CHARMING DISASTER’S MUSICAL ORACLE at The ESL Rochester Fringe Festival

Start: Saturday, September 20, 2025 7:00PM
End: Saturday, September 20, 2025 8:00PM

NYC goth-folk cabaret duo Charming Disaster return to the Rochester Fringe with an interactive concert in which the duo’s original songs inspired by myth, magic, monsters, and mortality are selected by chance by audience members drawing cards from the Charming Disaster Oracle Deck (a 72-card divination deck created by the band with illustrations by 30+ artists from around the world). This Tarot-style card ritual not only determines the set list, but also provides insight into the mysterious workings of destiny—and makes each performance unique. What does the future hold? Find out before it’s too late... 3 SHOWS only! Rochester School of the Arts (SOTA), Black Box Theatre, 45 Prince Street, Rochester, NY 14607. PURCHASE TICKETS NOW: FRIDAY, September 19 at 8:30 PM and SATURDAY, September 20 at 7 PM and 9 PM. Tickets $18. On sale now at www. rochesterfringe.com. What people are saying: “Dressed like ghostly prom dates who ran off with the tarot reader, the Brooklyn-based pair turned the joint into a gothic cabaret where every strum, stomp, and stare felt enchanted. With a Gibson from the grave and a deck of cards from the occult, they let fate pick the playlist — a high-stakes game of cabaret roulette. The whole thing? Mesmerizing, madcap, and maybe a little cursed — in the best possible way.” –Unrated Magazine “Their onstage banter—equal parts sarcastic stage whisper and conspiratorial wink—transforms each set into a midnight salon, where clever wordplay and playful repartee keep the crowd on delighted tenterhooks.“ –Grimrose Manor “Charming Disaster’s dark cabaret style is the kind that transcends genre and musical era with an immediacy that instantly draws you into its unique creative vision.” –Queen City Sounds More about Charming Disaster: Charming Disaster is a musical duo based in New York City, formed in 2012 by Ellia Bisker and Jeff Morris. Inspired by the macabre humor of Edward Gorey, Tim Burton, and Charles Addams, the murder ballads of the Americana tradition, and the dramatic flair of the cabaret, they write playfully dark songs about death, crime, myth, magic, science, and the occult. Their interactive shows, which have been described as “haunted vaudeville,” blur the lines between concert, theatre, and ritual. Charming Disaster’s music has been featured on the podcast Welcome to Night Vale, they have toured the United States and Europe, and they have opened for Rasputina, Voltaire, and The Dresden Dolls. Recent appearances include Philadelphia’s Science History Institute, Cleveland's Wizbang Circus Theatre, and NYC’s Coney Island Sideshow stage. They are returning to the Rochester Fringe for their seventh year. Their latest album, The Double, was released in May 2025 to critical acclaim and is available everywhere music is streamed.