Sub-Total
2024 Audience Reviews
Member Reviews
The following reviews were submitted by Fringe Member: Ryan Klima
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Company: RGK Dance Academy
Show: Pursuit of Happiness
Venue: The Southern Theater
Glad I Found “Happiness”
Closed out my 2024 Fringe Festival with this delightful dance ensemble at the Southern. Very addicting songs and incredible costumes interspersed with comedic segments. A bit clunky at times but that’s to be expected with a cast of 30+ and a dozen costume changes. Great show!
Company: Fellow Travelers Performance Group
Show: Widening the Circle
Venue: Barbara Barker Center for Dance
“Circle” Goes Full Circle
“Why are you here?” Someone from the cast supported our show at Barbara Barker so we returned the favor. Very provocative, introspective dance show with multimedia and audience participation, cavorting between silly and serious subject matter. Sweet moment after curtains where we sang happy birthday to an audience member. Hidden gem show with one more performance
Company: Clevername Theatre
Show: The Peter Pan Cometh
Venue: Theatre in the Round
Maybe “Death of a Peter Pan?”
There were some cool moments, the ticking clock throughout added a nice paranoia and all the performers brought terrific intensity. I don’t think this was as harmonious of a mash-up as Virginia Woolfe/Winnie the Pooh, one property overwhelmed the other. Still really enjoyed the acting, would’ve almost preferred a more traditional Peter Pan play because Hook, Smee, Tink, and Pan were all portrayed so well.
Company: Hey Rube!
Show: Yo-Ho-Hum: A Pirate's Midlife Crisis
Venue: Theatre in the Round
A Pirate’s Life for Me (and Possibly You as Well)
Hey Rube’s Fringe offering last year was the dense and dramatic “Behemoth” and in 2024 they’ve traveled to a completely different ocean with a fun outing of pirate stuff. There are some very inspired moments of physical comedy but the script also spends time in the Doldrums. The chemistry between the two main pirates is really strong and I felt that could’ve been used to greater effect.
Company: Broken Wing Productions
Show: The Wind Phone
Venue: The Ribs of Humanity at Campbell Plaza
Wind Phone Finds Its Calling
My mom passed away three years ago in early August, so the anniversary always coincides with the Minnesota Fringe Festival. I see shows on that day because it makes me feel better but don’t make a schedule or anything (I saw that Hot Dog show two years ago, for example). Maybe I wouldn’t have connected to Wind Phone as much in different circumstances but this was an ideal show in an ideal venue. This is a series of vignettes featuring characters communicating with deceased love ones via the titular wind phone. While there are somber moments there are plenty of joyful ones as well (they’re talking to people they love after all). It was an unseasonably chilly August night with some motorcycle interruptions but they made the most of the outdoor space—the prolonged entrances created a transfixing effect where I thought random passersby where part of the performance and about to join in.
Company: Shambles Theatre Company
Show: Good Ones
Venue: HUGE Improv Theater
Dontcha Know? (I Do Now)
I love being a Minnesotan. Tim Walz, Hüsker Dü, Snoopy, there’s a lot to be proud of. But like anywhere there’s evil lurking in its past/present and the Good Ones are here to grinningly tear our state apart lake by lake. The house lights are on for the entire hour and there’s a show-within-the-show of watching an audience forced to confront harsh truths at a breakneck pace. This script could’ve been a disaster were it not in the hands of three exceptionally talented performers. With apologies to the State Fair this was the real Great Minnesota Get-Together.
Company: Pretend Productions
Show: Daddy Issues
Venue: Phoenix Theater
Handled With Care
“Daddy Issues” by the very talented Allison Vincent is the third Fringe solo I’ve seen this year involving a complicated paternal relationship; though this one differs by painting a picture of the father that isn’t completely antagonistic. Vincent deploys several great chance of paces including a fun audition participation bit. A lovely set is made of cardboard boxes, likely a reference to the father’s hoarding habit and putting those things away. I’ve never noticed before how beautiful cardboard looks when hit by certain lighting arrangements.
Company: TROMPE L'OEIL
Show: Gasthaus
Venue: Phoenix Theater
Two Sides to Every Story
On the same night as Dying Horses and Dead Wright Brothers it’s also nice just to see a well-acted and put-together play. It’s sounds like a sitcom premise but this was a true story during a tense moment in history. Show makes clever use of “space constraints” including a dance along the red dividing line. Great ending provided a spark that was missing somewhat in the middle.
Company: an alleged Theatre Company
Show: A First-Class Comedic Revue… Featuring the Reanimated Corpse of a Wright Brother
Venue: Phoenix Theater
Five Kitty Hawks!
With so many Improv groups in the Twin Cities scene it can be difficult for newcomers to breakthrough, but Amy Acorn and Chester Chester have an innovative new form involving resurrecting the dead body of a great American Inventor. As a Fringe reviewer I love Improv and greatly enjoyed this makeshift comedic trio blossom before our eyes. As for Orville Wright, let’s just say he’s on a journey even greater than the one he took with his brother on December 17th 1903…
Company: Theatre On The Rocks
Show: A Horse Walks Out Onto the Stage and Dies
Venue: Phoenix Theater
Horse Amuck
“Horse Dies” is an uproariously funny dog and pony show that plays like a dark version of “There’s a Monster at the End of this Book.” A Horse with No Name discovers the name of the MN Fringe Festival show he is currently in and runs through a gamut of emotions and puppets as his 60 minute time slot dwindles. The highlight of the show for me was the improvised audience banter, which gets increasingly hostile as the show progresses (one audience member thought he was part of the show a little too much). The fact that this is a first-time effort is incredible and I can’t wait to see what these weirdos cook up next.
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Company: Michael Rogers
Show: As Above, So Below
Venue: Barbara Barker Center for Dance
Hauntingly Beautiful
As Above, So Below begins with Micheal Rogers singing the solitary Beach Boys song “In My Room.” (“There's a world where I can go and tell my secrets to/In my room”) The room in question is the Barbara Barker Center and although it typically hosts brightly-light dance performances, the darkness within the space is used to stunning effect. This is an intensely personal monologue told with passion and professionalism (in nearly a full hour of speaking I think only a single word was flubbed). The Monday slot I saw coincided with a heavy rainstorm, which made it even more arresting.
Company: Jackdonkey Productions
Show: The Dumb Waiter
Venue: Open Eye Theatre
Well Worth the Wait
Usually when you think of “risk-taking” in Fringe the mind goes to some over-the-top element or mechanic but JackDonkey made a big gamble in the opposite direction with a very measured, patient show heavy with silence. It pays off through the power of the performances and staging. Dumb Waiter should be instructive to aspiring companies its possible to be innovative without breaking the bank on props
Company: Deft Pictures
Show: Secrets Under the Christmas Tree: A Deedee Wallaby Mystery
Venue: Open Eye Theatre
“It’s not such a bad little ‘Tree’”-Linus Van Pelt
I think the previous reviewers are a little stingy with the kitties: maybe this isn’t on par with the pretty crazy Open Eye lineup this year but it’s still a solid show. I think most importantly it is a good mystery; those type of shows are difficult at Fringe because of the amount of exposition to be crammed in but all the threads were weaved together well. Thought the characters could be a little more dynamic and there was a lot of “Marvel humor” (ie a character saying a ridiculous thing then someone else going “Did he just say (ridiculous thing)?”
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Company: Melancholics Anonymous
Show: Beanie Baby Divorce Play
Venue: Open Eye Theatre
Ty (Thank you)
I missed out on Melancholics’ Girl Scout show last year and wouldn’t make the same mistake twice, attending the first of certainly five sold out shows. In under an hour they’re able to construct a whole bizarro world with possible nods to Labyrinth and characters/plot that are incredibly easy to get invested in. This story is loosely based on a silly true story but the script understands that divorces are often very sad business and often lead to broken families. This is a one-of-a-kind experience. Inventive props, a show-stopping cameo, and unspeakable terrors await you if you’re able to secure a seat.
Company: On Whee Puppet Theatre
Show: Teen Wolf Killed My Grandma: A Memoir
Venue: Open Eye Theatre
Finest art to come from the Teen Wolf franchise
Tender, funny memoir about how a convoluted MTV series with shirtless hunks paralleled different recent experiences in the speaker’s life. Took a little bit to sink into but I was hooked, loved this show. The puppeteering is minimal but the inclusion of a puppeteer is nonetheless very important.
Company: Mikala Bierma
Show: PARTS
Venue: The Southern Theater
Hilarious! Fearless! PowerPoints!
I was talking with someone who saw Mikala’s previous run of this show at Bryant Lake Bowl and they felt that stage was a little too small to contain such a presence. Well the Southern was a great fit as Bierma provides enough energy to light the whole building. Very engaging, filthy comedy but the more serious moments are well-earned. My favorite “part” was Mikala doing a certain action onstage (no spoilers) while a video of her performing standup as a teenager plays in the background. A standout of the menu solo shows this year.
Company: Funk Haus Theater
Show: Interstella 5555: A Daft Punk Discovery
Venue: Barbara Barker Center for Dance
Musics got me feelin so free/We're gonna celebrate
I saw Hullabaloo and this back-to-back and although the former was more polished and this occasionally had community theater vibes I enjoyed Interstella a little more. Maybe 5555 had the advantage of dancing to one of this century’s best albums and Discovery’s companion anime did most of the narrative work for them, but the cast was clearly having a blast and the 10pm audience was hype for all of it. Discovery is a little too-heavy, with all its best songs at the beginning, but this show gave me more appreciation for those less-spun tracks near the end. (The volume was pretty good for the most part but “One More Time” was WAY too quiet, John in the booth needs to pump that one up!) I really hope this cast returns next year to cover Random Access Memories and hires someone like Sam Landman to perform the Giorgio Moroder monologue.
Company: Corpus Dance Works
Show: All The Hullabaloo
Venue: The Southern Theater
Hullabaloo Thinks Outside Box
Hullabaloo is an inventive dance show that’s a perfect match for The Southern and had a Fringe rarity of performing twice in one night. The cast/director are very young but the choreography was exceptional and there were some impressive visuals. I’m going five kitties because there was clearly a ton of effort and passion in this show but I had two somewhat major criticisms. 1) similar to a Fringe hit last year Dock Work I couldn’t find a cohesive theme or message 2) a lot of wasted food; maybe the cereal was expired but even then I’m not sure that part was worthwhile in an otherwise great show
Company: Mike Fotis Productions
Show: The Camp Out
Venue: Mixed Blood Theatre
Tremendous Grounded Improv in the Great Outdoors
Over the last few years at Strike Theater Fotis & Co. have been producing a great melancholy, down-to-Earth Improv show called “Wish You Here” and “The Camp Out” successfully brings those elements to the Big Fringe stage. This the most props I’ve ever seen in an Improv show; the cast could go realistically go camping for a few days with just what they brought on stage. When the lights dim and night falls, the actors put on jackets because it’s getting “colder.” There are some very funny moments but the show also is great at keeping the audience invested in the various character dynamics and the deceased “Brian” (one major difference between Wish You Were Here is that the deceased isn’t portrayed by an actor). Improv often has an uphill climb at Fringe, but “The Campout” really shows what the genre is capable of when the stars are out.
Company: Mahmoud Hakima
Show: Two Bowls of Cereal and Some Bacon
Venue: Theatre in the Round
Incredibly Substantial Meal
I call Mahmoud Hakima “Mr. Fringe” because I’ve seen him perform many times at this festival over the years but this deeply personal solo show is my favorite. He is completely convincing as his childhood self—both in the whimsical playdates with the central “Mystery Girl” and the harrowing moments at home. This is a very insightful show on the highs and lows of being a kid—the things you can’t control and the things you can (such aa imagination and the movement of Mario).
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Company: Ken Takata
Show: Musical Settings for Shakespeare
Venue: Theatre in the Round
Band Channels Bard
I’m not too familiar with Shakespeare and my knowledge with jazz trios ends at Vince Guaraldi but this was a lovely way to spend a Midsummer’s night. I enjoyed the gentle introductions and quiet chatter between the band; they played in a wide array of styles and it never felt repetitive. My favorites were a song from Ophelia’s point of view, the rousing closer, and a cool moment where they played the same song back-to-back but it sounded completely different