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Orlando Fringe Festival reviews: Pajama party, critters and the bi-curious

By Dewayne Bevil, Orlando Sentinel The Tribune Content Agency

Updated May 18, 2026 12:17 PM

Here are Orlando Fringe Festival reviews of “Confessions of the Tall & Tart,” “The Fast and the Bi-Curious,” “Miah’s Critter Comforts,” “P. Sparkle’s Pajama Party” and “Serving… with Sarah Hester Ross.”

‘Miah’s Critter Comforts'

Miah appears to be a gentle nature lover with a ukulele, trying to get away from it all in a makeshift camp in the forest. "I hope your email doesn't find me," they say.

"Miah's Critter Comforts" (Ivanhoe 1915, 60 minutes) features the distinctive stylings of Jeremiah Gibbons, whose songs work their way through the animal kingdom, earning Camp Creature patches. There are "Monkey Business" and a cat song, though Miah can't quite relate to the latter animals ("I'm just too wistful"). Miah is much more bullfrog, thus "Lollygagging on a Lilypad."

The show turns into quiet eco-activism, neither too precious nor too preachy, with explanations of why golf is bad and data centers worse.

"I will keep fighting for my place, and I hope you will too."

‘Serving… with Sarah Hester Ross'

If this title - "Serving C*nt with Sarah Hester Ross" (Yellow, 75 minutes) - unnerves you, well, this could be a long, wrong show for you. One of her tunes is "Vibrators Are a Girl's Best Friend."

Ross, a veteran of multiple Fringe festivals and a regular Las Vegas gig, uses crowd work, song parodies, original melodies and her very strong voice for effective messages of empowerment.

She connects with her audience members, who whoop and holler, sway to her music and do that finger-snapping thing in lieu of applauding. They are there for her melody about how it's OK not to have babies. They even enthusiastically support eating cheese straight from the refrigerator.

"When I'm around women, I want you to feel seen. I want you to be heard," Ross says.

(I did giggle at her "fugly cybertruck" lyric.)

Ross's crowd may be buoyed by her streaming successes, but that also produced a clever song with lyrics made from her negative online comments. And she also has a winner with Florida Man Showtime, a collection of ditties based on news of the day.

‘The Fast and the Bi-Curious’

The 21st-century buzzwords of "journey" and "authentic" are among my pet peeves, but dang, if they don't accurately describe Valerie Von Voss's one-woman show "The Fast and the Bi-Curious" (Ivanhoe 1915, 60 minutes).

Growing up in a broken family, she combated loneliness by star-gazing at celebrities. "Movies became my Dad's way of raising me," she says.

The show’s a lively examination of the dearth of bisexuality in pop culture. Remember Drew Barrymore calling herself bisexual? Von Voss sure does. She cites other milestones such as Christine Taylor's bi character in "Dodgeball," and there is a string of kinda bi moments like Madonna kissing Britney Spears at the VMAs (flashback to Justin Timberlake stewing) and Lindsay Lohan's brief newsy romance with DJ Samantha Ronson. But so many, Von Voss laments, are presented through the "straight male gaze."

Von Voss switches easily between stories of star power and her personal growth for an entertaining life story.

‘Confessions of the Tall & Tart'

There's overlap in themes and pop culture ("Glee" alert) with the "Bi-Curious" show and "Confessions of the Tall & Tart" (also Ivanhoe 1915, 55 minutes). OK, it may be a stretch to call a drag queen "authentic," but Rae O'Light/Kevin Fox also speaks his growing-up truth. It's just amid lip-syncing to Sabrina Carpenter's "Short n' Sweet" songs.

Fox's snarky, sexy, gay journey includes jokes about drama club vs. Catholic youth group, getting busted by his internet browser history, porn as instructional film, blackouts at FSU and Rae O'Light's current look, which he describes as "Goldie Hawn, 40 years ago."

The lip-sync segments may be restrained by the wee venue and the even more wee stage. Plus, Fox is 6-foot-2 - not counting heels and hair.

Spoiler alert: The ending is happy with a five-year marriage. The husband was in our audience, laughing hard.

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‘P. Sparkle’s Pajama Party'

Ah, the cherry atop my Fringe shift is "P. Sparkle’s Pajama Party" (Renaissance Theatre, 60 minutes). Although improv is tricky to review - your show will not be the same as my show - P. Sparkle productions are a proven laugh.

This year's theme revolves around slumber party games - Never Have I Ever, Truth or Dare, etc. - with an improv twist by a crew of performers guided by Rob Ward, who portrays the title host decked out in a sequined leopard-skin shorts set, sheer red robe and silver platform boots.

Those shoes, combined with the elevated stage at the Ren, give P. Sparkle a good angle for plucking faces out of the crowd. (Twice, I was called out for aghast facial expressions after comments about tongue maneuvers and sloths - ew, separate stories, y'all.)

It looked like more fun if you wore PJs, as is encouraged, and there was a fashion show and shots incorporated.

Our evening - which has NC-17 moments - included a grown man performing the splits, a mandolin, a few sexy things that never have I ever, Ulysses S. Grant, and a quote about pointed house slippers: "My first husband brought them back from Dubai." Your results will vary.

dbevil@orlandosentinel.com