Fringe is here!

Finally! After what seems like 365 days of waiting… the 2012 Ottawa Fringe Festival has officially begun!

Okay, so maybe you can’t see any shows until 5:00 tonight, but with 12 venues, 52 shows, and over 350 performances, the Ottawa Fringe is Ottawa’s largest theatre festival (and worth waiting a few extra hours for, no?). This year, aside from great local acts, we have performers from across Canada, the United States, and as far away as Australia.

Still don’t know what to see? Overwhelmed by sheer volume of shows, and intimated by the amount of flyers you will be handed over the next 11 days? While reviews won’t come out for a few days (though Google-savvy readers can find reviews for touring shows online), there’s been lots of buzz about the festival all over the internets. As you get ready to start Fringing, here’s a sample of what’s being said about Ottawa Fringe:

• The Capital Critics Circle (who will be reviewing Fringe again this year) had a list of 8 Shows You should see at the Fringe this year.
• Over at Dude, COOK!, Nick writes about making desserts for An Evening with Scott Thompson (and for the record, those Doughnut Crostini’s were super good, I may have had more than my share…)
• Lawrence Aronovitch tells about his show, Ex Cathedra, going into tech.
• Production Ottawa (who had great video-review coverage of Fringe last year) gears up for another year of Fringe
• As always, Kevin Reid over at The Visitorium has some of the most comprehensive Fringe coverage around (his site will review every show this year – but more on that in a day or two). Give his FRINGE COMA 2012 Premable a read for a great preview of the festival, and stick around to read one of his six (so far) interviews he’s done with variousFringeartists.
• If you haven’t already done so, go to our YouTube Channel and check out the various Fringe previews that are available on the site
• And finally, if you’re on the tweets (and even if you aren’t) follow @ottawafringe for up to the minute news and gossip about the festival, contests, and maybe a mystery (who is Octavius Fringe?). If you’re tweeting about or silently stalking us on Twitter, follow the hashtag #ottfringe to be part of the conversation.

Fringe is here! What are you seeing tonight?