Fringe Opening Night: I’ll Take You There

There was a moment last night at the 2012 Hollywood Fringe Festival Opening Night Party.

It wasn’t the guy with the tomahawk on his slong, it wasn’t the hip-hop strip tease, it wasn’t the bangin’ blue grass band, it wasn’t the eerie zombie dance number, nope, it happened during the Fringe’s signature Live Band Karaoke portion of the evening. This is when the Moon Units, the house band for Lost Moon Radio, plugs in and struts their stuff with a couple hundred live songs, like a freakin’ livin’ breathin’ jukebox beckoning all us amateur singers to get up and make it happen.

But it wasn’t the searing versions of “Jailhouse Rock” or “What’s Up?” or “End of the World” (were all these people ringers or what?). Nope. And it wasn’t the show-stopping performance of Queen’s “Send me Somebody to Love” by Corwin Evans. No, it was none of these. Though they were moments unto themselves.

No, THE moment occurred when Lost Moon Radio producer Monica Miklas and Abbie Burgess got up on stage and did a duet version of Madonna’s “I’ll Take You There”. The ladies were certainly game, no doubting that, the passion and enthusiasm and energy were unparalleled, quite entertaining, it’s just that these two lovely ladies were a little, how shall I say it, “sharp”?

Now even this fact didn’t deaden the performance, but at a certain point they kind of lost their way and the song started to well, deteriorate. But the boys of the Moon Unit Band, this phenomenally talented group of individuals were having none of it. Instead of just bringing the song to a fizzling close they did the opposite; they began to harmonize, sing a little backup, add a little instrumental flourish here and there, and then, suddenly, the girls just didn’t sound quite as “sharp” anymore, as a matter of fact, they sounded like rock stars. Because all of a sudden, they were.

And that, LemonHeads, was the moment.

A moment that defines the essence of the Hollywood Fringe Festival and, well, really, theater itself when it’s at its best. That something magical that emerges from the chaos, live, happening now, creative souls colliding, drawing forth harmony and melody from the discordant clamor, making the sharp, sweet, making the dull, dynamic, that incredibly human creative instinct we all possess, the instinct to never give up until that holy moment has been forged.

That was the moment.

At least it was for me.

I’m expecting a whole lot more of those in the next 11 days.