By the time you read this column, the 2022 Orlando International Fringe Festival will be in the books after having brought to downtown over 100 different productions from around the world. Even after personally penning 60-odd reviews, there were still scores of worthy artists I couldn’t cover, with a few exceptional ones – such as Lauren Bone Noble’s Fury, a hilarious and heartbreaking tour-de-force of interactive bouffon clowning that combined the ancient Greek myth of Medea with the all-too-timely topic of gun violence – that unfortunately fell by the wayside. Of course, between MegaCon and Memorial Day festivities, the Fringe was far from the only important event in Central Florida last weekend, but none made a bigger bang – or will have a longer-lasting impact – than the official debut of Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, the long-awaited replacement for EPCOT’s old Universe of Energy pavilion.
EPCOT officially debuts Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, a huge roller coaster themed to Marvel's interstellar antiheroes
