Minnesota Fringe Festival 2018: "Deep in The 100 Acre Woods: A "Pooh"-dunnit?"

Day: 3

Show: 9

Title: Deep in The 100 Acre Woods: A "Pooh"-dunnit?

Category: Comedy / Drama / Mystery

By: Fearless Comedy Productions

Directed by: Becci Schmidt

Location: Minnsky Theatre

Summary: A noir murder mystery featuring the characters from Winnie the Pooh as people, and Pooh as the victim.

Highlights: In this version of the story, the silly old bear is a gangster, womanizer, and club owner who doesn't treat his employees very well (played by James Fairbairn). When he's found dead on the stairs of his club The Honey Pot, Detective Christopher Robin (Joseph Facente) comes in to interrogate all Pooh's employees and figure out Pooh-dunnit. It's a very clever promise and so fun to see these beloved characters as people, retaining their characteristics, and the cast does a great job of bringing out character specificities. We have club singer and Pooh's girlfriend Eeyore (Lana Rosario), her piano accompanist Owl (Ian Welch), Tigger (Mike Hanson) - the bounce-er, bartender Rabbit (Gregory Parks), nervous stuttering Piglet (Mickaylee Shaughnessy), and mama Kanga (Lauren Haven) and her young adult son Roo (Nathan Kelly) who wants to know who his father is. Det. Robin questions each one in turn, with flashback scenes filling in the story. It seems everyone had a reason to hate Pooh (hate Winnie the Pooh, can you imagine?!), so when we eventually find out the culprit it really doesn't matter. The fun comes in watching these familiar childhood characters juxtaposed against this familiar noir mystery storytelling style where they really don't belong. Very fringey indeed.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.

Fringe Festival 2016: "The ImproVoice"

Day: 4

Show: 16

Title: The ImproVoice

Category: Musical

By: Double-Blind Productions

Directed by: Eric Thompson

Location: Southern Theater

Summary: An improvised singing competitions between four contestants, with songs based on audience suggestions.

Highlights: Before the show, the audience is asked to fill out a short questionnaire, which is used as the basis of the songs. Host Eric Thompson introduces us to the four contestants (played by Molly Glover, Jeff Gyllen, Lauren Haven, and Aaron Cook), who go through four rounds of competition: solos, duets, a sing-off (group number), and the winner's solo. The talented and fast-thinking singers make up songs on the spot about such odd subjects as chainsaws, tweezers, and Monopoly. Chad Dutton ably and enthusiastically accompanies them on the keyboard with a variety of song styles. It's hard to believe this is improvised, the songs are so well done, but I guess the silly lyrics give it away. I'm always impressed by improv actors who can create a character out of nothing, but this group does that, plus writing songs as they're singing them! It's great fun to watch.

(Nerdy aside: I wonder if the company name, Double-Blind Productions, is a reference to clinical trials? Are there statisticians on the team?! #statsnerd)