In the News: Orlando Fringe Festival review: ‘archy & mehitabel’
Image from DonMarquis.com: Archy
From the Orlando Sentinel: Orlando Fringe Festival review: ‘archy & mehitabel’
Jeff Culbert skitters across the stage, blinking nervously as a spotlight finds him. He’s a cockroach, you see, Archy by name, in this quirky one-man (but two animal) show.
Archy the cockroach was created in 1916 in a series of newspaper columns by Don Marquis. He and his feline friend, Mehitabel, have also featured in a Broadway musical and animated film.
But here, Culbert takes on both parts himself with mild good humor and light-on-his-feet movement.
Mehitabel, a friendly female cat who can’t figure out why she ends up with so many kittens, sashays around trash piles and slinks across the stage to the sounds of cool jazz.
Archy gets more worked up, over the foibles of humanity, but even at his biggest roar, he seems more politely concerned than truly angry.
It’s a cozy show, with plenty of chuckles — and the chance to make two unlikely friends in Culbert’s endearing performance.
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