Do you remember Orlando’s Ecstasy-fueled digital dance scene of the late 1990s? If you can try to remember it, you possibly weren’t actually there. Stress not, due to the fact Fringe icon Michael Wanzie will remember just about every MDMA-enhanced moment for you in this drug-induced follow-up to his 2019 autobiographical play. And for all those unfamiliar with the circuit social gathering scene, editor Wealthy Charron’s movie preshow of aged ABC Information experiences provides an in-depth primer on the background of gay raves, preparing you for a rocking hour of rolling reminiscences in which none of the names of area famous people have been changed to secure the guilty.
Contrary to his previously three-hander, this new installment is a solo affair, with Wanzie by yourself on stage — only designer Douglas White’s outsized totems of his adventures (like supersized sunglasses and a big pacifier) to aid him. With the assist of Kenny Howard’s unobtrusive route, Wanzie holds the house’s notice with stories that investigate his fetish for intoxicated straight boys’ feet (a little something that will seem familiar to audiences who noticed his It All Started at the Radisson Inn last 12 months) and expose his purpose terrorizing Disney-sure visitors after all-night Gay Times following-parties.
Wanzie’s climactic tale of traveling to healthcare triage throughout a Disney topic park rave could be familiar to his friends (or fodder for his detractors), and I would have appreciated a minimal far more connective tissue between stories providing context to the arc of his experimentations. But the coda in which Wanzie confesses how substantially MDMA has assisted his psychological and spiritual health movingly reveals a tiny-noticed aspect of this nicely-regarded Fringe legend. Do not say no to this wander on the wild side, but do fall in for a dose of hilarious humanity with Orlando’s beloved raconteur I promise you’ll never ever appear at a pacifier the identical way again.
Tickets and display details: Wanzie With a Z, Section 2: The Rave A long time
