Sub-Total
2023 Audience Reviews
Member Reviews
The following reviews were submitted by Fringe Member: Wesley Volkenant
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Company: [Un]Qualified
Show: H.G. Wells' THE INVISIBLE MAN
Venue: Southern Theater
Best Show We Saw at Fringe in 2023!
Sorry if you missed out on "HG Wells'The Invisible Man," brought from several Lyric Arts in Anoka veterans, because the show concluded last night. And sorry, Nissa Nordland Morgan, because as much as I liked your "Stabby Stab Stab," the "Invisible Man" was by far, our favorite show and best time at Fringe this year! We had out-and-out laughter throughout, there were fun and funny lines, terrific pieces of physical humor (the 'staircase' joke never got stale, with two actors stepping in place, while two others circled paintings behind them to emulate movement up - and - down steps. The ending was another classic bit, in a run of well-written and well-designed scenes. Big hats off to the director, Jake Sung-Guk Sullivan, and to his stars Courtney VonVett, Brendan Veerman (both Lyric Arts performers with Jake) and Tucker Brewster Schuster and Doni Marinos.
Company: SECRET CULT
Show: OPERA PUNKS
Venue: Rarig Center Xperimental
A Little More Improv and Tone Down Sound?
We saw Saturday's final show, and much of the audience - with a lot of this year's Fringe performers in attendance - seemed to be enthusiastically engaged and enjoying. My older ears however, strained to hear many parts of the words being sung, as the music often was far too loud. My wife said she had hoped it would actually be more improvisational and chaotic - clearly many pieces were pre-planned, and often the improvisation simply involved inserting the name of a dessert or a favorite car to distinguish it from a different performance. The four performers themselves were quite winning, and it was nice to have a nice mix of ages and what seemed to be four very nice people in action.
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Company: Ken Takata
Show: Butts in Seats: How to Get People to Attend Your Shakespeare Production by Having Musical Settings for the Lyrics in His Plays. Numerous Examples Included.
Venue: Mixed Blood Theatre
Intriguing and Interesting - Lovely Music
"Butts in Seats" fascinated my wife and I as we drove home. We had not contemplated the differences the styles of music make when creating a musical show. We had one song sung with both a Scotch-Irish and an American Songbook flavor, and it was incredibly different. One lyric from "As You Like It" was performed with Shakespearian time cantor and a keyboard setting like you'd have heard from Renaissance instruments. While yes, Ken, needed a second microphone and a bit more organization, he had four strong musical performers join him in giving voice to women in theater, in Shakespeare in particular, Thank you to Sarah Callahan, Hadley Evans Nash, Sarah Zuber and Jenny Eisenbraun (whose sonnet was my favorite of the evening!). If this intrigues, there is one final performance today at 4:00, and you don't have to fight Ed Sheeran traffic.
Company: Mermaid Productions
Show: The Very Model of a Modern Monster Scientist
Venue: Augsburg Studio
Despite Return of Elora, Reverend Matt Fell Flat
Oh my, I'm the kitty-buster for this show. I feel sorry to report that the Friday night late show simply came up short for my wife and I this year. Heck, we've seen the Dinosaur show, and my wife always chuckles over the Count Chocula skit. But, despite the beautiful and engaging Elora Riley's return with her origin story, the overall Matt material (with the exception of the Medusa story) fell flat for us, this Fringe. We did laugh in spots, mind you, but the deadpan humor didn't have the same engagement for us. Now, if Rev. Matt and Field Agent Elora do make the tribute show to my childhood hometown, with "Field Agent Elora Riley and the Lizard People of Coon Rapids," I'll see if I can persuade my wife to give it another try!
Company: Timothy Mooney Repertory Theatre
Show: Breakneck Midsummer Night’s Dream
Venue: Rarig Center Thrust
"Breakneck Will is Another Dream"
Thank goodness for a new annual Tim Mooney production - and in one past Fringe, he did a terrific climate disaster show, which we invited him back to town to perform for a community audience that fall. More recently - both via Zoom and in person, he has brought Breakneck Shakespeare to town, usually with fun audience engagement. (Last year, we had a verse "scavenger hunt".) The MND team, complete with printed shirts beforehand, was a smooth, fun group of skilled performers, something we've been unaccustomed to with Tim's frenetic one-man shows. Props to Tim, himself, as I thought his Bottom, complete with ass's head was a real highlight - maybe because of the terrific voice Tim chose to utilize (and he is a skilled voice man). Cindy Sherdan warmed up the crowd in an engaging manner, played the butt of the show's first joke, then charmed throughout as Puck. After a little difficulty hearing Alison Anderson during the intro, I warmed up to her work throughout, especially in the role of Hermia. Schmoo Cutlip, who I hope we see in the Minnesota Fringe again and again, brought their wide range of performing experiences to totally charm this attendee, whether it was as the icy Hippolyta, the put-upon Helena, or the demeaned Snout. Their facial expressions and posturing made their three roles very unique throughout. Peter Buckholtz, whose Oberon did indeed look an awful lot like Lysander, provided an older hand's experience on stage, and much like Tim, made effective use of different voices (even Flute's) to convey differences in his roles. And J. Merrill Motz, who not only has these lines to do, but also his own Fringe solo show, provided a steadying presence, especially as Peter Quince, but also as he sat on the steps just to my right for his final 5-minute portion. I worried if he was feeling OK at first, before seeing how he had a unique place outside of the three couples (even though there are only 6 total performers!) brought together in the conclusion. After all, he needed to wrap things with Puck. For others who attended - did you memorize your lines of dialogue? I'll admit, I cheated with a study aid. ;-) Looking forward to the next Breakneck, Tim... I hear that Titus Andronicus is a real hoot!
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Company: Luma Notti
Show: ABSURDITY: a burlesque experience
Venue: Rarig Center Thrust
Very Unexpected for the Uninitiated - Very Fringy!
Bravo to all the performers (and Bravo to the Sunday night audience for showing us how the audience is truly part of the show, as the energy fed in both directions)! Thank you ABSURDITY for your arrival on the 2023 Fringe Festival stage, and for bringing both entertainment and uplifting insights into world of Burlesque and the lives of its performers.
Company: Nightfall Productions
Show: Fargo Allegro
Venue: Rarig Center Thrust
Recommend Seeing This Show - Very Entertaining!
HUGE cast for a Fringe "play" where staging can be a challenge with optimal rehearsal time and stage space. First to the overall production for streamlining "Fargo" into a 60-minute show. Props to the Melchoirs for their lead roles as Marge and Jerry - but I especially liked Jeffrey's "Carl" for reallyyy channeling Steve Buscemi! The whole cast and crew were spot-on, and although the headlights were a bit bright in the eyes of rows 1-3 in the Middle, those car props were excellent, as was the clever depiction of wood chipper blood. I do have a small negative, which I think I've rationalized - the constant shuffling of stage boxes amidst really fast scene vignettes, got distracting, but it seemed that establishing where certain scenes like Marge and Norm in bed, or them having breakfast, versus where cars were being driven, necessitated the movement. Nice work, Fargo cast and crew!
Company: Paco Erhard
Show: 5-Step Guide to Being German
Venue: Rarig Center Thrust
Edgy German Comedian = Stand Up Standout
Germancomedy.com - I will have to check out more of Paco's work. He sure hit a lot of German buttons - and not just the ones for sale - that found my wife elbowing me over and over. Personally, I found, as he made one of many American/German, Minnesota/Germany comparisons, there were some very apt and humorous zingers. Either this was my favorite, or it was the one this old German-American remembers best, but paraphrasing it, it went "the way the Germans know we're Americans is our 'my way or the highway' attitude, but of course, the German Autobahn is better!" That's the type of stand-up comedy act Paco brought here at the Minnesota Fringe, where we're fortunately NOT the Bavaria of the good ole USA!
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Company: Special When Lit and The Winding Sheet Outfit
Show: Stabby Stab Stab
Venue: Crane Theater
Uncomfortably Really Good Show!
Start with the one negative - the off-putting nature of the story, played out in front of us, left one feeling very uncomfortable at its conclusion. Unlike Nissa and Sam's "Kentucky Fried" show last year that you left knowing you had been at a Fringe masterpiece, I started at a 7 tonight, started working into an 8 as my wife and I talked about what we'd seen - and as we looked up Morgan and Anissa's real story - and landed on a 9 by the time we got home. The positives - I will try to go to anything Nissa's in, in the Fringe, from the aforementioned "Kentucky Fried," to playing Xena's Gabrielle at Theater in the Round, and even a lovely costume piece on a mosquito-y evening in a Bloomington park. She hits a home-run here as producer, writer and actor - her 11 year old Morgan and Kayla's 11 year-old Anissa are exquisitely performed, from the voices which grabbed my attention immediately, to the akimbo-style mannerisms of girls moving into puberty. The music from Derek and Sam was stunning, fully lending to growing tension and setting the mood changes, over and over. The clever use of projected messaging drew the audience in so much more effectively than having the actors voice it all out for us. And the tale itself - so well-written - and so well-performed for us. Kudos for a great first Fringe show in our 2023 viewing season. And, as an aside, did anyone else connect the (I'm sure it was purely coincidental for Nissa to choose these girls' story) names of the lead characters, aNISSA and MORGAN, to the writer/star's own name Nissa Nordland Morgan? :-)