Celebrating your birthday on a holiday is a bummer but if it falls on Cinco de Mayo, then at least you can get your party on by wearing a sombrero and chowing down on Mexican dishes paired with margaritas. There’s a silver lining to every fiesta!
Getting older isn’t for everyone, especially if you have morbid thoughts of dying on your special day.
In this case, Quinn (Gabriel Quijano), a gay and Latinx man, is all about doom and gloom and terrified about celebrating his 25th birthday on May 5 in Cheesy Pizza Productions’ “Cinco: The Musical” at the 34th Annual Orlando International Fringe Theatre Festival. The musical was written by David J. Sirois.
Quinn is traumatized by the curse of Cinco, and has dreaded his big day ever since his fifth birthday.
He kicks off his birthday by wearing a button-up sweater and resembling Mister Rogers and later tries to lighten up his mood by changing into a bright yellow, sunflower shirt while hanging out in his bedroom.
The sunny disposition of his sunflower shirt doesn’t cheer or get him out of his sour mood, and an Alexa-type-of-device doesn’t help with reciting scary news headlines.
His big sister Raven (Marisa Quijano-Sirois, who wrote the musical score with Paul C. Tugwell), boyfriend Henry (Michael Kennedy) and friends Clara (Cherry Gonzalez) and Felix (Eduardo A. Rivera), try to coax him out of his bedroom for an all-day birthday celebration on Cinco de Mayo but Quinn isn’t in the celebratory mood.
The five characters don’t disappoint during their moments on stage and musical numbers. Raven has some powerful pipes and sings her heart out during solo and ensemble performances. The Black List Band also brings the beats and laughs to the show.
Felix provides comedic relief to the chaos with his flamboyancy and humor in a musical with minimal props.
Find out if Quinn faces his fears and lives or has a dramatic death on his birthday during “Cinco: The Musical.”
Admission, duration and venue information:
60 minutes, Renaissance Theatre Company, located at 415 E. Princeton St., Orlando, Florida 32804, Fringe Festival button is $10 and show admission is $15 plus a $2 service fee
Showtimes:
Friday, May 16 at 8:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 17 at 4:30 p.m.
Sunday, May 18 at 3 p.m.
Wednesday, May 21 at 9:30 p.m.
Thursday, May 22 at 8 p.m.
Saturday, May 24 at 8:30 p.m.
Sunday, May 25 at 1:30 p.m.
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