright Brothers plays at FringeHUB, 685 Washington Street at Charles Street, through October 23, 2018. Meet at the DARK GREEN FringeNYC flag. The running time is 2 hours. Performances are Tue 10/16 at 7, Fri 10/19 at 7:30, Sat 10/20 at 9:30, Sun 10/21 at 1, and Tue 10/23 at 9:30. There is no late seating at FringeNYC. Tickets are $22 (plus $3.69 ticketing fee), $16 (plus $3.51) for seniors, and are ONLY available online at fringenyc.org. For more information visit davidzellnik.net.)
The F#@%ing Wright Brothers is by David Zellnik (Book) and David Zellnik and Eric Svejcar (Music). Directed by Abigail Zealey Bess. Choreography by David Maurice Sharp. Costume Design by Megan Quarles. Set and Lighting Design by Shelby Loera. Graphic Design by Heather Helprin. Production Stage Manager is Jen Wiener.
The cast is Harrison Chad, Jarid Faubel, Jordan J. Ford, Montana Lampert Hoover, Joseph Medeiros, Randy Merrill, and Tam Young.