One of the Fringe Festival bloggers, When You're Good To Momma had a very interesting note about Cinderella. Apparently, the company (DeLasalle Players) has written on their program that the best way to help them is to write a five star review on the Fringe website. Anyone who creates an identity on the Fringe site can write reviews about any show. But DeLasalle goes a step further by offering a "FIVE STAR POSITIVE FEEDBACK FORM" on the back of the program that audience members can fill out and the company will create a user profile for them on the Fringe website and enter their comments for them.

I feel a fogey moment coming on: Call me old school, but begging audience members for reviews is acceptable? (Insert old man voice here) Back in my day we put on the show and waited for the reviews. Those who gave good reviews were obviously brilliantly intelligent. Those who gave bad reviews obviously suffered from some debilitating mental disease and therefore should be pitied for not getting our high art.

Seriously, it's one thing to impress upon friends who see your show to register and write a review but to openly tell audience members to fill out a form and the theater troupe will write it for you? That's tackier than the leopard print skirt I loved to wear in high school.

It's too bad, because the show is supposed to be quite good and now they could get mired in this poor form of advertising. It's so tacky it makes me not want to see the show. Then again, the chances of me going to see a show about Cinderella was pretty slim to begin with.

Although, in the world of the Fringe getting absolutely no notice is worse than getting even the most horrendous reviews, so my talking about it in my blog does help advertise this show. So, in a way, I have been swept up in their clever marketing plan. (Insert diabolical music here).