And anyway, how do which are the good ones?
No promises, but we’ve chosen 10 that look, er, promising. Some of them we’ve even seen already.
Admission to all shows is $15; you need a Fringe button ($5, or free with any multiticket pack) in addition to your ticket to enter any venue except the Baldacchino Gypsy Tent Bar. Show run times and audience age advisories come courtesy of the Festival.
1. “Please Listen: A Musical Chaos”
Two bandmates abduct a record-label executive and force him to listen to their concept album about an Earth occupied by robots from space. The album’s plot unfolds before us as a musical-within-the-musical. Co-stars (and co-writers) Aaron Bliden and Mark Halpern lead a ridiculously appealing young cast in this energetic, self-aware comedy that goes over the top early, then just keeps on going. (80 min.)
Where: Baldacchino Gypsy Tent Bar at Fort Fringe, 612 L St. NW
When: 10 p.m. July 24; 3:15 p.m. July 26
Age recommendation: 13+
2. “Riding the Bull”
The creators promise the involvement of “the real Elvis,” a rodeo clown and New York’s angriest yodeling banjo player. So that’s three good reasons right there. But the presence of actors Kate Debelack and Jason McCool, who was so unforgettable playing the titular turncoat in Forum Theatre’s “The Last Days of Judas Iscariot” in 2008, would probably get us in the door even without the rodeo clown. (90 min.)
Where: The Bodega at the Trading Post, 1013 Seventh St. NW
When: 11 a.m. Saturday; 6:45 p.m. July 25
Info: ridingthebulldc.com
Age recommendation: Not for kids
3. “Bad Hamlet”
This mashup of excerpts from the 1604 and 1623 texts of Shakespeare’s most psychologically complex drama, performed concurrently, offers rich insight into the development of this immortal tragedy. (60 min.)
Where: The Bodega at the Trading Post, 1013 Seventh St. NW
When: 10:30 p.m. Friday; 4:45 p.m. Sunday; 7 p.m. July 22
Info: web.mac.com/john.geoffrion/Site/BAD_HAMLET.html
Age recommendation: 13+
4. “Dizzy Miss Lizzie’s Roadside Revue — The Saints”
Following up on their hit vaudeville-and-Americana adaptation of “The Oresteia” at last year’s Fringe, the theatrical band led by D.C. actor/musicians Debra Buonaccorsi and Steve McWilliams brings out another raucous evening of alt-country fire and brimstone. (70 min.)
Where: Baldacchino Gypsy Tent Bar at Fort Fringe, 612 L St. NW
When: 6:30 p.m. Friday; 1:15 p.m. Sunday; 9 p.m. July 22; 12:30 p.m. July 26
Info: www.myspace.com/dizzymisslizziesroadsiderevue
Age recommendation: 13+
5. “Bargain Basement Game Show”
“Highbrow trivia and lowbrow humor” is the recipe for this kitschy, live, 30-question quiz show wherein the audience and the contestants are one. A must for trivia obsessives. (90 min.)
Where: Warehouse Next Door, 1021 Seventh St. NW
When: 1 p.m. Saturday; 6 p.m. July 24
Info: www.treyhawk.com/bbgs
Age recommendation: 13+
6. “Cover Me in Humanness”
Fringe is just the place for this winning, if overly precious, oddball dual romance. A shy video store clerk is smitten with one of his regular customers, while a National Gallery Museum guard with a penchant for waxing philosophic finds himself falling in love with Edgar Degas’ “Little Dancer Aged Fourteen.” To be fair, she — the statue — does talk to him. And if you’re gonna get all incensed about the fact that she’s supposed to be 14, remember that Degas made her back in 1881. (60 min.)
Where: Redrum at Fort Fringe, 612 L St. NW
When: 2:30 p.m. July 25
Info: zooprojectdc.blogspot.com
Age recommendation: 13+
7. “The Terrorism of Everyday Life”
Monologuist, musician, comic and agitator Ed Hamell came home from the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland with an Angel Award for this hyperlinked rumination on his son, his parents, the Beatles and the other things that really matter. (60 min.)
Where: Warehouse Next Door, 1021 Seventh St. NW
When: 6:30 p.m. Friday; 11:30 p.m. Saturday; 6 p.m. Sunday; 9 p.m. July 25; 3 p.m. July 26
Info: www.theterrorismofeverydaylife.com
Age recommendation: Not for kids
8. “May 39th/40th”
Celebrated local playwright Callie Kimball presents an update of her Fringe 2006 hit “May 39th,” which shows us that dating in the next millennia still will mostly suck. Presented with a new sequel, “May 40th,” that explores just how far we’ll go to spare ourselves pain. (75 min.)
Where: The Bodega at the Trading Post, 1013 Seventh St. NW
When: 4 p.m. Saturday; 6 p.m. Sunday; 11 p.m. July 24
Info: calliekimball.com/53940
Age recommendation: Not for kids
9. “Vincent”
This one-man show takes us to 1890 Paris, where the art dealer Theo van Gogh attempts to rescue the legacy of his brother, the painter Vincent, in the months after Vincent’s death from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. (75 min.)
Where: District of Columbia Arts Center, 2438 18th St. NW
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sunday, July 22-26
Age recommendation: 13+
10. “Let’s Sing Gospel 101”
Rosita Mathews was the first to perform at the Fringe Festival preview two weeks ago, and if she can get a crowded bar full of jaded hipsters to join her in singing “King Jesus Is All” — which she did — she can surely help you get past whatever hangups might prevent you from sangin’ for the savior. (60 min.)
Where: Goethe Institut — Mainstage , 812 Seventh St. NW
When: 2:30 p.m. Saturday; 5:30 p.m. Thursday
Info: www.letssinggospel.com
Age recommendation: All ages
