Fringe: Lupe's Fiasco

It may be too early to call, but Lupe: Undone might just be the funniest thing at this year's Fringe. This completely insane one-woman show starring Melissa D'Agostino as a charismatic South American woman waiting for her lover, David Mirvish, in the alley behind Honest Ed's is one of the freshest, weirdest, and utterly charming pieces of theatre we've seen in a while. Lupe enters the scene scaling down a fire escape in a négligée and a blindfold, expecting to be met by her producer paramour, only to instead find herself in front of an audience of strangers. So, what can she do but serve up some chips and salsa and tell everyone her life story? D'Agostino is an incredible performer an improviser who has been working on her Lupe character for a while now (you'll probably want to check out the first episode of her web series The Lupe Show, in which she interviews David Miller). And Lupe:Undone is the perfect introduction to the wacky world of this hysterical woman. Warning to wallflowers: audience participation is not a small part of this show. Lupe expects you to talk to her, share a drink with her and occasionally dance with her to Jennifer Lopez music while giving her estranged husband the finger.

Other noteworthy shows today:

We liked Barry Smith's Jesus in Montana: Adventures in a Doomsday Cult at last year's Fringe, so we're pretty intrigued by American Squatter, his new show about London slumming in the 1980s which plays at the Factory Mainspace at 9:15 p.m. tonight. Four Ways 'til Rain is a new show by T. Berto which promises queer content in its story of six interconnected men (one of whom is Cole J. Alvis, whom we enjoy). It plays at the Factory Mainspace at 5:15 p.m.

Photo by Adam Lazarus.