Minnesota Fringe Festival 2023: "OPERA PUNKS"

Day: 7

Show: 25

Title: OPERA PUNKS

Category: COMEDY / IMPROV / MUSICAL THEATER / ORIGINAL MUSIC / OPERA / PHYSICAL THEATER / KID FRIENDLY / LGBTQIA+ CONTENT

By: SECRET CULT

Created by: Kelly Shuda

Location: Rarig Xperimental 

Summary: Short form musical improv.

Highlights: Like most improv, this is a wild ride covering many weird topics. But unlike most improv, it's entirely sung! Five talented musical improvisors (Isabella Dunsieth, Ruben Gomez, Nora Nelson, Michael Rogers, Julia Weiss) perform short scenes based on audience prompts. They're accompanied by Director Kelly Shuda on keyboard and guitar, who sets the style of the song, and also fiercely watches the performers to pick up and pass cues. The show I saw had songs about aliens, amusement park accidents, siblings reuniting and resurrecting their dad, and a really weird story that ended with people (or aliens, or blood cells?) traveling around inside a body. Entertaining and well sung and bizarre.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2023: "Funny, Like an Abortion"

Day: 6

Show: 24

Title: Funny, Like an Abortion

Category: COMEDY / DRAMA / POLITICAL CONTENT

By: EnCompass Theatre

Written by: Rachel Bublitz

Location: Rarig Arena

Summary: In a dystopian world where even talking about an abortion can get you thrown in jail, two friends have a party to plan a do-it-yourself abortion.

Highlights: Unfortunately, this dystopian world isn't that far from our own. Maybe not here in Minnesota, where our constitution protects a woman's right to choose, but in many places around the country since Roe v. Wade was overturned. This show is disguised as a comedy, and a funny and entertaining one at that, but it's dealing with some very real and scary issues. Performers Olivia Dubiel and Stephanie Kahle believably play best friends, and when one of them gets pregnant (birth control is also difficult if not impossible to get), she invites the other over for a surprise abortion party. She has a few dozen gift bags, with a home abortion remedy in each (note: the performers make a point to say multiple times - DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!). Each solution is worse than the last, as they contemplate various herbs and medications, as well as going to other countries. The two friends are in different places economically, and that is brought up as a very real factor in getting the care one needs. We never find out what happens to these two women; the performers break out of the story at the conclusion to recite some terrifying facts and stories about things that are happening around the country regarding laws, lawsuits, and personal experiences, sometimes just a few days ago. In times of turmoil, I always look to the artists to show us a way through. These young women are doing that just in talking about and dramatizing abortion rights, and reminding us that the fight is not over. Funny, Like an Abortion is a must-see both for entertainment value and for social advocacy reasons.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2023: "Gilda: A Tribute to the Beloved Comedienne Gilda Radner"

Day: 6

Show: 23

Title: Gilda: A Tribute to the Beloved Comedienne Gilda Radner

Category: COMEDY / HISTORICAL CONTENT

By: Helena K Cosentino

Created by: Helena K Cosentino

Location: Southern Theater

Summary: A tribute to the late great comedian Gilda Radner, including history, songs, and sketches.

Highlights: It's obvious that Kansas City-based theater artist Helena K Cosentino loves Gilda Radner, and not just because she tells us so in the intro. Her love, admiration, and respect for Gilda, most famous for being one of original cast members of Saturday Night Live, marrying Gene Wilder, and dying of ovarian cancer at the age of 42, is obvious in how she speaks of her and how she performs. Changing into multiple wigs and outfits, Helena tells us a bit about Gilda's life and career, and then launches into some of her most famous characters. Although I know of and like Gilda, I actually haven't see many of her performances (I'm not a SNL viewer), so it was fun to see her comedy come alive again through Helena. Many of the people in the audience were familiar with her, as they called out her various catchphrases even before they were uttered on stage. Helena also performs a couple of songs, including a tap dance number, that Gilda made famous. The show is very well constructed (she's performed this show at multiple Fringe Festival in recent years, so it's well polished at this point), with just enough history to provide background, but not so much that it overwhelms the performances. Props and costume changes are smartly arranged around the stage, and neatly placed into an open suitcase when she's done with them. If you're a Gilda fan you absolutely have to see this show. And if you're not that familiar with her, like me, it's still a positively lovely and inspiring and moving show about one of our funniest people of the 20th century. A portion of the proceeds are donated to Gilda's Club - Twin Cities, an organization that provides emotional and social support for people living with cancer, continuing Gilda's legacy beyond her comedy.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here. 

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2023: "Tales from the Fiefdom"

Day: 6

Show: 22

Title: Tales from the Fiefdom

Category: COMEDY / MUSICAL THEATER / ORIGINAL MUSIC

By: Gnarly Bard Theater Company

Written by: Bubba Holly & Louie Opatz

Location: Southern Theater

Summary: A very fringey musical about people in the Middle Ages, just trying not to die.

Highlights: If you're looking for a fun, silly, fringey musical with catchy and clever songs that are well-sung by a talented and committed cast, look no further. With songs like "Come to the Apothecary," "I'm Not a Witch," "I Don't Wanna Sh#t in a Bucket Anymore," "The Pleasant Peasant," and "Sir Lance-a-little," how can it not be fun? The seven-person cast (Madison Fairbanks, Bubba Holly, Ryan Huxford, Megan Kim, Clare Rollinger, Haley Sisler-Neuman, and Nicole Wilder) sings unmiked to a recorded track with songs of varying styles of pop music - Country-Western, Beach Boys, doo wop, and more (or at least that's what I heard). The topics sung about are very bleak - the plague, the burning of women as witches, and constant warfare and violence - but the music is so happy! The cast performs cute and fun choreography wearing Renn Fest-esque costumes, and set pieces include the apothecary's shop, where much of the action takes place, a stake for burning at, and a charming DIY fire. It's really a delight and everything you want in a Fringe musical. 

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.

Broadway Tour of "Jagged Little Pill" at the Orpheum Theatre

The Alanis Morissette musical Jagged Little Pill, with the title and most of the songs coming from her iconic 1995 debut album, only ran for six months on Broadway, due to a long interruption by a global pandemic. But the good news is that it's now touring across the country, and you can see it in Minneapolis now through August 13. Alanis is such a great storyteller; her songs are so full of complex and clearly written characters, drama, and emotion, that they're perfect fodder for a musical. Diablo Cody, Oscar-winning screenwriter of Juno, wrote the book and has crafted a modern story of a family dealing with a multitude of issues, that utilizes the songs well. There are occasional slight tweaks to the lyrics to fit the story, but the emotional core of each song, and Alanis' work in general, is retained. It's a messy, dramatic, and ultimately hopeful story about a family and community that loves and supports each other, even if they're flawed people who make mistakes, i.e., humans. As a longtime fan of Alanis (Jagged Little Pill came out when I was in college, but I wasn't really into pop music at that time, so I didn't embrace her until the mid-aughts, and prefer the 10th anniversary acoustic version of JLP), I loved hearing her songs onstage sung by this amazing company of actors. How someone unfamiliar with these songs would appreciate the show, I can't say, but I like to think it would stand on its own. See for yourself at the Orpheum Theatre - click here for the official ticket purchasing site, and to find information on the student/educator rush.

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2023: Mid-Fest Favorites

We've reached the halfway point of the 30th Minnesota Fringe Festival. I hope you've seen some great shows, but if not - it's not too late! There's still plenty of time to see some adventurous art! I've seen 21 shows so far in the first five days of the festival, and after a day off to see the Broadway tour of Jagged Little Pill, I'll be heading back to Cedar-Riverside to see some more. 

Here are my favorite shows so far, in alphabetical order (click the show title for full review and link to show page):

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2023: "BRUTUS"

Day: 5

Show: 21

Title: BRUTUS

Category: DANCE / DANCE - MODERN / DRAMA / HORROR / ORIGINAL MUSIC / PHYSICAL THEATER / HISTORICAL CONTENT / LGBTQIA+ CONTENT / POLITICAL CONTENT / SHAKESPEARIAN ELEMENTS

By: Rebecca Wickert and Ella Eastman-Kiesow

Created by: Rebecca Wickert and Ella Eastman-Kiesow

Location: Theatre in the Round

Summary: A retelling of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar with a mostly female cast and creative team.

Highlights: The creators and much of the cast are recent or current U of M theater students, and it's exciting to see the thoughtful, creative, unique work of young artists, making the future of #TCTheater look bright. With perhaps the largest cast I've seen at the Fringe this year, they tell this story of violence and betrayal in a taut and intense 60 minutes or less. Dominique Drake makes for a regal King Caesar, Alexis Neumann is a sympathetic Brutus who kills their friend, and Amber Frederick is all broiling intensity as the chief conspirator Cassius. The ensemble uses movement, choreography, and fight choreography to tell the story in a physical way (with choreography by Nakeema King). There's also recorded original music (by Colin Fitzsimmons and The Buttress) adding to the tone and intensity. The stylistic look of the show is achieved by extreme face makeup, consistent hairstyles, and wild costumes of unknown period. It's all very thoughtful and intentional and beautifully constructed.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2023: "Baldwin's Last Fire"

Day: 5

Show: 20

Title: Baldwin's Last Fire

Category: MYSTERY

By: Black Lives Black Words International Project

Written by: Reginald Edmund

Location: Theatre in the Round

Summary: Historical fiction about acclaimed American author James Baldwin solving a mystery of missing children in France.

Highlights: James Baldwin solving a crime? Why not, it's Fringe! The play is cleverly written (by Reginald Edmund), weaving in the themes of Baldwin's writing as well as some of his words. We open in a garden in Paris, with James Baldwin (played by veteran theater and film actor Harry Waters Jr.) writing and narrating the story. His caregiver Park (Jake Quatt), who shares the narration duties, attempts to get him out into the city, where an African woman approaches him for help finding her missing child, one of many. Even Baldwin recognizes the ridiculousness of an American writer trying to solve a crime in France, until Park convinces him he could use his notoriety and influence to help. So begins our adventure, with the ensemble (Jacob Hellman, Matt Saxe, and Ashe Jaafaru) playing multiple characters. The creative storytelling includes a large rectangular cube made of what looks like metal pipes, but must be something much lighter, as the cast moves the structure around to represent a car, a door, a window, and any number of other ideas, draped with large pieces of colored fabric. It's a compelling story, well told, and a fun imagining of another kind of life for a well known historical figure.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2023: "Audacious Ignatius: Lost in Atlantis"

Day: 5

Show: 19

Title: Audacious Ignatius: Lost in Atlantis

Category: DRAMA / SOLO SHOW / STORYTELLING / HISTORICAL CONTENT / POLITICAL CONTENT

By: Kyle B. Dekker

Created by: Kyle B. Dekker

Location: Theatre in the Round

Summary: A deep dive into the life and work of Minnesota's second Lieutenant Governor Ignatius Donnelly, early conspiracy theorist.

Highlights: Truth is stranger than fiction, which is one of the reasons I love history. I had never heard of Ignatius Donnelly before, a fact playwright/performer Kyle B. Dekker acknowledges and explains. Donnelly went from a promising political career in Minnesota to a proponent of wild theories like the lost city of Atlantis, and that Francis Bacon wrote the Shakespeare plays, with a little racism along the way. In period dress, Kyle tells the story of Donnely's life, reading some quotes from him and his contemporaries. It may be an "info dump" as he says, but it's a fascinating and well told one. A couple of visual aids help with the storytelling - a trading card of the presidential hopeful, a map showing the supposed location of Atlantis, and covers of his books. But this isn't just an interesting look at an eccentric historical character. Kyle ties his writings to current day politicians and conspiracy theories, because knowing our history helps inform our present. As Shakespeare (or Bacon according to Donnelly) wrote - "what's past is prologue."

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2023: "Stabby Stab Stab"

Day: 4

Show: 18

Title: Stabby Stab Stab

Category: DRAMA / HORROR / ORIGINAL MUSIC / HISTORICAL CONTENT

By: Special When Lit and The Winding Sheet Outfit

Written by: Nissa Nordland Morgan

Location: Crane Theater Studio

Summary: A retelling of the true story of two Wisconsin tweens, obsessed with the story of Slender Man, who stabbed one of their classmates 16 times.

Highlights: This first ever co-production between the artists who brought us the wild and wacky Colonel Sanders story Finger Lickin' Good and the beautifully haunting Årsgång: What You Follow Follows You at last year's Fringe debuted at the Twin Cities Horror Festival last fall (it's like a mini genre specific Fringe Festival). They're remounting it as an independently produced show at the Crane Theater, with shows every night at 8:30 or 10:00. It's an easy 5-10 minute drive from the main hub of the festival, so I recommend stopping by at the end of one of your days. You will be rewarded by a dark and creepy, yet sad and lovely tale. Written by SWL's Nissa Nordland and directed by TWSO's Amber Bjork, it really is the perfect blend of the former company's wild sense of fun and the latter's meticulous and thoughtful attention to detail. Nissa and Kayla Dvorak Feld play the two girls, both so believable and somehow empathetic despite their horrible deeds. Like TWSO always does, Stabby Stab Stab explores the human side of the splashy headline, and posits a theory for how this childhood friendship went so terribly wrong. With a live soundscape created by Derek Lee Miller and Sam Landman, beautifully designed (by Amber) projections of text and images, and cute and creepy props that fill a child's bedroom, this show effectively tells this true story with a thorough, thoughtful, and consistent tone of creepiness, tragedy, and humanness. It's performed in the Crane's smaller studio space (making it a sellout risk), which only makes it more intense and intimate.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2023: "When You Hear the Chime"

Day: 4

Show: 17

Title: When You Hear the Chime

Category: COMEDY / DANCE / DRAMA / MUSICAL THEATER / STORYTELLING / LITERARY ADAPTATION

By: Alchemy Arts

Created by: Nichole Carey and Andrew Lester

Location: Southern Theater

Summary:  Two children playing in an attic tell each other stories.

Highlights: These two grown-ups (husband and wife team Nichole Carey and Andrew Lester) embody children at play in the most delightful way. Sick of playing hide and seek, the girl makes up a new game, in which they tell each other their favorite stories using the boy's recently deceased grandmother's clothes and props. Rumpelstiltskin, Jack and the Beanstalk, Alice in Wonderland, and The Hobbit all come to life in a playful way as they try to one up each other, sometimes breaking out of character to go over the rules (no swears!). Things get a little serious when the girl talks about her mom and brother fighting, and the boy confesses his sadness at the death of his grandmother. They vow to always be friends, and to always play. Andew, a dancer, imbues every movement with grace, building to a gorgeous dance number. Nichole, a singer, has one lovely song. With a few charming props and set pieces, it's like playing dress-up and make-believe, for grown-ups. A sweet show that reminds us of the importance of telling stories (and isn't that what Fringe is all about?).

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2023: "Mother Courage Bear and Her Children"

Day: 4

Show: 16

Title: Mother Courage Bear and Her Children

Category: COMEDY / ORIGINAL MUSIC / LITERARY ADAPTATION

By: Clevername Theatre

Written by: Alexander Gerchak

Location: Southern Theater

Summary: A retelling of Bertold Brecht's Mother Courage and her Children, as Care Bears.

Highlights: I didn't think there could be a more Fringey mashup than Winnie the Pooh and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. But then Clevername Theatre followed up last year's brilliant weirdness with this mashup of the Care Bears and Brecht. It's so strange and clever, I'm not sure where to begin. We're introduced to this tale of the centuries long "Sunshine War" by a stern Director (Connor McEvoy) speaking in a German accent, giving a short intro to every scene with zero emotion (other than perhaps annoyance). Mother Courage Bear (Grace Barnstead) sells "cards" and "likes" from her cloud cart (a commentary on our social media obsessed culture), with her children Humanity Bear, Hubris Bear, and Sandwich Bear (in the original play, Mother Courage has a daughter named Swiss Cheese). Other bears we meet include Cowardice Bear, Drudgery Bear, and Prostitution Bear. Children go off to war, bears are murdered, and we get to the eventual unhappy ending. The cast (also including Thomas Buan, Nick Hill, Victoria Jones, and Will Vierzba in multiple roles) stays completely serious despite the ridiculousness of the story (and the costumes - pastel t-shirts and pants with matching ears and a belly patch), even into curtain call. It's a high-concept Fringey show that's well executed with great attention to detail.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.