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Okay, I have my first surprise 5-star recommendation of the season - Traveling Musicians. Go see them! They're appearing almost every evening at the Nomad Bar (5th and Cedar, conveniently close to Fringe Central) and they are awesome!
There were 3 of us last night, me and Richard and my friend Trisha. Here's the short list of what we saw:
7:00 p.m.
The Traveling Musicians *****
presented by 3 Sticks
Venue: Nomad
8:30 p.m.
Tragedy of You *****
presented by Joseph Scrimshaw Productions
Venue: U of M Thrust
10:00 p.m.
Bedroom Stories *** YMMV
presented by Scaramouche
Venue: U of M Xperimental
______________________
First, a full review of Traveling Musicians (3 Sticks).
I wanted to see them because I was so impressed by their inventive, athletic dance performance last year: The Gypsy and the General. I had no idea what to expect of this year's performance, but this wasn't it: 4 oddly clothed musicians on a tiny stage at the back of a neighborhood bar. WTF, I thought they were a dance troupe? By the end of the hour they were, in fact dancing on the stage, cavorting around the room and dancing on the bar. Yep, they're dancers. They are also awesomely eclectic musical performers and just a hell of a lot of fun. It's difficult to describe the show without giving away too much - just go see them! Buy a Magic Hat beer at the bar and don't sit too close to the stage unless you want to be blown away by the oversized sound system. And bring a lighter! All I can say is that when they swing into their last number, everybody in the bar should be holding a lighter aloft. And watch for their CD, rumored to be available sometime later during Fringe week. I'm not sure where to buy it but I'll be looking for it. And I hope we have the opportunity to drop in to the Nomad again between performances (there's the beauty of an Ultrapass)
In other news, Joe Scrimshaw is still absolutely brilliant. And yes, he's all over the Fringe in various guises, so who can tell what I'm referring to? Tragedy of You at the Rarig Thrust Stage. Get there early - it very nearly sold out on Friday and will probably be turning people away for the rest of the run.
Our third venture of the evening was less of a success: one of those "we're already in Rarig so what's showing at 10pm?" things that you try if you have an Ultrapass. In this case it was Bedroom Stories, a dance/spoken word performance by somebody who calls himself Scaramouche. Lots of slow, angular solo dance with short, baffling story interludes. On the plus side, he's a good dancer with an extremely expressive face and body. On the minus side, the only thing he seemed to be interested in expressing was disappointment, anguish and death. He writhed around on the floor in front of a bright light, reciting death poetry to the large shadow on the wall. He changed clothes. He fiddled with his tie. He impersonated a chef presenting a gourmet dinner. He played the accordian and told a story about his dead dog. He did a very impressive dance where he showed his ability to mimic dead animals. He told a long, excruciating story about breaking up with his girl friend and did more depressing dances. He told a story about a cow, and then the show ended abruptly. WTF?? I gave it 3 stars because I got about that much enjoyment out of it. However, this isn't a mediocre performance. If you get what he's trying to do it might be 5 stars for you. I think it was about 1 star for the other two people in my party.
There were 3 of us last night, me and Richard and my friend Trisha. Here's the short list of what we saw:
7:00 p.m.
The Traveling Musicians *****
presented by 3 Sticks
Venue: Nomad
8:30 p.m.
Tragedy of You *****
presented by Joseph Scrimshaw Productions
Venue: U of M Thrust
10:00 p.m.
Bedroom Stories *** YMMV
presented by Scaramouche
Venue: U of M Xperimental
______________________
First, a full review of Traveling Musicians (3 Sticks).
I wanted to see them because I was so impressed by their inventive, athletic dance performance last year: The Gypsy and the General. I had no idea what to expect of this year's performance, but this wasn't it: 4 oddly clothed musicians on a tiny stage at the back of a neighborhood bar. WTF, I thought they were a dance troupe? By the end of the hour they were, in fact dancing on the stage, cavorting around the room and dancing on the bar. Yep, they're dancers. They are also awesomely eclectic musical performers and just a hell of a lot of fun. It's difficult to describe the show without giving away too much - just go see them! Buy a Magic Hat beer at the bar and don't sit too close to the stage unless you want to be blown away by the oversized sound system. And bring a lighter! All I can say is that when they swing into their last number, everybody in the bar should be holding a lighter aloft. And watch for their CD, rumored to be available sometime later during Fringe week. I'm not sure where to buy it but I'll be looking for it. And I hope we have the opportunity to drop in to the Nomad again between performances (there's the beauty of an Ultrapass)
In other news, Joe Scrimshaw is still absolutely brilliant. And yes, he's all over the Fringe in various guises, so who can tell what I'm referring to? Tragedy of You at the Rarig Thrust Stage. Get there early - it very nearly sold out on Friday and will probably be turning people away for the rest of the run.
Our third venture of the evening was less of a success: one of those "we're already in Rarig so what's showing at 10pm?" things that you try if you have an Ultrapass. In this case it was Bedroom Stories, a dance/spoken word performance by somebody who calls himself Scaramouche. Lots of slow, angular solo dance with short, baffling story interludes. On the plus side, he's a good dancer with an extremely expressive face and body. On the minus side, the only thing he seemed to be interested in expressing was disappointment, anguish and death. He writhed around on the floor in front of a bright light, reciting death poetry to the large shadow on the wall. He changed clothes. He fiddled with his tie. He impersonated a chef presenting a gourmet dinner. He played the accordian and told a story about his dead dog. He did a very impressive dance where he showed his ability to mimic dead animals. He told a long, excruciating story about breaking up with his girl friend and did more depressing dances. He told a story about a cow, and then the show ended abruptly. WTF?? I gave it 3 stars because I got about that much enjoyment out of it. However, this isn't a mediocre performance. If you get what he's trying to do it might be 5 stars for you. I think it was about 1 star for the other two people in my party.
