I’m really excited for the chance to see this again and wanted to make sure you faithful readers knew about it. Andrew Erskine Wheeler’s tour de force historical show is one of the best shows I saw at last years Minnesota Fringe Festival and when I ran into Andrew at the first day of this years Fringe he let me know that there was a slightly expanded remount being done later this month at Mill City Museum.
Here is the text from my review of the show from the 2022 Minnesota Fringe Festival:
Whoosh!… is… well first off, it’s The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award Winner. Secondly, wow! What a performance by Andrew Erskine Wheeler. Portraying multiple characters throughout, each is a brilliant characterization, distinct and fully realized. It’s a story that incorporates so many different elements. The Civil War, post war, Artist Douglas Volk, it’s part ghost story, part comedic tale of an Irish immigrant and his survival going over the St. Anthony Falls. It’s so many different things yet it tells a cohesive and well structured tale. Allison Vincent does an amazing job directing the show. The timing and staging of how and when to move, pull props out, refer to visual aids, subtle changes in costume, all done brilliantly. Which brings us again to Wheeler’s performance, It is absolutely the best piece of acting I’ve see at Fringe, a true tour de force and a master class in stage acting. Saturday he has performances back to back, if you haven’t gotten to it, make sure you do. Frankly, I’m staggered by the thought of him performing twice with but 40 minutes between them, it is such a physical and intense performance it hardly seems possible.
This is the final day of the 30th anniversary season of the Minnesota Fringe Festival and I spent the day at the Strike Theater seeing six shows in the festivals Independently Produced group of shows. Aside from Stabby Stab Stab these were the only shows I was able to attend from the Independently Produced segment of the festival.
CHRIS DAVIS DOES STUFF is a solo show by Chris Davis who is an out of town artist and comedian that actually has two shows he’s doing in rotation. The show I caught was entitled “Seriously, I’m Not Gay” which stems from the fact that his whole life he has been hit on by gay men. He’s very good about illustrating that the title is not a defensive proclamation, but he uses it as an umbrella under which to bring up many different lines of commentary. From discussions of his relationships with gay men, platonic, and his early relationships with women, too often platonic. He also delves into topics of stereotypes, dance clubs, and college life. His humor is inclusive and positive and there are certainly a lot of laughs had throughout the performance. What is essentially a stand up routine does suffer from a lack of connective tissue, the transitions between jokes are frequently rough or even nonexist. A better flow, a more storytelling approach is what is needed to take this set to the next level.
Truth or Truth Created by Michael DallaValle & Danna Sheridan is a combination of improv and storytelling. Each performance features a special guest, I chose this day, which also dictated that this be my day to spend at the Strike Theater, in order to see the incomparable Sam Landman. The format is that questions are submitted by the audience before the show. and then drawn at random during the performance. Based on the prompt, someone in the cast or the guest star will then tell a true story, after which the lies begin as the cast of improvisors act out comedic scenes that are inspired in some way by the story just told. Landman rose to the occasion as he always does with a story about a sinkhole in his neighborhood as a kid. He even answered one of the questions I submitted about introducing a new friend to your favorite movie, his answer is not what I expected.
Joy; A Sketch Show is, as the title suggests, a show made up of sketches. This one was a bit uneven as sketch shows can be, the good thing about a sketch show, like anthology shows, is that if one scene doesn’t work for you it will be over soon and another one that might work will begin. Unfortunately more of these sketches didn’t work than did. I enjoyed the cast though and they were all giving it their all, it just felt that the written material never made it past the first draft/promising idea stage.
What If We Hugged? Is a solo show by Levi Weinhagen whom I’m used to seeing perform with his Comedy Suitcase partner Joshua English Scrimshaw. Their homage to silent physical comedy Bob & Reggie Go to Bed won the first ever The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award at last years Minnesota Fringe. I almost skipped this performance and so glad I didn’t. It’s basically Weinhagen telling two stories, one about the birth of his daughter and the second about a heart scare he had a couple of years ago. Sprinkled throughout as commercial breaks are tips on how to be a good man, all of it sincerely meant and good advice. The show is funny while also being emotionally honest and relatable and I’ve gained an appreciation of Weinhagen as a storyteller as well as physical comedian.
THE STAGES OF MN FRINGE OF THE DAY AWARD winner!!!!
The Windblown Cheeks Of Lovers is a hilarious show created by Strike Theater’s co founder and Twin Cities improv legend Mike Fotis along with Rita Boersma and Tim Hellendrung. It’s done as if we are watching a news program on TV doing a full episode on the making of an imaginary hit 1980’s miniseries The Windblown Cheeks Of Lovers. Fotis, Boersma, and Hellendrung play all the characters, from the family watching the show at home, the broadcast anchors, the actors in the miniseries and the crew that made the miniseries. They are all superb, Hellendrung in particular does a great Irish accent, portraying one half of an on again off again acting couple who are surely based of Elisabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. The production uses a really interesting technique of having a camera record the performers so that we can either watch the actors perform live or look over at the TV in the center of the set and see what the fake broadcast looks like. These are three of the best comedic performers in the Twin Cities and I regret this is the last performance as it means I can’t point people to it.
Everything Bagel is a slam poetry show by Michael Shaeffer. He’s a great performer and all of his poems are really funny. Again it’s a shame this was not only the shows final performance but also the final performance of the Fringe Festival, I would have loved to point people to Shaeffer’s show. One of the great things about this show is that it’s not simply Shaeffer reciting a group of his poems but it’s clearly curated as there are callbacks within poems back to poems recited earlier in the show. So this is more than a poetry recital of individual poems but a unified and cohesive whole.
Don’t want to miss a single review from The Stages of MN? You can subscribe and have every post sent directly to your email. 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/
I am also a member of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers (TCTB), where you can read roundups of shows by my colleagues and I on facebook @TwinCitiesTheaterBloggers. Follow that group, It’s a great way to see reviews for shows I don’t get to or to get another blogger’s take on one I did. 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/ . We post biweekly longer form episodes that will focus on interviews and discussions around theater topics. There is also weekly shorter episodes in which we Bloggers tell you what we think you should get out and see as well as what we have on our schedules that we are most looking forward too.
DOLLY WHO? This wasn’t on my schedule, then I started hearing from fellow Twin Cities Theater Bloggers (TCTB) and audience members that it was a show to see if at all possible. Unfortunately the slot I had where I could make a change was another show that TCTB’s were encouraging me to see. Then while in the midst of taking over the Minnesota Fringe Instagram account on Monday, I got a chance to meet and talk briefly with Dolly and that small interaction convinced me that was the show I was going to see and I’m so glad I did. Dolly is a writer, artist, animator, and performer whose quirky personality and dry humor makes her show about a show that doesn’t exist a truly original work.
The Very Model of a Modern Monster Scientist is a unique twist on the usual Reverend Matt show. First off I have really enjoyed Matthew Kessen’s Reverend Matt’s Monster Science lectures since I saw my first one at the 2019 Twin Cities Horror Festival (TCHF) What’s different about this version is that while it features moments like his usual lecture formats, this one morphes into a play that introduces a new Character to the Monster Science Universe (MSU, I made this phrase and acronym up we’ll see if it sticks!) in the person of Elora Riley who applies for the position of Monster Science Assistant, she is coincidentally played by Elora Riley. If you like Monsters and deadpan humor about monsters and society you’ll love this and all of Reverend Matt’s shows. I’m excited with the possibility that we will, as Rev. Matt says at the end of the show, being seeing more of Elora Riley in the MSU.
Pillow Talk Is a spooky little show that runs just over 30 minutes. There’s absolutely room to expand this show to a 45 to 60 minute length and it would be a great fit for a future TCHF. At the Performance I saw one of the original cast members had fallen ill the day before and Riley Parham whom I saw yesterday in Romeo & Juliet are Dead stepped in with script in hand to play the role so the show could go on. He was great in his own show yesterday and was really good again today even with script in hand. The entire cast is quite good in this LGBTQ+ horror show that spans multiple time periods. The clear delineation of which would be something to solidify if the show is expanded.
Monster Science’s Greatest Hits: “The Ecology of the Muppets” If you know what these shows are you know how fun these lectures on various monsters can be. In these Greatest hits performances, each one of the time slots features one of his most popular lectures. This one was on Jim Henson and his Muppet creations. Though many of them are Monsters, Muppets are not what we generally think of as monster. So this one was kind of a different take on the Monster Science Lectures, but a really entertaining one. It also reminded me of two movies I’ve somehow never seen. In fact every time these films are mentioned, I say to myself I can’t believe I’ve never seen that. they are The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. This is a theme that strangely will continue through the rest of Day 10.
John Wick by Tim Wick (no relation)– Is a thorough and encyclopedic knowledge of all four films in the John Wick Film series necessary to enjoy Tim Wick’s new show that presents a comically abridged reenactment of all the films in the franchise? No. How do I know that? I’ve never seen a single John Wick movie. Might I have gotten even more out of the show if I had, perhaps. It may be that some of the references and jokes would have added meaning, but I still had a great time. Tim narrates what his five actors are acting out and his running commentary on the action and the series itself is very entertaining. Warning: There is an awful lot of nerf violence in this show, but no dogs were harmed.
THE STAGES OF MN FRINGE OF THE DAY AWARD winner!!!!
Wells Is Third On The Waitlist is one of the funniest one person shows I’ve seen at Fringe this year. Wells Farnham, describes the benefits of being on the Fringe waitlist. He was on it five times previously never lower than 80th. He felt he was doing something important as the sheer number of people who apply for the lottery and the available slots when compared, the discrepancy in those numbers, the larger it is the bigger a deal it is for those who get in. This year he was third, and before long he was in, something he never thought would happen and probably didn’t even want to happen. He liked being one of the numbers that made those who get in look good. His show details his search for a suitable topic for a Fringe show. It ends up being a rundown of the plots of the Fast and Furious Franchise. Which, as you may have guessed, I have never seen a single one of those films. Farnham’s performance his hilarious, and he does what all good storytellers do, draws everything that came before back together at the end. The next time Farnham gets into Fringe, He should embrace it full on as he definitely has what it takes.
When You Hear the Chime features Nichole Carey and Andrew Lester as two kids in an attic going through one of their Grandmothers old belongings. A combination of them acting out stories like Rumpelstiltskin and The Little Mermaid, playing dress up with the Grandmother’s old clothes, and their tentative and uncertain conversations about the adult world around them. Lester, obviously a trained dancer, gets multiple opportunities to display those skills as he portrays the young boy with ADHD, he uses his body control to elegantly represent the boys physicality, his constant need to be moving. Carey gets an unexpected moment towards the end of the show to reveal a wonderful singing voice. The show has a lot of imaginative whimsy punctuated with moments of tenderness.
Romeo & Juliet Are Dead is a look at what might have happened to the star crossed lovers after they died at the end of Shakespeare’s famous tragedy. In an empty void, Romeo sits making counts on the floor with Chalk, when Juliet suddenly appears. The lovers at first sight begin to profess their love for one another and their joy at being reunited in the afterlife. But infinity gives them time to reflect on their romance, how well they know each other and if marrying someone you’ve know for less than a week is really a good idea. What plays out in this abstract nether world where rooms are decorated and furnished by drawing items with a piece of chalk is a glimpse at what a life together, forever, is really like. They get a crash course in what marriage is like once the romance has worn off. The script effectively and elegantly mirrors the language of Shakespeare most of the time but occasionally gives a nod to the characters ages by having them speak in the same vernacular as my teenage children did.
Big Dad Energy is Stand up comic Jamie Campbell’s one man show about not being a Dad. He’s funny and has a positive message. The best bit is the one he did at the Fringe preview about pineapple on pizza. When you are needing a laugh and a blast of positivity this will be the show to take in.
THE STAGES OF MN FRINGE OF THE DAY AWARD winner!!!!
Stabby Stab Stab is a collaboration between two local favorite theater companies that attendees of MN Fringe Festival and Twin Cities Horror Festival (TCHF) know well, Special When Lit and the Winding Sheet Outfit. This is a remount of a production that if memory serves, sold out every performance last fall at the TCHF. It is a dramatization of the 2014 true crime popularly known as “the Slender Man Stabbing” that focuses solely on the two 12 year old girls, Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weir who committed the heinous crime. The show is a reminder that people are more than the one worst thing they’ve done in their lives. It doesn’t try to excuse their actions but it does help put things in perspective and bring to the forefront that these were 12 year old children. We gain some understanding of the loneliness and the intense need to connect that the two girls whose inner world seems as real to them as the one outside their heads. It reminded me of the wonderful true crime based film by Peter Jackson Heavenly Creatures.
The girls are brought to vivid life by the shows Playwright Nissa Nordland Morgan as Morgan and Kayla Dvorak Feld as Anissa. Nordland Morgan brings her uncanny ability to play childlike without crossing over into cloying childishness. Her character is the one who stabs and her performance makes clear that the girl is young, naive and suffering from mental illness that has caused a relaxation of her grip on reality. Her script, the result of exhaustive research includes texts between the girls and even a short story written by Morgan. All of this is giving us a picture of the girls tween world view and it brings some modicum of understanding to such an unfathomable act. Dvorak Feld has wowed me over and over agaib the last twelve months, every time I see her name in a program I have to double check it’s the same actress such is her range, I’m never sure that’s the same actress I saw last time as such and such character. Stabby Stab Stab is backed with eerily appropriate live musical accompaniment by Derek Lee Miller and Sam Landman. The effective Lighting by Andre Johnson Jr. combined with the projections and Production Design by Director Amber Bjork made this the show to beat at season XI of the TCHF.
* This review for Stabby Stab Stab contains material from last falls production that featured the same cast. Mostly because it’s still how I feel but also because I need to sleep.
Don’t want to miss a single review from The Stages of MN? You can subscribe and have every post sent directly to your email. 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/
I am also a member of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers (TCTB), where you can read roundups of shows by my colleagues and I on facebook @TwinCitiesTheaterBloggers. Follow that group, It’s a great way to see reviews for shows I don’t get to or to get another blogger’s take on one I did. 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/ . We post biweekly longer form episodes that will focus on interviews and discussions around theater topics. There is also weekly shorter episodes in which we Bloggers tell you what we think you should get out and see as well as what we have on our schedules that we are most looking forward too.
Coyfish by THEATRE23 was perhaps more interesting to me than it will be to some audiences. The problem is that it’s sort of meant to be a surprise so this is going to be a hard one to write about. I enjoyed it, the acting is good but a little stilted. Most of the dialogue takes place between two characters in different locations typing to each other in a chat room, and I think that plays a big part in the performances. The script is by Michelle de Joya who is currently kicking ass and taking numbers in Theater Mu’s The Kung Fu Zombie Saga: Shaman Warrior & Cannibals. The script is good but would benefit from a longer form, the ending feels truncated and unsatisfying, this might actually be better suited for film.
“Starved”: The Astonishing True Story of the University of Minnesota Starvation Experiment is the best acted and most complete and fully realized dramatic production I’ve seen so far at Fringe this year. An expansion of this would be a great fit for the History Theatre in St. Paul. Based on the true story of a study on the effects of starvation conducted during World War II by the University of MN on volunteers made up of conscientious objectors. It makes it clear the tremendous amount of courage and sacrifice made by those who participated. Branded cowards by much of society, these men participated so that they could be of service to mankind without engaging in the taking of human life.
The Shrieking Harpies is an improv show so you know the drill, every performance will be unique. If you like it, you could take in more than just one of their time slots. The Shrieking Harpies are Hannah Wydeven, Lizzie Gardner, Taj Ruler and on the keyboard Justin Nellis. Unlike the other musical improv show I reviewed earlier in the Fringe run, Opera Punks, The Shrieking Harpies create a single 1 hour improvised musical rather than creating individual songs. I’ve seen the Harpies several times before and considered skipping them this time to catch one of the 50+ shows I won’t be able to get to. Then I said, screw it! I love them, and I’m so glad I went.
THE STAGES OF MN FRINGE OF THE DAY AWARD winner!!!!
Mother Courage Bear and Her Children was created by Clevername Theatre, the same company behind my favorite show of the 2022 Minnesota Fringe, Who’s Afraid of Winnie the Pooh? I don’t know if their theater is dedicated to creating works around childhood bears or if this is a coincidence. We’ll see next year in the do a show about a bear from darkest peru. This time around we have militant German Directors take on The Care Bear franchise, here presented as an allegory about capitalism and military industrial complex. The Care Bears and the Care Cousins have been at war with each other for centuries. Mother Courage makes her living off selling care messages but her greed eventually costs her everything. This is another brilliant idea by Clevername Theatre that takes a childhood property and makes a dark adult comedy that works. This is one of the best shows in Fringe, it’s not quite at the level of Who’s Afraid of Winnie the Pooh, but that maybe because I have a deep and abiding love of Winnie the Pooh and very little first hand knowledge of the Care Bears.
Don’t want to miss a single review from The Stages of MN? You can subscribe and have every post sent directly to your email. 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/
I am also a member of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers (TCTB), where you can read roundups of shows by my colleagues and I on facebook @TwinCitiesTheaterBloggers. Follow that group, It’s a great way to see reviews for shows I don’t get to or to get another blogger’s take on one I did. 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/ . We post biweekly longer form episodes that will focus on interviews and discussions around theater topics. There is also weekly shorter episodes in which we Bloggers tell you what we think you should get out and see as well as what we have on our schedules that we are most looking forward too.
Two Stars in the Vast Dark is a Science-Fiction story that acts as much of the genre does as an allegory for our current times. Faithful readers know that I gravitate towards stories that have a transgender component or representation. Creators, Charlotte Grey & Theo Leverenz, use the story of a deep space trucker played by Leverenz in the loneliness of space and the ships A.I. the BARD system, played by Grey as parallels to several different modern problems. There is the loneliness of the Transgender or non-binary, gender nonconforming individual who can feel marginalized and unsupported. But it also speaks to what we all went through during covid. The convergence of these experiences can help create understanding and empathy for those in our society on their transgender journey. As the Transgender Trucker and the Bard System connect, it shows us one path in which we might find connection with our fellow beings through our shared experiences. Oh, and it’s filled with songs that are all good, if a bit too similar to each other.
The Resilient Child created by Ariel Pinkerton is the exploration of the phrase, the resilient child and it’s meaning. We look at the world of children and parents through the lens of seven performers who all bring something different to the mix. Four adults and three youths all at different ages. The three youngest performers read something they have each prepared, the pieces reflecting their age and outlook on the world. The adults talk about their parents, childhood, being a parent, and reflections on the idea of the resilient child. Denzel Belin’s portion about his relationship with his father is at times very humorous while Katie Starks account of her mother’s final years is more dramatic. Aaron Henderson’s story told in the first person is really and examination of how to parent and embrace the resiliency of children as a way to help them learn to be adults. I think everyone will identify with something in the show, many with parts of every piece. The one that really resonated with me personally was Ariel Pinkerton’s who talked about the difficult life decisions she made without including her daughter, divorce, and asking a partner to move in with them. How children in these situations adapt to the new normal, new guardians, new siblings, blending of families. Just today my youngest son who is 20 is having a hard time and doesn’t really want his Mom and Dad around trying to help him, he wants his step-sister or as he thinks of her, his sister. Children have the ability to accept things and often find the positive, they see what they have gained, whereas we as adults can find it harder to see past the down sides of things.
Allegro is written, directed, and stars Garrison Shea as a character who creates a soundtrack to his life that not only he can hear, but also those who are close to him. It’s a great idea with a good cast but a script that doesn’t fulfill the ideas potential. Maybe it’s somewhat autobiographical, maybe it isn’t, but that does seem to be a mistake writers can make. Getting locked into something that they feel they need to remain faithful to even in a disguised form. I’d encourage Shea to take this concept and go in a completely different direction. This has a very, artist working through something, feel to it. The story, aside from the high concept musical score that follows the character around part, feels like something that might have happened, which always feels cliche. The main character is really unsympathetic and this makes all of the resolutions feel unearned. I don’t want to discourage Shea, I think the general concept is really strong and as a performer I thought he was convincing even when the story wasn’t. I would definitely be on board for Allegro Take 2.
THE STAGES OF MN FRINGE OF THE DAY AWARD winner!!!!
Boy Crazy is the one woman show by Madde Gibba who sings and overshares about her adventures with men. Combining various elements of storytelling, audience participation, in scene reading, and the performance of original songs, it’s another show that will be slightly different each time. So if you love it you might want to take it in a second time. Gibba, is so open and engaging of a performer that we are instantly with her. She’s very funny and you expect to laugh at her songs, but where this takes an interesting turn is that I found the songs for the most part, even after a hilarious explanation of why she wrote it, to be unfunny, but goodddddd. And she’s a very good singer, hamming it up if the song calls for it, or just performing it. These seem to be songs that have, as their catalyst, a funny or painful story, which was used to write a straight song. I thoroughly enjoyed Gibba’s show and her mention of Buster Keaton in a lyric put her over the edge to be awarded the completely useless and unrecognized, ‘Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award’.
Don’t want to miss a single review from The Stages of MN? You can subscribe and have every post sent directly to your email. 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/
I am also a member of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers (TCTB), where you can read roundups of shows by my colleagues and I on facebook @TwinCitiesTheaterBloggers. Follow that group, It’s a great way to see reviews for shows I don’t get to or to get another blogger’s take on one I did. 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/ . We post biweekly longer form episodes that will focus on interviews and discussions around theater topics. There is also weekly shorter episodes in which we Bloggers tell you what we think you should get out and see as well as what we have on our schedules that we are most looking forward too.
Jade McLeod & Lauren Chanel. Photo by Matthew Murphy, Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade, 2022
Jagged Little Pill, the third album from Alanis Morissette released in 1995 was kind of a big deal to my generation. We were in our early twenties transitioning into adulthood which is what the album felt like for Morissette, less pop, a little darker, with a more mature sound and lyrics. After 5 straight days at the Minnesota Fringe Festival and 26 shows, I needed to switch gears and was looking forward to shaking it up a little bit. Then it happened, our soccer team Minnesota United progressed in League Cup to the round of 16 in a penalty shootout…a home game on the same night. This is as close as I ever want to be to a Sophie’s choice situation. Theater is my passion but as Dani Rojas says, “Football is life”. Professional, or in my circumstance hobby, integrity won out and I opted to honor my commitment to review Jagged Little Pill: The Musical. Spoiler, I watched the game after the show and the the Loons won again in a penalty shootout and are progressing to the quarter finals this Friday at 7:30 PM! I will be honoring my Fringe commitments and watching the game around midnight, at least it’s an away game. But I digress, in the end I made the right decision even though I missed singing Wonderwall with my Loonatics at Allianz, I got to see a show that defied the pigeon hole we tend to put Jukebox musicals in. Jagged Little Pill: The Musical is a show that actually addresses our human flaws and allows us to see that good people do bad things but facing those mistakes is how we heal.
Featuring music by Alanis Morissette and Glen Ballard, lyrics by Morissette, with additional music by Michael Farrell and Guy Sigsworth. The book for the musical won the Tony Award in 2020 and is by Academy Award winner for Original Screenplay(Juno) Diablo Cody. The story tackles multiple issues with parallel storylines running throughout the show. Among the topics explored are rape, consent, LGBTQ+, Drug addiction, marital problems, privilege, adoption, and race to name a few. The show opens and closes with Mary Jane Healy composing her yearly Christmas letter so we get a nice little summary of where each of the characters in the family who are the focus of the show are at in the beginning and a nice little wrap up at the end. Mary Jane is recovered from a car accident suffered that year. Her husband Steve works 60 hours a week as a partner in his law firm. Son Nick has just been accepted into Harvard. While adopted daughter Frankie is always championing a cause, while secretly dating Jo a gender nonconforming classmate. This is a heavy show thematically but all of these themes do coalesce and illustrate how life’s struggles are systematic. Trauma from sexual assault can lead to a need for control, not dealing with it can lead to substance abuse issues, which can lead to marital issues which affect your children. Control can lead to expectations which can create pressure in one child and feelings of second best in another. I don’t want to say anything more about the plot because I think it sounds heavier than it is. It ultimately ends in a good and very real to life place and one of hope. What really is amazing about the show is how naturally the songs work, typically jukebox musicals tend to have a lot of songs that feel shoehorned in, like square pegs pounded into round holes. The tone and feel of the show emulate the vibe of the original album.
The female and nonbinary cast is very strong led by Heidi Blickenstaff as Mary Jane has a powerful voice and turns in a performance laced with sarcasm, vulnerability, and denial, at times wickedly funny and others heartbreakingly devastating. She’s the character everyone thinks is so perfect and in control, but underneath she’s the one spiralling out of control. Ironic don’t you think? Lauren Chanel plays her adopted, black daughter, Frankie. Chanel also has a very good voice and finds the tricky path to walk playing the girl we side with at times but also allowing us to see her privilege, which is also kind of ironic, don’t you think? Finally, Jade McLeod, who identifies as nonbinary, plays Frankie’s romantic interest Jo. McLeod gives Blickenstaff serious competition for best vocalist and they gets a couple of best songs from the album to perform “Hand in My Pocket” and “You Oughta Know“. The men don’t fair as well both Dillon Klena who plays Nick and Rishi Golani who plays Phoenix, another romantic interest of Frankie’s both seem too weak vocally, I’m not sure if the parts are out of their vocal comfort zone or if it’s something else.
Speaking of something else, the one major criticism of the production is the sound mix and design by Jonathan Deans. Everything is too loud and it causes the voices to become distorted, so the audience loses the lyrics that are being sung at times. It’s at the worst when there are multiple characters singing at once, particularly if they are singing different parts. The solo songs and quieter ones are best. The show is well staged and directed by Diane Paulus who uses Lucy Mackinnon’s video projections sparingly and effectively in coordination with Riccardo Hernandez Set Design. Projection as part of scenic design is here to stay, I’m not in favor of its use instead of actual sets. I think it works much better when it’s utilized like this to complement the physical set design. The show allows for a surprising amount of creative lighting given its setting in white upper class suburban Connecticut, but Lighting Designer Justin Townsend gets some moments to really shine creatively, pun intended.
If you are a fan of Alanis Morissette’s album Jagged Little Pill or a fan of musicals like Next to Normal you’re likely to really connect to this show as I did. For your enjoyment there are a couple of suggestions, bring some ear plugs, better to have them and not use them then not have them and wish you did. Second, please note this message from the Hennepin Theatre Trust website for this show so you are aware of anything that might be triggering for you.
Please note: This production contains strong language, adult themes, drug use, and moments of sexual violence that some may find upsetting. Jagged Little Pill addresses many topics of contemporary life, including sexual assault, opiate addiction, transracial adoption, gender and LGBTQIA+ identity, marriage struggles and mental health.
Jagged Little Pill: The Musical runs through August 13th at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Minneapolis. Click the link above to purchase tickets. It’s one of the strongest new musicals to come around in years. Tackling complex human issues and illustrating the ways in which we are all more than one thing. We are not one issue, we exist within families and communities and we all affect and influence one another.
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