2026 Audience Reviews

Company: TROMPE L'OEIL
Show: Foshay! You Know The Tower - Now Hear The Story
Venue: Rarig Stoll Thrust Theatre

Great love letter to a Minneapolis icon!

I hadn’t really thought about the man behind the iconic Foshay Tower. Thank goodness the writers of this show did! The script did a great job telling Wilbur Foshay’s story, and some wonderful music! The minimalist props threw me off at first, but became so organic I stopped noticing. Knowing this was originally a full length musical, I thought the edits to fit a Fringe time slot were smart to tell the story, and it would be worth remounting as the full piece again! For the most part, the singing and performances were amazing - however sometimes the balance of the ensemble seemed off (you still catch every word and melody, but wish we had more of the harmony in the score.) Shout out Chantale’s amazing one person-orchestra on the keyboard! This was funny, heart touching, well performed, and a great way to tell Minnesota history in a way that still resonates today!

Company: Maxxeapolis
Show: Maxxeapolis Goes to Hell
Venue: Mixed Blood

Wrong in all the right ways!!

If you have to put on a sketch comedy show to escape hell, you don’t pull any punches! Every sketch in this show is an absolute banger. The company did a great job at landing the plane at the right time - no sketch ever felt rushed or drawn out. Some of the sketches definitely push the line, which is what good sketches and satire should do! I’m still laughing to myself at random moments thinking anbout this show. Extra shout out that the opening song is still stuck in my head!

Company: New Endeavors
Show: Muskie
Venue: Mixed Blood

5 Kitties for the puppet alone!

Minnesota parodies at fringe tend to rely on easy Minnesota Jokes, or meta jokes from the source material. This show excels in making Jaws specific to Garrison, MN but keeping it fresh and creative! Well staged and acted, with a script that finds every possible place to put a punch line, this is a great fringe show to…”catch”!

Company: David Alan Berger
Show: A Woman's Place is in the House
Venue: Rarig Kilburn Theatre

Fringe stage turned into a rally!!

The concept is very intriguing, Minnesota's first female representatives find themselves in the modern day. Each of the actors shaped their historical figures well; bringing the energy of who they were playing and conviction of why these women were elected. Special shout out to Ann Francis for being a warm and sincere time traveler / audience surrogate!! The script at times can come off as writing-the-research / reciting facts, but the bond of the characters and their convictions keeps the show engaging. What felt special is that the script handled recent trauma in our communities with simplicity; it was a reminder of what Minnesota has been through without needing to be explicit. By the end of the show we get a full blown political rally, speeches by guests, and ultimately a call to action to demand better for our state.

Company: Mosaic Productions
Show: ANNA
Venue: Theatre in the Round

Great performances!

Anna has truly outstanding performances from all the actors!! Some of the best acting I’ve seen at Fringe so far this year! The staging really made use of Theatre in the Rounds arena - filing the space, playing to all audience sides, every stage image fresh. Taking a Eugene O’Neil script, updating the setting and reducing down to an hour is not an easy task, and made the ending maybe a bit of a stretch, but the performances made it believable and powerfully emotional.

Company: Black and Foxy Co
Show: Ember
Venue: Rarig Kilburn Theatre

Radiance makes for good story telling

Company: John Ervin
Show: Turn On, Tune In, Drop Dead
Venue: Rarig Stoll Thrust Theatre

Yes, let’s make jokes about murder victims…

Within the first 15 minutes we get; Anti-gay slurs Jokes about child SA and unaliving Sexist comments about murder victims Sexist comments about the 1 female character in the show A pdf file giving pet names to his victims Yes these are all from serial killers in a debate about who is the “worst serial killer”. But all of those are delivered with no insight, commentary, or awareness. Some of them are delivered as jokes. No idea what happened after the first 15 or so minutes because that’s about when I walked out. This was an example of how not to discuss serial killers and their crimes. The victims were reduced to comments made for shock value, and we were asked to hear out the killers. Whatever social commentary the creators intended was completely over shadowed by the lack of responsible commentary around the crimes and victims. Beyond the content, the staging and script made it difficult for the actors to interact with each other, which made the dialogue disjointed and highlighted how much of the show was there for shock value and a tasteless attempt to be edgy.

Company: The Other Productions
Show: Bangs!
Venue: Rarig Kilburn Theatre

Celebration of Drag and chosen family!

I love that this show gave drag queens a space to share their experience, identities, and perform! We get some great lip-sync performances! I can agree with other reviews that the description doesn’t match up with what is on stage. What I really appreciate and what makes the show special is you can tell the performers are sharing from their point of view. I would like to see what would happen if the show had more time to react and build off the climax. Overall a really good celebration of drag, but sometimes not the cleanest executed play.

Company: Joking Apart Theater
Show: I'm Afraid, I Have To Leave
Venue: Mixed Blood

Funny and twisted Minnesota Goodbye

No spoilers - This show is consistently funny and well acted! The script builds and twists and is always ready to undercut the "what is going on here?" with a punch line! The comedic timing from all three actors was impeccable; the balance between the more over the top parents and the grounded offspring was top notch.