Sub-Total
2024 Audience Reviews
Member Reviews
The following reviews were submitted by Fringe Member: Florence Brammer
Company: Broken Wing Productions
Show: The Wind Phone
Venue: The Ribs of Humanity at Campbell Plaza
A wonderful final show for my 2024 Fringe
A beautiful show in a beautiful setting. So well-written, acted and staged. Very moving. A+
Company: Alex Church
Show: Dutch: Made in America
Venue: Open Eye Theatre
Great play, staging and acting
This was a wild and wonderful ride with fantastic staging, props, acting and writing. A unique and thought-provoking look at the Reagans and the presidency. I'll be thinking about this one for a while.
Company: Mahmoud Hakima
Show: Two Bowls of Cereal and Some Bacon
Venue: Theatre in the Round
Gut -wrenching and very moving
This tale is gut-wrenching, to be sure, but never maudlin. The time flew as this incredible journey unfolded. I saw this back in 2009 and was so happy to be able to experience it again.
Company: Funk Haus Theater
Show: Interstella 5555: A Daft Punk Discovery
Venue: Barbara Barker Center for Dance
Everyone (including me) had a great time
This was an upbeat show with great music and energetic dancing. Very fun.
Company: Rebecca Wickert
Show: Seance Sisters
Venue: Strike Theater
The total package
This is a beautiful production with great acting, props, and magic! The script is the thing that fell short for me, but the story of the Fox Sisters is inherently fascinating and I love magic, so I was very happy to see this.
Company: Jason Schommer
Show: A Material Boy Living In A Madonna World!
Venue: Strike Theater
Charming and funny
I love it when people are passionate about something and they want to share that passion. Schommer’s zeal for Madonna — and where that zeal led him from his school days to the present — makes for a really enjoyable hour.
Company: Elizabeth Young
Show: A History Tour Hijacked
Venue: Strike Theater
History and song
This is obviously a heartfelt labor of love. It features DC history, random snippets of songs and autobiographical references. it doesn’t really hold together very well as a complete package, but the pieces are earnest and sweet.
Company: Theatre On The Rocks
Show: A Horse Walks Out Onto the Stage and Dies
Venue: Phoenix Theater
This made me cry [and laugh]
A very moving look at the beauty and value of an “unremarkable, unimportant and nondescript” life. Just beautiful, in concept and execution.
Company: Dime Stage Co.
Show: The Zoo Story
Venue: Bryant Lake Bowl
Zoo Story, perfect for a BLB staging
Zoo Story is among the handful of plays that I’ll see every time I can. Bryant Lake Bowl is a perfect venue for this. While I think a couple of sections could have benefited from more nuance, this was very well acted. I really appreciate when works by playwrights like Pinter or Albee are presented at the Fringe, both because I enjoy having some “straight plays” in my line-up and because it’s great they’re available to folks who have yet seen them. A+
Company: Alondra Alamilla
Show: The Ghost of Frankenstein's Bride
Venue: Bryant Lake Bowl
Love, loss and grief
This touching production features lovely set design, props, lights and sound. The small BLB stage is well-utilized and the acting is very good.
Company: Amy Oppenheimer
Show: Looking for Justice (in all the wrong places)
Venue: Bryant Lake Bowl
Very interesting reflections
These reflections would be wonderful to hear over a dinner table or at a gathering, but they didn’t really coalesce as a show. Some of the scenes would benefit from editing. I appreciate having it in the Fringe line-up, though, and also that proceeds are going to Tubman.
Company: Tristan Miller
Show: Least Likely To Succeed: Tales From A Midwestern Homeschooler
Venue: Bryant Lake Bowl
Stand-up at the Fringe
I adore stand-up and I go to, watch and listen to a lot. So I was excited to see stand-up in the Fringe this year. Miller’s stage demeanor is engaging, but the material is not.
Company: Big Empty Barn Productions
Show: Bremner Sings Everything In New Orleans Is A Good Idea
Venue: Barbara Barker Center for Dance
A love letter to music and New Orleans
This is a heartfelt and lovingly crafted show celebrating the power of music and the importance of finding home. Very nice use of props and lots of original music.
Company: Denzel Belin Presents
Show: 5 Episodes of Minnesota Tonight; 4 Minnesota Fring3, it’s Minnesota 2Night’s 1st Time at Minnesota Fringe.
Venue: Mixed Blood Theatre
A fast-paced variety show
This was a very fun hour of stand-up, sketch comedy, interviews and music. The line-up changes every show.
Company: Juliet & Juliet
Show: Juliet & Juliet: Improvised Shakespeare
Venue: Theatre in the Round
It’s unbelievable that they can do this!
Improvising Shakespeare for an hour — if I hadn’t seen it, I would not have believed it could be done. Sometimes it was hard to catch all the lines, but what incredible skill and talent.
Company: Shambles Theatre Company
Show: Good Ones
Venue: HUGE Improv Theater
A brilliant combination of content and form
This wasn't on my radar until I heard all the buzz, and I'm so glad I went. The buffoonery skills are just fantastic and the content ticks all the boxes. Very unique and special.
Company: The Project Factory
Show: Pants on Fire
Venue: HUGE Improv Theater
Game show fun
This was a chill, fun show. (It would have added to the fun if, after the teams had made each choice, the emcee turned to the audience for a show of hands on how they would vote.) I think the math and word scramble components could have been scrapped, because they weren't really interesting and kind of bogged the energy down at the show I attended.
Company: an alleged Theatre Company
Show: A First-Class Comedic Revue… Featuring the Reanimated Corpse of a Wright Brother
Venue: Phoenix Theater
I love this company!
I am a big fan of this company, ever since I saw their first Fringe show several years ago. I know comedy can be so subjective, but this one just didn't land for me as their previous shows have. The concept was appealing (reanimated corpses never get old), but I think it could have been developed more. Still, I can't wait to see what they come up with next.
Company: TROMPE L'OEIL
Show: Gasthaus
Venue: Phoenix Theater
It's nice to see a history-based Fringe show
This was an ambitious production. While the acting may have been a bit uneven in the performance I attended, the music was well-sung and played (an accordian!); the set and costumes were great; and the sound was effective. Even with the time constraints of a Fringe show, the narrative felt complete and satisfying.
Company: Paper Soul
Show: Anti.Hero
Venue: HUGE Improv Theater
Facing the villain in all of us
Motz traces the trajectory of his own villainy with honest, heartfelt and often funny confessionals about bullying, infidelity, pride and the unreliability of selective memory. He has a warm and engaging storytelling style and the time flew.
Company: Jamie Brickhouse
Show: I Favor My Daddy: A Tale of Two Sissies
Venue: Open Eye Theatre
A very polished personal reflection
Brickhouse is an exceptional storyteller with a moving reflection about this parents, particularly his father. Recommended!
Company: Francesca Montanile Lyons
Show: VILE
Venue: Open Eye Theatre
And now for something completely different . . . .
Through clowning, cartoons, movement, props galore, audience participation and more, Lyons dives head first —- and so creatively — into self-improvement mania, rape, cancel culture and sex. And pizza. In 30 years of Fringe-going, I have never seen anything quite like this. She is so bold and her movement and demeanor are perfection.
Company: Transatlantic Love Affair
Show: 5 x 5
Venue: Open Eye Theatre
So much talent in such a little space
When a 10 pm show on a Monday night has a full house, you know it’s something special. Sure, the underlying stories are inherently great, but it’s the uber-creativity down to the smallest touches and the obvious joy these actors have working together that make this so fun to watch.
Company: Jackdonkey Productions
Show: The Dumb Waiter
Venue: Open Eye Theatre
A wonderful, fully realized production.
This was such a great production of this fascinating Pinter play. The acting, the use of movement, the lighting and sound — everything works. The absurdity and the dread are sharply and effectively depicted. A++
Company: Pretend Productions
Show: Daddy Issues
Venue: Phoenix Theater
Vincent is amazing in this gorgeous work.
From the cardboard scenery & props to the text to the performance, this show is stellar. A really gorgeous piece — so full of heart. A perfect amount of humor, too. Allison is just incredibly talented.
Company: W.A.S. Productions
Show: A Number
Venue: Phoenix Theater
This production is perfection
What a wonderful production — the play (Churchill is one of my favorite playwrights), the performances, the direction. Just absolutely wonderful. I’m going to try to see it again. I am so happy that this got into the Fringe at the last minute.
Company: Mermaid Productions
Show: A Monster Scientist and a Tattooed Anarchist Walk into a Bar
Venue: The Comedy Corner - Underground
Engaging insights on the challenges of being human
Ariel is an expert storyteller. This autobiographical material offers insights on work, love, marriage and parenthood in her always-engaging way. Such a great venue for this highly personal material. And you can even get a beverage served to your table!
Company: Tennessee Playwrights Studio
Show: That Woman - The Monologue Show
Venue: Mixed Blood Theatre
Riveting little-known stories, well-told
This riveting set of six monologues is so fascinating — alternatingly horrifying, amusing, eye-opening and maddening — and so well presented. I would have loved to hear more, the time flew by in these subjects’ presence.
Company: Mike Fotis Productions
Show: The Camp Out
Venue: Mixed Blood Theatre
A skillful melding of poignancy and improv
This cast is so incredibly adept at this, it's easy to forget it's improv. A tender and sweet story about the complicated poignancy and fragility of friendship. A gorgeous set as well!
Company: Fearless Comedy Productions
Show: A Murder on the Great Grimpen Mire Express
Venue: Mixed Blood Theatre
Fun script, great execution
This is a really well-done and fun little mystery. Charming performances of a very fun script.
Company: Linnea Bond
Show: Heart Ripped Out Twice And So Can You!
Venue: Barbara Barker Center for Dance
Wow Wow Wow
The concept, the content, the delivery -- everything about this show is exceptional. Bond takes us along on her journey of extraordinary physical and emotional challenges with fearlessness and humor and candor . It's fantastic.
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Company: Michael Rogers
Show: As Above, So Below
Venue: Barbara Barker Center for Dance
Simply stunning
The human heart: so tender and yet so resilient. Rogers crafts and delivers an incredibly moving story with virtuosic and fearless skill. I won't be forgetting this tale any time soon.
Company: Light Bringer Productions
Show: The Light Bringer
Venue: Mixed Blood Theatre
A gorgeous, polished show
This is such a gorgeous fusion of content and delivery. A really wonderfully touching story about the challenges of being a young Arab/Muslim refugee. I hope Lee will be back to the Minnesota Fringe for the sequel.
Company: Kari Heistad
Show: Playing Dead
Venue: Mixed Blood Theatre
A thoughtful look at difficult family dynamics
This is a heartfelt play about the impact of a grandmother's death on her daughter and granddaughters. This script would be better served in a longer-length play, but it was thoughtful and touching. I would have liked to see more modulation of the dialogue and dynamics. I found the poignancy of the text to sometimes be lost in the yelling.
Company: Hey Rube!
Show: Yo-Ho-Hum: A Pirate's Midlife Crisis
Venue: Theatre in the Round
So well done and so fun
Everything about this show is so well done — the writing, the costumes & props, the direction and the performances. This will sell out as the Fringe continues, and for good reason. Special shout out to Scrimshaw and Wass for their wonderful performances.
Company: Martin Dockery
Show: Martin Dockery: TRUTH
Venue: Theatre in the Round
A rapid-fire look at the fluid nature of “truth”
Dockery is always engaging to watch, with his breakneck speed of storytelling and his physical style. In this year’s entry he loads us through the slippery slopes of incrementally abdicating principles and values, of declining to speak up, and of falling asleep at the wheel. The arc and conclusion of this show may be less elegant than his prior shows, but he remains an engrossing and unique storyteller.
Company: Team Rand-McKay
Show: Dream of Me
Venue: Theatre in the Round
A touching sci-fi look at grief.
It’s great to see some sci-fi at the Fringe. This show would be worth an expanded script and scenic design.
Company: Corpus Dance Works
Show: All The Hullabaloo
Venue: The Southern Theater
Creative and engaging
It’s always fun to see dance at the Fringe, especially in the gorgeous Southern. The soundtrack is great and the use of props is clever (though sometimes distracting). These young dancers obviously poured a lot of work into this.
Company: Clevername Theatre
Show: The Peter Pan Cometh
Venue: Theatre in the Round
A brilliant fusion
After seeing this, Peter Pan as O'Neill's Hickey seemed not only fitting but (tragically) inevitable. This is just brilliant -- the script, the performances and, of course, the concept. It's sad, and it should be. It's sad when we lose touch with a dream (e.g.,Tinker Bell) so completely, we can't even remember it existed. It's sad when we are shaken out of delusions that provided us comfort, however false. This fusion is not just a theatrical gimmick , it's fully realized. Very special.
Company: Playabunga Productions
Show: The Life Robotic
Venue: Mixed Blood Theatre
A very cute show for improv fans
It's a great concept to get audience cues via text, and the skydiving scenes in the performance I attended were especially charmingly done. Some transitions were smoother than others but this isn't a completely scripted show, it's improv. I'm not actually a big improv fan, but this was still a very enjoyable show. I'd be curious to know how the future story lines evolve.
Company: The Brothers Dangus
Show: The Brothers Dangus Vol. 3: Wealth and Hellness
Venue: Mixed Blood Theatre
A corporate health care fever dream
If you had asked, "Want to see a show with an extended opening about farting and then moving on to excrement (so much excrement), masturbation (as choreography!) and more?", I'd say, no thanks. But wow, I love these guys. Is it "TOO MUCH"? Absolutely yes, intentionally and obnoxiously so. They take an an over-the-top crass scene and extend it far beyond anyone's comfort level. But the tooting and the pooping are brilliant packaging for a searing critique of corporate healthcare driven by greed and profit. The performances are incredibly committed and all in, 1000%. This is absolutely not for everyone. If the stage activities I mentioned above offend you, this is not for you. But I will see anything these guys put up. I just don't want to know how they got the soundtrack for Rutherford B. Hayes' farting.