Ilhan Omar opening the 2024 Minnesota Fringe After Party!
This year I both tied and surpassed my previous Minnesota Fringe records. Last year I saw 50 shows. This year I saw 50 shows, but I attended 52 performances, 2 were repeats. That is also something new this year, I’ve never attended a Fringe show twice before. For me Fringe is all about choices, there are more shows in the Minnesota Fringe festival each year than there are time slots in which to see them. In any other year the thought of seeing a repeat of a show rather than something new would have been unheard of. That’s how good the two shows I saw twice were, their greatness outweighed the possibility of seeing two unique shows.
The two I repeated were Allison Vincent’s Daddy Issues and Emily Boyajian Transition: A Story of Two Trans People Becoming Themselves. The thing these two shows had in common was they both brought tears to my eyes both times I saw them. When it came time to award The Stages of MN Best in Fest Award I decided the only thing I could really live with was to award it to both shows. Daddy Issues will be part of the Fringe Encore series at The Phipps Center for the Arts in WI. The performance is 7:00 PM Saturday August 17th at 7:00 PM go here for tickets to Daddy Issues and the four other Fringe shows https://thephipps.org/events/fringe . Transition: A Story of Two Trans People Becoming Themselves we can only hope will get a remount at some point. I’d love to see a group like Out Front Minnesota or Transforming Families of Minnesota utilize this wonderful creation as entertainment at one of their fundraisers. Boyajian’s orchestral score and inspirational lyrics would be very appropriate for a black tie affair. One can hope and dream.
I also want to list the next ten best shows of this years festival, these are in alphabetical order:
Next 10 Best:
5 X 5
A Horse Walks Out Onto a Stage and Dies
A Murder on the Great Grimpen Mire Express
Beanie Baby Divorce Play
Good Ones
Juliet & Juliet: Improvised Shakespeare
Love Lies a Bleeding
Pants on Fire
Put a Needle in Me
The Peter Pan Cometh
Every year I continue on this Blogging journey I find myself connecting more and more with the theater community. Minnesota Fringe is such a great festival for fostering those artist and audience relationships. The person you just saw in a show is sitting with you at the next one. But it’s also a great time to connect with fellow theatergoers. I appreciate all of the artists who took a little time to talk with me throughout the festival about their shows and what projects they have coming up. I loved talking to other audience members about what they had seen and what they thought I should see. I have a special warm place in my heart for those who came up and introduced themselves as readers of my reviews. Sometimes it feels like we do this in a vacuum, I try and avoid looking at my blog stats until end of year and then just to ensure that the reach is growing. So it means an awful lot when people come up and let me know they are reading and seeing shows based on my recommendations. That is a situation that has been tending to happen at more and more shows and Fringe led to the most per 11 day span ever. So faithful readers whether I met you at a show or at Fringe or haven’t yet, I thank you.
To end here is a link to the Minnesota Fringe Golden Lanyard Award Winners and some photos from this years Minnesota Fringe Festival. I just wish I’d gotten more Photos, I always forget to do that. https://minnesotafringe.org/awards
Here we are at the final day’s reviews of the 31st Minnesota Fringe Festival. Thanks for reading along and I hope it led you to some of the better shows of the festival. I saw more shows this year than last, but I’ll save all of that for a final Fringe post later in the week. For now here are the final six reviews, enjoy!
Looking for Justice (in all the wrong places) is an exploration of the grey areas in the justice system. Examining this idea through creator Amy Oppenheimer’s personal relationship and involvement in the rape trial of a friend in 1970. Her solo show while not dynamic in delivery is well constructed and reasoned. Her legal mind clearly influencing her desire to examine events from multiple perspectives. There is humor but it is well measured and helps to keep the serious content from becoming emotionally overwhelming. Which allows us to process Oppenheimer’s arguments and, while not quite conclusions, her questions.
Two Bowls of Cereal and Some Bacon, Mahmoud Hakima’s show about growing up with an abusive stepfather is powerfully and bravely told. Scenes of familial trauma are intercut with the story of a mystery girl who befriended him in the 3rd grade. The unresolved aspects of that character reminds us that we never know what is happening in anyone else’s life at anytime. The title is used to draw a comparison between himself and the mystery girl, but her eventual disappearance begs the question, are their home lives more similar than either could know? The story of abuse is often the story of silence, this show explores some of what the silence may be hiding.
The Princess Strikes Back: One Woman’s Search for the Space Cowboy of her Dreams is traveling artist Victoria Montalbano solo show that walks us through her relationship history and search for her own Han Solo. Seeing herself as Princes Leia she covers the ups and downs of her love live from her first stirrings of sexual desire, seeing The Empire Strikes Back‘s kiss between Han and Leia to online dating. Everything is filtered humorously through the lens of Star Wars like her second serious relationship in which she was R2D2 to his C3PO. The humor isn’t the deflective kind we sometimes see in solo shows where the performer is confronting their lack of romantic success but used to put things in perspective and to entertain in an honest and yes, brave way.
Dream of Me is a sci-fi story about the extremes we will go to in order to hold onto those we love. Catherine Hansen plays Mia a woman whose husband Nick, played by Eric B Jacobson, has died while out running an errand. Natalie Rae Wass, who is also really good in Yo-Ho-Hum: A Pirate’s Midlife Crisis, here plays Mia’s friend Tanna who is working on a new invention that will allow the wearer to control their dreams. Mia is unable to process her grief and asks Tanna to let her test her invention so that she can dream about Nick and say her goodbyes. But once isn’t enough and as things progress we begin to wonder if these are dreams or if the AI behind the tech is up to something else. The three actors give wonderful performances in a story that turns from romantic fantasy into a cautionary horror story. Well written, designed, directed, and even choreographed.
Juliet & Juliet: Improvised Shakespeareis The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award winner for Day 11. The two Shakespearean Improvisors Meghan Wolff & Sami Haeli spend 50 minutes using a few suggestions from the audience to create a play in the style of William Shakespeare. Obviously as with other improv shows this will be different each time you see it. What I don’t imagine changes that much is the hilarity with which Wolff and Haeli execute their specific form of comedy. They have the vocabulary down as they must in order to so eloquently execute the heightened style of speech. They clearly have some sort of psychic link between them as there is never once, one of those moments that most all improv shows have, where you can tell one performer is not getting across where they want a scene to go to their scene partner. An impressive high wire act of comedy that I’d love to experience again.
The Greenhouse is kind of a weird show, which made it a great ending to my 2024 Fringe. What is the Fringe festival but a way to embrace and explore weirdness in all it’s artistic variables. The story concerns a cult set in a not too distant future. A young woman arrives just as an elder of the cult has decided it is time for them to pass away. The Cult is based around the protection and nurturing of plants they strive to maintain a balance within their community. As such a new person cannot join until some else has died. This sounds like it will go to a dark place, but it doesn’t. The cult is not portrayed as bad, but there is a complication with the passing of the elder and the newcomer, she is pregnant and one cannot be replaced by two. The cast does a nice job of performing so that the cult members are recognized as well intentioned and the new comer is the one acting suspiciously. Standouts in the cast include Georgia Doolittle as “Mother” and Vivian Kampschroer as Poppy the cult’s talented and committed botanist.
That’s the reviews from Day 11 of the Minnesota Fringe Festival. Be sure to check back later in the week for my 2024 Minnesota Fringe wrap up! Also be sure to follow M’ Colleagues, Jill Schafer at http://www.cherryandspoon.com/ for show reviews and for other Fringe writings checkout our friend and fellow Twin Cities Theater Blogger Kendra Plant’s blog Artfully Engaging at https://www.kendraplant.com/blog-artfully-engaging.
Tired of missing reviews from The Stages of MN? Do you find yourself left out when all your friends are talking about that great new play that you didn’t even know about? Never fear, that need never happen again. Now you too can subscribe and have every post from The Stages of MN sent directly to your email box. No more hoping the algorithm works in your favor and you actually see a post on facebook or Instagram. No relying on so-called friends to tip you to the best shows in town. To subscribe on your computer: from the home page on the right, enter your email address and click subscribe. On your mobile device scroll to the bottom of the page and do the same. You can also follow me on Facebook, @thestagesofmn click follow and on Instagram thestagesofmn. You can also read some of my reviews syndicated on the MN Playlist website https://minnesotaplaylist.com/ from time to time.
But that’s not all! Think I may have steered you wrong on a show? Well, I am also a member of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers (TCTB), where you can read roundups of shows by m’colleagues and I when you follow us on facebook @TwinCitiesTheaterBloggers. We also produce the podcast Twin Cities Theater Chat!! which you can access through this link or wherever you enjoy podcasts https://twincitiestheaterchat.buzzsprout.com/ . Now you too can be in the know about all the fabulous theater happening in and around the Twin Cities.
While I only have six reviews today I did actually see seven shows. The seventh was a repeat of previous The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award winner Emily Bryajian’s Transition: A Story of Two Trans People Becoming Themselves. All the other shows are lucky I don’t give the award to a show twice.
The MacScottish Play is about of group of college students who are mounting a production on Macbeth that seems to be cursed. Cast members keep dropping out and then the Director gets sucked into the play itself. There are side stories for the cast members and lessons about not outing people and none of it matters because you don’t believe a word of the dialogue. The problem with the show is two fold. The script and the performances and it’s hard to say for certain if the failure of one isn’t contributing to the other. Are the performances so mannered and wooden because of the script or is the script better than it appears but is just being hobbled by unprepared actors? I lean towards the script being the bigger culprit. When dialogue exists just to take up time or to try and give an appearance of naturalism without adding anything to what we are seeing, even solid actors can struggle to give them meaning. There are about a half dozen good lines and I’m not saying the idea isn’t good. But the dialogue is illogical and feels like the verbal equivalent of treading water.
The Camp Out this is an Improv show which means every performance will be different. If you’ve ever wondered how true that is M’Colleague Jill, of Cherry and Spoon, took this show in twice and said aside from the set and putting up a tent it was completely different each time. One assumes from the title and the surprisingly elaborate set design that the story they weave will somehow involve a camping trip. I’ve seen good and bad improv, but I’ve never seen bad improv that Mike Fotis, who created, directed, and performs in The Camp Out. Fotis leads a cast filled with Twin Cities best improvisational actors including Rita Boersma, Tim Hellendrung, Nels Lennes, Heather Meyer, and Danna Sheridan.
We Were Only Henchmen is about two working class Henchmen who, out for a night of Booze and drugs, get talking about their current and past employers. Between them they have worked for many of the cities supervillains, and have opinions on which ones are better to work for. We hear the pros and cons of working for different baddies, there’s talk about benefits, horror stories of what has happened to friends under various employers. The performances are super strong and the show is filled with the sort of real world issues that never come up in comic books. When the two friends witness a superhero doing something horrible, what was a fun night out between friends gets very real. I really enjoyed the humor and performances and the skewed reality of the plays world. And hats off to Costume Designer Leo Green for Mr. Superior’s Superhero threads.
Show Me Your Wings is The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award winner for Day 10. Show Me Your Wings stands out in the sea of Fringe shows for it’s unique location at Squirrel Haus Arts. But even more unique is the combination of artistic disciplines utilized to convey creator Rhiannon Fiskradatz’s vision. Very much an autobiographical show it uses among other things, interactive art, video, puppetry, watching a painting created before your eyes, dance, and curated artwork. I was hitting a wall when I arrived at Squirrel Haus Arts for this show. This was my 45th show over 10 days, I was curious about the show but also struggling to connect with the aspects of the show that we explored on our own. But I found my way through that when Fiskradatz began to sing. As she talks and sings about different aspects of her life and journey, I found myself rejuvenated and ready by the end to rush out and make it to the final two shows of the day. It turned out to be a beautiful change of pace, a very memorable and special show.
The Dumb Waiter is a one act play by Harold Pinter performed wonderfully by Dominic Schiro and Robert Wood Frank. It’s about two hitmen who are waiting in a room for their next assignment. The Dumb Waiter of the title begins to deliver food orders to them, which they don’t know how to respond too. It’s a play that ends kind of ambiguous, that leaves you a little unsatisfied. But, that when you think back, you were enjoying every moment of the show. Like The Zoo Story, it’s nice to see thrown into the melting pot that is a Fringe Festival, a solid traditional one act play produced. I enjoyed this one as I have everything I’ve seen from Jackdonkey Productions, the company behind The Dumb Waiter.
What You Need to Do Is! If I had known going in to this show, what it was I’d have never gone in. That said, I’m glad I accidentally attended this one, and now that it’s over, I realize I had a good time. If you like audience participation or those team building get to know you exercises at work, then this is the show for you! If you can’t wait to tell some stranger 3 fun facts about yourself, this is the show for you. Or, Are you like me an introvert, though one who tries really hard to break out of that? If so, this is the show you do not want to find yourself seated at when the house lights are supposed to go down and then don’t. So with all that, why am I glad I ended up at What You Need to Do Is! ? It has everything to do with Coach Clemons and Assistant Coach Low Jack played by Eric Simons and Alsa Bruno. These guys make it as painless as possible, we had laughs but we also actually kinda learned a few things and worked through some issues.
That’s the reviews from Day ten of the Minnesota Fringe Festival. Be sure to check back daily for new reviews and if you are Fringing and you see me, be sure to stop and say hi! Also for reviews of shows I might not see or for another opinion on ones I have, follow M’ Colleague Jill Schafer at http://www.cherryandspoon.com/ and for other Fringe writings checkout our friend and fellow Twin Cities Theater Blogger Kendra Plant’s blog Artfully Engaging at https://www.kendraplant.com/blog-artfully-engaging.
Tired of missing reviews from The Stages of MN? Do you find yourself left out when all your friends are talking about that great new play that you didn’t even know about? Never fear, that need never happen again. Now you too can subscribe and have every post from The Stages of MN sent directly to your email box. No more hoping the algorithm works in your favor and you actually see a post on facebook or Instagram. No relying on so-called friends to tip you to the best shows in town. To subscribe on your computer: from the home page on the right, enter your email address and click subscribe. On your mobile device scroll to the bottom of the page and do the same. You can also follow me on Facebook, @thestagesofmn click follow and on Instagram thestagesofmn. You can also read some of my reviews syndicated on the MN Playlist website https://minnesotaplaylist.com/ from time to time.
But that’s not all! Think I may have steered you wrong on a show? Well, I am also a member of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers (TCTB), where you can read roundups of shows by m’colleagues and I when you follow us on facebook @TwinCitiesTheaterBloggers. We also produce the podcast Twin Cities Theater Chat!! which you can access through this link or wherever you enjoy podcasts https://twincitiestheaterchat.buzzsprout.com/ . Now you too can be in the know about all the fabulous theater happening in and around the Twin Cities.
Only a two show night as I had to review a non Fringe show as well this evening. But don’t let that fool you, the Fringe of the day Winner is very deserving.
Love Lies a Bleedingis The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award winner for Day 9. An adaptation of a play from the 17th century by playwrights Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher who were contemporaries of William Shakespeare. The program describes Beaumont and Fletchers intentions as “What if we made Twelfth Night gayer and hornier”. That perfectly describes this comically bloody, but not in a gross out way, play. The original 3ish hour play was adapted down to 1 hour by Vee Signorelli and love to compare scripts sometime, it has a little bit of antiquated speech but nothing on a level with Shakespeare. A great ensemble cast with the highlights being the actors involved in a love triangle between a man, a woman, and their servant, played to hilarious effect by Matthew Smith, Valerie Wick, and Isabella Spiess. I wish I had seen this show earlier so I could get the word out more, but the house I saw it with was fairly full, so hopefully word has gotten out.
The Ghost of Frankenstein’s Bride runs a little under 45 minutes and that seemed a little too long. There seems to be a lot of shuffling of props and restating the same information. I think this was a show with a solid 25 minutes of script padded to a lean 45. I liked the look of the production by Scenic Designer Jordan Leeper. There was something like a magic trick at one point involving jars that was very impressive and I thought the cast was good. But I know what it’s like trying to decide which of the 105 shows to see and the reality is there are other shows that deserve that slot more. I think this team has an interesting idea that they could flesh out for a future run, maybe at TCHF.
That’s the reviews from Day Seven of the Minnesota Fringe Festival. Be sure to check back daily for new reviews and if you are Fringing and you see me, be sure to stop and say hi! Also for reviews of shows I might not see or for another opinion on ones I have, follow M’ Colleague Jill Schafer at http://www.cherryandspoon.com/ and for other Fringe writings checkout our friend and fellow Twin Cities Theater Blogger Kendra Plant’s blog Artfully Engaging at https://www.kendraplant.com/blog-artfully-engaging.
Tired of missing reviews from The Stages of MN? Do you find yourself left out when all your friends are talking about that great new play that you didn’t even know about? Never fear, that need never happen again. Now you too can subscribe and have every post from The Stages of MN sent directly to your email box. No more hoping the algorithm works in your favor and you actually see a post on facebook or Instagram. No relying on so-called friends to tip you to the best shows in town. To subscribe on your computer: from the home page on the right, enter your email address and click subscribe. On your mobile device scroll to the bottom of the page and do the same. You can also follow me on Facebook, @thestagesofmn click follow and on Instagram thestagesofmn. You can also read some of my reviews syndicated on the MN Playlist website https://minnesotaplaylist.com/ from time to time.
But that’s not all! Think I may have steered you wrong on a show? Well, I am also a member of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers (TCTB), where you can read roundups of shows by m’colleagues and I when you follow us on facebook @TwinCitiesTheaterBloggers. We also produce the podcast Twin Cities Theater Chat!! which you can access through this link or wherever you enjoy podcasts https://twincitiestheaterchat.buzzsprout.com/ . Now you too can be in the know about all the fabulous theater happening in and around the Twin Cities.
Marry Me a Little, rescheduled from earlier in the summer, is a show featuring songs by Stephen Sondheim that were cut out of or from as yet unperformed musicals. It’s a strange little show perfectly at home in the Crane Theater’s intimate space. A dialogue free musical revue, it is not however plotless. To some extent we are left to our own devices to extrapolate the details. Basically a love story about two single people living alone who meet, fall in love, marry a little, and then break up. The songs follow the arc from two lonely people to the first hints of romance and on to the decline. Most of the songs I was unfamiliar with but I enjoyed nearly every one of them. A few favorites were “Marry Me a Little“, “All Things Bright and Beautiful/Bang“, and “Pour Le Sport“. It ends with “Being Alive” from Company which is of course a favorite.
The reason to see this show is to bask in the glow of it’s talented performers Bergen Baker and Max Wojtanowicz. Two gifted musical theater talents that know how to tell a story through song. In their hands, the lack of dialogue goes unnoticed. Their body language and expressions convey to us as much as the lyrics themselves do. Is there a more warm and welcoming face in all of the Twin Cities musical theater community than Wojtanowicz? He has an instant communication with the audience as if he’s singing directly to you. Bergen and Wojtanowicz are accompanied on piano by Musical Director James Barnett and the production was directed by Nikki Swoboda. The show runs just about an hour so it doesn’t have to be a late night. It only runs one weekend with the final performance Sunday 8/11/24. Don’t miss your chance to hear Bergen and Wojtanowicz signing Sondheim. For more information and to get tickets go to https://www.skylarkopera.org/home
Tired of missing reviews from The Stages of MN? Do you find yourself left out when all your friends are talking about that great new play that you didn’t even know about? Never fear, that need never happen again. Now you too can subscribe and have every post from The Stages of MN sent directly to your email box. No more hoping the algorithm works in your favor and you actually see a post on facebook or Instagram. No relying on so-called friends to tip you to the best shows in town. To subscribe on your computer: from the home page on the right, enter your email address and click subscribe. On your mobile device scroll to the bottom of the page and do the same. You can also follow me on Facebook, @thestagesofmn click follow and on Instagram thestagesofmn. You can also read some of my reviews syndicated on the MN Playlist website https://minnesotaplaylist.com/ from time to time.
But that’s not all! Think I may have steered you wrong on a show? Well, I am also a member of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers (TCTB), where you can read roundups of shows by m’colleagues and I when you follow us on facebook @TwinCitiesTheaterBloggers.
Before we dig into the reviews I want to make sure everyone remembers to vote for the Golden Lanyard Awards. Votes should be submitted by Midnight this Saturday. Sorry Sunday shows on my schedule, but I’ll call you out if I would have voted for you and didn’t get the chance! Here is the link to cast your vote https://minnesotafringe.org/awards
In Thy Hard Michael Shaeffer recaps the story of the classic Christmas movie Die Hard in the style of William Shakespeare. It’s cleverly done using certain sonnets and quotes as inspiration leading to a game of Bingo with Bruce where you mark off the references as you catch them, I covered all the boxes on my Bingo board! There’s a nice touch when they stop the story for a moment to talk about Bruce Willis’ current health situation. Another nice touch is that a portion of the proceeds from the show will benefit dementia research. For fans of Die Hard, and who isn’t? This is a truly entertaining mashup of the 80’s action classic and the language stylings of Shakespeare. Schaeffer is an engaging performer with a gruff exterior but a sensitive delivery.
A Material Boy Living In A Madonna World! is my third Jason Schommer Fringe show, I’ve seen one each year I’ve been covering MN Fringe and they never disappoint. This year Schommer shares with us his obsession with Madonna. Perhaps it isn’t an obsession but just that, as he states in the show as a gay man, he was assigned Madonna, as others might be assigned Barbara Streisand or Cher. It’s filled with stories that show off his fandom in ways that simultaneously make you gringe for him and love him. Taking us from his first in person brushes to the reason his right hand will never be washed again. It’s part stand up routine, part confessional, and wholly hilarious.
Welcome To The Food Chain is a solo show cabaret about man’s place on the food chain. The writer performer Rob Ward sings, dances, attacks, and even times races between an audience member and a lion. It’s wild and kind of chaotic, the audience is definitely enthusiastic with lots of cheering, clapping, and even some singing along. That enthusiasm of the crowd carries the show even when it seems to be floundering a little bit. The performance outshines the content to be sure, Ward is an animal (he he) in the way he attacks his dance numbers with a manic energy that wears you out just watching it. Ward has a message and it’s that in many cases, the loss of human life is the fault of the humans who are forgetting that these are animals and they eat meat to survive.
Stroke of Genius: Pantomime Masturbation Throughout Performing Arts Historyis The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award winner for Day 8. It is a very serious affair, though it’s OK to laugh. The premise is that this is the first lecture for the college class on Pantomime Masturbation Throughout Performing Arts History. The show was written by Shane Mayforth and Vilva Va-Voom whose show TransMasculine Cabaret is also playing at the Fringe festival and very entertaining. Mayforth stays in character as Dr. Winkworth-Perez who using a video presentation lectures on the use of pantomime masterbaution from the beginnings of theater back in ancient Greece through the advent of film. We see several extremely well produced video clips from films from the silent era starring The Spankin’ Shyster, who put the master in masturbation. Being the silent film fan that I am, that part of the show really won me over and the picture with mention of Buster Keaton was the touch that pulled this show ahead of the others on Day 8. At the end of the show everyone receives a certificate of completion that certifies you have successfully completed the course Introduction to Pantomime Masturbation, which is nice to have to hang up at work. Also as these are traveling artists they have merch to sell including stickers and little bottles of Intellectual Masturbation lotion, so be sure to pick up some as this helps defray the costs of traveling with a show like this.
Tired of missing reviews from The Stages of MN? Do you find yourself left out when all your friends are talking about that great new play that you didn’t even know about? Never fear, that need never happen again. Now you too can subscribe and have every post from The Stages of MN sent directly to your email box. No more hoping the algorithm works in your favor and you actually see a post on facebook or Instagram. No relying on so-called friends to tip you to the best shows in town. To subscribe on your computer: from the home page on the right, enter your email address and click subscribe. On your mobile device scroll to the bottom of the page and do the same. You can also follow me on Facebook, @thestagesofmn click follow and on Instagram thestagesofmn. You can also read some of my reviews syndicated on the MN Playlist website https://minnesotaplaylist.com/ from time to time.
But that’s not all! Think I may have steered you wrong on a show? Well, I am also a member of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers (TCTB), where you can read roundups of shows by m’colleagues and I when you follow us on facebook @TwinCitiesTheaterBloggers. We also produce the podcast Twin Cities Theater Chat!! which you can access through this link or wherever you enjoy podcasts https://twincitiestheaterchat.buzzsprout.com/ . Now you too can be in the know about all the fabulous theater happening in and around the Twin Cities.
Ohhhh boy, this was a tough one. You see the best show I saw on Day seven was Daddy Issues, but that already won The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award on the 3rd day of the festival. The other three shows were all great! How to choose? I needed some way to break the three way tie and here’s what I landed on. Both Blackout Improv Does something!!! and Pants on Fire are shows that change for each performance, with different guests each slot and thus more apt to vary in quality from day to day. When I put those two up against each other I was again at a loss. I probably laughed harder at Pants on Fire, but I really loved the musical performance in Blackout Improv’s show. So I went with the show that is scripted, meaning what I saw should be more or less what you’d see if you take in a performance.
Blackout Improv Does Something is a local improv troupe that consists of all black performers. I’ve seen them many times, but this was probably the best show of theirs that I’ve yet attended. Each of their Fringe slots will host a different guest, on my night it was Musician and Blackout Alum Theo Langason. Langason opened the show by performing three original songs played on a oddly captivating metal guitar. Langason’s songs were not at all humorous, which didn’t matter in the slightest as I was completely engrossed by them. It made this performance unique in an unexpected way. The comedian’s then took over the stage and for the first portion of the show they do improv scenes inspired by Langason’s songs. After that they take some time to do some of their signature improv games. If you’ve never seen Blackout Improv you need to, it’s one of the funniest group of Improv performers around and their shows never disappoint.
Pants on Fire is a game show hosted by Sarah Broude in the vein of British panel show Would I Lie to You? Each slot features a different bunch of guest contestants and I purposely chose day seven’s performance for the guest contestants The Four Humors which consists of Allison Vincent, Brant Miller, Matt Spring, and Ryan Lear. The game is played by contestants reading a card with a statement such as “I once spent a weekend in a Paris jail cell” (not an actual example from the show). Then members of the opposing team ask questions about the statement and have to guess whether the reader is telling the truth or lying. The Four Humors as you can imagine were hilarious, but the guests will change and the statements will be different for each Fringe slot. So like Blackout Improv’s show you could attend every performance and see a new show each time.
Good Ones! is The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award winner for Day 7. I’ll be honest the preview for this show had turned me off and I’d removed it from my favorites list. Then I kept hearing people praising the show and so I added it back onto my schedule. I’m very glad I reconsidered, the three performers Micael Gauger, Kaitlen Osburn, and Luke Fanning are in makeup and costumes throughout they act very strangely but they are also very funny verbally. The humor while seeming at first glance to be just weird and silly is actually very intelligent and political. Dressed in the costumes above they are like some sort of parody creatures who act out being good while poking fun at the progressive and liberal mindsets. Not to push the opposite agenda, but to shine a light on our hypocrisies and to point out that thinking good things is not the same as doing good things. It’s an important reminder that the world doesn’t change with good intentions it changes by taking good actions. It’s important to be able to laugh at ourselves and see the seeds of truth that make these jokes funny. The only ones who will be truly offended are those for whom the Good One’s routines are not a parody of, but an exact recreation of their behavior. The perfect use of humor to ease the difficult task of examining ourselves and whether or not we are good ones or if we could be better ones.
That’s the reviews from Day Seven of the Minnesota Fringe Festival. Be sure to check back daily for new reviews and if you are Fringing and you see me, be sure to stop and say hi! Also for reviews of shows I might not see or for another opinion on ones I have, follow M’ Colleague Jill Schafer at http://www.cherryandspoon.com/ and for other Fringe writings checkout our friend and fellow Twin Cities Theater Blogger Kendra Plant’s blog Artfully Engaging at https://www.kendraplant.com/blog-artfully-engaging.
Tired of missing reviews from The Stages of MN? Do you find yourself left out when all your friends are talking about that great new play that you didn’t even know about? Never fear, that need never happen again. Now you too can subscribe and have every post from The Stages of MN sent directly to your email box. No more hoping the algorithm works in your favor and you actually see a post on facebook or Instagram. No relying on so-called friends to tip you to the best shows in town. To subscribe on your computer: from the home page on the right, enter your email address and click subscribe. On your mobile device scroll to the bottom of the page and do the same. You can also follow me on Facebook, @thestagesofmn click follow and on Instagram thestagesofmn. You can also read some of my reviews syndicated on the MN Playlist website https://minnesotaplaylist.com/ from time to time.
But that’s not all! Think I may have steered you wrong on a show? Well, I am also a member of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers (TCTB), where you can read roundups of shows by m’colleagues and I when you follow us on facebook @TwinCitiesTheaterBloggers. We also produce the podcast Twin Cities Theater Chat!! which you can access through this link or wherever you enjoy podcasts https://twincitiestheaterchat.buzzsprout.com/ . Now you too can be in the know about all the fabulous theater happening in and around the Twin Cities.
The Stages of MN
Stay informed with curated content and the latest headlines, all delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now to stay ahead and never miss a beat!
You must be logged in to post a comment.