Sprocket Stage Company presents Doro and Diega Explore Middle Class America
Green venue, find showtimes
There’s something to be said about a Fringe show that can take a childhood memory and completely turn it upside down by adding adult themes and sexual innuendos.
I’m a little too old to have grown up on Dora the Explorer & the spin off Go Diego, Go! But as a Guncle to the kids of a few friends, I am quite familiar with the Nickelodeon cartoon shows meant to educate preschoolers.
The show focuses on the gender swapped characters of the Nickelodeon shows they parody, featuring the colorful and feminine Doro (Erick Perafan) & Diega (Jasmine Forsberg) who plays, the slightly anal retentive guide through all the silliness.
They’re joined by a Monkey (Maria Ragen) which the audience gets to name (the monkey was named Tampon at the show I saw), Siri (Ali Molnar) as opposed to the talking map and finally, the stoner Knapsack (Thomas Rivera).
The antagonist is a glammed up gay puppet, Swapper, played ever-so-well by the show’s director/writer Alexander Mrazek.
The cast often plays double roles which adds to the hilarity of the chaos you sometimes see on stage and it seems they know this and play off of it.
With Doro & Deiga arriving, legally this time, in the United States the kids start in Florida and proceed to explore middle class America in a “choose your own adventure” musical. They comedically touch on various subjects from LGBT themes (in our case, we visited Kentucky & met the couple that sued Kim Davis), poverty and even religious cults.
Some major highlights included Jasmine’s incredible singing voice, Erick’s sweet and flamboyant Doro!, Alexander’s over the top characters and some of the awkward and well-handled Fringe audience responses.
This cast looked to be having as much fun as the sold out crowd, (sometimes it’s hard to hold a straight face when you have your hand up a monkey puppet’s butt while you call him Tampon). My only issue was the music being a little over powering since the actors were not mic’ed.
Outrageously funny and fast-paced, Doro and Diega Explore Middle Class America is worth catching with or without a visit to the beer tent. The music included some catchy ear worms like Ven Comigo (Come with Me), which I sang all the way back to the Stonewall bar at the Green lawn. Playing in the small Green venue, this show can easily sell out fast, so getting tickets in advance is recommended.
Read all of Watermark’s coverage of the 2016 Orlando Fringe Theatre festival here.
