Twin Cities Horror Festival XIII Day Three Reviews: The Night Parade of a Hundred Demons…, Fractured Remembrances, Ghostrunners

Okay, so those paying close attention will notice that I labeled yesterday day one and today’s reviews day three. Well I wasn’t counting the Wednesday Cabaret, but I see from the TCHF posts they count that as day one, so I’m adjusting to their lead. If you want to see Let’s Summon a Demon at Debbie’s, good luck! As I prep this post the final performance lists, the tickets as almost gone. I suspect by the time I post this it will be sold out, making it a completely sold out run. Remember you can see the entire schedule and purchase tickets at this link https://www.tchorrorfestival.com/tchf-xiii.html . All Shows take place at the Crane theater in NE Minneapolis. I’ll be seeing all of the shows, so check back here for further reviews. I recommend seeing them all but if you are new to it at least plan a day or night to come and see three or four shows at once, there is such a variety of shows. When you do come they have some great mocktail additions to their concessions this year, I’ve tried the Cosmo and the Margarita so far and loved them both. Also don’t forget to purchase your merch, t-shirts, hoodies, even earrings, and dresses. That’s the pitch, now on with the reviews!

The Night Parade of a Hundred Demons for those of you familiar with Rev. Matt’s Monster Science you should know this years TCHF entry comes with a twist. Matt Kessen is joined by The Winding Sheet Outfit who act out elements of his humor filled lectures. If you’ve never seen Rev. Matt perform before you should, he’s a staple of the TCHF, the Minnesota Fringe Festival, and he performs monthly at Bryant Lake Bowl Theater. For most of us horror fans he’s like that favorite sweatshirt, it’s not your fanciest, it’s not your warmest, but it’s comforting and makes you feel warm inside. To describe the content would be pointless as each of his performances is a different topic. I will say that the addition of The Winding Sheet Outfit adds to the fun in all the right ways. For our performance the highlights was a parody song to the tune of “The Leader of the Pack” and they will be performing a different song for each program. I may try and catch another performance if I can, I enjoy these so much.

Fractured Remembrances is written and directed by Executive Director/Ticketing Director of the TCHF Duck Washington. Don’t worry his show is not the result of string pulling, it’s more than deserving of its place in the festival. Of the seven shows I’ve seen so far, this was the one with some real moments of unease and creepiness. The story of a young woman named Aster, played beautifully by Angela Fox, who undergoes a traumatic experience when she and her boyfriend disappear for five days. She is found but her boyfriend is not, but he’s not the only things missing, her memory of the five days is also gone. The show deals with her trying to recover her memories with the help of a hypnotherapist. This has a complex script, brought to life with minimal sets but with truly creepy lighting and sound design. The Make-up and special effects by Kyle Decker add an ooze factor that doesn’t go over the top like Dangerous Productions shows do, but just adds to the overall tone of dread. There are fun supporting performances from Tim Uren, Ariel Pinkerton, and Jean Wolf. This is one for horror fans!

Ghostrunners certainly has some effective and horrific moments, but at its heart, it doesn’t want to scare you, it wants to amuse. At that it succeeds admirably, the main focus is on word play. For example those words that have more than one meaning like bat, as is baseball bat or the flying rodent. Another example is words that sound alike, “I see”, being mistaken for “Icey”. If you enjoy this type of clever writing and it is clever, though like the magicians trick or Sherlock Holmes deductions, it seems simple once explained. But coming up with all of these variations and then fitting them into a story, they only make it look easy. The story centers around an accountant who, appears to have OCD and be on the spectrum, spends his spare time playing a baseball game that he invented with dice, which relies heavily on statistics and tables. This rang very true to me, I’ve a son on the spectrum and I remember the elaborate games he would create on his own when he was younger. The game he is playing is then acted out by performers who are representing what is happening in his head. Everything begins to go south when he rolls three ones, a triple snake eyes if that’s clearer. This roll takes him to a table that is hardly ever referenced and the results are murderous. It’s a great cast including, in for one of the actors who has been benched due to an injury, the Director Kevin Duong at some performances and Playwright Kyle Munshower at others.

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Twin Cities Horror Festival XIII Day One Reviews: The Wrench, Let’s Summon a Demon at Debbie’s, The Alchemist’s Bargain, and Doctor Clown

TCHF XIII actually launched a day early this year on Wednesday night with the sold out, one night only, Leslie Vincent Presents: A Monster and Mayhem Cabaret. I think everyone in the audience that night is of the firm belief that this is the way to open every TCHF going forward. Here’s hoping that is in the works for next year. The Festival shows of which there are 11, began on Thursday, each will have 5 performances throughout the 11 days of the festival. To see the schedule and purchase tickets to any of the shows go to https://www.tchorrorfestival.com/tchf-xiii.html . But don’t wait to long, shows have already sold out performances.

The Wrench is a play written by Andrew Erskine Wheeler Who’s Whoosh!… remains in my memory as a highlight of my very first Minnesota Fringe Festival. Here again he dives into a real life event, but this time there is a dark side. A group of actors, most of whom were present at the 1849 Astor Place Riot, have been hired for a new production of Macbeth. The story of their experience with the riot and how it left one of them with a traumatic brain injury is recounted to the young understudy who will have to go on as Lady Macbeth after the leading lady met with an accident. Interesting how often the Scottish Play and it’s curse has been coming up lately, just Sunday it was a very fun antidote in Patrick Page’s All the Devils Are Here at the Guthrie and those of us on the theater beat know of the series of accidents that have plagued Theater Latte Da’s production of Scotland, PA. Wheeler is great as Roscius Denue, who was trampled by horses during the riot and now speaks gibberish most of the time, but has perfect recall of the Shakespearean roles he played before the accident. There is also nice work from Carolyn Pool and Shanan Custer as two actresses that have aged out of the Lady Macbeth role and into the three witches.

Let’s Summon a Demon at Debbie’s is this years breakout hit, and it was so even before anyone saw it. By the time of the first performance four of its five performance slots have sold out. So if you are interested get online and get your tickets tonight, they will be sold out in the next day I’ve little doubt. Is it worthy of all the advance hype, yeah I think it is. The show opens on the home of Debbie, who lives with her menagerie of dolls whom she thinks of as her children. When her doorbell rings for the first time in 10 years and 27 days she is on her guard, but it turns out to be her old friend Cara, that she hasn’t seen in 25 years. Not since the day they and their friend Lucy tried to summon a demon in Debbie’s house during their senior year of high school. Is it scary? not really but it certainly has horrific elements. It’s really a pitch black comedy with some messed up stuff in it. Reagan Kay James is perfect as the uptight and slightly off her rocker doll loving Debbie. Julia Weiss as Cara wows us first by downing and entire bottle of wine in one drink, then with a story about catching her husband cheating on her that becomes more and more outrageous as it goes on and on, none of which can be repeated here for fear on violating some obscenity laws. Ashley Rose Wellman is Lucy whose entrance provides what is probably the plays one genuine moment of fright.

The Alchemist’s Bargain is a charming puppet show performed using blacklights, which really brought me back to my childhood, when you could get a blacklight bulb and blacklight posters at Spencers Gifts in the mall. I even had blacklight crayons that I used to color with and than look at using the blacklight. The story follows a man who seeks out a Alchemist who he hopes will be able to bring his true love back to life. The Alchemist sends the man on a quest to retrieve three ingredients that he will need in order to bring the loved one back. There is a lesson learned by the end but even if there wasn’t the journey itself is worth attending the show for. It’s a visual treat that ends with the alchemist’s trick. This is a great show for families, kids while marvel at the creativity of the medium, In fact so will their parents. I didn’t just enjoy myself, I was very much delighted by Phantom Chorus Theatre’s production. It’s a great example of the variety of styles and shows on view at the TCHF.

Doctor Clown is this years entry from Dangerous Productions. Typically the one show you can count on to be bloody and scary. Well, that is until this year, the blood is still there, but the scares have been replaced by laughs. Many of the laughs coming from the use of blood. Was I a little disappointed? yes, not because what they did wasn’t successful, it is. And it isn’t because it’s just a bunch of gross out humor, there is actually a fair amount of political and social commentary involved. No, it’s just that the one thing I’ve always found about the TCHF, and I do love the TCHF, is that very few of the shows actually even attempt to be scary. So it’s a little bit of a let down when the one company that can be relied upon to try and get the blood pumping, in more ways than one, doesn’t, at least, not in more ways than one. Of course the company should be allowed to do something different, and this clowning show if very well done. So it is a good show and my hope is that by setting your expectations accordingly you will be able to appreciate it more fully. If you have issues with blood and gore, this is not a show for you, it isn’t used to scare you but it could trigger a gag reflex or two all the same.

All the Devils Are Here is a Masterclass in Shakespeare’s Villains at the Guthrie Theater

The Guthrie Theater opens it’s McGuire Proscenium Stage as the first stop for Octopus Theatricals national tour of Patrick Page’s All the Devils Are Here: How Shakespeare Invented the Villain. Created and performed by the award winning actor of stage and screen Patrick Page who walks us through Shakespeare’s plays taking a look at nine of his villains, and how the role of the villain changed over the course of his career. Page is a mesmerizing performer who commands the stage from the moment the lights go up. Open and engaging warmly with the audience as he discusses his experiences with these roles, he slips easily into masterful performances from the plays and shows himself to be an excellent Shakespearean actor. Setting up each performance with a discussion of how each role added to the complexities of the archetype and showed Shakespeare’s maturation. For any fan of Shakespeare this is an essential production on the journey of understanding the artist and his works.

For a one person show that contains very few props or set pieces I must say this is a very well designed production. Everything is elegantly presented and the lighting design by Stacey Derosier is especially effective. Sound Designer Darron L West also adds some excellent little touches like the manipulation of Page’s voice as the three witches in Macbeth. My favorite story Page tells of his own experiences with Shakespeare’s plays revolves around Macbeth, which touches on the curse of the Scottish play. As many of you know our local production of Scotland, PA has been dealing with some injuries which may or may not have to do with the curse. In his performance of shakespeare characters, my favorites were Iago from Othello and Shylock from the Merchant of Venice. I appreciated Page’s explanation of the prejudices and other societal views from Shakespeare’s day. Explaining how things were so we can look at the characters through the lense of the time, but also pointing out that thankfully we know better now.

All the Devils Are Here: How Shakespeare Invented the Villain runs through November 17th at the Guthrie Theater in Downtown Minneapolis. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.guthrietheater.org/shows-and-tickets/2024-2025-season/all-the-devils-are-here/

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.

Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors at the Center for Performing Arts

Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors the comedic play by Gordon Greenberg and Steve Rosen is like most adaptations of the classic horror novel by Bram Stoker, very loosely based on the source material. You have some of the basic plot in tact, and many of the characters names, even if they are tweaked ala Jean Van Helsing or they are given to different characters like the swap of Lucy and Mina as the fiance of Jonathan Harker. This adaptation is played for laughs and isn’t meant to be a serious and straight representation of the Dracula story. Stoker’s novel has a sexual undercurrent to it that was quite bold considering it’s Victorian era publication, that is the element that this production has its most fun with. It doesn’t shy away from the sensual aspects of the vampire myth in fact it puts it front and center and isn’t afraid to be very modern in it’s portrayals of sexual fluidity.

This is a show like The 39 Steps or the [Un]Qualified Theater’s 2023 MN Fringe production H.G. Wells’ The Invisible Man where there is a small ensemble with one actor playing the lead, here Dustin Bronson as Dracula, and the rest of the cast playing a multitude of characters. There is no pretense that this is not a stage show, in fact much of the humor comes from jokes that acknowledge this is a play being put on for our amusement. From sexy Dracula spraying is own aerosol can of fog simply to make his appearance more sensual to an actor portraying multiple characters in the same scene simply by turning around and putting a different wig on or changing hats. These are not moves meant to fool us but to elicit laughter, which it does. I love a show like this that winks at the audience and uses theater conventions to not only tell its story but also as the source of amusement. Director Joy Donley clearly understand this style of humor and masterfully stages all manner of silliness.

Bronson’s Dracula is sexy as hell but also really funny. Having most recently seen him in the Guthrie Theater’s History plays, this was a nice reminder of his considerable comedic chops which first impressed me in Jungle Theater’s Georgiana & Kitty. He further showcased his comic skills in a few impromptu moments with the audience, knowing just how to add a little something when the situation worked. The other four actors Bradley Johnson, Katie Consamus, Bethany McCade, and Corey Mills get to wow the audience with their versatility and ability to create countless distinct and highly amusing characters. Mills in particular looks to be having a blast playing two extreme’s the especially goofy Mina and the heroic and intelligent Dr. Jean Van Helsing. There is some great design elements from set pieces, props, costumes, as well as the lighting and sound design. Everything is kept simple but effective in terms of size and mobility, which it needs to be because this show moves at a very quick pace. Stage Manager Melisa Kucevic deserve praise for keeping this freight train on the rails at such high speeds.

Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors runs through November 2nd at the Center for Performing Arts in South Minneapolis. It’s a great show for everyone who enjoys the pleasures of Monster Month and great laughs. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.nocturnalgiraffetheatre.org/currentshow

Broomstick Sweeps in the Witching Season at Open Eye Theatre

Broomstick by John Biguenet and designed and directed by Joel Sass will get you in the mood for Monster Month! It is a monologue show that runs about 90 minutes, no intermission, in which a Witch speaks directly to us in the audience as if we are one of the children she took in long ago and who ran away after a “misunderstanding”. Cheryl Willis doesn’t just play one, she really is a Witch! I know because I witnessed her cast a spell over the entire audience. She spins her tales like a spider a web, drawing you ever inward until you are entirely captive to her appetite. Willis is absolutely mesmerizing surrounded by Joel Sass’ always stunning and detailed sets, she moves from one reminiscences to another speaking always in rhyme. The marriage of atmosphere and Willis’s witchy vocalizations at once playful, almost childlike, then underlined the next moment with a tone of menacingly dark humor. It is a marriage of performer and role that comes along only a few times a year. More than just storytelling this is an experience, Playwright Biguenet has written the audience into the script and Willis draws us into our roles like lambs to the slaughter. I have not the words to describe Willis’ accent, something celtic perhaps, but whatever it is, it’s devine. I could have listened to her for another hour. The character she creates is complicated, understanding, devious, sentimental, questioning, innocent, treacherous, and deadly all conveyed with the skillful inflections of Willis masterfully controlled voice.

If you are looking for something that’s funny without being a comedy, scary without being gross or horrifying, Broomstick is the show for you. Here are a group of theater artists that do what Open eye does better than any other theater their size, make every aspect of production work perfectly together and make it look like a million dollar show. Lighting Designer Kathy Maxwell, Costume Designer Claire Looker, and Sound Designer C. Andrew Mayer all put their mark on the show. It sounds and looks fantastic, which is one of the things I cherish most about Open Eye Theatre. Broomstick runs through October 31st at Open Eye Theatre in South Minneapolis. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.openeyetheatre.org/broomstick

Over the River and Through the Woods a Great Script With Fantastic Cast Creates Pure Gold

Mark Rosenwinkle, Melinda Kordich, Julia Ennen, Armando Harlow Ronconi, Kirby Bennett and Gabriele Angieri Photo by Brian Pierce

This was my third time out to Sidekick Theatre in South West Bloomington and my second time enjoying a meal before the show. I know that for some of my colleagues it seems like a bit of a trek for a show, but I’m to the West of the cities and for me this is much closer than going to St. Paul for a show, which I do on a nearly weekly basis. But honestly the reason I’ve come back for the second and third time is not proximity, it’s because I have been thoroughly entertained and indeed impressed with Sidekick Theatre’s offerings. Over the River and Through the Woods is the best show so far and deserves to be seen by everyone. Laugh out loud funny but also touched with moments of sweetness and truth. Characters and situations that everyone can identify with. The humor flows from life not simply one liners and it works it’s way into our hearts because of it.

The script by Joe DiPietro centers on Nick, an unmarried young man who works in the City in marketing, but comes out every Sunday to Hoboken, New Jersey to have dinner with his maternal and paternal grandparents. As the play opens Nick has uncharacteristically come out on a Thursday because he has something to tell the grandparents. We must be 15 minutes into the play before Nick can get out his announcement, though he’s trying to do so from the moment he walks into the house. The announcement that he has been offered a promotion at work comes with the catch that if he accepts it he will need to move to Seattle. Why does it take so long, because none of them listen to him, his Grandma Aida tries to push food on him non stop throughout the entire run of the play, when Grandma Emma and Grandpa Nunzio arrive he informs the audience that they are the two loudest people he has ever known. Throughout the play the characters break the fourth wall and address the audience directly. Much of the humor, and of humor there is much, comes from Nick’s frustrations in dealing with his Grandparents, whether it’s trying to share news or playing Trivial Pursuit. The humor is character based, the best kind, the type that builds and provides avenues for call backs. It is also full of universal beats that ring true to the audience.

The script is well written to be sure but the cast really make it feel authentic. It’s about growing up and growing older, it’s about family that drives you crazy but that you also love dearly. It is a comedy, but a comedy about characters that you laugh at but also grow to connect and even love. And so it isn’t just about laughs, it also contains moments of sweetness and melancholy. And those only come because we have grown to love these characters and that is thanks to the amazing cast. Armando Harlow Ronconi plays Nick and his performance is built as much on his reactions to the other performers as on what he says and how. He has a gift for portraying frustration and incredulity without every overdoing it, every reaction is perfectly calibrated to find the balance between comic effect and keeping the character grounded in a reality. Kirby Bennett as Grandma Aida finds ways of pushing food on Nick constantly without it ever falling into a repetitive comedic routine. Instead, she finds a way to internalized this repeated action into the core of her character. Mark Rosenwinkel as Grandpa Frank, Gabriele Angieri as Grandpa Nunzio, and Melinda Kordich as Grandma Emma all work together so organically that you feel as if they really have lived next to each other for 50 years. They are remarkably gifted at talking over each other, creating a cacophony of voices through which Nick has to try and navigate and yet which the audience is able to follow word for word. Finally Julia Ennen plays Caitlin, the young woman the Grandparents invite to dinner without telling Nick, hoping he’ll fall in love with her and decide not to move away.

Over the River and Through the Woods runs through November 3rd at Sidekick Theatre in Bloomington for more information and to purchase tickets go to https://sidekicktheatre.com/about-the-show-over-river I highly recommend purchasing the optional meal before the show, I’ve found both the weekend brunch and the weekday lunch options to be delicious. It’s always nice when there is something extra like that to make a trip to the theater a little extra special.

Some Like it Hot, a Transformative Musical at the Orpheum Theatre

The First National Touring Company of SOME LIKE IT HOT Photo by Matthew Murphy

Some Like it Hot is probably the most successful non musical movie to stage musical adaptation I’ve ever seen. I’ve written before about how few of these types of musicals justify themselves. For every successful one there are four that had better never been staged. They are either a retread of the movie with forgettable songs like Pretty Woman or in the rare instance they are a completely thrilling productions that wows with stage magic with forgettable songs like Back to the Future. Sometimes they can be fun like Mrs Doubtfire was but mostly they suck like Tootsie. But, they all have one thing in common they are trying to recapture the magic of the films on which they are based. What Some Like it Hot does is transform a classic movie in such a way that it recreates the magic of the film but adds meaning and layers that were not possible when the film was made in 1959 by Billy Wilder. It doesn’t change the plot, and it remains a comedy, but it’s also about something, something much bigger than its source material. I love the film, I’ve seen it at least half a dozen times, I expected to enjoy the musical, and hoped it retained the humor of the original and for a change added some memorable songs. I didn’t expect to see a show that told the story I knew while containing at it’s heart a story of transition and of acceptance.

For those unfamiliar with Wilder’s classic film, which is probably more of you than I imagine, the story is set during prohibition. It begins in Chicago where a couple of musicians Joe and Jerry witness a gangland killing and disguise themselves as women so they can leave town with a all girl band. While the gangsters are searching for them they both become entangled romantically. In California, where they plan to put on their big show after trying it out on the cross country trip, Joe, disguised as Josephine falls for the lead singer of the band, Sugar Cane. He assumes the disguise of a screenwriter named Kip to try and Woo Sugar. Jerry under the name of Daphne is pursued by a millionaire and Root beer heir named Osgood Fielding III. While Joe creates disguises in order to deceive and get what he wants. Jerry finds that his disguise as Daphne is where he finds his truth. This show looks and feels like a movie from the time period in which it is set ,1933. There is no out of place rap songs or rock anthems, the songs sounds as if they come from that period, with the exception of a few lyrics here and there. But one major change that does take place is in the races of the characters. This isn’t a case of color blind casting, Jerry and Joe, who call themselves brothers because they grew up together, are obviously not as one character points out. Jerry is black, Joe is white. Sweet Sue, the bandleader is black as is Sugar and many of the other band members and characters. Race isn’t ignored, The film went to Florida, when Sweet Sue is asked if she is taking the band south on tour, she points out that looking like she does and the way the world is, hell no she isn’t going south. Race isn’t a major theme in the show, but it isn’t ignored either. The show is diverse and it’s theme of acceptance carries over to race as well as gender. Neither the themes of race or gender that are present dominate the show but they add to the emotional core of the show. They will resonate beyond the spotlight especially to those in the audience who see themselves reflected on stage in a way they rarely have.

The film used men in drag as a plot device but also for the outdated comedic trope that a man in a dress is funny in and of itself. Here the creators have jettisoned that trope, I don’t recall any instances where the men being in drag alone was supposed to signify something humorous. Instead it is undeniable that Tavis Kordell, who plays Jerry, is far from being a punchline in his disguise as Daphne, he/she is in fact beautiful. That isn’t coincidental anymore than the fact that the role of Sugar, played in the film by the definitive iconic blonde bombshell Marilyn Monroe is here played by Leandra Ellis-Gaston an attractive and talented black actor. These are intentional decisions and they are meant to subvert our expectations and expand our capacity to embrace others and erode our prejudices. Matt Loehr who plays Joe/Josephine along with Kordell and Ellis-Gaston are remarkable tap dancers. Everyone in the cast to be honest is amazing as are the routines that have been designed for them by Choreographer and Director Casey Nicholaw. Dance is a major draw of this show and if you are a fan of Dance, particularly tap, that is just another reason not to miss Some Like it Hot. One amazing sequence has the Gangsters chasing Joe and Daphne, the cops chasing the gangsters, and everyone else jopining in. The use a line of floating doors to playout the chase done in dance as if it were an episode of Scooby-Doo. There are a couple of other standouts in the cast that I wanted to mention. Tarra Conner Jones is commanding as Sweet Sue with impeccable comic timing. Edward Juvier who plays Osgood is a comic delight as well, but he’s also the sweetest person in the play, and perhaps the world. When he sings to Daphne “Fly, Mariposa, Fly” a song about a caterpillar turning into a butterfly he wins over Daphne and the audience. The two of them are the emotional center of the film and the subversion of the films iconic final line is brilliant and meaningful.

Some Like it Hot runs through October 20th at Hennepin Arts Orpheum Theatre in Downtown Minneapolis. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://hennepinarts.org/events/some-like-it-hot-2024