Looking for something to watch on this long holiday weekend? Well if you haven’t already checked out the latest episode of The Stages of MN YouTube show or podcast it’s uploaded, ready, and waiting for you! This episode is our annual Theater season preview for the 2025-2026 theater season. We feature 13 Minnesota Theater companies is this episode from companies you may have never heard of to a look at Hennepin Arts Bank of America Broadway on Hennepin season.
Peter Christian Hansen and Sara Marsh Photo by Alyssa Kristine
Come Back, Little Sheba the latest from Dark & Stormy Productions is a strong play featuring some truly great performances from it’s leads Peter Christian Hansen and Sara Marsh. Marsh is miscast as a frumpy overweight housewife, but she’s so good that I prefer to say the fault is with the script that tries to insist the character has those qualities. Marsh finds here own way to accomplish what playwright William Inġe wanted from the character. While I’ve never seen the play before or the 1952 film adaptation, I suspect that Marsh’s interpretation is deeper and more nuanced because she doesn’t rely on that outdated archetype. Hansen and Marsh play Doc and Lola who have been married for twenty years. Doc is almost one year sober, but the presence of their renter, a young college student named Marie, begins to weigh upon Doc’s sobriety. It isn’t the cliche of the older man tempted by the young vibrant woman, it’s the memories her lifestyle brings to the surface. The career as a Doctor that he had to give up when Lola got Pregnant and they had to marry.
Hansen plays Doc as a man working the program, who is making amends to his wife by maintaining a pleasant attitude and being helpful. He is the one making sure that the breakfast is ready for Lola and Marie, trying to make everything run smoothly. He projects a virtue on Marie that isn’t there and feels unrealistic by todays standards. When he realizes she is a normal girl, it brings forth old doubts and repressed guilt about his and Lola’s start in life. He gets every aspect from the sobriety to the slip just right. Marsh slowly reveals the cracks in Lola’s confidence, her uncertainty about how to reconnect with Doc. We see hints of someone recovering from the trauma of living with a substance abuser. When she realizes the Whiskey bottle has vanished and Doc is late coming home, the fears and anxieties come in glimpses and waves. But like all partners of addicts she has to keep his secrets and hide what she is afraid has happened from Marie and others. Marsh shows us in that moment how every choice she has made performance wise up to that point has all stemmed from these moments. It’s a portrayal that seems deceptively simple at the start only to be revealed by the end to be an intricately crafted and complex performance. She give us a character that longs for connections but has been forced into a world of isolation, who clings to hope through the belief that her dog Sheba, who has been missing for months will come home one of these days.
Don’t depend on a Facebook or Instagram algorithms to ensure you hear about a great show. You can subscribe and have every post from The Stages of MN sent directly to your email box. It’s the best way to ensure you don’t miss out on any of the theater action. 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.
The Stages of MN YouTube Channel is home of the weekly The Stages of MN Show which you can view by clicking on this link https://www.youtube.com/@TheStagesofMN. Check out the latest episodes and Subscribe to the channel so you’ll always know when a new episode has dropped. Think I may have steered you wrong on a show? Well, I’m also a member of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers (TCTB), where you can read review roundups of shows by m’colleagues and I when you follow us on facebook @TwinCitiesTheaterBloggers.
The current show at Brave New Workshop Hypocralypse Now features a return of what I think of as the core group of comedians Lauren Anderson and Denzel Belin, Isabella Dunsieth, Doug Neithercott who returns after a short absence, and returning to the fold after a longer absence is Taj Ruler. You couldn’t ask for a better cast. The script, aside from a fart sketch that wears out it’s welcome, almost immediately is very funny. So why did I leave the theater a little depressed. Maybe I picked the wrong week to go off my antidepressant. Or, maybe the world is just so grim and messed up that dealing with it, even in a humorous way, is too much. For many of us, the coping mechanism right now, as our country positions itself to become the evil empire of the 21st Century, is to tune out. Not watch the news, not read any further than the headlines, which alone are enough to depress Roger Rabbit. The saying “it’s funny because it’s true” is spot on, the problem is “it’s scary because it’s true” is equally accurate. It’s cathartic to laugh about the things that scare us, but when we’ve been repressing those things, once the laughter stops we are left staring into the face of those scary truths we were ignoring. I’m not advocating the strategy of ignore difficult things, like most coping mechanisms, I don’t think that’s a very healthy way to navigate the world in general. But, the reality is that sometimes we do the easier thing, hopefully in order to replenish our inner strength in order to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing, end them.
The sketches that really work, like the one that parodies the old School House Rock short “I’m Just a Bill” about the big beautiful bill, succeed because they point out the hypocrisies of those who passed it. There is a sketch involving the White House Press Secretary that kills with the audience again because the comic caricature of Karoline Leavitt isn’t much of a caricature, as outrageous of as it is, it’s scar… I mean funny because of how true it is. The game show sketch called “This or That” perfectly distills what is wrong with a percentage of this countries population, a far to large a percentage. My favorite Skit involves Lauren Anderson as a bear, I know you’d think it would be Neithercott, explaining to a Maganite (this may be a new word) how when you read something on the internet you should click two more times to get closer to the truth. It’s a great skit because it uses the examples that I, and the other humans with a sliver of common sense, are incredulous that anyone could possibly believe. But it also reminds us that far too many of our fellow citizens will believe any insane thing that they are told, while also ignoring every fact or refuse to use logic to come to any conclusions that don’t agree with what they wish was true.
Hypocralypse Now is very funny but if you are currently “head in the sand” stage of coping with life, be aware of the dangers inherent in this show. In order to laugh at something we need to acknowledge it first, and some of you may not be ready for that. The best thing about the show is that it ends with a series of improv games which act as a palate cleanser for the evening by avoiding the political. It’s the right note to end the evening on. Hypocralypse Now runs through November 1st at the Dudley Riggs Theatre on Hennepin Avenue in Downtown Minneapolis. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://hennepinarts.org/events/hypocralypse-now-2025
Don’t depend on a Facebook or Instagram algorithms to ensure you hear about a great show. You can subscribe and have every post from The Stages of MN sent directly to your email box. It’s the best way to ensure you don’t miss out on any of the theater action. 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.
The Stages of MN YouTube Channel is home of the weekly The Stages of MN Show which you can view by clicking on this link https://www.youtube.com/@TheStagesofMN. Check out the latest episodes and Subscribe to the channel so you’ll always know when a new episode has dropped. Think I may have steered you wrong on a show? Well, I’m also a member of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers (TCTB), where you can read review roundups of shows by m’colleagues and I when you follow us on facebook @TwinCitiesTheaterBloggers.
Faithful readers, hopefully you are subscribed to The Stages of MN YouTube channel and already saw that a new episode was up. Apologies for forgetting to do a blog post for those who aren’t. But, a good reminder I guess to subscribe so you’ll know whenever a new episode is available. Double apologies to the podcast listeners as I still have a touch of Fringe brain and completely forgot to edit that version and post it until last night. Both are now up so view and/or listen to your hearts content.
This weeks episode I’m joined by m’colleague Jill Schafer over at Cherry and Spoon to reflect on this years Minnesota Fringe Festival. We discuss 10 of our favorite shows as well as a few honorable mentions. This week’s episodes are actually quite different between the YouTube version and the podcast version. While the YouTube version is always longer and the preferred version because of it. The differences are usually simply a matter of the exclusion of the “At a Show With….” photo montage. Well this week rather than a minute long that segment is four and a half minutes long as it covers the entire Fringe Festival. So, if you took a photo with me at Fringe this year you are probably in that episode. Also The footage of the Fringe Awards from the Closing night party has been excluded from the podcast as I think it relied heavily on the ability to read the captions in order to know who won everything. Also missing is the segment showing what shows won the highly commented on, usually with something like “What’s this now?”, The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award winners. That segment contained no audio other than music and so would only serve to prolong the podcast episode without adding any info to listeners. That list by the way is, in order of the day they were seen not ranked:
In The Garden of American Heroes
Hamluke
Joan of Arc For Miss Teen Queen USA
The Book of Mordor
The Gentlemen’s Pratfall Club
Songs Without Words (or, The Mendelssohn Play)
Grief, It’s What’s For Dinner
50: A Totally Rad Comedy About the Gnarly Reckoning of a Gen Xer!
An Exorcism, Don’tcha Know?
The Wickie
For those with no interest is The Minnesota Fringe Festival, I can assure you, your apathy is only due to the fact you’ve never been. Make a promise to yourself to go next year and give yourself the treat of this wonderful experience. But you can also breathe a sigh of relief as this will be the final Fringe episode of the year. You can access the YouTube episode here https://bit.ly/TSOMNEpisode8YouTube and the Podcast version here https://bit.ly/TSOMNEpisode8Podcast. Don’t forget to like, subscribe, share, and review the show. you can read Cherry and Spoons Fringe wrap up blog post here https://bit.ly/cs_fringe25
Don’t depend on a Facebook or Instagram algorithm to ensure you hear about a great show. You can subscribe and have every post from The Stages of MN sent directly to your email box. It’s the best way to ensure you don’t miss out on any of the theater action. 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.
I’ve officially launched The Stages of MN YouTube Channel which you can view by clicking on this link. https://www.youtube.com/@TheStagesofMN. Check out the weekly episodes. Subscribe to the channel so you’ll always know when a new episode has dropped. Think I may have steered you wrong on a show? Well, I’m also a member of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers (TCTB), where you can read review roundups of shows by m’colleagues and I when you follow us on facebook @TwinCitiesTheaterBloggers.
Henry V is one of the Shakespeare history plays that I am fairly familiar with have seen it produced on stage twice now and seen three screen adaptations. I have certainly never seen it done like this. The story of King Henry V of England and his war to conquer France has been used as propaganda for war and against it. Here it is seen through the lens of how the decisions of flawed men have profound effects on the people over which they rule. This is a valid viewpoint and is a way to make the play speak to our times. Shakespeare’s works are so rich and out of copyright that they become easy to adapt in a way that highlights the message a Director wishes to convey without departing the text simply by how you cut it and play it. Here Director Zach Christensen makes some bold choices which are mostly successful, but occasionally perplexing.
First off, the show adds close to a half a dozen songs but not sung throughout, only at the opening of the first Act and after intermission. The songs are well performed by the cast and I get the vibe what they are going for. While not being detrimental to the production, the songs don’t really integrate into the play, but more like live pre-show of music meant to set the tone. There may also be too many of them but they are enjoyable. The biggest and most bizarre change is the inclusion of Falstaff who does not appear in the original play though he does die offstage. Now adding some flashbacks or prologue with Falstaff is not unheard of, in his film version Kenneth Branagh includes several flashback scenes with Falstaff. But here Falstaff is seen in scenes from the Henry IV plays, much as his characters is in those plays, which is a comical character for the most part. But then he actually replaces the role of the Duke of Exeter jettisoning for the most part the traits we associate with Falstaff and playing it as you would Exeter. There is one scene in which the reason for the change became clear and made a certain amount of sense if you wanted to play the scene that way. But it still results in Falstaff for the most part acting completely out of character for most of the play. It’s a questionable choice that kept taking me out of the performance.
The play is well casteven Dominic Schiro as Falstaff is very good, despite the puzzling choice of who he was playing. David Michaeli is very good as King Henry, tackling some very famous speeches and successfully making them his own. It’s a very strong cast with some wonderful and surprisingly humorous performances. Standouts were Amanda Espinoza as among other roles Fluellen, who is the Welsh captain of a contingent of Henry’s army. Noah Hynick, who must be on loan from Lyric Arts, as the Dauphin of France is hilarious as he tries to outbrag his fellow French noblemen on the eve of the battle of Agincourt. Bradley Johnson and Eden Fahy, are particularly good in the the song sections of the show. Overall it’s an exciting and unusual production and while every gamble doesn’t pay off there’s no denying it’s a very interesting and engaging production. The fun thing about Shakespeare is that you can be bold and try new things and I applaud Director Christensen for making some bold choices. Fans of Shakespeare will have seen faithful productions in the past and will enjoy seeing Jackdonkey play around with things. I think it will also appeal to those who aren’t that into a Shakespeare History play as it does what it can to be kinda radical and accessible to all.
Don’t depend on a Facebook or Instagram algorithm to ensure you hear about a great show. You can subscribe and have every post from The Stages of MN sent directly to your email box. It’s the best way to ensure you don’t miss out on any of the theater action. 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.
I’ve officially launched The Stages of MN YouTube Channel which you can view by clicking on this link. https://www.youtube.com/@TheStagesofMN. Check out the weekly episodes. Subscribe to the channel so you’ll always know when a new episode has dropped. Think I may have steered you wrong on a show? Well, I’m also a member of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers (TCTB), where you can read review roundups of shows by m’colleagues and I when you follow us on facebook @TwinCitiesTheaterBloggers.
The cast of Singing in the Rain Photo by Alyssa Kristine Photography
During the rush, chaos, and exhaustive exhilaration that is The Minnesota Fringe Festival I found time thanks to a weekday matinee to take in Singing in the Rain at Artistry in Bloomington. A longtime favorite film musical of mine, due to its subject matter revolving as it does around the transition from silent to sound movies. I had never seen a production of this early 1980’s stage version, which closely adheres to the plot of the 1952 film. There had been other opportunities but in a world where we have to choose three or four out of ten possible shows to see some weeks, I think I always opted out of this one, afraid it couldn’t live up to my fondness for the film. If you are a fan of the film you can throw those fears aside, this productions is delightful. The story for those unfamiliar with the film follows the career of Silent film star Don Lockwood who rose up through the entertainment ranks with his best friend Cosmo Brown. Now a big star alongside the,”dumb or something” Lina Lamont, Don has to navigate the changing world of cinema as the “Talkies” become all the rage. Meanwhile, Don has fallen in love with Kathy Selden, an up and coming actress, which puts Kathy in the crosshair of Lina who believing her own publicity mistakenly thinks she and Don are madly in love with each other.
The reason to see this show is the magnificent choreography by Danny McHugh who plays Don Lockwood in the show and the shows Director Kelli Foster Warder. This has some great toe tapping and heal tapping, and well…it has great tapping! A strong ensemble of precision dancers create impressive show stopping dance numbers that will wow even the most casual of dance appreciators. McHugh is great as Don Lockwood which is saying something as he’s filling Gene Kelly’s shoes. Also doing a great job is Armando Harlow Ronconi, who plays Cosmo Brown filling the shoes of Donald O’Connor. Brown’s best song in the film is “Make ‘Em Laugh” and they do a good job of translating it to the stage here. It isn’t quite as slapstick and manic, but honestly I don’t know how you could safely do that on stage night after night, they find a nice compromise. Brittany Mendoza-Peña makes a great Kathy, with a sweet voice and the stage presence to stand up to Don in the early sparring scenes of their relationship. Serena Brook is also very strong as Lina Lamont, a character who’s successful portrayal is judged on how much you can barely tolerate her speaking without actually reaching that nails on chalkboard sensation. Brook perfectly finds that line and stays just this side of it, it’s a gloriously comic performance.
There were some technical elements that I was really impressed with as well. Sarah Bahr’s scenic and costume designs were fantastic, with the costumes featuring some great period style suits and gowns. The set design features a movie screen in certain scenes that is used really creatively in multiple ways. In one scene the actors perform behind it with film grain projected on the surface to give the appearance of an old film. While in other scenes actual video footage is projected onto the screen and it’s here that there’s a special cameo for local Theater fans. As is always the case at Artistry, the music is perfectly done under the steady hand of Music Director Sanford Moore. Singing in the Rain has been extended through August 31st at Artistry in Bloomington. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://artistrymn.org/rain
Don’t depend on a Facebook or Instagram algorithm to ensure you hear about a great show. You can subscribe and have every post from The Stages of MN sent directly to your email box. It’s the best way to ensure you don’t miss out on any of the theater action. 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.
I’ve officially launched The Stages of MN YouTube Channel which you can view by clicking on this link. https://www.youtube.com/@TheStagesofMN. Check out the weekly episodes. Subscribe to the channel so you’ll always know when a new episode has dropped. Think I may have steered you wrong on a show? Well, I’m also a member of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers (TCTB), where you can read review roundups of shows by m’colleagues and I when you follow us on facebook @TwinCitiesTheaterBloggers.
We Did it!!! At least those of us who attended the Minnesota Fringe Festival this year did. I Saw 48 shows over 10 days, only missing one day entirely for a Wednesday evening Minnesota United game. On the final day of Fringe I also attended a Minnesota United game, but was able to fit in two shows before the game and then get back for a show in the final slot on Sunday and to attend the closing night party and awards ceremony. August 20th will be our official 2025 Minnesota Fringe Wrap Up episode rather than as originally announced “What the Hell’s a Theater Blogger”, which we’ll save for a future episode. Speaking of Theater Bloggers and awards, I want to give a shout out to my friend and fellow Twin Cities Theater Blogger in good standing Kendra Plant who writes Artfully Engaging which you can read and subscribe to here https://www.kendraplant.com/blog-artfully-engaging. Kendra was a first time producer at this years Minnesota Fringe festival with her show The Kendra Plant Variety Hour: Good Things Edition! -with special guests-, which won a Golden Lanyard Award!!! We’ll have a rundown of all of the award winners on that next episode of The Stages of MN YouTube Show and Podcast. Here are my reviews for the three shows I saw on the final day!
Rat Mass, would probably have gotten my vote for The Spirit of the Fringe Award had I seen it before the last day. This show is full of the type of audience participation I can really get behind. There is never any pressure or coaxing, if you wanted to participate you could, if not you were never threatened with shunning or excommunication. Rat Mass takes the form of a service of the Church of Ratology. Which worships the rat as the ideal form of life. During the sermon communion will be given, three offerings will be taken, with the winner of the best offering being crowned. At the service I attended the winner put in an epipen. There are also hymes led by the rat chorus and you could choose to be baptized into the church at the end by having your face dipped into a bowl of Apple Cider Vinegar. I was not baptized, but I did drink the Apple Cider vinegar that was offered as communion, the taste of which took about 2 hours to fully leave my mouth. The Ministers of the Church of Ratology Joseph Bryant and Perry Letourneau are very charismatic and game for just about anything. https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2025/rat-mass
The Jaws That Bite, the Claws That Catch! is a play by Edwin Strout which begins with a character played by Strout expressing his adoration of the poem “Jabberwocky” by Lewis Carroll. It then quickly devolves into fragmented conversations with his best friend played by David Denninger and an ex girlfriend played by Anna Olson. We take these conversations, at first, as ones that are taking place in chronological order. But soon, we begin to realize they are memories or perhaps even just delusions occurring within Strout’s mind. The poem, perhaps the most famous nonsense poem in the english language, though originally written and published over a decade earlier appeared in Carroll’s sequel to Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking-Glass. The nonsensical nature of the poem fits in well with the mirror world into which Alice ventures in the book. But when Strout tries to apply real world meaning and understanding to the work, we feel that it has perhaps shattered his mind. Strouts performance is convincing and one of the strongest of the festival. https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2025/the-jaws-that-bite-the-claws-that-catch-
The Wickie is a solo clowning show by Richie Whitehead. What’s a Wickie you ask? A Wickie is a person who looks after a lighthouse and keeps the light (it’s wick) lit. It opens with the Wickie confronting the Ocean (pronounced Oh Shawn) for stealing his left shoe. We do get some audience participation, but again it’s very consensual. This was a fantastic way to end the festival and I’m glad I decided to rush back after my game and catch one more show. The Wickie is a great show for the whole family, full of laughs, with clever and deceptively simple gags. It’s the type of show where you think “that’s such a simple thing, but it’s so funny”. Its good natured silliness, and Whitehead’s precise physical humor made this the final The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award winner. https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2025/the-wickie
That’s it for day Eleven and in fact the Minnesota Fringe Festival itself. You can click on the Fringe website here to get details on all of the shows https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2025. Don’t forget to tune into The Stages of MN YouTube channel or podcast on or around 8/20 for The MN Fringe Festival wrap up episode https://www.youtube.com/@TheStagesofMN
Subscribe to the channel so you’ll always know when a new episode has dropped. Think I may have steered you wrong on a show? Well, I’m also a member of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers (TCTB), where you can read review roundups of shows by m’colleagues and I when you follow us on facebook @TwinCitiesTheaterBloggers.
Don’t depend on a Facebook or Instagram algorithms to ensure you hear about a great show. You can subscribe and have every post from The Stages of MN sent directly to your email box. It’s the best way to ensure you don’t miss out on any of the theater action. To subscribe on your computer: from the home page on the right, enter your email address and click subs
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