THE STAGES OF MN FRINGE OF THE DAY AWARD winner!!!!
Audacious Ignatius: Lost in Atlantis Kyle Dekker’s new one man show takes the form of a cautionary historical lecture of 19th Century Politician, the second ever Lt. Governor of Minnesota, Ignatius Loyola Donnelly. Dekker’s entertaining and well thought out dissertation draws the portrait of a man whose ego drove his every action and reaction. A man whose speeches drew large crowds and whose course of action was always to attack his critics rather than take the high road. Throughout his life a land speculator, Congressman, Poet, and Science Fiction Author but his lasting legacy belongs to unhinged and science denying theories regarding the lost continent of Atlantis. Like, for real. Dekker makes the case with this look into the past that the more things change the more they stay the same. Instead of the lost continent of Atlantis, we have the lost election of Atlanta theories. Dekker, isn’t so on the nose about it, like a good teacher he gives us the facts and armed with them trusts in our ability to draw our own parallels. Like a good teacher he also makes the subject matter fun as well as informative.
https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2023/audacious-ignatius-lost-in-atlantis
Baldwin’s Last Fire is a mystery play, featuring as it’s protagonist the real life celebrated black gay author James Baldwin, set towards the end of his life during his retirement in France. It’s fun to see a mystery play at Fringe especially one’s that’s played straight, no pun intended. When children of immigrant families begin to disappear and then turn up murdered, one of the parents comes to Baldwin asking for his help as the police are doing nothing because of the color of their skin. They know Baldwin is intelligent and that he understands being “invisible” to those in authority. Reluctantly, Baldwin encouraged and assisted by his caretaker Park, begins to look into the disappearances. Director and star Harry Waters Jr. creates some interesting visuals such as a restless night and a Butterfly motif that are well realized.
https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2023/baldwin-s-last-fire
1992: Mistakes Were Made! is the new show from Jason Schommer. I enjoyed Schommer’s show last year about his relationship with Twin Cities comedic legend Louie Anderson and I liked this one even more. Schommer has a wonderful sense of storytelling pulling details together and fulfilling the promise of seeds planted earlier in the show. It helps that I’m roughly the same age as Schomer and all of his references from things like Days of Our Lives fall right into my pop culture make up as well. There’s a lot of audiences that will relate to his story of growing up overweight in “sensitive” small-town America, and of revisiting those feelings as an adult at high school reunions. Schomer also asks us to meditate on what makes a person a bully, a villian, or just a good person whose done a bad thing. And he does it all while making you laugh out loud.
https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2023/1992-mistakes-were-made-
Grindr Help Desk: The Musical is one of the hottest shows at Fringe this year selling out performances, so if this is something you’re interested in it’s highly recommended that you reserve your seat early or prepare to be in line really early. That said, this show isn’t for everyone, nor does it really live up to the hype. I knew Grindr was a hookup app but I didn’t realize it was just for gay men, having no experience with the app, perhaps if you are a user it will be more up your alley. I expected the show to be raunchy, which I’m fine with, and I didn’t mean to imply that I have any sort of issue with it dealing with gay sexuality, faithful readers know that I always try and boost the signal of LGBTQ+ productions. My issue is that I thought the humor would come from more than just saying naughty things. It’s a show with a great title, a premise rife with potential that is far too willing to settle for the shock value laughs and thus under delivers on every other aspect. There are definitely enjoyable moments and the star Jeremy Johnson is engaging and commits to the material. Unfortunately, it’s the material that lets him down as the songs are really just music that accompanies sexually explicit terms, and most of the humor avoids anything meaningful. It may be that I’m just too old for this material, I’m sure I would have loved it at 18 but at 51, I expect more. So perhaps gauge your interest on where you fall between those age ranges of 18 to 51. So again in warning this is not for everyone, I suspect men who have used Grindr will relate to the humor involving the apps features than someone unfamiliar. Also, it uses a lot of sexual jargon which your Mother probably knows, but you want to believe with all your heart she doesn’t, unless you are super comfortable with all of that, don’t go to this with your Mom.
https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2023/grindr-help-desk-the-musical
Butts in Seats: How to Get People to Attend Your Shakespeare Production by Having Musical Settings for the Lyrics in His Plays. Numerous Examples Included has a very noble goal which aligns with mine and my fellow Twin Cities Theater Bloggers. Creator Ken Takata is trying to devise ways through music to make Shakespeare more accessible to audiences and thus more successful. The problem with the show itself is that it just isn’t polished enough or clear and precise enough in it’s execution. The artists who perform Takata’s songs are all fantastic singers and many of the songs themselves are very good, I was particularly taken with his song for The Tempest. Tanaka primarily needs to work on scripting the moments between the songs so the production as a whole reflects the quality of the musical performances.
Gilda: A Tribute to the Beloved Comedienne Gilda Radner created and performed by Helena K Cosentino shows Cosentino’s affection for the late Gilda Radner. Alternating between giving biographical information about Radner’s life and career with reenactments of some of her best routines. Cosentino’s performances as Radner are all pretty good, not so good that you’d mistake her for Radner, but good enough that many of the routines instantly brought back memories of seeing them performed by Radner on TV when I was a kid. You’ll see all your favorites from Roseanne Roseannadanna to Emily Litella and Baba Wawa. The show pays loving tribute to Radner and was a fun way to spend an hour, remembering the brilliant entertainer that she was.
https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2023/gilda-a-tribute-to-the-beloved-comedienne-gilda-radner
Let Me Say This About That is an improv show starring Raffi Jarvis, Heather Meyer, and Danna Sheridan. Like the other improv shows in the festival this is a show you could see multiple times as each performance will be unique. The question with improv shows is less about what happens, because it’s always different, than whether the performers are funny or not. These performers are funny. The show is structured so that at every performance they improv three fake podcasts complete with commercials suggested by the audience. It’s a fun idea and these performers had me laughing quite a bit which is something of a feat for the 22nd show in four days that begins at 10:00 PM on a Sunday. If you like improv, you are in safe hands with the team behind this show.
https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2023/let-me-say-this-about-that
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