Every year I am excited for August to roll around for two reasons; my mother’s birthday and The Fringe NYC Festival. Whether volunteering at the various venues during the festival or just sitting back and watching the different plays, I always enjoy the festival. This year the Fringe festival is celebrating its 18th anniversary and this year’s catchy theme is “Fringe on the Fly.” With over 200 productions each year, it’s always hard to choose what you are going to watch because time is limited and there are many shows that are happening at the same time; I have yet to see a show presented in the Fringe Festival that I have not liked in the five years that I have known about this festival. Urban Momfare, a new musical that is being presented at Theatre 80 on St. Mark’s, is no different because I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Urban Momfare follows the lives of six Upper East Side mothers who go through the trials and tribulations of being a mother, like juggling work and taking care of the children, getting them into the best schools, being a good mother and wife, getting a divorce, watching your kids grow up, etc. The play showcases the emotional stress that mothers have to go through, while also keeping their friendships intact. The actors did a good job demonstrating all of these issues through humor and song. There were some songs that made me think and made me a little teary thinking of how being a mother is sometimes a thankless job. In my opinion what really makes a play good, is that it makes you think about the subject at hand; in this case it’s about motherhood and how hard it really is to be a mother. While some of the jokes went over my head, I think it had to do with the fact that I’m not a mother; overall it was a very enjoyable show.
The only con of the whole play is that the stage was very bare. The only props used were chairs and the slideshow of baby pictures on the wall. But, by the end I was very impressed with how the actresses managed to use the chairs throughout the play to their advantage for each scene.
If you have not seen Urban Momfare you still have a chance to catch a performance! Urban MomFare is being performed August 22nd and August 24th at Theatre 80 on 80th St. Marks Place. You can purchase tickets, look at some of the rehearsal pictures and videos by visiting www.urbanmomfare.com.
Twisted Talk: Have you seen other shows in the Fringe Festival already? Have you seen Urban Momfare? If not, will you? Discuss below!
