Minnesota Fringe Festival 2019: "ATLAS ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ : An Objective Musical"

Day: 7

Show: 23

Title: ATLAS ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ : An Objective Musical

Category: COMEDY / MUSICAL THEATER / ORIGINAL MUSIC / SCI-FI / POLITICAL CONTENT

By: Clevername Theatre

Created by: Alexander Gerchak & Bradley Kallhoff

Location: Ritz Theater Mainstage

Summary: A musical parody of Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged, turned into social satire.

Highlights: This was a last minute schedule filler because it was in the right pace at the right time; I didn't know anything about this book going into the show. From what I read on Wikipedia, this show turns the strong capitalist message on its head, and uses satire to bring the themes of the book into 2019. The wealthy businessmen and women believing that socialism is the biggest threat, fearing fair wages and mandatory health care for workers, these are all part of the daily rhetoric, making the show feel very timely. It's performed in an absurdist style which the strong cast (Aly O'Keefe, Carl Swanson, Christian Unser, Kayli McIntyre, Michael Burton, Sarah Platts, Todd O’Dowd, and Tyler Lanam) fully commits to. The props are charmingly DIY, with a live band performing the clever and scary songs, sometimes intentionally jarring and techy. Not my favorite show in the festival (absurdism isn't really my thing), but it's a clever concept well executed.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.

"Musical Mondays" at LUSH, June 2019

Friends, it's been over a year since I attended Musical Mondays, the monthly cabaret series featuring #TCTheater talent. Part of that is my busy regular theater schedule, and part of it is that since moving to their new home at LUSH Bar in Northeast Minneapolis, the space has felt uncomfortably crowded. Great for them for drawing a big crowd, not so great for this introvert who doesn't like crowds. So I was thrilled to hear that LUSH expanded their space just in time for Musical Mondays' annual Pride celebration! I attended the show last night with my blogger friends from Minnesota Theater Love and Artfully Engaging, and was reminded of just what a wonderful, welcoming, educational, and entertaining evening Musical Mondays is. They're taking the month of July off (because summer is busy), but they'll be back post-Fringe on August 12, and the first (or second) Monday of every month for what is hopefully a long time.

"Maple and Vine" by The BAND Group at Center for Performing Arts

The 2011 play Maple and Vine explores what might happen if we really could return to the "good old days," the era that the Cleavers and Ozzie and Harriet make look so perfectly pleasant and innocent on TV. With all the recent talk of returning to a time when the world, and America, was supposedly greater than now, The BAND Group chose a great time to present this play. With minimal staging in an intimate space, the audience is almost uncomfortably close to this fake '50s world as its true ugliness is slowly revealed. As they always do, The BAND Group is partnering with community organizations, the Citizens League and the League of Women Voters, who both have materials and representatives at the show. Reminding us to use our voting power, as the play reminds us of the things at stake.

"TART: A Modern Adaptation of Moliere's Tartuffe" by The BAND Group at Bryant Lake Bowl

Working towards a world Beyond Acceptance with No Discrimination, The BAND Group debuts with a delightfully modern adaptation of Moliere's most famous comedy Tartuffe, set in a drag club. Similar to The Misanthrope a few years ago, founder-director-adapter Adrian Lopez-Balbontin has taken this 350 year old French comedy, made it look like the world today, peppered it with pop culture references, used it as commentary on current issues, and set it all to rhyme. With a talented cast of artists from across the gender spectrum whom we don't get to see onstage often enough, and a partnership with local non-profit RECLAIM! that provides mental health support for queer and trans youth, TART is as relevant as it is entertaining. Check it out at BLB (with full food and drink service before and during the show) through June 16.

"Deathtrap" at Theatre in the Round

Who knew murder could be so fun?! In Theatre in the Round's production of the 1978 play Deathtrap, it is. This stage thriller that pays homage to classic stage thrillers while at the same time mocking them is full of jaw-dropping plot twist and plenty of humor. Twin Cities Theater Bloggers' winner for favorite comedic performance in 2016, Shanan Custer, directs the strong five-person casts and keeps the laughs and the surprises coming. Deathtrap is a fun and engaging escape from the troubles of the real world, a place where we all know murder is pretend so we can laugh at the ridiculousness of the plotting.

Fringe Festival 2015: "Total Eclipse of the Heart"

Day: 4

Show: 17

Title: Total Eclipse of the Heart

Category: Comedy

By: The Peanut Butter Factory

Directed by: Christopher Kehoe

Location: Illusion Theater

Summary: A high melodrama of a soap opera inspired by the '80s ballad "Total Eclipse of the Heart."

Highlights: I have no idea how this relates to the song, but here's what happened. In a soap opera called Total Eclipse of the Heart (a great name for a soap), a group of people meet in an art museum. There is a wealthy brother and sister, the twin brother of her former fiance turned pop star, a diva, a museum worker, and a young woman searching for clues to her parentage in the artwork. Prefaced by "previously on" and concluded with "next time on," this is just one episode of highly melodramatic moment followed by highly melodramatic moment. It's not at all what I expected (see Collyard/Nelson's explanation of an expectation review), and I found it quite bizarre. But the cast is game for the ride, consistent across the board in their commitment to the overly soapy tone of the show, which provides for some amusing moments.