From edfringe.com web site:
1.7M Fringe ticket success - 27 Aug 2007
They think it's all over...and it really is now as edfringe.com proudly announce that award winning shows and record audiences have made Fringe 07 a 1.7m ticket success .
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe closes today with a raft of award winning shows and 1,697,293 tickets sold. The increase reflects a 10.8% increase on 2006 figures, with a 5% increase on ticketed shows in the same period. Strong sales were reported throughout the majority of Fringe venues, with Underbelly, Pleasance, Gilded Balloon, The Stand and T on the Fringe reporting strong sales.
The Fringe e-Ticket Tent in association with Microsoft and HP saw an incredible increase of 40% on 2006, while the Half-Price Hut went up 47% in use.
This year has seen debate over the growth of the Fringe and the quality of the acts that perform.
Jon Morgan, Director of the Fringe, said, 'Ultimately the Fringe is a self regulating festival. If audiences and artists continue to come to Edinburgh the festival will continue to grow, with 2007 being a good example of that.'
Setting the record straight, he added ' To suggest I should have control over the size of an open access festival is wrong, and against the principles of the Fringe.'
As in previous years, 2007 has seen an incredibly diverse range of high quality and innovative work across the programme, from comedy to dance and physical theatre.
The Fringe is the place for artists to challenge themselves and to be spotted by world's most important promoters and producers.
Festival highlights have included if.comedy Award winner Brendon Burns, a Fringe regular who has honed his craft here over 11 years and is a ground breaking challenging performer.
2007 was not only a year for established venues and companies. 1927 theatre company, founded in January, brought Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea to the Fringe, which was praised for being a delightfully creative show and won virtually every award for which they were eligible.
The Ladyboys of Bangkok, Fuerzabruta and shows at the Spiegel Garden and T on the Fringe will continue running until 1 September.
Monday August 27th
Monday 27 August 2007… a few months ago,
before the first rehearsals in Palaiseau,
before Judy and Me at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival,
before I Wish You Love, our short travels through Australia,
before the big show in Lille for the Dutch Embassy…
before Le Petit Traité de Manipulation, the concerts with Sirba Octet…
Before all that, we said, August 27th …, we'll be very very tired,
and happy if all went well, we'll be glad to take a break,
go home, go on a holiday or so…
But actually we're sad to be leaving tomorrow.
We wouldn't mind staying on a bit longer in Edinburgh .
I think I might write a letter to the Fringe Office asking them to extend the festival for another three weeks.
Sure, we are a bit tired. And as Michael would say:
"It's always the last days that are the hardest"
(Note that this is only the second time we're at the Fringe)
We are getting our last parking tickets…
21 all together and we might have to do some fundraising
once we're back in Paris, hopefully bureaucratic Europe doesn't function that good yet.
We're getting the last compliments…
Like this lady we met on the Royal Mile while fliering.
She told us she arrived at the airport, met someone she had a little chat with.
This person told her there was one show at the Fringe she should absolutely see…
She came yesterday, didn't regret it and is coming back tonight.
Isn't that great? At the airport…
And there are many other stories like this one.
On the Royal Mile fliering is getting easier
as people actually walk up to us to ask for a flier, if the show's still running
and sometimes people come and see us saying they saw the show
and how much they enjoyed it.
We're emptying the last bottles of champagne,
having the last reviewers in the audience,
(Yes, tonight, on the day of the last performance)
and we saying goodbye and a bientôt.
It was great meeting you all and being there.
Yesterday we had our usual diner at The Witchery,
what a place, what class, what a restaurant.
We gave Sue an award for best publicist, best friend,
best strawberries and best bike.
23 shows, in 24 days, on 1 Fringe and 1 more to go.
15.000 fliers, 500 posters and 2.200 other shows…
Tomorrow we're driving back with a small galaxy of stars
great reviews and lots of ideas, possibilities and dreams.
Next destinations will be on the website soon.
Can't wait to do the next performances of La French Touch
A suivre…
Friday August 24th
Some evenings…
On stage… in a Fringe venue it feels as if you invited a bunch of friends to your place…
…to spend some good time together…
And you prepare them your most wonderful meal with lots of…. spinach…* You spend hours in the kitchen preparing everything, you open your best wines and champagne.
You light the candles, dress the table with your most beautiful napkins, and polish the glasses and silverware until they shine like a mirror.
You shave carefully so that you don't cut yourself, put on some cologne and cool music… iron your best shirt…
Then you wait for your friends to arrive…
And when your friends finally arrive…
They say…
They don't eat spinach… *
...
The air thickens and gets hard to breathe, the awkwardness of the moment makes you wonder. Sometimes theatre feels like that… heavy…
Luckily this doesn't happen very often.
Other times… You feel the roar of the crowd, people murmuring, wondering, curious.
And at the end of the show you wish you'd have some more spinach left, because everything is finished and they are asking for more.
That's what performing at the Fringe is like:
A huge party of people, liking and disliking, in their own right, everything they see, hear and feel.
A wonderful experience.
* replace by foie gras, oysters, caviar, or anything you like best.
Wednesday August 22nd
Yesterday evening was the biggest audience since the start of our run. Numbers are going up and it feels so good to be playing for a full house. Technically things seem to be under control.
People were asking for more, we must be doing something right.
Six more shows to go and, miracle: today the sun is shining.
We're having coffee in the Meadows.
A bientôt,
Frédérik.
Tuesday August 21st
I know, I know, we didn't write… shame on me.
Now I have to catch up with you on two weeks of Edinburgh …
This blog might be a bit longer than usual.
What happened? Well, we arrived, safely. But only just barely, and after an extremely long journey. Too long. We drove all the way from Paris in one day without much sleep the night before.
Michael and I slept a bit on the boat, then enjoyed the white cliffs
of Dover and took some pictures. We left late and missed
the first boat…
Everything didn't fit in the car and it was so loaded I couldn't
even find a spot for my toothbrush. We were afraid we might sink the boat but luckily it remained afloat. The GPS brought us, with some detours, to Edinburgh where we arrived at 2am. The last 60 miles or so were killing us. It was a small, dark and (long and) winding road
through the Scottish countryside, which is surely beautiful at
daytime but we had to fight to keep our eyes open.
The flat. We're staying in a wonderful apartment that feels a bit Haussmanien except there are no Grands Boulevards, just the Meadows Park, a stone's throw away. All very comfortable.
Next day we went shopping (nothing interesting to report there except for haggis and bacon) and we picked up Isabelle and Philippe at the airport.
Miracle: the sun was shining.
C venues, tech rehearsals, meeting people, putting faces on names we had only seen written below e-mails. Always very exciting. Filling out forms, having tea, shaking hands, saying "Hello, it's so nice to (finally) meet you!"
And our Sue, as beautiful as two years ago. It's good to see you.
The venue, C+1, is very organised… on paper; the reality however is slightly different. It seems so easy, to actually read an e-mail and to take note of things… 'Yahama C3 Baby Grand, equivalent
or better'… 'Soundcraft FX'… The 'instrument' we found at C+1 was a beautiful looking but totally un-tuneable antiquity… and the difference between a Soundcraft FX and SX might only be one single letter, but that one single letter makes a huge difference… Hard to understand.
Besides that, C venues has a lot of loud music, bars, teenagers and funny looking girls with braces.
It's
a fun place to be…
Anyway, we chased up on things, made some phone calls and everything turned out fine. The venue is great; a nice comfortable little theater of 150 seats and so is the C staff. Cooperative. Siva, Kieran, Marilyn, Peter, Neil… and lots of others. (There are hosting 'only' 160 shows at 7 locations in the city – just imagine.)
We found a great sound operator, Ben, who's of tremendous help and Paul Froy, our official tech for Judy and Me, two years ago already, came in one day and helped us program the lights.
We're proud to be singing through Neumann microphones…what
a difference. You can feel the air going through the wire straight
to the audience. Thank you Hans van der Linden for supplying
our sound equipment. It all works as it should.
Opening night. First we picked up Stéphane at the airport.
Miracle: the sun was shining again.
Then we didn't know it would be one of the last days.
(Yes, it has been raining ever since…
Oh beautiful Scotland how we have missed you.)
Preset - open the house; house lights go down; musicians walk
on - LXQ1… 'Et un, deux, trois - rendez-vous à la coda', as musicians sometimes say in France. ('And one, two, three - see you at the Coda', the end of the song, for those who are not familiar with solfège - Yes the first song is a waltz.) 'Sons of the thief, sons of the saint, who is the child with no complaint…'
LXQ2 - Isabelle walks on from stage left… The show went great and we got on track quickly.
A reviewer from the Scotsman came in even before our official press night and before we swapped the antique piano for a real on. Nevertheless, she wrote a great article.
Singing work by Jacques Brel and Edith Piaf interspersed with original material, Isabelle Georges shows herself to be every inch a vedette. As much Broadway as France … a startling voice…
The likes of Judy Garland, Liza Minnelli and Barbra Streisand. Georges' magnetic energy has everyone in the palm of her hand.
The Scotsman
ThreeWeeks, The Edinburgh Evening News, One4Review…
all very good.
Isabelle Georges - what talent and commanding stage presence!
Moving and humorous! She can take songs from varied musical traditions, such as musicals, jazz and from her native France, and sing them with depth and style.
Compositions by Jacques Brel, Stephen Sondheim and Cole Porter reflect her range.
One4Review
A wonderful new musical cabaret show that truly captivates the audience from the offset.
C'est magnifique!
ThreeWeeks
Of course we were a little nervous as always, but the audiences
are extremely responsive and participating. As Michael keeps saying: "It's always the first week that's the hardest.”
(Note that this is only the second time we're at the Fringe)
Ali McKichan took some pictures.
Now we're out fliering and telling people to come and see La French Touch. Marketing isn't something our budget can afford to pay for. We have to do it all by ourselves… with a little help from our friends.
Imagine us on the Royal Mile, handing out fliers and saying in less than 10 seconds: "Hello, come and see La French Touch,
a musical cabaret show… works by Brel, Piaf, Trenet, Cole Porter, Gershwin… great orchestra with guitar, accordion, double bass, drums, percussions, piano… great reviews, tap dancing and some original songs by Maury Yeston composer and writer of Tony Award winning musicals Titanic and Nine."
There are still some seats available.
For now, I guess I'll go and iron my shirt for tonight.
The 17th show in a row, at 21.15 (though we do start a bit late sometimes).
Still 7 to go.
Hope to see you one of these evenings at C+1.
Keep you posted.
Cheers,
F.
Tuesday August 7th 0:42am
I know you're all very curious to know how things are going for La French Touch at the Fringe, 'cause the website is getting a lot of hits from Holland, France, Australia, the States and Bulgaria too. Well, we're going to have to leave you in the dark for a few more days.So far, we've done the first three shows, we've warmed up, we've set up and we've taken our marks. We're now fine tuning lights, sound and the structure of the show. After all, it is a world première.We've been doing tech rehearsals in our time slot at 9:05pm but also at 6am… and tomorrow is another one of those days… Imagine, rehearsing at 6 am… (It's slavery)
And guess who's going to correct the lights first thing tomorrow morning?By the way, tomorrow is our official press night. We're throwing a party and looking forward to it.
The champagne is chilled; Isabelle, Stéphane and Philippe are on top, Michael is all over the place and Sue's on the phone.
veryone's welcome. Promise, after Wednesday I'll write a bit more about our Edinburgh adventure.
For now, I'll just say goodnight and good luck.
Yours sincerely,
F.
PS I: Edinburgh hasn't improved since 2005: There's still no way to park a car, it's cold and it's raining…
PS II: It's hard to get an internet connection:
Please do excuse us if we're long to reply to e-mails.
PS III: Why did I pick these shoes, why did I pick this song?
Why did I pick this career, why does this pianist hate me… *
*A few lines from Climbing Uphill a song in La French Touch .
From the Last Five Years by Jason Robert Brown.
What a hassle.
