Victoria Pyan as Mary Woolley Photos by Ariel Lopez
Bull in a China Closet by Bryna Turner is a wonderful historical play about Mary Woolley, who was the president of Mount Holyoke College from 1900 to 1937. The play focuses heavily on her relationship with Jeannette Marks, a former student who was her partner until the end of her life.
An amazingly accomplished woman, Woolley was the first female student to attend Brown University. The play, however, confines itself to the timeframe from her decision to accept the position at Holyoke through her retirement. The play is a forum in which women’s rights can be highlighted within the historical context of the time. The verbal debates between Woolley and Marks showcase the women’s intelligence and their strategies. Marks’ idealism doesn’t outshine Woolley’s, but Woolley’s is tempered by a maturity that comes from being 12 years older and holding the position of president of the college. Turner’s play uses the relationship between Woolley and Marks and their discussions to engage us emotionally, as well as to teach us about their goals for women.
We have two very strong performances. Ariel Pinkerton, who along with her dad, Dan, is the co-producing Artistic Director of Fortune’s Fool Theatre, she plays Marks. Marks is idealistic and uncompromising. She says what she believes and suffers no fools. I think this casting was a no-brainer; this character fits Pinkerton like a glove in temperament. There are also moments, such as when she is contemplating a relationship with a student, where Pinkerton expertly shows us the uncertainty and inner struggle the character is facing.
The real surprise is Victoria Pyan as Woolley. I’ve sat and chatted with Pyan at Fringe shows and seen her work with the Improv Movement Project, and possibly some smaller roles here and there, but this is the first time I’ve ever seen her carry a play. She doesn’t just carry it, she throws it over her shoulder and marches away with it.
Pyan plays Woolley as an intellectual, always calmly leading conversations logically, guiding others toward the logical conclusions as she sees them. There are two moments when Pyan allows Woolley to show unrestrained emotion, and those moments, one explosive and another subtle, are powerfully played. They highlight Pyan as a truly talented performer who we should be seeing onstage more.
The show is directed by one of my favorite theatermakers. Whether she is performing with The Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society or Unlabeled Theater, or directing as she is here, Shanan Custer always brings out the best in the material and her cast. This is no exception. The show flies by, but where we are and what is happening is never in doubt. The direction is clear, and the moments where ideas are shared do not seem preachy, but logical, conversational, and inevitable.
Fortune’s Fool Theatre offers this production to everyone FREE of charge so that anyone can attend. I joke in the headline that it is worth every penny. The truth is, if they were charging $45 a ticket, it would still be worth every penny.
You can support Fortune’s Fool Theatre in producing more works like this by donating at https://bit.ly/DonateFFT
Bull in a China Closet runs through September 27th at the Hive Collaborative in St. Paul. For more information and to reserve tickets go to Bull at Hive
I want to alert you faithful readers to a new Website that has just started up in the Twin Cities. It’s called 79 Seconds on Stage and it is a free and full guide to local theatre in the Twin Cities.
Don’t rely on Facebook or Instagram algorithms to keep you in the loop about great shows. Subscribe and have every post from The Stages of MN delivered straight to your inbox. It’s the best way to make sure you never miss out on the theater action. To subscribe on a computer, enter your email address on the home page (right-hand side) and click subscribe. On mobile, scroll to the bottom of the page to find the same option. You can also follow me on Facebook @thestagesofmn and on Instagram thestagesofmn.
The Stages of MN YouTube channel is home to the 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.
Jimmy Kieffer, Jim Lichtscheidl, Will Sturdivant and David Strathairn Photo by Dan Norman
I’ve been waiting for Waiting for Godot for decades. I started my college career as a Theater Arts major before transferring to film studies. And you can bet that my first class in that department was History of Theater, in which I read about Samuel Beckett’s influential play. All I knew was that two men wait for a man named Godot, who never comes. It sounds bleak and important and impenetrable, doesn’t it? I knew it was an important piece of theater, and so I’ve always been on the lookout for it, knowing that I must see it at some point if I was ever to earn my wings.
I went into tonight with conflicted feelings, mostly excited to finally see this landmark play, but also with apprehension. What if I don’t get it? How will I write about it? What if it never ends? Seriously, what if the show never ends and three weeks from now we are still trapped in our seats watching two men sitting on stage waiting for someone? How would we be fed? Where would we sleep?
Well, I’m home, and that didn’t happen. And just like that time I ran into a pair of pale green pants with nobody inside them, I now wonder what I was scared of.
ONE OF THE GREATEST PLAYS OF THE 20TH CENTURY!!! is daunting. Seeing Waiting for Godot, however, was a joy. Writing about Waiting for Godot could be daunting, or it could be fun. I choose fun.
The plot: two men, Didi and Gogo, meet up, as they always do, to wait for a man named Godot. They talk of this and that, despair, suicide, and try to find ways to pass the time. Along the road comes a man named Pozzo, who is accompanied by his servant Lucky, whom he keeps tethered to a rope and occasionally uses a whip to incentivize. They all interact, then Pozzo and Lucky leave. A boy comes and tells Didi and Gogo that Godot cannot come today, but he will come tomorrow. The men decide to leave. They do not. End of Act One. Act Two: a variation on Act One.
The play isn’t about the actions of these men; it is about their inaction. What makes the play so enjoyable is what they are saying to each other and how they are saying it. Of course, there is a meaning in all of this, commentary on life and what it all means, or doesn’t mean. But you know what? I just saw it an hour ago. This will take some processing, and it’s also the sort of play where different people are going to come to different conclusions about it.
I want you to see it with your own eyes and let it find its meaning in how you see it. The one thing I can do to help you is to let you know that it is two hours and twenty minutes spent in the company of performers who never let you lose interest for a moment. The show is funny, at times absurd, but also oddly sweet.
Jimmy Kieffer and David Strathairn play Gogo and Didi, and it’s hard not to see the influence of comedic geniuses of the silver screen such as Laurel and Hardy or Chaplin. And before you say I’m projecting my love of cinema onto the play, remember that Beckett’s sole screenplay is for the short film Film, starring Buster Keaton.
It’s fun to have an Academy Award nominee like Strathairn at the Guthrie, but it is anything but stunt casting. He is absolutely perfect for the role, making nonsense sound organic, adding touches of melancholy strategically, and bringing a sense of genuine love for his old friend Gogo. Kieffer, who replaced John Carroll Lynch shortly after rehearsals began, for undisclosed reasons, brings the perfect balance to the pairing. His character is more unsteady; he swings from moody and complaining to smiles and sunshine mid-sentence. It’s great comic timing.
Will Sturdivant gives what is probably my favorite performance of his I’ve ever seen, and faithful readers know that I’m a fan of his work, so that is saying something. He makes Pozzo’s extreme demands both grossly demeaning and hysterically funny. Wait until you see him engage Gogo in helping him sit down.
As his nearly completely silent servant Lucky, can you ask for anyone better in that type of role than Jim Lichtscheidl? Twin Cities theatergoers have had many opportunities to see what he is capable of doing with a stage and no dialogue. I only wish there was more for him to do in this show.
Everything is top-notch, from the bleak set design by Marion Williams to the muted color schemes and worn-down look of the costumes by Trevor Bowen, which fit perfectly with the landscape. Part of the wonder of the play is how funny it is despite the gloominess of the environment. This world is bleak, the lives of these characters are bleak, so why is it so damn funny?
I had an idea as I left the theater for a Minnesota Fringe show, and I encourage anyone to take the idea and run with it: a version of the play with SpongeBob SquarePants as Didi and Patrick Star as Gogo, Mr. Krabs as Pozzo, and Squidward as Lucky. You just do a shortened version of the play with those characters in the roles, minimal changes, a few changes to keep the themes in line but use the SpongeBob universe’s tropes.
I’m so glad I finally got to see Waiting for Godot. I was surprised by how accessible it was, how funny, and just plain entertaining. I also know that there is more under the surface than I’ve covered here, partly because I need to process it but also because I want you to go in without preconceived ideas and see what meaning you take from it. One thing is for sure: you will be entertained.
I want to alert you faithful readers to a new Website that has just started up in the Twin Cities. It’s called 79 Seconds on Stage and it is a free and full guide to local theatre in the Twin Cities.
Don’t rely on Facebook or Instagram algorithms to keep you in the loop about great shows. Subscribe and have every post from The Stages of MN delivered straight to your inbox. It’s the best way to make sure you never miss out on the theater action. To subscribe on a computer, enter your email address on the home page (right-hand side) and click subscribe. On mobile, scroll to the bottom of the page to find the same option. You can also follow me on Facebook @thestagesofmn and on Instagram thestagesofmn.
The Stages of MN YouTube channel is home to the 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.
Noah Hynick, Brendan Veerman, and Maureen O’Malley Photo by Dan Norman
Stephen Sondheim’s musical Merrily We Roll Along is having a moment. 2023 saw the Off-Broadway revival transfer to Broadway, starring Jonathan Groff, Daniel Radcliffe, and Lindsay Mendez. You can actually stream a recording of that revival, which was released theatrically in 2025. There is also a feature film in the works from director Richard Linklater, who is shooting it over a 20-year period so that the actors can age with the characters. It began shooting in 2019, so watch for that in 2039 or 2040. Tickets are not on sale yet. I recommend not waiting for the film and getting out to see it at Lyric Arts.
This is not one of Sondheim’s better-known works. In fact, it was a bit of a flop when it made its Broadway debut in 1981. To be fair to audiences then, it has been extensively rewritten since. So what we see now is not what the 1981 audience saw that caused the show to close after 16 performances. This version buries that reputation and allows fans to experience what a musical would look like if Christopher Nolan directed one.
Merrily We Roll Along’s book is by George Furth, with music and lyrics by the late, great Stephen Sondheim. The story is told in reverse chronological order, following the relationships and careers of three friends: Frank and Charley, who collaborate on musicals together, and Mary, who is a writer. So we start with a Hollywood party celebrating the release of Frank’s new movie. His old friend Mary is there, and they discuss their friend Charley, who does not appear, as he and Frank are estranged. Mary drinks too much, it’s revealed that Frank is having an affair, and he and his wife are not happy together. Ultimately, Frank declares that if he could go back to the beginning to write with Charley and give all his success up, he would, because he’s not happy.
Each successive scene is a time jump backwards. We see the moments that destroyed friendships and marriages, and then we see the ones that began to fracture them. The play ends with the moment that Charley and Frank met Mary for the first time.
In a way, this feels like Sondheim’s commentary on the musical form. He has the theatrical producer Joe comment on Frank and Charley’s musical audition, saying that they need to add a melody to the songs, give the audience something to hum and tap their toes to. This attitude is presented as the sellout commercial view. Frank and Charley’s songs reflect Sondheim’s own approach to music, which is far more complex than verse, bridge, chorus.
The structure is a 50-year-old realist’s version of the way to give your show a happy ending. The older we get, the more we come to terms with, like the characters in Merrily We Roll Along, what our life has been and what it’s leading towards. Rarely do we realize all of our ambitions; rarely does our love life play out like the great romance we envision when it begins.
The way to achieve the happy ending that a musical audience wants, but maintain the reality of the world, is to tell it in reverse. In the movies, the climax is the high point of the story. In life, we find, as we look back, that most of the exciting stuff was the beginnings. What’s more exciting, the first kiss or the 2001st? Why do so many people who achieve success seem to feel unsatisfied? Because it is the effort to succeed that is exciting. The success is the end, it’s a period at the end of an exciting sentence that you thought would be an exclamation point.
It begins with the old, disillusioned, drunk, and absent, then ends with the young, idealistic, and hopeful. It’s the age-old cautionary story of the cost of success. Frank is successful at the beginning, but at the cost of many things, most dearly of which is happiness.
The show has a great trio leading the cast. Brendan Veerman as Frank was in good voice. I really enjoyed his quieter moments of song, such as in “Not a Day Goes By (Reprise)” and the final song, “Our Time.”
It appears that Lyric Arts has renewed their contract on Noah Hynick. It’s a smart move, as it will keep people coming out from the city to see his performances. Hynick plays Charley and does what he always does, which is make it his own. No one reacts or speaks dialogue quite like Hynick. There is always something special in everything he seems to do. It’s subtle, but constant. I’ve dubbed it the Hynick Nuance. He’s great as always, which may sound boring, but it isn’t.
But the big question, and not even the folks at Lyric Arts seem to know the answer to, is: Who is Maureen O’Malley, who plays Mary? The program says, “Bio coming soon?” I’m sure I’ve seen her before in one of the Christmas at Pemberley plays. Well, whoever she is, she does a great job, particularly in conveying her unrequited love for Frank, which is apparent in every glance.
There are several other familiar faces in the cast that it’s always nice to see, including Emily Grodzik, Steven Ramirez, and France A. Roberts. Also great to see Faith Winship Smith and Nykeigh Larson, both of whom I feel like we haven’t seen much from lately, but have always been notable additions to any cast.
Merrily We Roll Along is a very good production of a less well-known Sondheim work that is enjoying a well-deserved reappraisal. Engaging, funny, moving, and thought-provoking, it makes us confront our own unfulfilled dreams but also gives us that all-important happy ending.
Merrily We Roll Along runs through October 4th at Lyric Arts in Anoka. Make the trip; you won’t be sorry. For more information and to purchase tickets, go to https://www.lyricarts.org/merrily-we-roll-along
I want to alert you faithful readers to a new Website that has just started up in the Twin Cities. It’s called 79 Seconds on Stage and it is a free and full guide to local theatre in the Twin Cities.
Don’t rely on Facebook or Instagram algorithms to keep you in the loop about great shows. Subscribe and have every post from The Stages of MN delivered straight to your inbox. It’s the best way to make sure you never miss out on the theater action. To subscribe on a computer, enter your email address on the home page (right-hand side) and click subscribe. On mobile, scroll to the bottom of the page to find the same option. You can also follow me on Facebook @thestagesofmn and on Instagram thestagesofmn.
The Stages of MN YouTube channel is home to the 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.
Ball: A Musical Tribute to My Lost Testicle celebrates its 10th anniversary with a short run at Artistry in Bloomington. Max Wojtanowicz, who wrote and performs the show, began performing it in 2016. The show is about Max’s battle with testicular cancer. Wojtanowicz is a favorite of, well, probably everyone who has ever seen him perform or worked with him. He’s a walking encyclopedia of musical theater, a gifted actor and vocalist, and if anyone could make a show about testicular cancer shine, it’s him. But it does more than shine. It encourages the audience to internalize it and, in a way, allows it to become a cathartic outlet for their own story.
The show deals with the specifics, which allow it to become universal. One detail here and another detail there will ring true to different audience members. By the end of the show, we have all found something to relate to.
Originally a show at the 2016 Minnesota Fringe Festival, Wojtanowicz gives us a few winks and a couple of saucy signals, but keeps it at a PG-13 level. Which is good, because it means you don’t need to feel any hesitation about bringing your teenage sons to the show. Because the point is to help others either discover they need treatment or show them how you can get through it, you just have to make a start.
And Wojtanowicz knows exactly how to make that message land. He’ll make you laugh, think, feel, then laugh again. It’s ultimately a genuinely uplifting experience, but not in the sweet and sugary way. It gets there through humor and honesty. And song, one of it’s biggest selling points is surely not just the chance to listen to Max sing, but to sing about his testicles.
This is a very special show with a very short run. Only five performances remain, so don’t miss this remount of Ball: A Musical Tribute to My Lost Testicle. It’s a show about cancer, loss, survival, and finding your way forward, and somehow, it’s also a hell of a good time.
Ball: A Musical Tribute to My Lost Testicle runs through September 20th at Artistry in Bloomington. For more information and to purchase tickets, go to https://artistrymn.org/ball
I want to alert you faithful readers to a new Website that has just started up in the Twin Cities. It’s called 79 Seconds on Stage and it is a free and full guide to local theatre in the Twin Cities.
Don’t rely on Facebook or Instagram algorithms to keep you in the loop about great shows. Subscribe and have every post from The Stages of MN delivered straight to your inbox. It’s the best way to make sure you never miss out on the theater action. To subscribe on a computer, enter your email address on the home page (right-hand side) and click subscribe. On mobile, scroll to the bottom of the page to find the same option. You can also follow me on Facebook @thestagesofmn and on Instagram thestagesofmn.
The Stages of MN YouTube channel is home to the 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.
The Great Gatsby kicks off the 75th season of Theatre in the Round, a season they have devoted to telling stories with Minnesota connections. Gatsby, of course, is written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, a native of St. Paul. One of the greatest American novels ever written, it’s a solid choice for TRP to open this landmark season. I encourage everyone to be a part of this historic season of what is the longest-running community theater in Minnesota.
It was interesting to see this smaller-scale play version after seeing the lavish touring Broadway musical earlier in the year. They both have their advantages. This version is a much less glamorous affair, but the intimacy of the venue also allows for the story to take center stage.
Set in 1922 on Long Island, the story is told by Nick Carraway, a young war veteran who rents a small cottage next to the estate of Jay Gatsby. After receiving an invitation to a party, Nick meets Gatsby, who asks for his help in reuniting with the girl he fell in love with before going off to the war, Daisy. Daisy is Nick’s cousin, who is now married with a child, though not happily. Her husband, Tom, carries on affairs, which everyone, especially Daisy, is aware of. Daisy’s childhood friend Jordan Baker is also on hand as a possible love interest for Nick. The other major characters are George and Myrtle Wilson. George runs a gas station while his wife is having an affair with Tom.
The novel deals with the themes of the American Dream, class, and how the two collide. Much as it is becoming more and more the case today, the dreams of the lower class are decimated by the excesses and disregard of the wealthy. This stripped-down version is less concerned with those larger issues and focuses on the love story and interpersonal relationships between the characters.
The acting overall is done in a slightly mannered fashion. It’s off-putting at first because it’s not what we expect, but I came to enjoy the put-on, old-timey cadences. Gatsby, played by Jake Leif, is scripted to say the phrase “Old Sport” 87 times in his dialogue. There is no way to make that feel organic. The choice is to stylize the entire performance, which works. Likewise, Tom Buchanan, played by John Blocher, affects a unique delivery for all of his dialogue, which works equally as well. It is heightened and a little removed from humanity, which is a perfect representation of the character. Nick, the narrator, played by Gavin Webb, is much more naturalistic in his delivery, which reflects his character’s more genuine nature.
The set design by Michael Haas is limited by the venue, but he utilizes the upper portions of the theater, with each point of a triangle used for a vital piece of the design. In one corner, we have the Saxman, Maje Adams, who plays some tone-setting music. For the most part, it’s an interesting choice, but I was worried at the opening when the sax was threatening to overpower Nick’s opening narration. They should work on lowering the strength of the sax if they can. In the other two corners, we have the iconic billboard with the spectacles and eyes that light up, and the third is the green light that Gatsby can see from his property that marks where Daisy’s house is. I thought all of these design elements were very well done.
I want to alert you faithful readers to a new Website that has just started up in the Twin Cities. It’s called 79 Seconds on Stage and it is a free and full guide to local theatre in the Twin Cities.
Don’t rely on Facebook or Instagram algorithms to keep you in the loop about great shows. Subscribe and have every post from The Stages of MN delivered straight to your inbox. It’s the best way to make sure you never miss out on the theater action. To subscribe on a computer, enter your email address on the home page (right-hand side) and click subscribe. On mobile, scroll to the bottom of the page to find the same option. You can also follow me on Facebook @thestagesofmn and on Instagram thestagesofmn.
The Stages of MN YouTube channel is home to the 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.
There is something about Come From Away. No matter the cast or the venue, there is a feeling that comes over you in the audience where you think, “And here we are. Where the world has come together.” Because more than any other show, there is a feeling of being in the moment with these characters, probably because, for many of us, we were. We were not in Gander or New York, but it was a moment, possibly the only one in my lifetime so far, where it felt like the whole world had come together.
The power of art is to make us feel that we are not alone, and in a world where we are becoming the joke of the world, there is something so necessary about this show that allows us, for 110 minutes, to recall a time when the world had our back and was on our side. It also reminds us of all the qualities lacking in our country’s leaders: empathy, decency, putting others first, the ability and the desire to comfort and care for each other.
This show is truly a moving and uplifting experience. This is my sixth time seeing it, and I’m already excited to see it again next spring when Lakeshore Players puts it on. Some shows, when they come around for the third or fourth time, I’ll give them a miss to see something new. I think this is like RENT, where I’m always going to say yes. I cannot ever imagine regretting attending a performance of this show. This production at The Phipps Center for the Arts has all the power and joy that every other production I’ve seen has.
Come From Away is the musical written by Irene Sankoff and David Hein, based on the true events of September 11, 2001, and the days following. After two airplanes crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City and another crashed into the Pentagon, all air travel was grounded and the airspace above the U.S. was closed. All airplanes inbound were diverted to the nearest airfield outside the U.S. Thus, 38 airplanes carrying about 7,000 passengers found themselves stranded in the small town of Gander on the island of Newfoundland. This small town and its neighboring towns took in these 7,000 passengers from all over the world, fed them, gave them shelter, clothed them, and made them honorary Newfoundlanders.
The show does what must always be done with stories about something as large as 9/11: It focuses on a specific aspect and a smaller group of people. This approach allows us to comprehend the incomprehensible by taking a huge event and bringing it down to a personal level. We get to know key members of the community, passengers, and the pilot of one of the planes, and through them we see this moment in history from a new perspective. The overall focus of the play is on the community coming together and caring for these stranded people, these strangers. Relying heavily on humor that seems very Newfoundlandish but also very Minnesotan.
Come From Away is an important work of art, but it doesn’t feel like it should be. A lighter, more energetic musical would be hard to find. The show moves with the pace and humor of a broad comedy. While the play doesn’t dwell on the tragedy of 9/11 and the negative reactions that came from it, it also doesn’t ignore them. There will be tears, but the kind that come from well-earned moments of genuine empathy, and any moments of sadness are met with feelings of joy at the capacity of the characters to support each other.
Still, while the show barrels ahead from one witty lyric to the next, with all the joy we are feeling, we are also constantly aware of 9/11. In some ways, it reopens a wound that I felt had long ago healed over. But in doing so, it also begins to heal that wound again at the same time. This is a tightrope walk I can’t really wrap my head around. It’s at once life-affirming, joyous, funny, and moving, while also reminding us of a tragedy that changed our world, that shocked and saddened us to our very cores. Yet these disparate elements are not at war with each other; they live organically intertwined, as if the one wouldn’t work without the other.
I imagine if I ever see a production of Come From Away that I don’t like, it will have to do with the cast, because the music and book are perfection. This cast is a great match for the material. There are certain characters that are favorites, like Nick and Diane, fellow travelers from different countries who fall for each other. Here they are played by real-life husband and wife Ben Thietje and Amanda White, who are just darling in the roles. Or the Kevins, the gay couple played here by a Stages of MN favorite, Ryan Lee, and Jeremy Johnson. Again, just ideal in these roles. Then there are characters that stand out in certain productions. Here, the character of Bob, played by Erebi Nyenkan, always gets some laughs, but there was something extra that drew me to the character this time and made her performance one of my favorites.
But the one that pulled the most out of me emotionally was DeZhané Antoinette as Hannah, the mother of a NYC firefighter who cannot get word of her son. It’s a role that is written to pull at your heartstrings, but no one has quite made all of the fear, worry, and uncertainty so palpable as Antoinette. Every line spoken, every note sung, is underlined with a sense that her heart may break at any moment. I cry a lot at this show. She earned by far the most tears of anyone in the cast.
In terms of differences besides the cast, the set design by Taylor English adds a substantial raised walkway that is well used, particularly in Nick and Diane’s sweet song, “Stop the World.” The one minor disappointment is the lack of live musicians. It doesn’t really affect our enjoyment of the show, but it’s always fun at the end or in the bar scene when you get to experience the band playing in front of you and getting to take a bow.
If you’ve never seen Come From Away, I urge you not to miss this opportunity. This is a wonderful production of one of my all-time favorites. This is definitely Top 10, probably Top 5 for me. Subject matter turning you off? Just trust me. It will be a powerful, inspiring, and ultimately uplifting experience.
Come From Away runs through September 27 at The Phipps Center for the Arts in Hudson, WI. For more information and to purchase tickets, go to https://thephipps.org/26-27/come-from-away
I want to alert you faithful readers to a new Website that has just started up in the Twin Cities. It’s called 79 Seconds on Stage and it is a free and full guide to local theatre in the Twin Cities.
Don’t rely on Facebook or Instagram algorithms to keep you in the loop about great shows. Subscribe and have every post from The Stages of MN delivered straight to your inbox. It’s the best way to make sure you never miss out on the theater action. To subscribe on a computer, enter your email address on the home page (right-hand side) and click subscribe. On mobile, scroll to the bottom of the page to find the same option. You can also follow me on Facebook @thestagesofmn and on Instagram thestagesofmn.
The Stages of MN YouTube channel is home to the 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.
We made it!!! I’m not gonna lie, the last day was a struggle, but I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. All told, I saw 47 shows out of a possible 55! And there were still many I wish I could have seen. It’s that way every year. I had a great Fringe, and I hope you all did as well. And if you didn’t Fringe this year, I hope you at least enjoyed reading about the shows.
While we do have artists come from all over the world to perform at the MN Fringe Festival, the majority are local artists who are doing things all year long. Go to the Minnesota Fringe website here: https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026 and check out the cast and crew pages of your favorite shows. Follow your favorites on the socials to see when they are next appearing in something outside of Fringe. Make it a point to see at least one show a month until next year’s Fringe.
The new theater website of the Twin Cities, 79 Seconds on Stage, at https://79seconds.org/, should be of tremendous use in completing your monthly homework assignment. That site has links to all of the shows playing around the Twin Cities, as well as any reviews that might be out there for them from print and digital review sources. If you haven’t checked it out yet, you really should.
Artists, you have a job to do too: Be on the socials. Post about your shows! I’m always surprised at how often people are not putting their projects out there. Part of the job is promoting yourself and your work. You may hate it; I get that. I hate it too. But it’s part of my job as well. I have to do it so I get more followers, so that more people will hear about the show you are in that I reviewed. And it feels icky sometimes, like you are telling everyone how great you are and all the stuff you are doing. And yes, some people will think you are full of yourself for putting out into the world what you are doing. That is called jealousy, and you should have no time for it.
Audiences are not growing, and they aren’t getting younger. We are going to change that by engaging with younger people where they live, which is online. I get that you think only your parents and grandparents are still on Facebook, and Facebook is Evil. Well, yes, it is, so don’t read anything. Just post. And actually, there are other people on Facebook. They are your parents’ and grandparents’ friends, and they have something a lot of younger people don’t have: disposable income. They buy tickets. You want to sell tickets. Hold your breath, log on long enough to post about the show, and then get off.
OK, I’ll take my Dad hat off now before you all start asking for your allowance, and let me put my Stages of MN pants on and give out my Best in Fest Awards!
The winner of The Stages of MN Best in Fest Award isWatership Downfrom Melancholics Anonymous.
This company has been the darling of the Minnesota Fringe Festival since I began attending. Known for their darkly silly shows executed with the precision of a Broadway show, they are at once both the darling of the festival and the irreverent wild child. Until this year, when they did a Freaky Friday switcheroo with The Winding Sheet outfit. Exchanging their irreverence for elegance, they fashioned a straight adaptation of the classic novel by Richard Adams. There isn’t a campy bunny in sight.
Masterfully translating the story to the stage as a musical, featuring original songs by company member Bee Davis, it’s not just the best show of this year’s festival; it’s ready to expand and be mounted as a full-length production. If I ran the zoo, or better yet, the Guthrie Theatre or Theater Latté Da, I’d be talking with Davis and the playwrights Rachel Ropella and Timothy Kelly about commissioning this for a future season.
Congratulations on surprising us all by reinventing yourselves, taking a risk on not giving us what we expected, and know that it worked. No one is disappointed, and we feel foolish for mentally putting you in a box when the quality and creativity of your work always showed us you were capable of this.
Now, because someone told me that over 20% of the shows in the festival this year were improv shows, and because my own rule that The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award winner can’t be an improv show really is stupid, I have decided to do something about it. Originally it was a way to break a tie, which I also don’t allow, years ago. The thinking was, “because it is improv it is different every time.” But improv is such a huge part of the festival, and improv shows would certainly have taken two or three of the awards this year. So I am trying to atone for the rule, which I am not changing, I still gotta have a way to narrow down the choices some days, and I have created The Stages of MN Improv Best in Fest Award!
The first-ever The Stages of MN Improv Best in Fest Award goes toBury the Leads, created and performed by the incomparable Sam Landman and Nissa Nordland.
Bury the Leads is what they call long-form improv, I think, though maybe this is actually extended long-form improv. Landman and Nordland play Clyde and Faye, two character actors trying to land roles and keep each other’s spirits up. True friends with an underlying current that maybe, just maybe, they could be more. The duo have been performing these characters and this concept for a year or so now, and everytime I see it, I get that “will they or won’t they?” vibe.
If I ran the Arboretum, or better yet, The Hive or Bryant Lake Bowl Theatre, I would be trying to cash in on this goldmine of an idea and book Bury the Leads with a monthly residency in which Landman and Nordland could serialize the show, building a continuing story of Clyde and Faye, with a Patreon option so you could see a recording of a performance if you had to miss one, so you could keep up with the story. If they did this, I would totally call it “my stories!”. “Oh no, I can’t tonight. I have to go to The Hive for my stories.” “No, no, I can’t make it to your wedding this weekend. I’m sorry, but my stories are on.”
Bury the Leads is consistently funny. Very funny. But what really sets it apart is that these are two of the best character actors in the Twin Cities. There are times in every performance that are not funny. They aren’t meant to be. They are moments when the characters touch on something true in their lives. Those glimpses are better than the funniest bits in the shows because you are seeing moments touched by truth and humanity.
We are not laughing; we are empathizing. And we do not care about anything else happening. We are locked into these lives on stage. You see, great acting is engrossing, whether it’s comedy or drama. Greatness holds you in its grip.
Click here to see who won the Fringe’s own awards, the Golden Lanyards: https://minnesotafringe.org/awards. You should also click here: https://thephipps.org/ to see which five shows will be part of the Fringe Encore at the Phipps, which runs from August 25 through the 29th at the Phipps Center for the Arts in Hudson, WI.
Now, my final set of reviews from The Minnesota Fringe Festival’s closing day.
Bangs! would be more aptly titled Drag!. I think it was a half-formed idea that never got a chance to solidify into something solid. I was expecting a drag show, but really, it was supposed to be a play about the performers backstage and onstage at a drag show. In truth, it was both and neither. There wasn’t enough there for a play, the big dramatic moment feels completely forced, and there are no emotional bonds built to allow it to have any real effect on the audience. The script seems to be catty drag-persona banter for 40 minutes, then have someone get shot. The end.
There is too little of the drag performances to satisfy that aspect either. There need to be things that lead up to the shooting, or the show needs to be about the aftermath of the shooting. That’s a traumatic event, and to use it without reason other than to give your play a false sense of importance is unfair to the audience and the cast. I liked the cast, and I would have enjoyed either a drag show by them, a proper play about the backstage relationships, or the aftermath of a violent act on this group of performers.
Guy For Now. I went into this one extremely blind. I couldn’t even remember why it was on my schedule until I saw Michael Quadrozzi come on stage. I then remembered seeing his name in the cast and putting it on my schedule for that reason. But I had no idea what it was, which I’m not sure any synopsis that would fit on the webpage would begin to explain what this show was.
I don’t know how I wasn’t hearing people talk about this show. Right before I went into this show, I bit the bullet and submitted my votes for the two audience Golden Lanyard awards. I never know when the cut off is on the final day! I wish I hadn’t. This would have gotten my vote for the Spirit of the Fringe Award. Well, it was too late for that, but I am awarding it the final The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award of the festival. It is one of the Fringiest things I’ve seen, and I absolutely loved it!
Again, I cannot fathom why I was not hearing about this show. No one mentioned it other than one person who knew it was on my schedule. When I couldn’t remember why, they did say it was good, I should stick with it, and not make a change. So glad I did!
It opens with a stage manager pointing a light at a man and stating stage directions for him to follow. He is confused. He walks on stage and into the spotlight. From there, like Alice in Wonderland, he meets person after person, each stranger than the last, always guided by the Stage Manager.
Quadrozzi shines as a Gentleman who acts as one half of a comedy team, perhaps this Wonderland’s version of Tweedledee and Tweedledum? Next, he puts on a completely different personality as Billy, whom I don’t have space to explain. All of the characters played by the entire cast are just so specific and funny. Benjamin Thacker as Guy and Tricia Buerke as the Stage Manager are also standouts.
Did I mention there’s some great dancing, some songs, some folks in Elizabethan costumes, and Guy sweeps the floor? Well, he does! I wish I could find the words to better describe this play, or that I had seen it earlier and could have championed it.
Machinal was a last-minute change, and I don’t know if it was for the better or not. The show I was supposed to see was a bake-off murder mystery when I scheduled it. By the time of the festival, it had changed to something else entirely that didn’t sound like what I was looking for. But Machinal? Well, I think I was too tired for a show like Machinal. I struggled to stay awake. What I assume I would have found captivating at the start of the festival seemed interminable on Day 11. I’m glad this is the last day of the festival, so this review will not dissuade anyone, because I’m fairly certain it’s not them, it’s me. Sometimes reality trumps artistry. It shouldn’t, but it does.
Sound and Noise and Bodies is Jen Scott’s solo storytelling show with her original songs. I had never seen Scott perform like this; my previous experience with her was last year’s Clown Funeral. As a solo performer, Scott is a kick in the pants. She’s bubbly and full of knowing looks and quips and little bits of physicality that make the whole show buzz with an undercurrent of energy. She shares stories that, in one way or another, help to inform us of what her marriage and life are like with her husband, who is deaf. It adds up to something akin to heartbreaking, but when you hit the total button, what comes up is Scott’s smiling face, and you know there are difficult things in her life, and, she is capable of dealing with difficult things and finding the silver linings in the clouds.
This Body, This Fruit is a one-woman show written and performed by Davi Gray. Gray uses her poetry to illustrate for the audience her journey through transness. It is a beautifully written piece in three acts, for which we get multiple costume changes as well. Its staging is elegantly simple. Davi, a late addition to the festival, could have been expected to read from a music stand, but she doesn’t. Every word is memorized and delivered with clarity and confidence. It’s a moving show that, again, I wish I had seen earlier and been able to encourage people to see.
Finally, and thankfully, I ended my festival with a good show.
Just One Life is a musical, and a very good one, about healthcare injustice, specifically a fictional health insurance company that has just posted $6 billion worth of profits in the first quarter of the year. We have the CEO, Mr. Mitchell; his lackey, Adam; and Jake, the public relations officer. Mitchell and Adam are horrible human beings. Jake is not. He’s just caught in that trap where you are making good money in what you think is a good job, even though what you do for that job is spin lies.
One day, Jake meets Abby Lynn, an artist who is painting a mural near his work. He falls in love with her, and she with him. Until one day, she sees him on TV at a press conference defending his company’s denial of treatment for a little boy who dies of cancer. She breaks up with Jake, and he faces what he was already struggling with.
The performances were all good. There is a wild number when Philip Simondet, as Adam, strips down to a Speedo and does a striptease, illustrating the ugly underbelly of these corporate vampires. The best singer was Brooklyn Kellenberger, who plays Abby Lynn. She’s a nice match for the songs written by the show’s creator, Dave Dvorak.
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