Where-To-Go Wednesday - On Location Tours and The New York International Fringe Festival

We were given a free On Location Tour for review purposes. Any and all opinions expressed here are our own based on our experience.

What: On Location Tours

Where: Various locations New York City

Who: All ages

Mom's view: If you have ever wanted to visit the locations where your favorite TV shows and movies were filmed or that inspired your favorite TV shows and movies, you will love On Location Tours. There are a wide variety of tours to choose from ranging from very general tours like The New York City TV and Movie Tour to somewhat specific like The Central Park TV and Movie Tour to  very specific like The Sopranos Tour or The Real Housewives of New York City Tour. Locations we visited on our Tour included The Ghostbusters Firehouse, the Friends apartment, the original Soup Man from Seinfeld and the bar that was the inspiration for MacLarens on How I Met Your Mother. On Location Tours are less tiring than most other tours and you don't have to worry about the weather because instead of walking around on your feet, you are driven around in a temperature controlled bus. You are able to stop and get out at a few locations, but not a lot. If you are interested in getting closer to most of the locations instead of viewing them from a bus window or if you want to spend a longer time there an On Location Tour may not be for you or you will have to go back on your own.  However, it is not like you go speeding by each location and if you blink you will miss something. You do get plenty of time to view each location.  You just don't get out of the bus a lot. However, all that time on the bus, gives plenty of time for you to be shown clips from the shows and movies that were filmed at or inspired by the locations you are visiting which is helpful in case you don't remember seeing the location in a TV show or film or you never saw it in a TV show or film. On Location Tours are so interesting and fun that an hour or two on the bus will fly by, and you will wish you had even more time to spend on the tour. For more information about On Location Tours or to book a tour go to onlocationtours.com.

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We were given free tickets for review purposes to the shows discussed below which are part of this year's New York International Fringe Festival. Any and all opinions expressed here are our own based on our experience.

What: Fairy Tale Christmas: The Musical

Where: The Theater at the 14th Street Y

             344 E. 14th Street

             New York, NY

Who: All ages

Remaining Performances: Friday August 25 at 2:00 PM

                                             Sunday August 27 at 12:00 PM

Mom's view: Fairy Tale Christmas: The Musical is based on the book of the same name. It is the story of the famous Fairy Tale villains like Rumpelstiltskin, Cinderella and Snow White's stepmothers etc. joining together to kidnap Santa and hold him for ransom in order to have the ends of their stories changed. Although the premise, sounds a little scary unless your child is scared extremely easily the show is actually not all that scary. It is actually more comedic than scary. Older children would particularly enjoy it. The show is entertaining and full of fun songs although not necessarily particularly memorable ones. The heros and villains in the show are played by the same actors. Sometimes actors change from one character to another in the same scene just by putting on or taking off an article of clothing. This may be confusing to very young children, but it only adds to the hilarity of the show for older kids. If you are afraid that your child will be disturbed by the idea of Santa being kidnapped, be assured that no harm actually comes to him and in fact there is no real violence in the show. The ending real wraps things up nicely, and is probably more satisfactory than the endings of most real fairy tales in which the villains just go away or something so there is always the possibility they might come back at some point to cause more trouble. Therefore, this show might actually sooth children's fears and help them sleep better instead of keeping them up at night.  For an interview with Michael McLean, the co-writer of the show, see our Saturday Special post this upcoming Saturday.

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What: Swashbuckling Sam and the Tale of Blackbeard's Revenge

Where: The Theater at the 14th Street Y

             344 E. 14th Street

             New York, NY

Who: All ages

Remaining Performances: Friday August 25 at 4:15 PM

                                             Saturday August 27 at 4:00 PM

Mom's view: Swashbuckling Sam and the Tale of Blackbeard's Revenge is the story of  a girl named Sam. Faced with changes in her life and the victim of bullying, Sam escapes into a pirate adventure. The show is not really as heavy as it may sound at first. Most of it involves Sam's pirate adventure. In fact, the issues facing Sam at the beginning of the show are neither dealt with in any way nor mentioned again throughout the rest of the show. The Pirates are more fun than scary, and Sam's adventures with them are quite entertaining. There is a little bit of sword fighting but nobody is harmed or killed or made to walk the plank or anything like that. All in all, it is more of comedic adventure than a heavy drama despite the beginning of the show. Therefore, it is a show that can be enjoyed even by kids who would normally be afraid of pirate stories.

For more information about either of these shows or other fringe festival shows or to find out how to purchase tickets go to http://fringenyc.org/.

And that's Mom's view. Tune in to tomorrow's Talking Topics post for Aurella's view of On Location Tours, Fairy Tale Christmas: The Musical, and Swashbuckling Sam and the Tale of Blackbeard's Revenge.