The Reunion a Wildly Entertaining Whodunnit From Trademark Theater at Gremlin Theatre

The Cast of The Reunion Photo by Dan Norman

Trademark Theater launches it’s theater season with The Reunion which is a show I attended a read through of a few years ago. Unlike most Agatha Christie based plays I attend I didn’t remember half way through who done did it, which always makes the experience more enjoyable. The Reunion, the brainchild of Trademark Theater’s co-founders Tyler Michaels King and Tyler Mills, is not only an engrossing mystery but also wickedly funny. The setup is a Reunion of friends from high school who used to gather together to to play murder mystery games. It’s been years since they have played and they have no idea when they arrive at the home of their wealthy friend Sam, that tonight the murder will be real! With old traumas and secret plans the script has the audience off balance and in the dark revealing information at just the right moment. It kept me guessing, but as I’ve said before I love a mystery because I can never solve them, so the reveal is always like a magic trick. I wish I was a Sherlock, but in reality I’m a Watson.

What makes the show a success aside from the delightful script is the performances of the cast. With material like this, the cast can be the difference between a success and a failure. We have to care about the characters and we have to find them funny. I’m happy to say this group of performers handily achieved both criteria. I loved everyone, I really did, there isn’t a member of this cast that I would trade. Michael Terrell Brown is perfect as the wealthy Sam who you almost suspect from the start will be the murder victim after his first awkward interaction with friend and employee Peter, played by Chris Hayhurst. Especially sweet is the unacted upon crush between Clive, played by the MJ Matheson and Susan played by Katy Kessler. Mathesons entire performance is brilliantly hilarious, and he and Kessler’s chemistry is the heart of the play. Sasha Andreev plays Susan’s husband Richard, I’m so used to seeing Andreev using his beautiful singing voice that it was quite a surprise to find him so gifted comedically as well. Janely Rodriguez plays Clive’s sister Laura, who also had an unrequited crush from high school on Elizabeth played by Emma Schuld. Laura seems very down to earth while Elizabeth is an extreme environmentalist, which she plays to great comic effect.

The Reunion is well staged with a very creative set design by Sarah Bahr, with some surprisingly effective ways of creating new locations. Dan Dukich’s sound design and Tony Stoeri’s lighting design help set the atmosphere with the perfect thriller vibe. The Reunion runs through October 12th at the Gremlin Theatre in St. Paul. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.trademarktheater.org/thereunion

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Minnesota Fringe Festival Day 11: “Looking for Justice”, “Two Bowls of Cereal and Some Bacon”, “The Princess Strikes Back”, “Dream of Me”, “Juliet & Juliet: Improvised Shakespeare” The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award Winner, and “The Greenhouse”.

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.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2024/looking-for-justice-in-all-the-wrong-places-

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.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2024/two-bowls-of-cereal-and-some-bacon

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.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2024/the-princess-strikes-back-one-woman-s-search-for-the-space-cowboy-of-her-dreams

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.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2024/dream-of-me

Juliet & Juliet: Improvised Shakespeare is 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.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2024/juliet-juliet-improvised-shakespeare

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.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2024/the-greenhouse

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.

Minnesota Fringe Festival Day 9: “Love Lies a Bleeding” The Stages on MN Fringe of the Day Award Winner! and “The Ghost of Frankensteins Bride”

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 Bleeding is 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.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2024/love-lies-a-bleeding

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.

https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2024/the-ghost-of-frankenstein-s-bride

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.

Marry Me a Little Small and Intimate with a Stellar cast From Skylark Opera Theater at Crane Theater

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

Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare at the Pub From The Gray Mallard Theater Co.

Running through July 28th at Sociable Cider Werks is The Gray Mallard Theater Co.’s Shakespeare at the pub production of Romeo and Juliet. It’s free to all, best to bring your own chairs but if you get there early enough they have some provided. There is a food truck onsite and a wide range of beverages both with and without alcohol. I came to the show for two reasons, Shakespeare and Em Rosenberg, who is playing Romeo, in the production. Faithful readers will remember that Rosenberg has been on my ones to watch list for sometime now. Listeners to Twin Cities Theater Chat may remember hearing me interview them for one of our episodes around the Guthrie’s History plays in which they played multiple roles in each of the three plays. Once again Rosenberg doesn’t disappoint, headlining a very well paced production directed by Gray Mallard Artistic Director Amanda Fuller. It’s a little like a less controlled version of a Ten Thousand Things performance very bare bones in terms of costumes, props, and set, just what is needed to tell the story. It’s rough around the edges but also extremely fluid, giving it a dangerous and lively energy that works really well in this nontraditional performance space. The focus is on the performances and the language

The truest sign of a good Shakespearean actor is how well a modern audience can understand the language. A great performer will be able to communicate the text to the audience, whether we know the words or not, they will make the meaning clear. There is a lot of use of hand gestures and physical work being done to communicate the meaning of the lines and frequently bring added humor, some of it delightfully risque. There are a lot of wonderful performances starting of course with Em Rosenberg’s Romeo. I think this was my fifth Shakespeare play with Rosenberg in the cast but certainly the largest single role. They are as natural a communicator of Shakespeare’s work as I’ve ever seen, whether wooing Juliet, joking around with his friends, or shouting at the stars their performance is always captivating and precise. Caiti Fallon and Kamani Graham start the show off on the perfect note. Letting the audience know from their movements, costume, and tone of their line readings that while certainly this is a tragedy, we are still going to have some fun with this production. Alessandra Bongiardina as Juliet is a nice fit with Rosenberg’s Romeo, they have a chemistry that helps a modern audience accept some of their choices as natural responses given their connection and maturity. Davis Brinker as Benvolio comes across as one of the guys but the one with the cooler head on his shoulders, while Zach Lerner’s Tybalt and Cooper Lajeunesse’s Mercutio are entertainingly hot headed. I really enjoyed Tony Larkin and Cathleen Fuller as the lovers co conspirators Friar Laurence and the Nurse, being the two adult characters that seemed to have more than a little common sense when trying to temper Romeo and Juliet’s impulses.

A very enjoyable production of Romeo and Juliet, a fun way to spend a summer evening out of doors and you can’t beat the ticket prices. For more information about the show which runs through July 28th or to make a donation to The Gray Mallard Theater Co. go to https://bit.ly/TheGrayMallardTheaterCo

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 never has to 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.

Protest, A Revolutionary Rock Opus, Something to Watch For

So I wouldn’t ordinarily take the time to write up a post for a show that you faithful readers cannot see, but Protest, A Revolutionary Rock Opus is kind of a unique beast. Also, it was so damned good that I wanted to do a little more than a facebook post about the fact that I enjoyed it. Performed in concert last weekend at Chanhassen Dinner Theatres (CDT) Protest, A Revolutionary Rock Opus is a tribute to women activists throughout the 20th and into the 21st century. The program consisted of 16 new songs by fourteen composers and lyricists as well as six existing protest songs. What was astonishing about the songs is if you were not familiar with the existing songs and if the performers didn’t tip you by way of introductions, you’d be hard pressed to tell the difference. The new songs run a wide range some sounding as if they were created in the late 60’s early 70’s while others feeling very modern, the unifying aspect of all being the quality of the compositions.

I had listened to a download of the concept album once around the time of it’s release last fall. But I listen to music only in the car so it was broken up over several car rides while driving. I remember enjoying it all, but not really getting the opportunity to wrap my head around it entirely. Now sitting in CDT’s intimate Fireside Theatre almost close enough to touch the performers, I was completely caught up in the songs and their messages. There is a plan in the works for a performance at The Parkway Theater in September, and one can only hope that the musicians and performers remain the same. The singers, several of whom also played instruments and wrote or co-wrote some of the songs, were Janely Rodriguez, Ashley DuBose, Linnea Mohn, Barbara Cohen, and Kymani Kahlil. Each performer was given their moments to shine and then provided backup and support for the others. Whether pastiches of songs from bygone times or hip hop influenced cries for change the entire evenings worth of songs share a unity not only of theme but in the emotional response of the audience. The songs touch a place within our cores that decry the inequities and human tragedies that are the subject matters of the compositions. The performers voices full with meaning and soul carry these messages beyond our minds and into our hearts.

I could write a paragraph on each song but I want and hope you will get the opportunity to experience them for yourself. So I will content myself to comment briefly on one song “How Can We Win” written by Timothy Levy which explicitly illustrates the impact of the entire program. The song is inspired by the viral Youtube speech that Kimberly Jones recorded while standing in front of a burnt-down Minneapolis bank in the wake of the communities response to the murder of George Floyd. Everyone who lives in or near Minneapolis will forever remember that day and the days that followed. As a white man I cannot ever fully comprehend what that moment felt like for the black community, but the song reminded me of my emotions at the time. I spent much of that time at Children’s Minnesota in the Abbott Northwestern Hospital with my son, not far from the riots. The hospital was surrounded by the National Guard, it was a surreal moment. I was angry and outraged at the police. I felt helpless in the shadow of the overwhelming immensity of institutional racism. I was frightened for the safety of myself and my family. I was disheartened by the destruction I was seeing, but I also understood it. The song addresses all of those aspects of an event that clarified the disparity that has always existed in our country. It brought back all of those feelings and it brought back some of the tears as well.

I don’t know what the future holds in store for Protest, A Revolutionary Rock Opus but I assure you, I’ll be covering whatever it does. Whether you are socially conscious minded or not, you’ll be impressed by the songs and performances. Watch for a heads up for upcoming performances and developments and listen to the album containing all 16 tracks created for this work at the following link https://www.buffalogalproductions.com/protest

Once Upon a Time… Josephine Baker! World Premiere of a Brilliant New Work By Austene Van at Yellow Tree Theatre

Tolu Ekisola, JoeNathan Thomas, and Austene Van Photo by Alex Clark

Delayed from opening by a week, due to a medical issue with the artistic team, Once Upon a Time… Josephine Baker! faces is a shortened run which is a shame. This new work written by and starring the hardest working woman in Twin Cities Theater, Austene Van as Josephine Baker is a bold unflinching look at a legend. There is a line from the film The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance that goes “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend”. As portrayed in Van’s new play, or is this a musical? (more on that later) Josephine Baker takes the Orson Welles approach to personal history. Take an anecdote from your life and embellish to your heart’s content, repeat often, until even those who know better begin to believe it and thus the legend becomes fact. Deciphering what is true and what is fiction is one of the themes explored in Once Upon a Time… Josephine Baker!. Whatever the reality is, when it comes to the details, Baker led a fascinating life making her an ideal subject matter. The story is told through the conceit that Baker is writing another autobiography and that the publishers has sent a young woman named Mac to assist her. Through their conversations we learn many things about Baker’s story (including the discrepancies), along with her temperament. Through the interactions with her band member Douglas, we get clarifications that we assume are closer to the true story. A few of the remembrances are played out for us, usually with the assistance of local legend Jim Lichtscheidl playing Baker’s Manager, lovers, husbands, and even Walter Winchell.

This show began and ends with Austene Van whose script is complex yet clear in it’s exploration of this legendary woman. The question of whether this is a musical or not is a difficult yet also irrelevant one. There doesn’t seem to be enough songs to be considered a musical, the songs that are performed are sometimes instances of Baker performing for an audience, and other times the characters singing to each other. The reality is, I’d guesstimate that less than 20% of the shows running time is spent musically. Ultimately it doesn’t really fit cleanly into either category but it succeeds because it is it’s own thing. Van understands exactly how much music it needs and doesn’t try and add music unnecessarily. I’d say Van’s performance was a revelation but did anyone ever seriously have a doubt that she would be amazing? I didn’t and of course she is, with her background as a Choreographer as well as Actor, Director, Artistic Director of Yellow Tree, Writer, Time Manipulator, (I am speculating on that last one, it’s either that or insomniac) it feels like a role she was born to play. Dramatically, vocally, and movement wise she is flawless, she allows Baker to be difficult and unsympathetic at times but earns our empathy as the facades begin to fall away. The script is peppered with generous amounts of humor, that come from the characters naturally, not feeling like quick one liners. Director Maija García understands the script and how it functions creating transitions between the scenes and indeed times and places seamlessly. Staging everything on Sarah Brandners well designed two-level set with Baker’s living quarters above the club in which she performs.

Mac, the young journalist assigned to assist Baker with her book is played by Tolu Ekisola who nails the balancing act that Mac has to perform of humoring Baker and giving into her own “let’s cut the bullshit” world view. Ekisola is becoming one to watch having caught our attention this spring in The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington at Mixed Blood. She can next be seen as Motormouth Mabel in Hairspray at the Burnsville Community Summer Theatre, given her vocals here, I’ll likely try and fit in this production if I can. JoeNathan Thomas as Douglas utilizes his deep rich voice to emphasize the comedic effect of his combative exchanges with both Mac and Baker. There is something about his low vocalization combined with the booming power he puts behind it in contrast to the others that draws the audience immediately to him. It adds a sense of authority and wisdom to his dialogue that leads us to assume what he says is based on fact, whether it is or not, that is certainly what the character believes and thus so does the audience. It’s the kind of voice that can sway you to believe anything and Thomas utilizes it skillfully almost surgically to cut through the chaos of Baker and Mac’s arguments. Lastly, I do want to point out the wonderfully realized costumes by Samantha Fromm Haddow. From Baker’s Classic performance outfits, the banana dance costume and her feathered dance costume to the 1970’s period outfit worn by Mac, they are all beautifully realized.

Once Upon a Time… Josephine Baker! runs through June 30th at Yellow Tree Theatre in Osseo for more information and to purchase tickets go to https://yellowtreetheatre.com/onceuponatimejosephinebaker . And I don’t usually do this but if you’ve seen a show at Yellow Tree Theatre you probably know the quality work they produce. It’s a small theater in the suburbs that produces top-notch shows, and I believe they’re an important step on the path to creating new theater audiences. If you care about the future of live theater please consider a donation to Yellow Tree Theatre so they can continue their mission. https://yellowtreetheatre.com/support-us-2