Pop Up Musical at the 2012 Minnesota Fringe Festival

Pop Up Musical, by Mix Tapes, is a fun musical review for the whole family.  A quartet of singers sing classic show tunes while the rest of the cast adds commentary with cue cards, a la VH1's Pop-Up Video series.  For example, during Jennifer Eckes' soulful rendition of "Suddenly Seymour" from Little Shop of Horrors, we learn the random fact that Kleenex™ is a proprietary eponym.    During Judi Gronseth and Timm Holmly's sweet rendition of Edelweiss, we get pop-ups documenting Christopher Plummer's true feelings about The Sound of Music.   The concept is cute and silly, the show is light and fun, and the able singers make the Rarig Xbox feel like a cozy cabaret.

The only thing that was missing for me was live musical accompaniment. As Gronseth sang in her moving "Send In the Clowns"-well maybe, next year?  How about Pop Up Musical 2 at the 2013 Minnesota Fringe Festival?  I'd like to hear Eckes sing "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" from the balcony.   It can't hurt to ask!

Answered Prayers. A comedy of Edits, and Silence at the 2012 Minnesota Fringe Festival

Friday Highlights

Nautilus Music-Theatre's Answered Prayers was the first show I put on my schedule this year.  A collaboration of librettist Jim Payne and composer Robert Elhai, the previous two installments of Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio stories were presented during the 2010 and 2011 Fringe Festivals.  With a simple and elegant set by Molly Diers and the two person orchestra of music director Jerry Rubino and Elizabeth Bell, this "work-in-progress" is more polished and professional than most fully produced shows.  The stories work well as vignettes, so beginning at this part of the story will not hinder your enjoyment of the show.

Joshua Hinck returns as George Willard, the young reporter from the town paper.  Norah Long, who played George's mother last year, is back as Kate Swift, the passionate high school teacher who is the town outsider.  JP Fitzgibbons completed the trio as the Reverend Hartman, the spiritually struggling minister.  Under the direction of Ben Krywosz, they take you on a fifty minute journey to the past that feels so in the moment. 

I could go all music geek on you and tell you why I love this score for five pages.  But I have about 10 more shows to blog!  Composer Elhai takes this elegantly scripted character study and knows when to insert a hymn tune, or bring back a theme, or let Joshua Hinck's sweet voice soar.    He gives his singers so much to work with emotionally. 

Comedy of Edits, by Callahan and Lingo, is not really by Callahan and Lingo.  Callahan was busy.  So Allegra Lingo has brought on a new partner for this show, writer Taylor Brorby.  Taking a risk that pays off nicely, she deviates from her usual storytelling format.  Comedy of Edits is a scripted play with two characters.  Directed by Kim Schaufenbuel, it is part play, part autobiography, and part lecture.

I enjoyed the play.  Lingo and Brorby have an easy chemistry.   But I'm not a literary writer, so some of the nuances went over my head.  And that's okay.  It reminded me of the response to Allegra's piece Crescendo, which is one of my favorite Fringe shows ever.  Crescendo used the music of Aaron Copland not as an accompaniment but almost as a character.  I'm a musician, so the music references were a bonus for me.  If you devour Joyce and Wolf, those references will be Easter eggs.  But the core story of Comedy of Edits is the universal struggle to create.

I really wanted to like Silence, A Deaf Musical, by Yellow Bird Productions.  According to the artists page, it is "A Deaf musical, examining the gap between hearing and Deaf cultures and how shared interest, romance, and tragedy bridge that gap."  The concept is wonderful-I grew up near the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, and I have seen this idea work.    Silence combines hearing and non-hearing actors into the story.  The show has two strong romantic leads, Canae Weiss as Abby, whose dancing is the best part of the show, and Robert Korsmo, who has an easy charm and a strong voice.  Shawn Vreizen, as Interpreter #1 is equally as strong as Mark.
Unfortunately, the story is steeped in melodrama.  The audience is told more than they are shown.  And the big dramatic event is telegraphed early in the show.  The singing cast struggles with sharing hand held microphones.  And even with amplification it is a struggle to hear some of the singers. 

Analyzing the Bully by blank slate theatre at the Minnesota Fringe Festival

Analyzing the Bully, written by the youth members of blank slate theatre is one of the best examples of theater for teens by teens I have seen in years.  Under the direction of Adam Arnold, the young people of blank slate have crafted a satire that explores bullying with truth and humor.  The play explores the complexities of the issue of the day more clearly than any "expert".  Before the Minnesota legislature and the task force for the prevention of school bullying make any decisions they need to see this play. 

The audience is welcomed into the theater by three doctors in white coats.  They proceed to teach the absolute facts about bullying.  But as the show progresses and we start to see the perspective of the bully we learn that peer abuse is not a black and white problem.  It is complex. 

The show manages not to get preachy.  It is the commitment of the four young actors (Thomas Hedlund, Shawn Michael Chromey-Daniels, Taylor Hall, and Stephanie Kahle) that keep the show from after-school special territory.  

Everyone who works with kids should see this show. 

Minnesota Fringe Festival: The Complete Works of William Shatner (abridged)

Whew!  Five shows today.  I skipped 10:00 PM so I could  write and (maybe) get some sleep.

There were three of us today-myself, my husband Chris, and our 14 year old Tommy.  We started out with The Complete Works of William Shatner (abridged) at the Rarig Thrust.  We are big Star Trek fans, so we know our Shat.  Complete Works is a wacky homage the actor and his singular career.  There are a lot of pop-culture references, but unless you grew up under a papier-mache space rock you will be able to follow the basic plot.





A Shakespearean understudy named William Shatner (Brandon Ewald), walks out of his 1950's dressing room to find himself on a barren planet with none other than Capt. James T. Kirk (Windy Bowlsby) .  They are soon joined by T.J. Hooker (Derek "Duck" Washington), who makes his entrance by rolling off of a moving car, and the Priceline Negotiator (Tim Uren) .  Denny Crane (also Tim Uren) makes a cameo as well.

As you can see in the photo above, these actors do not resemble Shatner at all.  That's part of the joke.  Bowlsby has Kirk's adventurous swagger and punctuating hand gestures down pat.  You forget immediately that Kirk is being played by a woman.  Uren sounds just like the Shatner we see today on late night talk shows. 

I won't give any spoilers, but the storyline they concoct is both ridiculous and clever.  It is a very fun show.

It is recommended for ages 12 and up. 

Nucleus...and Other Cell Bodies

Nucleus...and Other Cell Bodies by Kelly Radermacher is like watching a microscope slide come to life. It is beautiful to watch.  Six strong dancers beautifully illustrate the story by marching, leaping, wriggling, and writhing.

Radermacher chose electronica music to accompany the dancers.  Her choreography strongly reflects the style of this ambient music, where texture and rhythm are often more prominent than a melody or traditional form. 

The show is recommended for ages 7 and up.  I would take a younger child if they have seen dance before and can be quiet for 50 minutes. 

The Gentlemen's Pratfall Club: An Uplifting Comedy About Falling Down

Comedy hurts. Falling down is hard.  In The Gentlemen's Pratfall Club: An Uplifting Comedy About Falling Down, the comedy team of Levi Weinhagen and Joshua English Scrimshaw prove their comic thesis with real blood.  After a series of epic pratfalls, the audience realized that the blood dripping from Weinhagen's chin was real.  He is fine (according to Facebook)-but he had a curtain call at the E.R. to get a few stitches.

Weinhagen plays Walter, an unemployed actor.  He is a self-pitying sad-sack of a guy who fails an audition to replace the deceased Captain Clumsy.  Walter can't fall down.   Scrimshaw plays everyone else, including Walter's French clown nemesis, his best friend, and his crusty mentor.  After a slow start with too much talking, the show takes off with a hysterical training montage.  I won't give spoilers, but there is an "I don't believe he did that" moment in the show that is worth the price of admission.  Scrimshaw is fearless in his antics; he is both the Acme steamroller and Wile E. Coyote.  

This show is recommended by the artists for ages 7 and up.  The show contains live cartoon violence and a quick crotch gag.  

Medea + Jason: Rubicon Waltz presented by The Flower Shop Project

Did she or didn't she? As the recent Casey Anthony trial demonstrated, questions of filicide still capture our collective attention. In Medea + Jason: Rubicon Waltz, playing at the Bryant Lake Bowl, playwright Matthew A. Everett (aka the Twin Cities Daily Planet's Single White Fringe Geek) navigates Euripides' tale of Medea. Everett humorously explores this "messy, supernatural business" from the differing perspectives of each player. Unreliable narrators all, each character insists on their own point of view. "This is the story..." they insist.

Joy Dolo, regal in the title role, passionately states her case. She makes you believe in her version of the story. And Zachariah Delventhal as Jason convinces the audience that he is a callow young hero. Hera, Queen of the Gods, (Laura Wiebers) playfully reminds us at every point of time that she is indeed, Hera, Queen of the Gods. And the Oracle (Victoria Pyan), with the voice of Sesame Street's Prairie Dawn high on ethylene fumes, calls it as she sees it. These light character touches balance the carnage and the violence of the story.

The show often shifts to a video to explain the unseen adventures that propel the story forward. (It is a Greek tragedy after all. If all of the plot points were shown, it would be a six hour cycle). While this expository information is helpful, the shifts back and forth to the animated are often abrupt.

As the characters make intertwining choices the show feels like a witty adult dark Choose Your Own (Ancient Greek Tragedy) Adventure.