We're halfway through the 11-day, 15-venue, 167-show Minnesota Fringe Festival. I've seen 25 shows, with another 20-some on the schedule for the next five days. Here are a few of my favorites so far. I haven't seen everything on my must-see list yet, so be sure to check that out for more recommendations. And you can read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.
There are five days left of Fringe - so get out there and see some shows! Full schedule, venue, and ticketing information can be found on the Fringe's handy dandy website.
My favorite 2017 Minnesota Fringe shows so far, in alphabetical order (click on the title for full show information):
theatrical musings in Minnesota and beyond
Showing posts with label Ferrari McSpeedy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ferrari McSpeedy. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 9, 2017
Monday, August 7, 2017
Fringe Festival 2017: "Sevlin & Devlin Presents: Seven Evans in Heaven"
Show: 18
Category: Comedy
By: Ferrari McSpeedy Theatrical Productions
Created by: Ferrari McSpeedy Theatrical Productions
Location: Ritz Theater Studio
Summary: A delightfully silly tale about two sisters named Evan who die, one going to heaven and one going to unheaven.
Highlights: On paper the story doesn't sound like much - two happy and close sisters die one day, one ending up in heaven and one in hell, and the one in heaven has to go get the one from hell and bring her back. Where does that even come from?! But when brought to life by the Ferrari McSpeedy gang (Anna Hickey, Erin Sheppard, Joe Bozic, John Gebretatose, Mike Fotis, Rita Boersma, Ryan Lear, and director Jason Ballweber), it's pure delight. A bunch of silly gags, fake fights with invisible weapons, cute little songs (with Ryan on ukulele), and puppets are just some of the fun elements that fill out the tale. It almost feels like some of the show is improvised but it's hard to tell, and some of the most fun moments are when the cast crack each other up. Last night's show sold out the tiny Ritz Studio space, so you'll want to make reservations in advance to see this expert exercise in comedy.
Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.
Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.
Monday, August 15, 2016
Fringe Festival 2016: "In the Time of Spies"
Show: 51
Title: In the Time of Spies
Category: Comedy
By: Ferrari McSpeedy Theatrical Productions
Created by: Joe Bozic and Mike Fotis
Location: U of M Rarig Center Thrust
Summary: A loving spoof of '50s and '60s spy TV shows, complete with opening credits!
Highlights: In this really funny broad sketch comedy, chock full of physical humor (crazy exaggerated fight scenes) and sight gags (one of those grabber things as a hand), we meet a team of spies working for the CIA. Typical TV show spy tropes like a mole in their midst, long lost mothers, Russian bad guys, and love triangles unfold, as described and introduced by chanteuse narrator (Anna Hickey). The hilarious cast (also including Joe Bozic, Mike Fotis, James Rone, Rita Boersma, and Jason Ballweber, most of whom come from the improv/sketch comedy world) plays every moment to the hilt. Two "episodes" of In the Time of Spies are presented, and as a TV junkie I loved the "previously on" recap and the silly opening credits that they repeat at the beginning of each episode. It's ridiculously good fun.
Monday, August 5, 2013
Fringe Festival: "Hickory Minimum Security Correctional Facility Presents: Hoosiers: The Stage Adaptation"
Day: 3
Show: 9
By: Ferrari McSpeedy Theatrical Productions
Created by: Mike Fotis and Joe Bozic
Location: U of M Rarig Center Thurst
Summary: To save their Indiana prison from being shut down, a warden and his director of arts and leisure decide to enter a prison theater competition with an adaptation of the hit basketball movie Hoosiers.
Highlights: I've never seen the movie so I probably didn't get a lot of the references (I gather that the plot and characters in the play mirrored those in the movie), and I wasn't laughing nearly as much as my neighbors, but I still found it amusing and entertaining. How can you go wrong with "competitive prison theater?" The cast is great, led by Sam Landman, who portrays the warden with utter conviction and sincerity, and Mike Fotis, the straight man amidst all these crazy characters who populate the prison. And I enjoyed seeing double-Fringe performer Andy Kraft (who is also in Comedy vs. Calories: FIGHT!) as the "Jupitor Jesus" worshiping inmate. My favorite scenes were the clever montages, something you see often on film but rarely onstage. It's well-done silliness.
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