Brave New Workshop’s annual Christmas show this year is called The Chaos of the Bells, and this might just be their best one yet. The show is wonderfully irreverent and hilariously funny, poking fun at everything from Hallmark Channel Christmas movies and Santa Claus to OnlyFans and classic Christmas songs. I won’t spoil the fun by revealing my favorite bits or giving away punchlines. What BNW delivers, what I always look forward to this time of year, is laughter, pure and simple. And honestly, in a year like 2025, when reflecting on the state of the world feels unusually heavy, distraction by way of comedy is exactly what I need.
Musical Director Jon Pumper seemed to play an even larger role this year. Either that, or there were simply more musical numbers than usual. In any case, he remains an invaluable part of the ensemble. For those unfamiliar with Brave New Workshop, it’s the longest-running comedy theater in the United States. Their holiday tradition features sketch comedy, punctuated with songs, and always concludes with their original twist on “The 12 Days of Christmas.”
Favorite sketches this year: two neighbors chatting in a garage in Fridley, a phone call to Santa Claus, “Kissing Cousins,” and a number from White Christmas. Okay, I have to stop there or I’ll end up listing every sketch of the night. There wasn’t a single miss—every piece landed. If only SNL were this consistent.
A show like this is only as good as its writers and performers, and this year the brilliant core four, Lauren Anderson (who has starred in more consecutive BNW shows than any performer in the theater’s history), Denzel Belin, Isabella Dunsieth, and Doug Neithercott, are joined by the inspired addition of Rita Boersma. Boersma, whom you’ll often see working with Mike Fotis of Strike Theater, blends seamlessly with the veteran cast. Her characters and her fearless commitment to going for the laugh are all-in. Her Fridley neighbor character was a standout. In one sketch, she made out with her “husband,” who was wearing a welding mask; based on Dunsieth’s reactions, I’m guessing Boersma added a little improvisational enthusiasm to the moment. It was an evening highlight.
The whole cast is fantastic, and the script is fresh and funny. I did catch one idea recycled from a previous Christmas show, but it was a highlight then too, so I was delighted to see it back.
This is the perfect outing for a holiday get-together with friends or now that the kids are too old for The Grinch and sick of A Christmas Carol, make this your family holiday tradition instead!
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The Stages of MN YouTube channel is home to the weekly Stages of MN Show. You can watch it by clicking here. Be sure to check out the latest episodes and subscribe so you’ll always know when a new one drops. Not sure you agree with one of my takes? I’m also part of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers (TCTB), where you can find review roundups from my colleagues and me. Follow us on Facebook at @TwinCitiesTheaterBloggers.
Peter Christian Hansen and Sara Marsh Photo by Alyssa Kristine
Come Back, Little Sheba the latest from Dark & Stormy Productions is a strong play featuring some truly great performances from it’s leads Peter Christian Hansen and Sara Marsh. Marsh is miscast as a frumpy overweight housewife, but she’s so good that I prefer to say the fault is with the script that tries to insist the character has those qualities. Marsh finds here own way to accomplish what playwright William Inġe wanted from the character. While I’ve never seen the play before or the 1952 film adaptation, I suspect that Marsh’s interpretation is deeper and more nuanced because she doesn’t rely on that outdated archetype. Hansen and Marsh play Doc and Lola who have been married for twenty years. Doc is almost one year sober, but the presence of their renter, a young college student named Marie, begins to weigh upon Doc’s sobriety. It isn’t the cliche of the older man tempted by the young vibrant woman, it’s the memories her lifestyle brings to the surface. The career as a Doctor that he had to give up when Lola got Pregnant and they had to marry.
Hansen plays Doc as a man working the program, who is making amends to his wife by maintaining a pleasant attitude and being helpful. He is the one making sure that the breakfast is ready for Lola and Marie, trying to make everything run smoothly. He projects a virtue on Marie that isn’t there and feels unrealistic by todays standards. When he realizes she is a normal girl, it brings forth old doubts and repressed guilt about his and Lola’s start in life. He gets every aspect from the sobriety to the slip just right. Marsh slowly reveals the cracks in Lola’s confidence, her uncertainty about how to reconnect with Doc. We see hints of someone recovering from the trauma of living with a substance abuser. When she realizes the Whiskey bottle has vanished and Doc is late coming home, the fears and anxieties come in glimpses and waves. But like all partners of addicts she has to keep his secrets and hide what she is afraid has happened from Marie and others. Marsh shows us in that moment how every choice she has made performance wise up to that point has all stemmed from these moments. It’s a portrayal that seems deceptively simple at the start only to be revealed by the end to be an intricately crafted and complex performance. She give us a character that longs for connections but has been forced into a world of isolation, who clings to hope through the belief that her dog Sheba, who has been missing for months will come home one of these days.
Don’t depend on a Facebook or Instagram algorithms to ensure you hear about a great show. You can subscribe and have every post from The Stages of MN sent directly to your email box. It’s the best way to ensure you don’t miss out on any of the theater action. To subscribe on your computer: from the home page on the right, enter your email address and click subscribe. On your mobile device scroll to the bottom of the page and do the same. You can also follow me on Facebook, @thestagesofmn click follow and on Instagram thestagesofmn.
The Stages of MN YouTube Channel is home of the weekly The Stages of MN Show which you can view by clicking on this link https://www.youtube.com/@TheStagesofMN. Check out the latest episodes and Subscribe to the channel so you’ll always know when a new episode has dropped. Think I may have steered you wrong on a show? Well, I’m also a member of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers (TCTB), where you can read review roundups of shows by m’colleagues and I when you follow us on facebook @TwinCitiesTheaterBloggers.
The current show at Brave New Workshop Hypocralypse Now features a return of what I think of as the core group of comedians Lauren Anderson and Denzel Belin, Isabella Dunsieth, Doug Neithercott who returns after a short absence, and returning to the fold after a longer absence is Taj Ruler. You couldn’t ask for a better cast. The script, aside from a fart sketch that wears out it’s welcome, almost immediately is very funny. So why did I leave the theater a little depressed. Maybe I picked the wrong week to go off my antidepressant. Or, maybe the world is just so grim and messed up that dealing with it, even in a humorous way, is too much. For many of us, the coping mechanism right now, as our country positions itself to become the evil empire of the 21st Century, is to tune out. Not watch the news, not read any further than the headlines, which alone are enough to depress Roger Rabbit. The saying “it’s funny because it’s true” is spot on, the problem is “it’s scary because it’s true” is equally accurate. It’s cathartic to laugh about the things that scare us, but when we’ve been repressing those things, once the laughter stops we are left staring into the face of those scary truths we were ignoring. I’m not advocating the strategy of ignore difficult things, like most coping mechanisms, I don’t think that’s a very healthy way to navigate the world in general. But, the reality is that sometimes we do the easier thing, hopefully in order to replenish our inner strength in order to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing, end them.
The sketches that really work, like the one that parodies the old School House Rock short “I’m Just a Bill” about the big beautiful bill, succeed because they point out the hypocrisies of those who passed it. There is a sketch involving the White House Press Secretary that kills with the audience again because the comic caricature of Karoline Leavitt isn’t much of a caricature, as outrageous of as it is, it’s scar… I mean funny because of how true it is. The game show sketch called “This or That” perfectly distills what is wrong with a percentage of this countries population, a far to large a percentage. My favorite Skit involves Lauren Anderson as a bear, I know you’d think it would be Neithercott, explaining to a Maganite (this may be a new word) how when you read something on the internet you should click two more times to get closer to the truth. It’s a great skit because it uses the examples that I, and the other humans with a sliver of common sense, are incredulous that anyone could possibly believe. But it also reminds us that far too many of our fellow citizens will believe any insane thing that they are told, while also ignoring every fact or refuse to use logic to come to any conclusions that don’t agree with what they wish was true.
Hypocralypse Now is very funny but if you are currently “head in the sand” stage of coping with life, be aware of the dangers inherent in this show. In order to laugh at something we need to acknowledge it first, and some of you may not be ready for that. The best thing about the show is that it ends with a series of improv games which act as a palate cleanser for the evening by avoiding the political. It’s the right note to end the evening on. Hypocralypse Now runs through November 1st at the Dudley Riggs Theatre on Hennepin Avenue in Downtown Minneapolis. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://hennepinarts.org/events/hypocralypse-now-2025
Don’t depend on a Facebook or Instagram algorithms to ensure you hear about a great show. You can subscribe and have every post from The Stages of MN sent directly to your email box. It’s the best way to ensure you don’t miss out on any of the theater action. To subscribe on your computer: from the home page on the right, enter your email address and click subscribe. On your mobile device scroll to the bottom of the page and do the same. You can also follow me on Facebook, @thestagesofmn click follow and on Instagram thestagesofmn.
The Stages of MN YouTube Channel is home of the weekly The Stages of MN Show which you can view by clicking on this link https://www.youtube.com/@TheStagesofMN. Check out the latest episodes and Subscribe to the channel so you’ll always know when a new episode has dropped. Think I may have steered you wrong on a show? Well, I’m also a member of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers (TCTB), where you can read review roundups of shows by m’colleagues and I when you follow us on facebook @TwinCitiesTheaterBloggers.
Faithful readers, hopefully you are subscribed to The Stages of MN YouTube channel and already saw that a new episode was up. Apologies for forgetting to do a blog post for those who aren’t. But, a good reminder I guess to subscribe so you’ll know whenever a new episode is available. Double apologies to the podcast listeners as I still have a touch of Fringe brain and completely forgot to edit that version and post it until last night. Both are now up so view and/or listen to your hearts content.
This weeks episode I’m joined by m’colleague Jill Schafer over at Cherry and Spoon to reflect on this years Minnesota Fringe Festival. We discuss 10 of our favorite shows as well as a few honorable mentions. This week’s episodes are actually quite different between the YouTube version and the podcast version. While the YouTube version is always longer and the preferred version because of it. The differences are usually simply a matter of the exclusion of the “At a Show With….” photo montage. Well this week rather than a minute long that segment is four and a half minutes long as it covers the entire Fringe Festival. So, if you took a photo with me at Fringe this year you are probably in that episode. Also The footage of the Fringe Awards from the Closing night party has been excluded from the podcast as I think it relied heavily on the ability to read the captions in order to know who won everything. Also missing is the segment showing what shows won the highly commented on, usually with something like “What’s this now?”, The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award winners. That segment contained no audio other than music and so would only serve to prolong the podcast episode without adding any info to listeners. That list by the way is, in order of the day they were seen not ranked:
In The Garden of American Heroes
Hamluke
Joan of Arc For Miss Teen Queen USA
The Book of Mordor
The Gentlemen’s Pratfall Club
Songs Without Words (or, The Mendelssohn Play)
Grief, It’s What’s For Dinner
50: A Totally Rad Comedy About the Gnarly Reckoning of a Gen Xer!
An Exorcism, Don’tcha Know?
The Wickie
For those with no interest is The Minnesota Fringe Festival, I can assure you, your apathy is only due to the fact you’ve never been. Make a promise to yourself to go next year and give yourself the treat of this wonderful experience. But you can also breathe a sigh of relief as this will be the final Fringe episode of the year. You can access the YouTube episode here https://bit.ly/TSOMNEpisode8YouTube and the Podcast version here https://bit.ly/TSOMNEpisode8Podcast. Don’t forget to like, subscribe, share, and review the show. you can read Cherry and Spoons Fringe wrap up blog post here https://bit.ly/cs_fringe25
Don’t depend on a Facebook or Instagram algorithm to ensure you hear about a great show. You can subscribe and have every post from The Stages of MN sent directly to your email box. It’s the best way to ensure you don’t miss out on any of the theater action. To subscribe on your computer: from the home page on the right, enter your email address and click subscribe. On your mobile device scroll to the bottom of the page and do the same. You can also follow me on Facebook, @thestagesofmn click follow and on Instagram thestagesofmn.
I’ve officially launched The Stages of MN YouTube Channel which you can view by clicking on this link. https://www.youtube.com/@TheStagesofMN. Check out the weekly episodes. Subscribe to the channel so you’ll always know when a new episode has dropped. Think I may have steered you wrong on a show? Well, I’m also a member of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers (TCTB), where you can read review roundups of shows by m’colleagues and I when you follow us on facebook @TwinCitiesTheaterBloggers.
Day 9 of the Minnesota Fringe Festival was a sad day and a great day. Sad because the JackDonkey Productions show 503 written by and Starring Jeffrey Nolan had to cancel it’s third performance in a row due to illness. My thoughts are with Mr. Nolan and I hope that he’ll be feeling back to full health and able to perform his last show on Sunday. Let this be a lesson to all of us, when someone you suspect might be a genius has a Fringe show, make sure you are their for opening night. I don’t know what the hell I was thinking. But, as I said it was also a great day as well, because every show I saw was a contender for The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award. Sometimes two or three (on a weekend) might be battling it out in my brain, but tonight they were all duking it out. That’s a nice problem to have, especially this late in the festival.
Ranger Jim is a show I didn’t have on my schedule originally but several people said it was their favorite show. So, when I looked at my schedule and it had me going from strike to Rarig, then back to Strike, and then ending back at Rarig I decided to sacrifice MicroMedics which I hadn’t heard anything, good or bad, about and add Ranger Jim. Mostly because I didn’t want to make the trek from Strike to Rarig twice in one evening and avoiding the more rush hour slot made the most sense. When Jim Stowell began his show in which he tells stories of his 16 seasons working as a Park Ranger in National Parks I thought I might have made a mistake. He didn’t seem like that charismatic a performer and I realized, I hate nature. OK hates a strong word, and I certainly appreciate it much more now that I’m older. But still nature has never been my go to for entertainment. Boy by the end of his show those opinions had been completely reversed. Stowell is a fantastic storyteller, and his presentation is perfect. The stories are about people that he has met on the job and they are great stories that beautifully wrap up with either a fantastic bit of humor or a wonderful point of view of life. To purchase tickets go to the shows page at The Minnesota Fringe Site here https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2025/ranger-jim. I went in to Ranger Jim with hopeful but not super high expectations and left thinking I may just have seen The Fringe of the Day Award winner. Then Heathcliff said hold my beer.
Withering Lows: A Love Story Better Off Dead is a sequel of sorts to Wuthering Heights a book I adored in High School. This is another show that was not on my schedule originally, this slot was one of those dinner breaks I promised myself. It’s ok though, I had my fingers crossed, so the promise didn’t count. Frankly it was on my first pass list, which contained more shows than I could see and then went off my list after the first Fringe preview, which is why when you hear from people that they loved a show, you should take a second look. I’m not even sure how to describe this show, it’s a comedy that also feels like a faithful continuation. The performers are all excellent, the script really nails these characters and points out the things that I think most readers who like the book grudgingly admit are issues with these characters and what people who hate the book point out as the main reasons for reviling it. It’s a ghost story, but it doesn’t try and scare us. It doesn’t need to, the pleasures of the show come from other quarters. Which includes a killer musical number which alone is worth seeing the show for. One caveat is that if you don’t know Wuthering Heights from either the book, one of the many movies, an illustrated comic book adaptation, or an ill conceived musical version, you might not really get this show. But you’ll still love the musical number! To purchase tickets go to the shows page at The Minnesota Fringe Site here https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2025/withering-lows-a-love-story-better-off-dead- I left this show thinking now that just edges out Ranger Jim because of the musical number and I bet that’s going to be my Fringe of the Day Award winner. Then Jason Schommer said hold my Daiquiri.
50: A Totally Rad Comedy About the Gnarly Reckoning of a Gen Xer! is my third Jason Schommer Fringe show and his best yet. Why did this beat out Withering Lows? Does it have a kick ass musical number too? Well, actually it has live music interludes throughout and some of them even turn into sing-alongs. And they are the soundtrack of my life. the music is played and sung by JC Lippold he is a fantastic compliment to Schommer’s brilliant script. This felt so much like my life in terms of cultural touchstones and specific life events that no other show had a chance tonight. Plus this was the most I’ve laughed at a Fringe show this year, and I’ve seen some really funny funny shows this year. But here’s why this hit me so right. And These are not in any order in which they appear in the show but just as they come to me.
Featured prominently in the show is the song “Closer to Fine” by the Indigo Girls. I have a playlist on my phone titled “Sing”, this is a list of songs I have as potential songs I would attempt at an evening of Karaoke, if I drank, which I don’t. So, it’s mostly used if I’m driving and tired and need something that I can sing along to in order to stay awake. It’s a favorite.
Cheers is mentioned along with Newhart as shows Jason would watch late at night with his Mom as a teenager, For me it was my Dad but those were our shows. We loved Norm, and my Dad always kind of reminded me of Norm, he was about the same shape, had a similar level of ambition career wise, and he spent most evenings at the Ground Round with his buddies, which we all called Cheers. Plus, my wife and I just finished a rewatch of Cheers so we were primed for that sing along!
His Mother died about 20 years ago, for me it was my Dad, 20 years ago.
He also is upset by the single space after a period rule. I don’t know when this changed, but when I learned about it, several years ago now I was incredulous. Why the change I exclaimed! To which some replied, it’s always been that way. OH NO IT WASN’T!!! Anyone who reads me regularly will know that I do not have nearly as firm a grasp of the rules of punctuation as I should. So I promise you there is zero chance I made up my own rule to follow. I was taught and for once it stuck. Two spaces after a period! I accept that it has changed. But don’t attempt to retcon it, I ain’t buyin it!
I also loved TV as a kid, I equated the arrival of the Fall TV preview edition of the TV guide to the opening of your stocking on Christmas morning. It started with the Saturday morning cartoons and as I grew older moved to prime time. As a kid I always chose TV over nature.
Loved Magnum P.I. but also Remington Steele!
I loved my Castle Grayskull too, it was a great toy!
I’ve been on that hike in Hawaii!
Jason was laid off recently, me too!! I don’t know why I’m so excited by that one.
I was a huge fan of Days of Our Lives, and I specifically remember the fight between Tony and Andre that ended with Andre dying in a pit of quicksand, that was also the island that Roman was killed by Stefano DiMera, not that on Days of Our Lives anyone is ever actually truly dead. But I didn’t realize that at the time. Roman falling off that cliff was reenacted many many times with my action figures.
As was the Tony and Andre DiMera fight by the quicksand with my Dagobah playset. Which had a little hole covered with foam that you could push your figures through, it was perfect for quicksand.
Trust ̶E̶x̶e̶r̶c̶i̶s̶e̶s̶ Exorcises by Phil Gonzales was on my schedule later in the festival but I ended up taking it in tonight after 503 was cancelled. Which may have caused it to lose The Fringe of the Day Award, who knows? But Phil, seriously, would it have killed you to sing a little? This was a great show about the shockingly abusive High School theater teacher that Phil was exposed to as a teenager. Gonzales uses the same story wheel he did last year for his show on The Berenstain Bears. Wherein he spins the wheel and whatever space it lands on he tells the story that goes along with it. So while every show deals with the same topic, it’s unique every performance. The stories really are great and while Phil might not have won The Fringe of the day Award, I did leave with a little crush on him, so hopefully that’s some consolation. To purchase tickets go to the shows page at The Minnesota Fringe Site here https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2025/trust-e-x-e-r-c-i-s-e-s-exorcises
That’s it for day nine of the Minnesota Fringe Festival you can click on the Fringe website here to get details on all of the shows https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2025. Don’t forget to tune into The Stages of MN YouTube channel for mini episodes all week long from The MN Fringe Festival https://www.youtube.com/@TheStagesofMN
Subscribe to the channel so you’ll always know when a new episode has dropped. Think I may have steered you wrong on a show? Well, I’m also a member of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers (TCTB), where you can read review roundups of shows by m’colleagues and I when you follow us on facebook @TwinCitiesTheaterBloggers.
Don’t depend on a Facebook or Instagram algorithms to ensure you hear about a great show. You can subscribe and have every post from The Stages of MN sent directly to your email box. It’s the best way to ensure you don’t miss out on any of the theater action. To subscribe on your computer: from the home page on the right, enter your email address and click 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.
So after a day off at a very frustrating Minnesota United game it was great to be back in the theater for Shows 31 to 34. But my Theater day actually began with a matinee performance of The fantastic Singing in the Rain at Artistry in Bloomington. If I can I’ll have a review of that up this weekend but it may have to wait until Monday. Here are my Reviews for day Eight of the Fringe Festival!
Photo by Sara Erdman
Grief, It’s What’s For Dinner is The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award winner. It’s a play that turns out to be a powerfully affecting way to talk about a difficult subject matter, early onset Alzheimer’s disease. Creator and star, Kayla Hambek is telling the story of her experience as a caregiver for her Mother, who passed away in April of this year, after living nearly 12 years with the disease. Sounds like a rough show right? Well it is told with a ton of humor and puppets. Why? Well two reasons, for one when we talk about difficult things sometimes it helps to remove ourselves a little and puppets have always been a surrogate conduit for our difficult emotions. Also it’s Fringe, of course there are puppets. In true Fringe fashion, at their opening performance the dog in the photo above, who is not known to anyone in the show, wandered on stage. Gotta love Fringe. The entire cast for this show is just great, but extra shout out to The Stages of MN Superfan, and the first audience member I ever had come up to me and ask for a picture (making her in a way the spark for the at a show with… montages on the YouTube Show), Sher U-F, who plays multiple roles, but really transforms when playing Kayla’s mother. To purchase tickets go to the shows page at The Minnesota Fringe Site here https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2025/grief-it-s-what-s-for-dinner
Big Honor Student Energy is Chicago traveling artist Alisa Rosenthal’s solo show about being an over achiever. By this she means going all in on anything she attempts. Probably her biggest hurdle is that what she attempts doesn’t meet most people’s criteria of a worthy goal. Like being a musical children’s party performer or going to clown school. But what she has learned and what she teaches us by the end of her show is that everyone’s path is different and what matters is what fulfills you. Most people measure success by how much money they have or where they are with their careers, the cars they drive and the size of their house. But what Rosenthal has learned and I concur is that these things are not always a measure of success, unless those are the things you value. I just accepted a new job after being unemployed for over a year. I’ll be making a little less than 45% of what I made before. But you know what? I’m excited about it. Because instead of working for corporate America in a job I wasn’t passionate about, I’ll be supporting special education students in a local high school. I’m also working nonstop taking The Stages of MN to the next level. I feel very successful right now, not because I have a lot of money, I don’t, but because maybe for the first time in my life I feel like I’m doing something that matters with my life. All of it geared towards doing what I can to make the future brighter for theater and hopefully for high schoolers who need a little extra support and their teachers. Thats how I’m measuring success, not by how much I added to some corporations bottom line. To purchase tickets go to the shows page at The Minnesota Fringe Site here https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2025/big-honor-student-energy
The Writer’s Room: A Failed Documentary is a sketch comedy show and like all sketch comedy some of it works and some of it doesn’t. The measure of success lies in what the ratio of success to falls flat is. This show falls very far in the success column. Even the bits that don’t entirely work still have laughs and a clever idea behind them. My favorite bits include the bridging sequences of the performers discussing ideas for their Fringe show, parts of which felt very ad libbed, in the best possible way. I also really liked “Hot Sauce Therapy” and “A Wes Anderson Sex Scene“. When you feel like you’ve seen one Improv show too many, switch gears to this highly entertaining Sketch show it’s full of laughs and the appealing cast make it a very enjoyable show. To purchase tickets go to the shows page at The Minnesota Fringe Site here https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2025/the-writers-room-a-failed-documentary
The Year of Sluttery is a solo show performed by a writer under the pseudonym Scarlet. A former High School teacher and Sunday School teacher she performs excerpts from her book. It’s primarily about the year in which after getting out of the second long term relationship of her life, and in her 50’s, she went looking for some sexual fulfillment. It’s about the losers she hooked up with and the lessons she learned from each. For the most part the stories are fun and as Scarlet points out in the beginning she is not an actor she’s a writer. The strengths of the show are the stories, the weakness is her delivery, it’s not bad, it’s just as she promised, she isn’t a performer. There is an over reliance on repetition at times that might work better were it presented by someone with more performance experiences and she relies on the phrase bitches a bit too much. All in all it’s a fun time and there is a positive message about female sexual empowerment. Scarlet also has really cool swag on sale at her shows including her book, t-shirts, and cum rags. To purchase tickets go to the shows page at The Minnesota Fringe Site here https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2025/the-year-of-sluttery
That’s it for day eight of the Minnesota Fringe Festival you can click on the Fringe website here to get details on all of the shows https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2025. Don’t forget to tune into The Stages of MN YouTube channel for mini episodes all week long from The MN Fringe Festival https://www.youtube.com/@TheStagesofMN
Subscribe to the channel so you’ll always know when a new episode has dropped. Think I may have steered you wrong on a show? Well, I’m also a member of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers (TCTB), where you can read review roundups of shows by m’colleagues and I when you follow us on facebook @TwinCitiesTheaterBloggers.
Don’t depend on a Facebook or Instagram algorithms to ensure you hear about a great show. You can subscribe and have every post from The Stages of MN sent directly to your email box. It’s the best way to ensure you don’t miss out on any of the theater action. To subscribe on your computer: from the home page on the right, enter your email address and click 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.
So it took 28 shows until I found one that I couldn’t wholeheartedly recommend. But you know what? Tonight was the kind of night that reminded me of what the Minnesota Fringe Festival is all about. It’s about trying new things and that doesn’t just mean the audience, that means the people on stage too. Look at my friend Kendra Plant, first time Fringe producer of The Kendra Plant Variety Hour. Her whole show is about trying something new and working through it even if you have some anxiousness. Fringe is a place for Artists to come and try new things. It’s also a place for artists to present their tried and true productions. You can be as polished as Melancholics Anonymous or as bare bones as one person standing on a blank stage reading from a script. As an audience member you rarely know really what you’ll be getting, sometimes the most excellent sounding premises fall flat and other times the show you see becuase you couldn’t get into the one you wanted to see blows you away. Tonight was really all over the place, but even the worst show of the evening had something good about it. And I want to champion everyone’s efforts. But, I’m also not honoring my promise to you if I don’t tell you what shows I’d skip. If I don’t try and help you decide where your time is better spent, than what use am I? I’m just a publicity machine, and that’s not why I started doing this. There are 99 shows to choose from and I owe it to you to help you make that choice if I can. So as promised these are my Minnesota Honest Reviews Truthful, but hopefully not hurtful.
Songs Without Words (or, The Mendelssohn Play) Is a show I did not have on my schedule originally, but word of mouth convinced me to make a change (sorry Ping Prov). I’m glad I did as I have given it my The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award. This is a show from an out of town Artist and I always feel like I should try and make sure I see more of those, but again 99 shows. You start making a list based on who’s work you’ve enjoyed in the past whether it’s a theater company or a performer, and then which shows the description sounds interesting, and then the all important factor, where you look at your schedule and say, you know if I see that show I can just stay at Open Eye all night and not have to drive back and forth. why am I spending so much time describing schedule making? Because I don’t have a lot to say about the content of this show. It’s very polished and elegant, it’s the story of sibling composers Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn. Is filled with beautiful music, a reminder of the injustices woman have suffered in the past not being allowed to have the same options, or sometimes any options as men. It’s a theme that pops up in several of the Fringe shows I’ve seen so far this year, because apparently half of the country need to be reminded of how things were and have it pointed out that, that was bad. Songs Without Words is not just a message play it is a fascinating exploration of two people that I knew nothing about, other than having heard some of their music. Jennifer Vosters who created and performs the shows is mesmerizing in both roles. To purchase tickets go to the shows page at The Minnesota Fringe Site here https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2025/songs-without-words-or-the-mendelssohn-play-
Now it starts to get interesting Our Zombie Town is a modern mash up of the Thornton Wilder play Our Town and the zombie world of George A. Romero. It’s a great idea and I feel like the script by Richard Chin is actually fairly solid, maybe even really good. The problem is that it feels like we are watching a run through of the performance two weeks into the planned four week rehearsal. Everyone is “mostly” off book but maybe haven’t entirely made all of their choices yet on how they plan to play a scene. There are a few good performances but too many of the cast seem content with having remembered their lines and spoken them. It may be a Fringe show, but the best Fringe shows regardless of budget or silliness of the subject matter, have actors that still try and create a character. Maybe it’s the amount of rehearsal time the cast had, maybe it’s weak direction, or an over reliance on the high concept to win the day. I’m not sure. But the one thing I don’t think that is at fault is the script. And there’s one set piece that almost makes this worth checking out. But with 98 other shows to choose from, I can’t recommend Our Zombie Town to everyone. Die hard zombie fans or people who have acted in a production of Our Town are probably the most likely to enjoy this. But, and I can’t stress this enough, this is my opinion, Faithful readers will know where our tastes diverge. A glance at the Minnesota Fringe Kitty meter or whatever they call that Kitty rating system has this at 4 1/2 Kitties. Does anyone else find that disturbing? I’m not a cat lover but even I don’t like the image of half a kitten. To purchase tickets go to the shows page at The Minnesota Fringe Site here https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2025/our-zombie-town
So apparently when I was making my schedule I thought what I needed was a Twin Cities Horror Fest wannabe night. Academonic has sort of the opposite issue of Our Zombie Town. This one I thought the performances were all fairly solid but the script needed another draft or two. This may be the result of someone’s ping pong ball being pulled without them having any idea what they wanted to do. In which case getting a play written at all is fairly impressive let alone casting and rehearsing and performing it. It’s not that you can’t follow the script or glean from what is happening the motivations and relationships. But a solid script doesn’t make you have to glean things or make assumptions. Pretty much everyone in the cast is good but especially Tamira Rashid as the protagonist Ellen Karass, which we assume is a play on the priest in The Exorcist, and Kiran Arquin who plays a demonic carpet. The only time the performances falter is when they are given too little to say or do and you feel like even they are gleaning what their characters motivations are supposed to be. If you gotta see one of these two horror themed plays this Fringe I’d bet on this one, but be warned the script is murky and directionless at times. It feels like they had thirty minutes of material, a story possibly able to support a longer running time, but ran out of time to flesh it out. And so, they wrote time filling dialogue that would challenge any actor to deliver convincingly. To purchase tickets go to the shows page at The Minnesota Fringe Site here https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2025/academonic-
The Lasso Way: A Musical is fun without rising to the level of other musicals I’ve seen this Fringe. Full disclosure, I’m a big Ted Lasso fan. When this show opens with Ted’s son in court because he’s spray painted the word “Wanker” all over New York City because he hates his Dad, who’s dead, the show had an up hill battle on it’s hands. Sentenced to community service directing a musical about his father or faced with years in person Henry must learn to be a Director and deal with his daddy issues. This is a little rough around the edges but overall if you are a Lasso fan, you’ll want to see this. Co-creator Travis Carpenter is well cast as Coach Beard and Noah Johnson as the actor Brent who is playing Roy Kent in the musical, does an uncanny vocal impersonation during his first line readings as the character. His song about saying the F word, is easily the best musical number in the show. There are a lot of nice touches throughout including a hallucination conversation Henry has with his dead father. By the end it’s quite winning and remains faithful to the message of Ted Lasso. this is a recommend but if you don’t know the show Ted Lasso, that might hamper your enjoyment. To purchase tickets go to the shows page at The Minnesota Fringe Site here https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2025/the-lasso-way-a-musical
That’s it for day six of the Minnesota Fringe Festival you can click on the Fringe website here to get details on all of the shows https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2025. Don’t forget to tune into The Stages of MN YouTube channel for mini episodes all week long from The MN Fringe Festival https://www.youtube.com/@TheStagesofMN
Subscribe to the channel so you’ll always know when a new episode has dropped. Think I may have steered you wrong on a show? Well, I’m also a member of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers (TCTB), where you can read review roundups of shows by m’colleagues and I when you follow us on facebook @TwinCitiesTheaterBloggers.
Don’t depend on a Facebook or Instagram algorithm to ensure you hear about a great show. You can subscribe and have every post from The Stages of MN sent directly to your email box. It’s the best way to ensure you don’t miss out on any of the theater action. To subscribe on your computer: from the home page on the right, enter your email address and click subscribe. On your mobile device scroll to the bottom of the page and do the same. You can also follow me on Facebook, @thestagesofmn click follow and on Instagram thestagesofmn.
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