There Ain't No More: Death of a Folksinger, a solo show performed by Willi Carlisle, is not the show I thought it would be. It features a large volume of folk songs played on banjo, guitar, harmonica, and more, well-sung by Carlisle and performed with all sorts of twists (watch that banjo twirl). More to the point, it's a moving and touching story about too many things to describe that knit together into a whole. This show was talked about a great deal at the Tampa Fringe and now comes to Orlando.
When There Aint No More starts, you think it's going to be just another one of those USO tribute shows that are so popular in period films. Pretty soon, you get the feeling that there's something deeper going on. By the end of the show, you wonder how you got from that to explorations of sexuality, memory, aging, and war – but it all makes sense. The acting is solid, the characters many, the music so varied but well-performed that you wonder what other tricks he has up his sleeves...especially after a puppet pops out. Hey, it's Fringe – it works, and it works well.
This show is hard to summarize, but easy to enjoy. Come for the music, stay for the story, enjoy all the way.
Fringe Pick
