Kevin J. Thornton is the quintessential Fringe experience: funny, relatable, musical and gay. And his 2012 show, Strange Dreamz, doesn't disappoint.
It takes bacon-wrapped balls to do a show this edgy and self-referential, and Thornton — think Greg Kinnear through the looking glass — displays them proudly. Stories range from a bad breakup (“He was adorable, like the baby in Aliens whose acid blood cut through metal.”), to misadventures in texting (“What if “I can still taste you' arrived a week late… ewww.”)
But the centerpiece of Strange Dreamz is Thornton's hilarious sexual awakening in small-town Indiana. A preview: he put his penis everywhere, videotaped himself and surgically altered a mannequin.
A costume change masks the depth of Thornton's humor as he veers into politics and religion. A story about his aging grandfather is genuinely touching. By the end of a very quick sixty minutes, it's apparent that Strange Dreamz exists on many levels… all satisfying.
