Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
The Songs of Robert, a one-man show performed by Asheville’s John Crutchfield that was invited to the FringeNYC festival a couple of weeks ago, has won big kudos. Background here on the show. It features Crutchfield taking on a dozen various roles in a show that’s pure Appalachia.
The show was one of seven to be given the “best solo performance” nod at FringeNYC, which featured about 200 performances total. Wow.
From Theatermania.com:
Outstanding Solo Show awards were given to Art’s Heart, The Event, The Adventures of Alvin Sputnik: Deep Sea Explorer, Remission, Truth Values: One Girl’s Romp Through MIT’s Male Math Maze, Jesus Ride, and The Songs of Robert, and awards for Outstanding Unique Theatrical Event went to Bullettrun, 666, and Baby Wants Candy.
Loyal reader Chall, who helped produce the show and accompanied Crutchfield to New York City for their weekend run of Fringe performances, tells me that despite low attendance, the show received a couple of outstanding reviews. Here’s a tidbit from one:
That’s just one small, delightful example of the extraordinary poetry that floods The Songs of Robert, a gorgeous solo show written and performed by John Crutchfield that I am so happy to have seen at this year’s FringeNYC Festival. Told in song, poetry, and monologue—all brimming with remarkable language that evokes breathtaking image after breathtaking image—this one-man play is the story of a young man on the brink of everything, filled with the ineffable longing of first love and the lonesomeness that comes from not fitting in at all and not being properly understood. Robert is a senior in high school in a small town in Southern Appalachia; it’s the mid-1980s, in the final spring before his graduation. The events of The Songs of Robert mostly revolve around how he has not yet asked the dark-haired girl he is infatuated with to go to the prom with him. But the places that this remarkable play takes us are boundless and deep.
The story is told by a dozen different characters, each of whom Crutchfield inhabits with vivid compassion and heart. …
The staging, by Steve Samuels, is elegant and spare, utilizing a pair of chairs and a shopping cart (Ol’ Preacha’s) containing the few props and costume accessories that Crutchfield needs to transform himself into the various inhabitants of the story.
The Songs of Robert is the beautiful glistening gem that I always know I’ll find but don’t always know where to look for in this year’s FringeNYC. It’s only here for a couple more days, so get it on your list of must-see shows right away.
Congratulations to everyone involved in this performance. Thanks to Chall for passing along the follow-up information.
Songs of Robert truly is a brilliant, heart felt show. I am constantly in awe of John Crutchfield and his diverse talents.