Minnesota Fringe Festival 2025: "Hamluke"

Day: 5

Show: 16

Title: Hamluke

Category: Comedy / Drama / Puppetry / Kid friendly / Literary adaptation / Shakespearian elements

By: Nightfall Productions

Written by: Brad Erickson

Location: Rarig Thrust

Summary: The story of Shakespeare's Hamlet as told with the characters from Star Wars.

Highlights: Like The Book of Morder, this is a mashup that really makes sense and is cleverly done (written and directed by Brad Erickson, who also plays a few minor roles). But unlike The Book of Mordor, I'm really only familiar with half of this mashup. I've definitely seen Hamlet on stage more often than I've seen Star Wars movies or shows. I may have missed some of the references (there were several times when everyone laughed and I didn't know why), but I still enjoyed it and could appreciate the thoughtfulness that went into the character pairings (Darthius = Darth Vader + Claudius, Opheleia = Ophelia + Leia, Landocrantz = Lando + Rosencrantz, etc.) and coalescing of plot points. The lines feel like Shakespeare, including all the Hamlet greatest hits, but with Star Wars words and references thrown in. The cast is fantastic, with lots of familiar faces including but not limited to: Dylan Rugh, so beautifully earnest as Hamluke that I'd love to see him play Hamlet, except I'm afraid some of the Star Wars words would slip in, so similar, yet different, are the lines; Duck Washington as Darthius with the iconic breathing; Jay Melchior as the cocky Laersolo (casting Han Solo as Leia's brother making the flirting a bit weird); and Clarence Wethern as multiple characters include Polyodius with the cutest Yoda puppet in an Elizabethan costume. A soundscape of live music played by two musicians on various stringed and other instruments really adds to the storytelling and make it feel more special. The whole thing is so thoughtfully and cleverly created, including props and set pieces, much of which I probably didn't even catch. But even if you're not a Star Wars (or Shakespeare) person, it's a really fun and well done show.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here. 

"Alma Murder" by The Mystery Cafe at Sheraton Bloomington

I went to my first high school reunion last weekend. No, not my actual high school reunion (I was a nerd with few friends, no need to revisit that), but something much better - an immersive comedy murder-mystery dinner-theater reunion! At Alma Murder (now playing in the downstairs ballroom at Sheraton Bloomington), you're greeted by the principal and secretary of Mellencamp High School as if they know you. You're asked to fill out a nametag with your name and graduation year (class of '92 here) for this all-class reunion on the eve of the destruction of our beloved Mellencamp. The jock and cheerleader/class president/party planner drop by your table to say hi and reminisce. And like all reunions (I assume, never having attended one before), you also get served a delicious three-course meal, have a few drinks with friends old and new, and solve a murder! As with all shows by The Mystery Cafe, it's a fun experiential evening of theater with no separation between audience and performers, rather we're all part of this fun and wacky reunion. Alma Murder continues through January 31 in the South Metro, with their other show, the immersive wedding show 'Til Death Do Us Die (which I saw last year) opening this weekend and playing through February 8. Click here for info and tickets for both shows (dinner included in the ticket price).

"'Til Death Do Us Die" by The Mystery Cafe at Majestic Oaks Golf Club

Having been entertaining audiences for 35 years, The Mystery Cafe is "the longest running interactive comedy dinner theater company in Minnesota," but for some reason I've only recently heard of it. I think maybe that's because it operates outside of the typical theater model, and maybe attracts different audiences. But it employs a lot of the same great actors/ comedians/ improvisors that we see on #TCTheater stages around town, so I (and you) should definitely be aware of it. Presumably if you read this blog you love theater, but if you have someone in your life who says they don't like theater, this might be a great way to introduce them to the wide world of theatrical entertainment. It's definitely not the sit-in-a-dark-audience-completely-separate-from-what's-happening-onstage kind of theater. Instead, you're right in the middle of the action, sitting at large round tables with a group of friends and strangers, eating a three-course meal while theater happens all around you. At my table there was a family of four, and a couple from out-state Minnesota who for years has been driving into the cities to see this show. The show was nearly sold out, so they obviously have a big following. The current show 'Til Death Do Us Die is playing through February 17 at Majestic Oaks in Ham Lake, check it out for a really fun and uniquely entertaining night out. 

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2023: "Fargo Allegro"

Day: 10

Show: 37

Title: Fargo Allegro

Category: COMEDY / DRAMA

By: Nightfall Productions

Directed by: Brad Erickson

Location: Rarig Thrust

Summary: A fairly faithful if condensed reenactment of the beloved 1996 Coen Brothers movie Fargo, with Paul Bunyan as narrator.

Highlights: There's possibly no movie that pokes such loving fun at Minnesota as Fargo. So it's ripe for a Minnesota Fringe parody. I haven't seen the movie in ages, but it seems to cover all of the major plot points (even unnecessary ones like Marge's old friend Mike). The cast, most of whom play multiple characters, is completely committed to the campy/serious tone, and the accents. Highlights include Jeffrey Nolan as the fast-talking criminal Carl, Jay Melchior as the hapless Jerry Lundegaard, and Justine Carroll Melchior as everyone's favorite pregnant police chief Marge Gunderson (the Minnesota/Scandinavian names in this story are dizzying). There's a live two-person multi-instrument band providing the soundtrack and charming sound effects, with video and images projected into a screen of old bedsheets. The clever set consists of wooden crates painted like cement blocks that are constantly moved around for the many different scenes, the front facade of a car with headlights, and white tulle waved around by the hard-working stagehands to simulate snow. It's all very thoughtfully done, with lots of fast-moving pieces that smoothly come together for a highly entertaining show that's the very epitome of the Minnesota Fringe Festival.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.

Josh & Brad in "We Only Murder in THIS Building Featuring: Brad & Josh!" at Bryant-Lake Bowl

It's been a year since I've been to Bryant-Lake Bowl, the quirky little theater at the back of a bowling alley that's home to some of the most creative and risk-taking performances in town, and I've missed it. Josh & Brad in "We Only Murder in THIS Building Featuring: Brad & Josh!" is as much of a love letter to the BLB as it is a celebration of the friendship and creative partnership of Josh Carson and Brad Erickson. In a series of "sketches, songs, and stories," they talk about their separate moves to L.A. working on the oddest of jobs, and their return home to Minnesota, where they met and forged a comedic partnership. They've performed together and individually in a multitude of shows at BLB, the Minnesota Fringe Festival, and elsewhere, the most famous of which is the little show they did ten years ago that has become a smash hit annual event - A Very Die Hard Christmas. You can experience the origin story of these two goofballs in three more shows, or check out other upcoming shows at the theater that supports them and many other artists in #TCTheater, giving them a safe place to explore and create.

"The VAXXED and the Furious" at Bryant-Lake Bowl

It feels so good to return to Bryant-Lake Bowl and Theater, the quirky little theater behind a bowling alley in Uptown, 19 months after seeing my last pre-pandemic show there. It's primarily a home for comedy, although I've also seen plays and musicals by small theater companies there over the years. The restaurant and bowling alley have been open for a while, but they're just now returning to live programming in the theater (with proof of vaccination required). You can see their full schedule here, which includes one more weekend of performances of The VAXXED and the Furious, featuring some of my (and your) favorite funny people in town.

"A Very Die Hard Christmas" at Bryant Lake Bowl

I've never seen the popular 1988 action movie Die Hard, so for years I resisted seeing what has become an insanely popular holiday* tradition - A Very Die Hard Christmas at Bryant Lake Bowl (the 10pm showtime also kept me away). But this year, I finally had to see what everyone was raving about, especially since they added a few 8pm shows for us morning people. I'm still not sure I understand why it's so popular (this year they sold out the entire run before they even opened), but it is a super fun show chock full of pop culture references (of the '80s and Christmas varieties), with very funny performances by the cast. I've never seen such a packed and enthusiastic BLB audience. People love the show, and the team loves doing it, and I guess that's what makes it such a popular and long-standing tradition.

"The Rinky Dink Show! What Kind of Rinky Dink Show is This?" at Bryant Lake Bowl

There's a new group in #TCTheater called Rinky Dink Operations - a collection of very funny people you many know from the Fringe or various other theater, improv, and/or comedy stages around town. They've begun a residency at Bryant Lake Bowl in Uptown with their Rinky Dink Show, a sketch comedy/variety show inspired by everything from Saturday Night Live to The Muppet Show. It's a lot of fun, and something different from the theater I usually see. And with the 7pm showtime and 90 minute runtime, you can be home by 9 for an early bedtime still enjoy other evening festivities that cool people do on the weekends.

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2018: "A Justice League of Their Own"

Day: 5

Show: 20

Title: A Justice League of Their Own

Category: Comedy / Sci-Fi / Political Content

By: Mainly Me Productions

Directed by: Josh Carson

Location: Theatre in the Round

Summary: A mash-up of A League of Their Own and superhero movies, in which female superheroes are recruited to fight evil and the patriarchy.

Highlights: Let me start by saying that I have very vague memories of watching A League of Their Own many years ago, and I don't watch superhero movies. At all. Because of this I probably missed about a third of the jokes (also because the 60 minutes are packed with as many jokes as Lin-Manuel Miranda musicals are packed with words, and because my brain moves considerably slower after 10 pm), but I still found this show brilliant and hilarious. Kudos to director Josh Carson for writing (with ample help from his mostly female cast) a play that skewers the misogyny of the superhero universe and the world in general, and making it so funny and geeky too. Five awesome women (Allison Witham, Emily Jabas, Kelsey Cramer, Lauren Omernik, and Sulia Altenberg) play five awesome superheroes who, despite being strong and capable, have to deal with society's expectations of how they should behave. Heather Meyer is a superhero as well with her multiple characters and lighting fast dialogue, while Josh fills the Tom Hanks role as the past his prime alcoholic Batman hired to coach the women (with Andy Rocco Kraft and Brad Erickson playing many ridiculous roles). The entire cast is fun and playful and all around top notch. If you're more familiar with A League of Their Own than I am (I really need to watch that movie again), you might recognize some familiar scenes and themes, as well as some superhero archetypes. Like Not Fair, My Lady!, this show comes at just the right time and refreshingly shows us female characters just being (super) human. How revolutionary.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.

Fringe Festival 2017: "Repertoire Dogs"

Day: 10

Show: 41

Title: Repertoire Dogs

Category: Comedy

By: Ideal Productions

Created by: Dana's Boys

Location: Mixed Blood Theatre

Summary: Impressions of celebrities in unlikely situations, performed by a cast of seven.

Highlights: This show is just plain fun. Who doesn't love impressions? If they're good it's fun to appreciate the skill, if they're bad it's fun to laugh at how bad they are (and there's a bit of both in this show). Josh Carson hosts a panel which, when I saw the show, included Allison Witham, Ben Tallen, Brad Erickson, Kelsey Cramer, Ryan Nelson, and Thomas Matthes. The first segment is celebrities or fictional characters in movies they weren't in, like Tim Gunn reading the rules from Fight Club, Gollum in The Goonies, and George Bush doing the Independance Day speech. There's a bit of audience participation when someone picks a card of a stock impression every impressionist should have (Jerry Seinfeld) and a competition ensues to see who does it best, while reading from Fifty Shades of Grey. And one (un)lucky audience member gets to go onstage and try to guess the impression. After a lot of laughter (including from the stage, it's also fun to watch the panelists crack each other and Josh up) and Simpsons characters, the show wraps up with a motley crew singing "Piano Man."

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.

Fringe Festival 2017: "The Zoo Story (New Version)"

Day: 9

Show: 34

Title: The Zoo Story (New Version)

Category: Drama

By: Mortimer Productions

Written by: Edward Albee

Location: HUGE Theater

Summary: In 1960s NYC, a "transient who lives in the rooming houses on the Upper West Side" approaches a middle class family man reading on a bench in Central Park.

Highlights: Wikipedia tells me that Edward Albee's 1958 one-act play (his first) "explores themes of isolation, loneliness, miscommunication as anathematization, social disparity and dehumanization in a commercial world." Does it ever! What starts out as an amusing conversation between the frantic Jerry and the reserved Peter turns into something a bit more intense as Jerry describes an existential encounter with a dog that gets at the very nature of life, death, and love. The wordy script is thought-provoking, and Sam Ahren gives a remarkable performance as Jerry, physically transforming into this crazy (or perfectly sane and brilliant) man with almost scary reality. Brad Erickson is also fantastic in a more subtle performance as Peter, who may not be as together as he seems. Directed by Pat O'Brien (who stars in that other tragic two-men-sitting-on-a-park-bench show, Whisper Into My Good Ear), The Zoo Story is one well worth listening, and one that will leave you pondering the weighty themes for some time to come.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.

Fringe Festival 2016: "Take Talkback"

Day: 7

Show: 33

Title: Take Talkback

Category: Comedy

By: Six Four Six One Productions

Directed by: Brad Erickson

Location: Ritz Theater Proscenium

Summary: The post-show talkback of a community theater's production of an edgy play takes a darkly funny turn.

Highlights: I always stay for a post-show talkback, so I couldn't resist a talkback that IS the show! After a performance of the edgy two-person drama Take at Beulah Community Theatre (abbreviated BCT - is that an intentional or inadvertent reference to the theater now called Artistry?), artistic director Becky (a hilarious Christine Karki) introduces the talkback and tells us about BCT's new season (the whole show is performed with house lights up). She's joined onstage by the director (Ben Thietje), the actors (Bobby Gardner and Anna Weggel-Reed), and the writer (Patrick Kozicky), who traveled from NYC just for this event (or did he?!). The play (written by Adam Hummel) pokes gentle fun at talkbacks and theater in general (the actor sipping tea, the grumpy audience member using the talkback as an opportunity to complain he couldn't hear the dialogue). But then disgruntled actors (Joe Bombard and Angie Martin) bust in and demand to be heard. The tame talkback turns into a mess of a situation as secrets come out. Although making a joke out of people with guns attacking a public gathering is a little uncomfortable in light of recent events, Take Talkback is a darkly funny spoof of all things theater.

Fringe Festival 2016: "The Life of Charles Schulz"

Day: 3

Show: 11

Title: The Life of Charles Schulz

Category: Drama

By: History Comes to Life

Created by: Brad Erickson

Location: Phoenix Theater

Summary: The life of St. Paul cartoonist Charles Schulz, creator of Peanuts, arguably the most popular comic strip of all time, as told through a conversation with the man himself.

Highlights: Hosted by Patrick O'Brien (see also The Fever), Brad Erickson portrays the unassuming cartoonist as he talks about his life in that humble Minnesota Lutheran sort of way. With a crew cut and glasses straight out of the '50s, Brad becomes Charles Schulz as he tells us about being teased as a child, going off to WWII shortly after the death of his mother, being rejected by the red-headed girl, and his eventual success as a cartoonist and family man. The familiar characters come to life before our eyes as "Sparky" draws with a black marker on an easel sketchpad. This is a refreshingly low-tech show (a second easel holds blown-up photos on large pieces of cardboard), and a sweet and simple story that pulls at the heartstrings and taps into that nostalgia for childhood. Anyone who has ever seen the iconic TV special A Charlie Brown Christmas, or read the comic strip, or seen the movies, or enjoyed the musical You're A Good Man Charlie Brown (and let's face it, is there anyone on this planet who hasn't?) will likely enjoy getting to know the quiet, kind, humble, unassuming, regular guy behind it all. Brad performs this show at schools and ends with a Q&A session, which he does here as well, answering questions about Charles Schulz and Peanuts and giving the audience a chance to share their memories and love for Charlie Brown and friends.

Fringe Festival: "Hour Town"

Day: 7

Show: 22

Title: Hour Town

Category: Comedy

By: Dana's Boys

Created by: Dana's Boys

Location: Music Box Theatre

Summary: A condensed version of Thornton Wilder's Our Town, set in Minnesota with Garrison Keillor as the stage manager.

Highlights: This show is littered with Minnesota references, which I love. Everything from Joe Mauer's bilateral leg weakness to Jesse Ventura's recent court win, from Paul Bunyon to Little House on the Prairie, from pedal pubs to a list of Minnesota-made movies. But that's not the only thing that makes Hour Town unique. The creators have also added puppets, pop culture references, and music. While not everything works (as much as I love Grover, I don't understand what he was doing in the show, and the wedding dance break was fun but a bit weird, and "Super Trooper?"), enough of it works to make this show a delight. And while some of the poignancy of the original gets lost amidst the goofy humor, there's still a touch of it here, particularly in the repeated use of the song "Que Sera, Sera," which perfectly fits with Wilder's theme of appreciating life in the moment because you don't know what the future will be. The large cast does well with the many roles; Brad Erickson does a spot-on Garrison Keillor impression, and as the young lovers Drew Tennenbaum and Sulia Altenberg are fresh-faced and charming (and Sulia has a lovely voice and looks like a young Judy Garland, Minnesota reference not intended). It's a clever take on a classic and appeals to those of who unabashedly love (or at least love to complain about) our home state.