If you can't find some good theater to attend this weekend, you simply aren't looking. I'm sure that fans of musicals will be heading to the Aronoff to check out the tour of Mary Poppins, and for a meaty dramatic classic, you simply can't go wrong with Angels in America at Know Theatre (read my review here). But let me offer a tip on a show you've certainly never seen but that's likely to have people talking: It's the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park's world premiere of David Bar Katz's The History of Invulnerability.

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Check out CityBeat's extensive coverage of the 2009 Cincy Fringe Festival. As of noon Saturday we've posted reviews of 21 productions, with more coming every day until all 31 shows have been reviewed.

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Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati (ETC) has turned over a new leaf, at least for its 26th season. Producing Artistic Director D. Lynn Meyers has typically spent much of the summer making last-minute arrangements for the shows she’ll offer starting in September. In good years, she’s been able to announce her choices around the time of the Tony Awards, roughly the second week of June. So I’m pleased (and a bit surprised) to tell you that Meyers has pulled it all together for May 1. It’s unprecedented — what’s more, it’s a remarkably good season.

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OK, I can't see any theater in Cincinnati this weekend because I'm attending the Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville, 100 miles down I-71. But if I were in town, I'd have to make some tough choices.

Because of a busy travel schedule, I missed the opening of Daddy-Long-Legs at the Cincinnati Playhouse, but everyone I've talked to has enjoyed it. CityBeat reviewer Tom McElfresh described it as " a two-performer evening of grace and delicacy that’s tuneful, true to the original and altogether satisfying."

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The 2009 Cincy Fringe Festival heads into its second week with high expectations.

"I've heard from a number of patrons that this is the strongest field of shows they've ever seen in at the Fringe, and we agree," Managing Director Eric Vosmeier reports. "Our attendance numbers are up, though it's difficult to say how much just yet."

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Check out CityBeat's extensive coverage of the 2009 Cincy Fringe Festival. As of noon we've posted reviews of 12 productions, with more coming every day until all 31 shows have been reviewed.

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On Feb. 19 and 20, I spent about six hours at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music wandering from room to room and space to space to see theatrical works created by students in CCM’s drama program. The “event” is called Transmigration, a term that suggests souls that are evolving, and that’s pretty much what it felt like I was witnessing.

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CityBeat’s theater guru Rick Pender is right when he pimps the Cincy Fringe Festival as an “Antidote to Uptight” — personally speaking, the annual smorgasbord of edgy indie theater is among the best 12 days the city has to offer. Even the productions that don’t work are at least unique in one way or another. (Check CityBeat’s extensive Fringe coverage for proof.)

Furthermore, as an Over-the-Rhine resident, it’s always heartening to see our city’s most historic and interesting neighborhood even more alive than usual during the fest’s run, a bohemian beehive of activity that celebrates creativity, passion and, as Fringe Producing Artistic Director Eric Vosmeier likes to say, weirdness over all else.

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Friday and Saturday are the final two days of performances from the Cincinnati Fringe. You can read reviews of all the shows at CityBeat's special Fringe blog site. But for your quick reference, here's a list of the shows that received "Critic's Picks" from one of our writers.

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