EDINBURGH 2022: The Failure Cabaret Q&A

BWW catches up with The Fremonts to chat about bringing The Failure Cabaret to the 2022 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Tell us a bit about The Failure Cabaret.

The Failure Cabaret was born in a hotel bar in Boulder, Colorado. After living in NYC and working as actors for about 14 years, we relocated to Boulder to pursue writing music in a less expensive place. We were having drinks with our boss at the time, Chuck Porter, who is an advertising legend and founder of the agency CP+B. He's an amazing creative, huge fan of theatre and now our Executive Producer. He asked us about why we left NYC and stopped acting. We told him about how Steph burned out after being on the road for a long time and Justin got hurt while working on Broadway. He asked, "What if you write a theatre show and I produce it?"

We loved the thought of making a show with Chuck, but we didn't have any good ideas of what to write about. So, we decided to write about all the ways we screwed up, gave up on our dreams, suffered with mental illness, struggled financially, and were barely able to keep our marriage together. You know...light-hearted stuff. Luckily, we both love comedy, so the darker the material the more jokes we tell. We were also able to weave our original music into the story. We ended up creating this quirky, darkly comic cabaret that brings some really vulnerable topics into the light.

Why bring it to Edinburgh?

The first time we did the show was in a little space just outside of Boulder for about 60 people. The crowd ate it up and we started to realise that we had a nice piece on our hands. We've now performed it about 15 times in different areas of the US. Unbelievably, the show has sold out and had a great response each time. As we discussed the next steps for the piece, the idea of bringing it to Edinburgh kept coming up. It's a perfect festival show - just over an hour long, very simple in its staging and packed with music, comedy and real-life stories. We're excited to run the show 24 times in a row at the festival and see how it resonates with an international audience. Do people from other countries also think it's hilarious to make fun of Boulder, Colorado? We'll soon find out!

Who would you like to come and see it?

We think this show is for everyone... except children. Maybe someday we'll write the children's version, though it's awfully hard for us to tell our stories without swearing. We are hoping that people who have struggled with mental health, relationships, money and achieving their career goals will come to see the show and feel some relief. The hope is that we can all relax a bit about where we are in life and maybe have a laugh while we're at it.

Do you think you know what to expect from the Fringe?

We really don't know what to expect! Steph has been to the Fringe a couple of times as an actor and audience member, but that was many years ago. Justin has never been to the Fringe in person, but he's worked on shows that ended up performing at the festival. The Fringe has sort of an epic reputation in NYC. For years, we've heard stories from our mentors and peers about performing at the festival and experiencing huge waves of inspiration and energy. We're excited to be surrounded by artists, see theatre from all over the world and hopefully experience some creative magic. We're also securely in middle-age now, so we fully expect to be tired and a bit overwhelmed to be honest!

Are there any other shows you're excited to see at the festival?

Yes! We really want to see The Tiger Lillies' One-Penny Opera and Rhys Nicholson's Rhys! Rhys! Rhys! We're also huge fans of Ru Paul's Drag Race, so we are dying to see Bianca Del Rio and Jinkx Monsoon. We saw Jinkx perform multiple times in NYC and her approach to music and comedy is masterful. Our goal is to see as many shows as possible and leave the festival with our brains absolutely packed with stories.

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Photo credit: Rachel Graham

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