ENTERTAINMENT CELEBRITY MEDIA COMEDY MUSIC TV CELEBRITY KIDS MOVIEFONE Michael Giltz Freelance writerGET UPDATES FROM MICHAEL GILTZ Follow Theater , The Avett Brothers , Country Music , Musicals , Off-Broadway , Pigpen , Entertainment News 31 66 4 1React Inspiring Funny Hot Scary Outrageous Amazing Weird CrazyFringeFest NYC Finale - Fun "Pear" and Great "Mountain" FringeFest NYC is winding up its encore series of the most acclaimed shows from the festival.</p><p> That gave me a chance to catch up with two treats that help make this year another winner for uncovering new talent andshows with great promise.</p><p> Pearl's Gone Blue is a musical that with work could become very special; it already hasthe talent.</p><p> And The Mountain Song introduced me to the terrific company PigPen.</p><p> PEARL'S GONE BLUE *** out of **** It's no secret that a strong cast and good story can hold an audience's attention without elaborate sets.</p><p> But it's good to be reminded of that every once in a while and FringeFestNYC does that in spades.</p><p> Pearl's Gone Blue is a great example.</p><p> A table and a few chairs plus an excellent guitarist on the side provide all the backdrop it needs to tell its story.</p><p> Seddy Pearl (Roz Beauty, well named) is a church-going schoolteacher who is ready for a little fun.</p><p> She and her best friends Bell (Benja K.</p><p> Thomas) and Tiny (Pamela Monroe) are out having fun when they realize the blues singer performing in their small town is Beau (Billy Eugene Jones), a handsome fellowwho had left for the bright lights years ago.</p><p> Beau immediately takes a shine to Seddy -- who has grown upvery nicely since he last saw her -- and you might expect the usual tale of a bluesman seducing the nice girl and drawing her into trouble.</p><p> Not really.</p><p> Pearl's Gone Blue is more complicated and real than that.</p><p> Seddy is hardly a blushing wallflower (though Beauty has great fun teasing out her sensuality).</p><p> Beaudoesn't just waken her physical desires; he also awakens her desire to sing the blues.</p><p> Everyone knows she MOST POPULAR ON HUFFPOST 1 of 2 FOLLOW US 17 Funny Thanksgiving QuotesPHOTOS: Amazing Shots Of Thanksgiving Day...</p><p> Too Much Makeup? PHOTOS: Sasha And Malia Are All Grown Up!EDITION: U.S.</p><p> November 24, 2011 Like 63 Posted: 9/21/11 02:33 PM ET SHARE THIS STORY Submit this storyGet Entertainment Alerts Sign UpPHOTO GALLERIESCONNECT FRONT PAGE POLITICS BUSINESS ENTERTAINMENT TECH MEDIA LIFE & STYLE CULTURE COMEDY HEALTHY LIVING WOMEN LOCAL MORELike 51KRihanna Movies Television The Oscars Armchair Detective More Log inhas the best voice at church on Sunday.</p><p> Can she cut it on Saturday night as well? Things turn dark when Seddy keeps a charm that Beau loses, a powerful talisman that contains his dreams and helps him toperform.</p><p> Beau loses his mojo and Seddy starts to get stronger and more forceful.</p><p> Meanwhile, her friends struggle with their own desires including an ailing sister and a dream of opening a BBQ joint.</p><p> Most of the songs in the show come out naturally as performances in a club or the casual singing among friends and are serviceable to good.</p><p> The strongest factor is the easy camaraderie among the cast.</p><p> You quickly accept that these three women are old friends.</p><p> Act Two could use more focus.</p><p> The women bickerfrom the start and it's not as clear as it should be that the bickering from act one has turned into bitterness and a potentially irrevocable split in act two.</p><p> We should feel more strongly that the amulet is poisoning everything in their lives. but the book by Leslie Kramer already has a great deal of heart and humor.</p><p> And the songs by her and Gabriel Gordon offer the core of a solid score in the making.</p><p> The direction by Julie Kramer is brisk andefficient, surely a major reason why the show feels so whole even at this stage.</p><p> Casting helps a great deal, with Thomas and Monroe very strong and Jones appealing even as he becomes weaker and weaker.</p><p> Tiffany Thompson does well in the dual role of a battling neighbor and an uptown blues singer.Thompson delivers her tune with just enough smoothness to convince she's a success but leaving enoughroom for grit from our heroine to establish who the real deal really is.</p><p> It's a generous choice.</p><p> Beauty is a delight throughout.</p><p> Even when she's not speaking, you can focus on her face and now exactly what Seddy is thinking and feeling.</p><p> She mines the humor of the script and the darkness, without ever tipping into broad brushstrokes.</p><p> She's a find.</p><p> And an unexpectedly subtle finale gives the show an emotional heft that an easier, more feel-good ending would have lost.</p><p> Good fun right now, but Pearl'sGone Blue has a lot of potential.</p><p> PIGPEN PRESENTS: THE MOUNTAIN SONG *** 1/2 out of **** If the Avett Brothers branched out into theater, you might expect them to deliver the tunes that pepperthe folk/country/Americana score of The Mountain Song.</p><p> The theater company PigPen became the first troupe in history to win the overall excellence award at FringeFest two years in a row with this show.</p><p> And no wonder, it's a one hour delight brimming with a talented cast, delightful puppetry, a sweet but sad tale delivered at just the right length and with charm to spare.</p><p> Even before the show begins you know you're in for a good time because the entire troupe is onstage diving into one rousing instrumental after another while the audience claps along.</p><p> They've won us over even before the curtain rises.</p><p> Then comes a tall tale about a father raising a mute daughter.</p><p> Hereluctantly sends her off to the big sister to learn to talk with her hands.</p><p> She sends word years later that she's getting married but the details are muddled.</p><p> So the father goes on a quest down the three different rivers that lead from their mountain home (his only clue is that it's taking place at the end of a river) totry and find his daughter and celebrate her happiness.</p><p> This story is told through song and puppetry.</p><p> The title credits appear as clouds floating behind an illuminated screen.</p><p> The daughter is seen as simply a tiny dress that one cast member manipulates. (How Fox News Viewers Know Less Than People Who Watch No News: Study Charlie Angus What if They Declared an Emergency and No One Came? Loyal Dog Refuses To Leave Owner's Grave, Goes Week Without Food Kris Humphries: Husband From Hell? Kirstie Alley Looking Good Bourbon Distillery To Obama: 'Give Us The Bird' Jenny From The Block's Fiat Commercial A Sham Justin Takes Paternity Test, Then Serenades Selena Jack Wagner Confronted By Long Lost Daughter DON'T MISS HUFFPOST BLOGGERS 1 of 5 Dr.</p><p> Peggy Drexler We Can Be Thankful for Each Other Dylan Ratigan This Thanksgiving, Occupy Yourself Like 307K Like 41K Like 38K Recommend 732 Like 179 Like 155 Like 3K Recommend 587 Like 176 'G.I.</p><p> Joe' Sequel Crew Member Dies On Set Jennifer Lopez's Love For Bodysuits (Photos) Cameron Crowe Reveals How He Seduced Matt Damon For 'We Bought A Zoo';Names His 5 Favoritequickly our imagination adapts so that simply having the dress tilt forward or side to side can become an eager "yes" or a sad "no.") The biggest man in the world is a giant foam head held up by yet another cast member.</p><p> And on and on, from a piece of folding cloth to mimic a bird to a wooden platform turning from a raft into a flying machine.</p><p> This is all delivered with ease and pleasure by the cast, all of whom are onstage for most of the show singing songs, playing instruments and diving in to turn a prop into a character at the drop of a hat.</p><p> You smile from start to finish, even as the story gets a little sad, as stories sometimes do.</p><p> It never hurts thatthe all-male PigPen players are cute as a button, either.</p><p> You want to buy their CD if they had one (the songs are that good) and friend them on Facebook all at the same time.</p><p> The book could use a little tightening.</p><p> And the avuncular narrator Ben Ferguson holds the stage well as a performer, handling the bulk of the show's narrative drive.</p><p> But his voice might be the weakest of thebunch; he'd shine more on "The Mountain Song" if that were his main solo.</p><p> But everyone from MattNuernberger as the dad on down handles the stage with the ease of people who belong there.</p><p> PigPen is definitely a six-man company (recent grads from Carnegie-Mellon) to keep an eye on.</p><p> They are remounting last year's success The Nightmare Story in October.</p><p> And next year they'll be bringing an all new show to Manhattan.</p><p> I for one won't want to miss any of it.</p><p> The Theater Season 2011-2012 (on a four star scale) All's Well That Ends Well/Shakespeare in the Park ** Broadway By The Year: 1997 ** 1/2 Crane Story ** Cymbeline at Barrow Street Theatre *** Follies *** 1/2 Hair *** Hero: The Musical * 1/2 Master Class w Tyne Daly ** 1/2 Measure For Measure/Shakespeare in the Park *** Olive and The Bitter Herbs ** 1/2 One Arm *** The Select (The Sun Also Rises) ** 1/2 Septimus & Clarissa *** 1/2 Silence! The Musical * 1/2 Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark * 1/2 Sweet and Sad ** Unnatural Acts *** Zarkana ** FRINGEFEST NYC 2011 Araby *TOP VIDEO PICKS 1 of 9 MOST DISCUSSED RIGHT NOW 1of 2 HOT ON FACEBOOK 1 of 3More Entertainment News at THR.com More Celebrity News at People.comMovies Miss Piggy Keeps Paparazzi at Bay byTossing Cupcakes READ MORE Melanie Amaro Reveals Her'True Self' on X Factor READ MORE Tiffani Thiessen: We Have'Built In' Babysitters READ MORE Latest Celebrity Gossip Justin Bieber on 'The Late Show' Ellen and Sofia's RunwayFeud The Greatest Guitar Player Of All Time Revealed! IT'S OFFICIAL: 'All My Children,' 'One Life To Live' Both Canceled For Good, Won't Go Online The Smartest Show On TV Proves It With Secret Scene Like 921 The Roots Greet MicheleJerry Seinfeld And Larry David Speculate On...</p><p> Mariah Carey On HSN: Singer Mocks Viral... 'G.I.</p><p> Joe' Crew Member Died In On-Set...</p><p> Robert Wagner: Murder Suspect On 'NCIS'The Bardy Bunch ** Books On Tape ** 1/2 Civilian ** Hard Travelin' With Woody *** Leonard Cohen Koans *** 1/2 The Mountain Song *** 1/2 Paper Cuts *** Parker & Dizzy's Fabulous Journey To The End Of The Rainbow ** 1/2 Pearl's Gone Blue *** Rachel Calof ** 1/2 Romeo & Juliet: Choose Your Own Ending ** 2 Burn * 1/2 Walls and Bridges ** What The Sparrow Said ** 1/2 Yeast Nation *** Thanks for reading.</p><p> Michael Giltz is the cohost of Showbiz Sandbox, a weekly pop culture podcast that reveals the industry take on entertainment news of the day and features top journalists and opinion makers as guests.</p><p> It's available for free on iTunes.</p><p> Visit Michael Giltz at his website and his daily blog.</p><p> Download his podcast of celebrity interviews and his radio show, also called Popsurfing and also available for free on iTunes.</p><p> Link to him on Netflix and gain access to thousands of ratings and reviews.</p><p> Note : Michael Giltz was provided with free tickets to these show with the understanding that he would be writing a review.</p><p> Follow Michael Giltz on Twitter: www.twitter.com/michaelgiltz Buy a link here Sponsored Links The New "Skinny" Fruit How This Strange 62-Cent African Fruit Is Making Americans Skinny. www.HLifestyles.com Overstock iPads: $43.20 Get 32GB Apple iPads for $43.20.</p><p> Limit 1 A Customer.</p><p> Grab Yours Now. www.DealFun.com/iPad Travel Guard© Insurance 20+ Years of Travel Experience! 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