Kill Me, Too

Fantastic acting: Push yourself and attend

Just consider acting so compelling that you can't determine if it is an actor on a personal diatribe OR performing extremely well-done satire. It doesn't take but a second to find John's Facebook page and determine it is satire. And the description supports this view: "Pokes fun at the #MeToo movement". John's satire is extremely uncomfortable, and maybe Fringy in a way that we Minneapolitans aren't accustomed to. But we do have a long tradition, maybe starting with Patrick's Caberet and Ron Athey in 1994. Time to remember that time and reflect on how that show reached the US Congress and impacted NEA funding! And, finally, I am not 'friends and family.' I'd never heard of John before I saw his show and checked out his credentials. I encourage all of us with an interest in Fringe and keeping Fringe censor-free to attend John's performance. We are going to see if we can attend at least one more time to support him. [For the record, my 4.5 is for a few muffed lines and a show that was shorter than it could have been]

White Male Fragility

Can confirm that this show was originally written for four actors, one of whom was supposed to be a Blues guitarist who sang a song. (So much for musical). My guess is that he could not get anyone else to act in this show. The point, of course, is not whether or not the show description is accurate, but whether it is worth seeing. The producer obviously has an axe to grind with the #MeToo movement, if you too are concerned with the harsh mistreatment of middle-class white males in this country, then this is the show for you.

Do Not, Do Not Waste Your Money

I’m ignoring my mothers advice about “if you can’t say something good, don’t say it. The actor was ok but the show stunk. Might be the worst Fringe production I’ve ever seen in many years of attending. The show did not match the abstract description in anyway except for “me too” dialogue. Complete trash. If the producers want to make a charitable contribution to the local food shelf for my $19 dollars as a refund that would be great.

Sarcastic Stereotyping of a Good 'Ol Boy

A diatribe monolog from the Right making fun of #MeToo. So, I knew where I was supposed to laugh. It was not a musical as described because there was no music either live or recorded. The performance was acceptable, but just in really poor taste.

My girlfriend will never let me pick another show

So first, I saw the postcard that said "a musical comedy...a rocker, an architect, a veteran and an impresario join forces..." but this is a one man show, and I'm not sure anyone could classify this as a "musical comedy" in terms of its style. So its description was a little confusing/misleading...if I were to see a one man show, which I typically don't want to, this wouldn't be it. I hate giving one star, because I hate the idea of someone putting their soul into creating something and someone like me coming and shitting on it because they don't get it. So I didn't do that. This is I am fairly sure the show I liked least in the 12 years I've gone to fringe shows. It really was just a one man show. I don't want to give away too much, in case you do go see it, against my advice and the advice of the two other reviewers (and there were only 16-ish people at it, and it was the first showing, so I was there with you guys), but it is a bit of a stereotypical diatribe from an "anti-woke" perspective, but it includes a lot of tangents that seem to have nothing to do with the real story, as well as a lot of repetition of facts that had been recited already. To me, it was almost as if someone dared themselves to do a fringe show but not create it in advance and do it stream of consciousness. Except that at times he seemed to miss a line or something and go back and correct himself, which isn't indicative of making something up on the fly. But it had that feel to it. You've been warned...if you're a masochist, go for it.

Words recited from broken hopes

This is from seeing show #4. In one sentence: theaters should have stages to discuss extreme controversy through art, but that fails fast when done solo and not pushing hard enough satire or seriousness, ignoring the chance to debate, illustrate, and explore touchy subjects properly. In three sentences: this 35-minute John Wayne-police-noir-music-and-preacher-touring-cowboy monologue tanked in its effort to bring voice to the macho fragility of #MeToo movement haters. This seemed to boil down to the Fringer who desperately needed a cast, a script, a director, a set, and a band to pull their vision to a story that could be summarized and digestible for their attending audiences. 0 kitties to .5 kitties merit no show created or a show with mumbled and constantly forgetful re-enactors, so hopefully 1 kitty teaches the lesson of folks coming to theaters to be challenged in some way, not listen to a half-scripted, half-improvised sermon.

i don’t know where to start

so much bad, and confusing, i lost my way. it was delivered so fast, without breaks, and the lines were flubbed, so it was hard to follow. the premise itself is ridiculous. you don’t get put on a no fly list for grabbing women. nearly no one actually loses anything for harming women. you def wouldn’t be made to clean bathrooms as restitution. one of the characters starts endorsing pedophelia, from what i was able to put together. he was crude just to be shocking, but we live in the time of the interwebberries, try again. at some points, i just lost focus because i was bored. AND IT ONLY LASTED 30 MINUTES. can you imagine spending $19, then being ripped off by a 30 minute show? if this was supposed to be satire, you may want to enroll in classes at BNW.

Wait a minute: About the show description

I've never written a show review before, though I have traveled to Minneapolis for 10+ years specifically for Fringe I checked out Kill Me, Too reviews yesterday, and I am finally driven to comment on a few things. Yes, the show made me twitchy, but doesn't art have that privilege? I left Ervin's show and walked over to The Corner Bar to watch my beloved Mariners win their fourth in a row against the Angels and take a look at the show description one more time. My 'after the fact' insights after reading comments previous comments and the description one more time: 1) Ervin's Genre and Content section includes adult language, crude humor (yup, to put it mildly), sexual content, and other divisive contnet (again, to put it mildly); 2) The description notes that it is in the Brechtian tradition. I had to look that up, but Brecht "developed the drama as a social and ideological forum for leftist causes," he "did not seek to make his audience believe in the presence of the characters on the stage but instead make it realize that what it sees on the stage is merely an account of past events"; 3) Ervin's previous artistics works include movies that run the gamut from cocaine-porno frolics to sex road comedies; 4) Musical comedy? OK, I'll give the other reviews a bye on that, there was no music, but also Brecht was just a lyricist, remember Weill wrote the lyrics to Threepenny Opera! My lesson learned: read the show description carefully and make sure you are up for what it promises. As my rating indicates, it was my 'after the show' reading that really helped me appreciate Ervin's show and his artistry. BRAVO Minneapolis Fringe!