Minnesota Fringe Festival 2024: "A Murder on the Great Grimpen Mire Express"

Day: 9

Show: 26

Title: A Murder on the Great Grimpen Mire Express

Category: Comedy / Mystery / Literary adaptation

By: Fearless Comedy Productions

Created by: Tim Wick & Jami Newstrom

Location: Mixed Blood Theatre

Summary: A mashup of two of the most beloved mystery stories: Murder on the Orient Express and The Hound of the Baskervilles.

Highlights: This is a very funny, clever, well-written show. Putting two of English literature's favorite detectives (Poirot and Holmes) together* is a fun idea, and the show plays on the idiosyncrasies of both characters. Like in Orient Express, Belgian (not French!) detective Hercule Poirot is traveling by train when he happens upon a woman - a Baskerville heir - who's afraid someone is trying to murder her. She has enlisted the services of famous detective Sherlock Holmes, setting up a bit of a rivalry between the two detectives. But Holmes isn't actually on the train, he's sent his trusty assistant Watson. Ms. Baskerville tells the two men her story (with some fun feminist commentary on the damsel in distress trope). Poirot interviews everyone on the train, and of course solves the mystery. The set quickly and cleverly transforms from the sleeping cabins to the dining car and back again. Everyone in the cast is great, particularly Edwin Strout as the mustachioed detective, Angela Fox as the slightly amnesiac Ms. Baskerville, and Dawn Krosnowski stealing scenes as multiple characters (who all come together in the end). Their final performance is today, the final day of Fringe, so you still have time to see this fun, clever, well executed mashup.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here. 

*For more Holmes/Poirot fan fiction, go see Park Square Theatre's return this after a couple dark years with the original play Holmes Poirot by Jeffrey Hatcher and Steve Hendrickson.

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2022: "Michael Bay's Bridgerton VII: Revenge of the Forlorn"

Day: 7

Show: 23

Title: Michael Bay's Bridgerton VII: Revenge of the Forlorn

Category: COMEDY / PHYSICAL THEATER / SCI-FI

By: Snikt! Bamf! Thwip! 

Created by: Tim Wick & Jami Newstrom

Location: Theatre in the Round

Summary: A spoof of Netflix's smash hit series Bridgerton, with some Michael Bay transformers elements thrown in.

Highlights: Confession: I had to google Michael Bay to see what movies he was involved in, so I was definitely there for the Bridgerton of it all. And I was very satisfied in that regard. The story revolves around our favorite BFFs - Penelope Featherington (Angela Fox) and Eloise Bridgerton (Alison Anderson). There's a dashing suitor known as Viscount Studleywright (Michael Bloom), a meddling mother (Breanna Cecile), and even a voiceover by Whisledown (Dawn Krosnowski). But here our heroines also have to deal with the evil Lord Montjoy (Edwin Strout) and his inept accomplice (Samuel Poppen) trying to sabotage the Bridgerton ball and therefore the entire family's reputation. There's a running comentary about how the men simply do not hear the women (funny because it's true), and the benefit of guilds (i.e., unions). About halfway through the show, it turns from Bridgerton to Michael Bay, with our characters losing their charming British accents and instead speaking and acting like crass Americans. There are explosions, and fights, and transformers! But in the end, the two friends come back together and vow to take their lives, and their stories, into their own hands. The Fringe isn't the Fringe without a trendy pop culture spoof, and this show fills that spot nicely.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.

"Fearless 5: Music" by Fearless Comedy Productions at the Historic Mounds Theatre

This was my first time seeing Fearless Comedy Productions' Fearless 5 show: "an evening of one act plays in which an ensemble of actors perform 5 original short plays, written by 5 different playwrights, and directed by 5 different directors." This year's theme is music, and combining music and theater is my favorite kind of storytelling, so I couldn't resist. In an era of jukebox musicals, movie adaptations, and repeated revivals (e.g., the upcoming Broadway touring season, which has not a single new original musical), it's exciting to see local playwrights explore the idea of music-theater, whether it's through full-blown musicals, or merely with music as an idea behind the story. Check it out at the cool (and possibly haunted) art deco-era renovated Historic Mounds Theatre in St. Paul's Dayton's Bluff neighborhood, Fridays and Saturdays through the end of the month (tickets just $10 - click here for details).

Fringe Festival 2016: "And To Think That I Saw It At 221B Baker's Street"

Day: 5

Show: 23

Title: And To Think That I Saw It At 221B Baker's Street

Category: Comedy

By: Rooftop Theatre Company

Created by: John Newstrom and Tim Wick

Location: Southern Theater

Summary: A brilliantly funny mash-up of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Seuss.

Highlights: I know, it sounds weird. Everyone's favorite rhyming children's author combined with one of the most beloved literary characters of all time? But it works beautifully well. And in a fun twist - Sherlock Holmes is a woman (it's about time)! In typical Holmsian style, Dr. Watson (Samuel Poppen) narrates a case as the brilliant Ms. Holmes (Dawn Krosnowski) solves it effortlessly. Their client in this particular case is none other than The Cat in the Hat, who is searching for his missing Things. A trip to Whoville is in order, where Holmes and Watson meet several other Dr. Seuss characters, from a Lorax to Cindy Lou Who (hilariously protrayed by Lana Rosario, Jason Kruger, Roseah Germ, and Tim Jopek with multiple costume changes). Of course Ms. Holmes' nemesis Moriarty (Edwin Strout) is behind the disappearance of the Things, and of course she saves the day. Creators John Newstrom (director) and Tim Wick (writer) have managed to successfully combine these two beloved franchises in a way that's sure to please fans of either one, as well as people who enjoy clever comedy.

Fringe Festival 2015: "The Sound of Footloose: The Not Musical"

Day: 8

Show: 37

Title: The Sound of Footloose: The Not Musical

Category: Comedy

By: Snickt! Bamf! Thwip!

Written by: Tim Wick

Location: U of M Rarig Center Thrust

Summary: A silly and fun mash-up of two classic movies - The Sound of Music and Footloose.

Highlights: This one is totally frivolous but kinda fun too, even if the premise is a bit confusing (how is it the '80s and yet still someone pre-WWII?). I can't resist a SoM reference, and this show has them aplenty, from lonely goatherds to packages with strings. Several of the songs are worked into the dialogue and the '80s song parodies played during the fun dance sequences (choreographed by Windy Bowlsby). The story finds novice Maria a rock-and-roll loving (in the '30s?) nun sent back to high school to keep on eye on the Mother Superior's rebellious son (she wasn't always a nun), and pleads with the Nazis to allow them to hold a dance that will save Austria... or something. It's pretty goofy and mindless, but the cast is totally committed to the camp of it all. But I'm not so sure about the "not musical" declaration; anything that includes a dream ballet is a musical in my book.

Fringe Festival: "Top Gun: The Musical"

Day: 8

Show: 26

Title: Top Gun: The Musical

Category: Musical theater

By: Rooftop Theatre Company

Created by: Wick, Newstrom, Bowlsby, Dutton

Location: Illusion Theater

Summary: A tongue-in-cheek musical adaptation of the hit '80s movie Top Gun.

Highlights: I hereby declare that all movie-to-musical adaptations should be intentionally cheesy Fringe musicals like this one, not overly sincere big budget Broadway musicals. The idea of turning any movie, Top Gun in particular, into a stage musical is so silly that you have to make fun of it. And they do. The eight-person cast gamely jumps right into Tim Wick's adaptation that hits all the high (and low) points in the movie, and particularly delights in playing up the latent homo-eroticism of the original. Windy Bowlsby's choreography is fun and has the guys flying around the stage holding hands, the costumes are spot-on, complete with aviator glasses and period mustaches, and there's some pretty awesome upside-down flying equipment. Songs include "Gotta Get Into Top Gun," "You Don't Impress Me," "Take Me to Bed or Lose Me Forever," "Ego Checks" (a running gag referring to the line "your ego is writing checks your body can't cash"), and a ridiculously over-the-top volleyball number (gold lame underwear!). Samuel Poppen is a charming goofball as Maverick, Jacob Effinger has a bit of Christian Borle zaniness as Goose, Maverick's doomed wingman, Chris Hoefer has the right look as Maverick's rival/love interest Iceman, and Chris Bowlsby has a surprisingly lovely voice as Goose's wife. This is a fun and silly show that doesn't take itself too seriously, and the audience has as much fun as the cast. And I do appreciate that the obligatory "please review our show" is sung.

Fringe Festival: "A Brief History of Irish Music"

Day: 1

Show: 2

Title: A Brief History of Irish Music

By: Snikt! Bamf! Thwip!

Created by: The Dregs

Location: New Century Theatre

Summary: Irish comedy band The Dregs perform a half dozen songs from their repertoire, from plaintive ballads to rousing drinking songs, and everything in between. The framework for this showcase is a book called A Brief History of Irish Music, which allegedly gives the history of each song they sing. Members also act out some of the stories behind the songs (with props).

Highlights: This six-person band might be full of jokesters, but the music is fantastic. The skits in between songs are silly, and they're better musicians than actors, but that's part of the fun. They don't take themselves (or the subject matter) too seriously, and have a lot of fun playing with the audience. But don't be fooled, they are serious musicians. And drummer Tim Wick does a great job leading the band through the show as he "reads from the book" and keeping things moving along. It's worth seeing for the music, with a lot of fun thrown in. (And my friend who's lived in the South wanted me to point out that they correctly use the phrase "all y'all," which is commonly misused by us Northerners.) 

Read more of my fringe fest reflections…

… including my top 5 shows