Fringe Reviews - Sat Aug 6, 2011

Richard and I saw 5 shows on Saturday, all of them very good. I posted reviews for most of them on the Fringe site, which I will reprint here. Although only a few people on my friends list seem to be interested in Fringe, I find my personal reviews very helpful to look at a year later when I am planning for the next Fringe, so here they are.  If I can get LJ-cut to work (which I frequently cannot) I'll put the long version of the reviews behind a cut.  Here's the quick summary.


2:30 p.m.   Tempests     * * * * *
One of the best Fringe shows I've ever seen.  Everything else I see this Fringe is going to suffer for this, I'm afraid.  Although it may sound like a stretch, it turns out that the basic memes of the Aliens universe map very neatly to Elizabethan concepts. Sadly, The Tempest's "happily ever after" didn't last very long.  At the beginning of this sequel, an ensorceled Miranda is found adrift in a lifeboat, the only survivor of a storm whipped up by the newly liberated faeries left behind on Prospero's island.  Many years have passed, and a crown colony has been established on the island...

4:00 p.m.   Brain Fighters   * * *
Watching Joe Scrimshaw and his buddies clowning around and cracking wise is always fun, but that's pretty much all there is to this show and it wears thin after a while.  Although watching Scrimshaw transform from a slacker copy center attendant to a T-Rex is probably worth the price of admission, this is still a lazy effort from guys who can do much better.

7:00 p.m   .7 (x1) Samurai  * * * *
A brilliant example of one of those shows where a single performer tears through dozens of simultaneous roles while recapping a well-known masterpiece. I got at least 4 stars worth of enjoyment out of it without ever having seen Seven Samurai.  It's probably a 5-star performance for people who are familiar with the original, but I don't know that for sure so I'm sticking with 4.

8:30 p.m.   Minnesota Anthology: A History in Monologues (Part 1)    * * * *
A welcome island of calm in the midst of a day with perhaps a few too many shows featuring over the top physicality. Nicely written little stories presenting seminal events in Minnesota history told from very personal viewpoints.

10:00 p.m.  Highlander: The Musical!    * * * *
More fun than it had any right to be, in part because of the boisterous audience. Unlike Tempests (which stands on its own as a good play even if you've never hear of Aliens) this one is strictly for people who know the movie. Although I didn't start the foot-stomping or the singing along early in the play, I'm proud to say that I'm the one that started the foot-stomping during the curtain call. A bang-up end to a delightful day.

( There should be an LJ cut here, but it's not working!  )

Tempests
Brilliant on so many levels
Rating 5 kitties
If only there were a rating higher than 5 kitties! This show is a Fringe masterpiece on so many levels that I'm afraid nothing else I see this year will measure up. Other reviewers have already touched on the many strengths of this show: the cleverness of the concept, the strength of the actors/dancers, the power and beauty of the staging and the brilliantly written script. I mostly wanted to get my vote in for the solid 5 kitties that this performance deserves. 

Even if you have never seen "Aliens" this is still an excellent play on its own merits. It is not a comedy, although you will hear the audience laughing in delight at the clever way the familiar characters and dialogue has been translated to an Elizabethan setting. However, even without those moments of recognition, this is a a solidly written, exciting and affecting play that stands on its own. The actress playing Miranda does a fine job of capturing both the strength and the vulnerability of her character.

Brain Fighters
A fun romp for the whole family
Rating 3 kitties
An endearingly goofy take on the "Two Magicians" ballad, set in a world much like our own except that "gelato" and "comcast" are naughty words. Oh, and if you concentrate hard enough you can transform into anything your mind can conceive, a technique discovered one day by a bored copy store employee. Soon everyone is doing it and hilarity ensues. 

It really is hilarious for about 20 minutes as Joe Scrimshaw and Randy Reyes show off their prodigious talents at physical comedy and rapid fire wise cracking. But there is just so far you can take a single joke, and eventually it wears a little thin. It's not a bad show (Scrimshaw's first transformation alone is worth the price of admission) but not the best work these guys have done. A great choice for a family with kids aged 6-12, but fell short of the mark for this longtime Scrimshaw fan.
7(x1) Samurai
I didn't review this one - just didn't have anything to add.

Minnesota Monologues
A Small Gem
Rating 4 kitties
Amid all the thunder of the blockbuster performances packin' em in on Rarig Center's main floor it's easy to overlook this little gem of a story telling show tucked away in the basement theater. But it's well worth seeing: thoughtfully written, well delivered little stories that put a human face on some of the milestones in Minnesota history. In most cases we hear from more than one of the participants in each event, each telling the story from a different viewpoint. The segment I found the most emotionally powerful was the stories from the Great Hinckley Fire - an event that has been made into such a tourist cliche that we forget how immense and devastating an event it was.

If you go, don't be afraid to grab a seat in the front row for a truly intimate trip through Minnesota history.Highlander: The Musical!
A Must See for Highlander Fans
Rating 4 kitties
If you haven't seen "Highlander" you might as well skip this one. But if you're up for an ambitious, energetic and affectionate skewering of this cult classic, this is the show for you! 

I streamed  the movie last week as prep for this show, and remember thinking that the interminable parking ramp sword fight would be much improved by a musical number. And sure enough, it was. But the real star  of this show was the chorus. Not only did they get to sing great songs like "Run, You Dumb B---" their mostly a capella harmonies meant we didn't have to listen to the overly loud plinking keyboard accompaniment that drowned out the voices on too many songs.  Sara Stevenson Scrimshaw lit up the stage every time she appeared. The "Why did that make us so horny?" duet was my favorite major musical number, but her Mumbling Drunk stole the show. 

There were some weaknesses in the music and writing, but overall a very enjoyable show with the most boisterous audience I think I've ever been part of (Sat nite). If the Highlander fans keep showing up to laugh and clap and stomp and sing along, this show will just get better and better with each performance.

Fringe - Sun Aug 7, 2011

Another successful day, although not particularly ambitious by SuperFringer standards. But then, having been priced out of the ultrapass market, we aren't going for SuperFringer status this year. Saw just 3 plays - two of which were excellent. Ate at the Acadia Cafe for the 2nd day in a row. And since I had my bike in the van, I took advantage of the unexpectedly pleasant weather to bike home from the West Bank.

The Duties and Responsibilities of Being a Sidekick        * * *
Barkada Theater Project

Cute, but predictable. The whole joke about superheroes joining unions, cultivating their brands, and worrying about their career paths is getting kind of old, IMHO. This show has nothing new to add to that genre. However, it's executed pretty well here, and judging by the audience reaction there are still plenty of folks who aren't tired of this meme yet. I found it mildly amusing, but pretty much a waste of time. Adding to my impatience with the show was the row of hee-hawing jackasses behind me that howled with laughter when the first character walked onstage (before anything happened!) and kept it up pretty much nonstop throughout the performance.


The Smothers Brothers Grimm            * * * * *
Comedy Suitcase (aka Josh Scrimshaw and Levi Weinhagen)
SO much better than I was expecting ... and I was expecting it to be pretty funny, given the level of talent involved. I thought this was going to be a series of comedic set pieces with a child's bedtime as an incidental framing device. It turned out to be something quite different: a funny, poignant heartwarming story about a delightfully quirky family coming to terms with the death of the family patriarch. The comic set pieces embedded in the story are hilarious Easter eggs that keep the audience laughing so hard they don't notice the challenging themes that are flying past, like the nature of love and loss and the meaning of humor itself. 
    While this is certainly a family friendly show, the 2+ designation is not appropriate. Kids younger than 9 or 10 are simply not going to get the humor, and may end up  imitating some behaviors that aren't nearly so funny out of context.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Dr. Jekyll           * * * *
Tim Uren

A charming fable. I was expecting something else - something with more psychological depth, plausibly Victorian characters, and at least a touch of genuine introspection. It turned out to be just another bit of high concept post-modern fluff. Oh well, that's okay too. The writing is witty, the acting is good (with a surprising amount of physical comedy), and the characters are endearing. Still, I hope that next year Tim Uren goes back to the period piece horror genre he does so well and lets the rest of the Fringe cover the slyly winking anachronisms.