Sub-Total
2024 Audience Reviews
Member Reviews
The following reviews were submitted by Fringe Member: Will Schroeder
Company: Funk Haus Theater
Show: Interstella 5555: A Daft Punk Discovery
Venue: Barbara Barker Center for Dance
sick dude
This show was so cool. The cast had some really neat (thrifted?) outfits. Working anime in was very cool. I'm always really impressed when choreography tells a story, and watching the band take down a bunch of music executives ruled
Company: Broom Vroom Street Blartists
Show: Paul Blart 3: Blart of Darkness
Venue: Strike Theater
blart
This wound up being one of my favorite shows I saw this year. Because the concept is so silly it might be easy to overlook how tight the script is - this show is really well paced, and sets things up to pay them off later in a really tidy way. It's full of silly B movie tropes, but they're all played sincerely (it's a real story!) I feel like this show knew exactly what it wanted to accomplish and succeeded on every front
Company: Vee Signorelli
Show: Love Lies a Bleeding
Venue: Strike Theater
What a hoot!
I had so much fun watching this show! It’s not a play I’m familiar with, but it’s been carefully edited, and presented with modern affectations, to be really clear. Making things clear for the audience is even a bit, one actor hit some exposition REALLY HARD so it could pay off later in a big way. There were also some really fun well-choreographed farce moments that got huge reactions from the audience. This show really looked like it was a lot of fun to put together and that carried into the performances. Go see this!
Company: Mikala Bierma
Show: PARTS
Venue: The Southern Theater
There's a part for everyone here
This show is so so silly, and covers so much ground. Mikala carries herself with a very business-professional poise, but also hunches over into a gremlin-y Rumplestiltskin, and does some extremely wacky bits I won't give away. This show was also really well-paced, and carried its momentum for the whole hour wonderfully. Also a solo show in the Southern is bold (talk about a big space!) but Mikala owns every inch of the stage. Go check this out!
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Company: Melancholics Anonymous
Show: Beanie Baby Divorce Play
Venue: Open Eye Theatre
A little like Labyrinth!
This show was just such a great time! I really like when horror is silly, so it pushed a lot of my buttons. This show is full of memorable standouts: the actor playing the Beanie Thing was doing a really cool eerie physical performance where they flopped around like they were full of stuffing. All of The CEO's deliveries were fascinating. The puppets were so gross and uncanny. I could go on, you shouldn't miss it!
Company: Mike Fotis Productions
Show: The Camp Out
Venue: Mixed Blood Theatre
camping
This is a really lovely show about friendship, specifically being a reminder that friendships end, whether by drifting apart in life or inevitably, death. That makes it sound like it's not a very fun show, but it is! These are all really good improvisers and even though the core of the show is grieving, it's really delightful watching old friends catch up with each other. There's a sense of urgency about everyone sharing their feelings because they see each other less than they used to, which leads to some pretty funny moments. This probably sounds corny but it made me appreciate sitting next to my friends in the audience and hearing them laugh.
Company: Juliet & Juliet
Show: Juliet & Juliet: Improvised Shakespeare
Venue: Theatre in the Round
They're the best
Juliet and Juliet is one of smartest and most delightful improv duos I've ever seen. They're rarely in the same place at the same time to perform, so don't miss this chance to see 'em!
Company: Shambles Theatre Company
Show: Good Ones
Venue: HUGE Improv Theater
One of my favorite shows of the last few years
In the past I’ve always had a tough time connecting with clowning, but the way the Good Ones combined it with really sincere satire made me excited about the whole art form. The clowns in this show are almost constantly in motion and it gave the audience so much energy to feed off of. There’s a really cartoony quality to everything they do that offsets their deliveries of really uncomfortable truths. There’s always at least one Fringe show each year that rewards the audience’s liberal sensibilities. Instead, at times The Good Ones made me genuinely squirm as they very frankly demonstrated the way we overlook and rationalize terrible stuff we’re culpable for in Minneapolis, like sweeping homeless encampments, condemning police brutality while still calling cops when we feel threatened, etc. They even put it all in a historical context - there have always been “good ones.” It was also possibly the hardest I’ve laughed at a Fringe show, and maybe that’s because they approached every topic so honestly, without protecting the audience’s feelings or reassuring us “but not you though!” This is not a mean-spirited show though! It’s honest in a way that is aspirational about how we can be better to each other. I left feeling really good about people. I genuinely loved this show and would like to see it again. I think it’s really rare and special to see art that is this weird and sincere and challenging. This is an absolute must-see if ya ask me!