Minnesota Fringe Festival Day 9: “Love Lies a Bleeding” The Stages on MN Fringe of the Day Award Winner! and “The Ghost of Frankensteins Bride”

Only a two show night as I had to review a non Fringe show as well this evening. But don’t let that fool you, the Fringe of the day Winner is very deserving.

Love Lies a Bleeding is The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award winner for Day 9. An adaptation of a play from the 17th century by playwrights Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher who were contemporaries of William Shakespeare. The program describes Beaumont and Fletchers intentions as “What if we made Twelfth Night gayer and hornier”. That perfectly describes this comically bloody, but not in a gross out way, play. The original 3ish hour play was adapted down to 1 hour by Vee Signorelli and love to compare scripts sometime, it has a little bit of antiquated speech but nothing on a level with Shakespeare. A great ensemble cast with the highlights being the actors involved in a love triangle between a man, a woman, and their servant, played to hilarious effect by Matthew Smith, Valerie Wick, and Isabella Spiess. I wish I had seen this show earlier so I could get the word out more, but the house I saw it with was fairly full, so hopefully word has gotten out.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2024/love-lies-a-bleeding

The Ghost of Frankenstein’s Bride runs a little under 45 minutes and that seemed a little too long. There seems to be a lot of shuffling of props and restating the same information. I think this was a show with a solid 25 minutes of script padded to a lean 45. I liked the look of the production by Scenic Designer Jordan Leeper. There was something like a magic trick at one point involving jars that was very impressive and I thought the cast was good. But I know what it’s like trying to decide which of the 105 shows to see and the reality is there are other shows that deserve that slot more. I think this team has an interesting idea that they could flesh out for a future run, maybe at TCHF.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2024/the-ghost-of-frankenstein-s-bride

That’s the reviews from Day Seven of the Minnesota Fringe Festival. Be sure to check back daily for new reviews and if you are Fringing and you see me, be sure to stop and say hi! Also for reviews of shows I might not see or for another opinion on ones I have, follow M’ Colleague Jill Schafer at http://www.cherryandspoon.com/ and for other Fringe writings checkout our friend and fellow Twin Cities Theater Blogger Kendra Plant’s blog Artfully Engaging at https://www.kendraplant.com/blog-artfully-engaging.

Tired of missing reviews from The Stages of MN? Do you find yourself left out when all your friends are talking about that great new play that you didn’t even know about? Never fear, that need never happen again. Now you too can subscribe and have every post from The Stages of MN sent directly to your email box. No more hoping the algorithm works in your favor and you actually see a post on facebook or Instagram. No relying on so-called friends to tip you to the best shows in town. To subscribe on your computer: from the home page on the right, enter your email address and click subscribe. On your mobile device scroll to the bottom of the page and do the same. You can also follow me on Facebook, @thestagesofmn click follow and on Instagram thestagesofmn. You can also read some of my reviews syndicated on the MN Playlist website https://minnesotaplaylist.com/ from time to time.

But that’s not all! Think I may have steered you wrong on a show? Well, I am also a member of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers (TCTB), where you can read roundups of shows by m’colleagues and I when you follow us on facebook @TwinCitiesTheaterBloggers. We also produce the podcast Twin Cities Theater Chat!! which you can access through this link or wherever you enjoy podcasts https://twincitiestheaterchat.buzzsprout.com/ . Now you too can be in the know about all the fabulous theater happening in and around the Twin Cities.