dreamshark

It was the encore performance of a sellout show, so the place was packed. The performance was at about the halfway point when a large bat suddenly appeared in the airspace over the audience, bringing the show to an abrupt unplanned intermission. The bat made several leisurely passes over the crowd, its progress marked by progressive screaming moving across the room. Then it cruised over the stage. The skit in progress was set in a church, for which the prop department had provided a foot-high cross mounted on a pole. One of the actors cowered under a blanket, but an intrepid church lady grabbed the cross and brandished it, then crossed herself as the bat fluttered off over the shrieking audience again.

A quick-thinking staff member flung open the side exit door and opened a window just beyond, but the bat did not cooperate. As the bat circled back over the stage again, the youngest actor snatched the blanket off the head of the cowering one and used it to shoo the bat behind the curtains and into the backstage area. He then triumphantly pulled the curtain closed behind it, announcing, "Well, it's backstage now!"

But this is one of those stages where the tech guy sits in a little booth looking out of a window right onto the stage in full view of the audience. In this case, the tech booth was between the open side door and the draperies the bat had just disappeared behind. Sure enough, the audience could now see Tech Guy ducking and swatting at something in the tech booth! He then ducked out of sight and reappeared a second later with the discarded blanket. He somehow pinned the bat AGAINST THE GLASS, and then paused, unsure what to do next. After catching his breath, he managed to wrap the bat up in the blanket and haul it over to the open window, where it was released to flutter off into the night. At this point, the roaring audience leaped to their collective feet to give Heroic Tech Guy a standing ovation!

Somehow the intrepid cast managed to pull it together to pick up the interrupted skit right where they left off (although not before one of them wailed plaintively, "Do we still have to get off the stage within the hour?"). Fortunately it was the last show of the night (of the Fringe, for that matter). So they were able to run over by 10 minutes and finish their show.

It was a very good show, incidentally. But the bat and the Heroic Tech Guy pretty much stole the scene.

I wasn't even in the mood to go out on Sunday, but we had 6 more punches on our 10-card. Turned out to be the best day of the Fringe for us. Saw 3 very different but excellent shows and finished up having a lovely dinner at Ginger Hop, just over the Hennepin Avenue Bridge. Parking downtown was kind of a nightmare (it is no longer free to park on the streets on Sunday. It's $2/hour 7 days a week now!). Other than that, a fine afternoon and evening.

_____________________________________________
White Whale * * * * *
Jack Weston (Travelshippe Productions)
Theatre Garage

Probably the best show of the Fringe for me. Certainly the most outstanding performance. Essentially a solo performance of Moby Dick with a little bit of framing fore and aft about the sinking of the Essex. Very intense. We sat down front, which is pretty much the only way to see anything at the Theatre Garage.

_____________________________________________
To the Moon * * * * *

By Sunday Night Fold

Written by Tyler Mills

Illusion Theater

A charming, whimsical play that beautifully captured Sensawunder. Mostly narrated on an empty stage, with 3 very capable actors acting out the story with a little bit of dialogue where appropriate. The narrator was a little weak, but fortunately we sat close enough to the front to be able to hear her. It reminded me of "Wonders of the World Recite" (a favorite from several years ago), although it really wasn't anything like that play.

Just a note about the theater. Although it is a huge PITA to get to it, it's easily the best theater space available in this year's Fringe, with a rake so steep that it's frightening to climb higher than the 4th row. But boy, you sure can see!

_____________________________________________

You Want a Jingle for What? * * * * *

Created by Patrick Ireland

New Century Theatre

Just an excellent musical performance with a little bit of comedy and story-telling. PK Ireland is a delightful old reprobate who looks a bit like Richard's long-lost brother. He's warm and funny and extremely talented. A shame that the house was so small, but he seemed totally unfazed and delivered the kind of intimate performance you might get in somebody's living room. I'd want him at my party.

Oh, and it's worth noting the New Century Theatre is probably the WORST venue at the Fringe. Just a bunch of hard chairs set up on risers maybe 2 inches high. Worked out fine for this show (again, we sat in front row) but absolutely to be avoided for any show that might require sitting any place else.

I've been Fringing very lightly this year, just a show here and there. Last night I bought another 10-pass and did a whole evening of Fringe with my friend Trisha. All the shows we saw were excellent. And she introduced me to The Lowry Restaurant, conveniently close to the Theater Garage, which serves up a mean eggplant parmesan. $16 bucks, including a nice salad and bottomless iced tea.

_______________________________________________________________
Saint Guillotine * * * * *
by Red Hats (written by Jaap Kemp)
Rarig Arena

I saw this on recommendation from

thorintatge. He's right, it was excellent. I was expecting a one-man show centering on Dr. Beaurieux, but it was something entirely different: a classic one-act play impeccably written, produced, and acted. The focus is more on the three criminals awaiting execution than on the good doctor. It certainly makes you think about the ethics and implementation of capital punishment, but it's more of a Crime and Punishment theme.

_______________________________________________________________
Terra Incognita * * * * *
Soma Acrobatic Theatre / Uplift Physical Theatre (Fringe credits are SO confusing)

This is exactly the kind of dance performance I most enjoy - basically an acrobatic troupe doing modern dance. Lots of cart-wheeling, hand-stands (often on top of other performers) and tumbling over each other. I very much enjoyed it, but as always at this type of performance I had trouble maintaining my attention for longer than 20 minutes at a time, and actually dozed off briefly a couple of times. It's not them, it's me. The visual centers of my brain just can't take that much stimulation. Also, I always have the feeling I am missing something - there seems to be a complex set of stories being acted out but I can never figure out what the stories are. In this case, it had something to do with the ocean. Maybe the 8 performers were all castaways from a shipwreck trying to form a new society?

_______________________________________________________________
Breakneck Hamlet * * * *
by Timothy Mooney

Exactly as advertised, a technically excellent abridged version of Hamlet performed and narrated by one man. I will never understand why so many people consider Hamlet to be Shakespeare's masterpiece, but after seeing it one more time in concentrated form I know why I don't much like it. Hamlet is a dickhead. Also, the plot is ridiculously convoluted and doesn't make much sense (why exactly is Hamlet pretending to be mad?) But mostly, the problem is Hamlet, who has not one redeeming characteristic. His problem isn't that he is "indecisive." It's that he is narcissistic, stupid, and mean. Maybe even sociopathic. Sure he's under a lot of stress, but that doesn't begin to excuse the way he treats Ophelia, and later Laertes. Not to mention the off-hand way he kills more or less everybody else in the cast. Heck, CLAUDIUS shows more remorse than Hamlet. Really, a thoroughly icky family. I'm glad they're all dead.

ETA: I originally gave this 5 stars, but reduced it to 4 after seeing other solo shows I liked better. Mooney is, as I said originally, technically excellent. But his performance was remote and dispassionate. He was reciting Shakespeare more than acting it. His emotionally flat performance probably contributed to my antipathy towards Hamlet.

Just one show, which I attended by myself: I was pretty sure Richard wouldn't care for it. I found it intriguing and worthwhile, but certainly not worth the 5 stars reviewers have been lavishing on it. I didn't post a counter-review to all the breathless praise, however. It would be like kicking a puppy. The show's description declares, "Through clowning, the show surpasses the victim/villain dichotomy and welcomes an open-hearted conversation about healing," which is an excellent description. It doesn't all work, but it works well enough that I would hate to discourage it.

Post Traumatic Super Delightful
by Pair of Animals (Antonia Lassar)
Phoenix Theater

The show began with Ms Lassar announcing, "Welcome to my senior thesis." I'm taking her at her word, although the whole thing was so meta that it could have just been a play about a woman writing a play as her senior thesis. The solo performer playing all the characters being interviewed by the invisible playwright worked very well. She did a good job of finding the viewpoints and the passions of each of them, while making each characterization just over the top enough to be entertaining. The intervals of clowning worked less well, IMHO. It's not as insensitive as it sounds, just a little odd. I guess the point was to break the tension of a campus rape story, but I found it a little tedious. As for her point on Restorative Justice - I never could figure out what she meant by that. All but one of the characters in the rape storyline seemed to find the play-within-a-play healing, but it was never clear what exactly that play was. Was it the play that we the audience were watching? If so, it's a little hard to see why they didn't find it acutely uncomfortable to watch. Was there some other form of Restorative Justice going on in this story? If so, I missed it.

_________________________________
Thursday, July 30

Comedy Suitcase presents The Averagers * * * *

by Comedy Suitcase (aka Josh Scrimshaw, Levi Weinhagan, et al)

Theatre in the Round

Honestly, I could watch Josh Scrimshaw do pratfalls, leaps, and choreographed stupidity all day long, so I never miss a Comedy Suitcase show. As always, the show was very enjoyable but not their best ever. Too many cast members, none of whom could keep up with Josh and Levi. When those two were off-stage, things lagged, which provided a little too much time to think about how thin the plot really is. The in-joke humor (aimed about equally at Marvel Comics tropes, Minnesota stereotypes, and Fringe meta-humor) was witty but a little too on the nose. Still an above-average Fringe show for me, and probably a five-star winner for Avengers fans and familes with kids. I particularly like what they did with Paul Bunyan, who really DOES deserve to be part of the Norse pantheon.

_________________________________

Saturday, August 1

The Secret Book of Jesus * * * * *

by Maximum Verbosity (aka phillip andrew bennett low)

Ritz Studio

My favorite Fringe shows are the ones that grow out of a magnificent obsession where it is obvious that the show's creator spent weeks or months intensely researching one fascinating historical moment or reinterpreting a great work of literature. This is one of those (as pabl's shows usually are). In this case, the works in question are multiple apocryphal texts about the life of Jesus, carefully harmonised and translated into respectful but colloquial English and dramatically delivered. There are stories so familiar you can't believe they were left out of the Bible (the Cherry Tree Carol, and of course the Holy Grail). But some are unfamiliar, such as the riveting account of the Harrowing of Hell (the risen Jesus leads his disciples on a field trip to Hell to meet Satan). But I think the Baby Jesus stories are the best, including some little-known details about the family road trip to Egypt.

-----------

Giving Grief * * * *

by Schroedinger's Dog (aka Kevin Hatle)

HUGE

Benny is proud of his work, but frankly he isn't quite as good an employee as he thinks he is. It's all in the details, Benny. But to be fair, his boss isn't the best employer in the world either. We've all had dysfunctional job experiences, but the stakes are a lot higher when the job in question is contract killer. Kevin Hatle is a brilliant solo performer, and he manages to make Benny a surprisingly sympathetic character (although not someone you would want on your payroll). His body language and comic timing is exquisite, although some of the mime work was a little hard to follow. All in all, an enjoyable and unusual show, especially recommended to fans of solo performances.

No Ultrapass this year, but we did buy a 10-pass for $100 (great price break, considering that the single-show price is up to $14). So far we've seen 3 very good shows, but none that made me want to stand up and holler.

My love-hate relationship with Fringe management continues to escalate. This year's user-unfriendly innovation - NO SCHEDULE GRID! In all the past years of Fringe there has been a printed Fringe Program you could pick up at the venues that included a map and a grid. The grid has also appeared on the website (albeit sometimes in barely printable form). This year - nada. No grid online, no printed schedule. When you ask the volunteers at the desk they helpfully suggest using the grid from the Star Tribune. Which is, in fact, what we are doing, as we are one of the few households left in the Twin Cities that still subscribe to our local paper. If you do not subscribe, your only option is working your way through their online scheduling algorithm. I guess if you don't do computers and don't subscribe to the paper you just don't deserve to Fringe.

Once again, the website has been "improved" by moving around the important features and making them harder to find. But

minnehaha was right - the day by day schedule IS still there, just 3 levels down instead of being linked to the home page. In all fairness, once you find the scheduler it works pretty well. Response is fast and it is sortable by either time or venue. Without the grid, however, there is no way to view all the shows available in a given neighborhood other than looking through each venue individually.

So far, the highlight of my Fringe was running into the

minnehahas on the patio at Sgt. Preston's (which has been renamed to something stupid and forgettable, but that's okay because the old Sgt. Preston's logo is still proudly displayed on the building). That was really fun, guys, thanks for hopping the fence and joining us!

Even just a little?

I've never had so much trouble trying to fit together a Fringe schedule. There are quite a few things that I want to see, but they are all at the wrong time or in the wrong place. Just no flow. The best I can come up with for this evening is one show that I really want to see but will have to leave work in the next 45 minutes to make followed by 2 more shows that I don't really care about but they're close by.

5:30 All Night Radio (Theatre Garage)
7pm Rewind-a-Buddy (Music Box)
8:30 Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend (Music Box)

If Rewind-A-Buddy is as dumb as it sounds it might be replaced by dinner at Ping's. Actually, that sounds pretty good, as I finish my lunch of protein bar and carrot juice.

So far the best thing we've seen is Fifth Planet, at TRP. Haven't had time to write real reviews yet, but I wanted to get my recommendation out before their second show, at 2:3p today. It's an absolutely pitch-perfect, subtle relationship comedy/drama.

A couple of years ago, the Fringe Festival hiked up the cost of their all-you-can-eat Ultrapass to a price higher than I was willing to pay ($255). But they offer a pre-season special price of $175, which is still in the reasonable range for people who are pretty sure they will see at least 15-20 shows. Anyway, if you're interested, the pre-season special is now open to anybody. Here's the link:

Last year, Fringe hiked the price of the Ultrapass from $150 to $225 - raising the break even point to 23 shows. So we didn't buy Ultrapasses, and saw just about half the number of shows that we usually see. I was not suprised to note that both the number of tickets sold and their overall revenue last year dropped by 4% after years of constant growth. I'm sure the number of Ultrapasses sold dropped precipitately.

Apparently they've rethought this strategy a little bit for this year. Publicly, they're keeping the $225 price, but behind the scenes they are offering a heavily discounted pre-reg price of $175 to former Ultrapassers who declined to participate last year. That's a break-even point of 18 shows, which seems reasonable to me, so I bought two. This offer is not available online, only with a mail-in form. I made a copy of the form. So if anybody wants to get advance Ultrapasses at a reasonable price, let me know.

I was a little burnt out on Fringe last year any way, besides being annoyed by their attitude, but I find I'm really looking forward to it this year.

But we won't be getting Ultrapasses this year, as the price has skyrocketed to an absolutely ridiculous $225!!! This requires you to see 23 shows to even break even (as compared to the 5-show punch card). While it is true that once we have purchased Ultrapasses we often DO see that many shows, that really isn't our expectation at the beginning. It's just that once you have an Ultrapass you are strongly incentivized to see as many shows as possible to prove to yourself that it really was worthwhile. Last year it was starting to feel like a bit of a burden, to be honest. I think I'll be perfectly happy seeing just 10-20, and I won't have to worry about wasting all that money if I should happen to get sick or distracted during Fringe week.

( Still, it's time to start looking at what's on the schedule. )

After years of Fringing, my modus operandi is as follows:

Look back at my LJ entries for past years of the Fringe to jog my memory about which performers I like.
Login to Fringe site and search by cast member and company name for favorites from years past.
When I find one, add it to my Wishlist (the new name for last year's Bookmarks)
Create an online schedule, adding my first draft choices at the earliest feasible times (starting with anything featuring a Scrimshaw, as those shows tend to sell out later in the festival).
Fill in the schedule with likely looking prospects in the same neighborhood.
Follow the "Shows Like This" links from the show pages of my first choices for more ideas.

Here's the list of past performers that I searched for (and found) this year:

Tom Reed - Disney
Tim Uren - Dr. Jekyll
Pat O'Brien - Underneath the Lintel (rerun)
Four Humours - You Only Live Once
Tedious Brief - Tempests
Philip Bennett Low - Macbeth Video Game
Scrimshaw: Brain Fighters, Highlander, Smothers Brothers
Live Action Set - Fletcher & Zenobia
Rob Callahan - Callahan and Lingo

And here's some that did not turn up in my search

Candy Simmons (SunsetGun)
Three Sticks
Charlie Bethel
Walking Shadow
Rob Gee
John Skelley

Sunday was a bang-up ending to the 2010 Fringe. We took advantage of the unexpectedly beautiful weather (finally!) to bike to the West Bank. Saw 4 shows, including what turned out to be my Pick of the Fringe (Fruitcake). If only we'd quit while we were ahead and not seen that last show (ick ick ick) it would have been a perfect day. But we had a nice bike ride home in the fresh, cool (at last!) air to recover, so it was a fine day.

2:30 p.m. Idiosynchronicity        * * *
presented by Rob Callahan
Venue: U of M Rarig Arena

Short stories and a sort of geek/beat poetry very well performed by local writer Rob Callahan. He didn't have the material quite memorized but knew it well enough so that he never missed a beat while pacing around the rotating podium, whirling it expertly when he needed to consult his script. Skillful use of the difficult in-the-round performance space. Unfortunately, most of his material didn't really gel for me. The first story (about 2 old men in a space ship, each trying to outlive the other) was the best, but a little too obviously cribbed from Larry Niven. The geek-love stories were amusing, but the heavily generational pop culture references are aimed at a target audience of which I am not a member so they didn't really resonate for me.

_____________
5:30 p.m.    The Princeton Seventh        * * * * *
presented by Partizan Theater
Venue: U of M Rarig Thrust

A very tightly written one-act play, impeccably performed. All is not as it seems.

_____________
7:00 p.m.   Fruitcake-Ten Commandments from the Psych Ward * * * * *
presented by Rob Gee
Venue: U of M Rarig Thrust

Absolutely brilliant, possibly the best performance I saw this year. With his rubber face, restless energy and manic grin, this guy is a riveting story-teller. And what stories! The words pour out at breakneck speed, and soon the empty stage seems to be overflowing with funny/sad/horrifying/tragicomic characters from Rob's years as a psychiatric nurse. It may sound mean to be laughing at mentally ill people, but Rob's
heart is as big as his sense of humor, and he tells these stories with an equal serving of compassion and wit. When I have my psychotic break, I just hope I'm on his floor!

_____________
8:30 (Encore Performance)    An Adult Evening of Shel Silverstein            * *
Rarig Experimental
Evil Temptress Productions

My initial reaction to the title of the show was to skip right past it with the comment, "I've always thought Shel Silverstein was deeply creepy." But then it turned into the must-see sellout show of the Fringe and I decided I had to see it too. I was right the first time. It was intermittently witty and well enough acted, but more ugly than funny. I mean, a whole sketch consisting of a man and woman shouting slang terms for breasts and penis at each other? Beavis and Butthead would have loved it. The last sketch (who would YOU throw overboard?) was actually pretty funny, but by that time I just wanted to get out of the theater and scrape the layer of dark sludge off my psyche. An angry man, that Shel Silverstein.

A pleasant and satisfactory day. I decided to hit just 3 shows, none consecutive, giving me time to catch up on chores and household projects and rack up 6 miles on my bike just riding back and forth to the nearby shows. All 3 shows were very full, but we got into all of them. None of them blew me away, but all were good fun.

My bike is still struggling with spoke issues, but I managed to get the loose spokes tight enough so they stopped squeaking. The wheel is just barely round enough so it doesn't rub on the brake when it turns, which is a minor miracle in itself. About 5 minutes before we had to leave for the last show I had adjusted the spoke tension to the point where the wheel was getting stuck on the brake with every revolution. No more squeaks, but that's small consolation when the wheel doesn't really turn any more. I frantically started loosening the spokes I'd just over-tightened and managed to get it back to (barely) rideable condition in the nick of time.

1:00    Do Not Kill Me, Killer Robots!           * * * *
Playwright Center
An unconnected set of short one-man plays loosely connected by a very clever framing sequence. The protagonist discovers the fatal weakness in the programming of the horde of killer robots that is systematically wiping out all human life on earth - they are forbidden to harm a human who is engaged in solo performance art. Our protagonist just happens to be a solo performance artist, so he staves off death by performing one piece after another for his robot audience (us). Props and additional cast members have been hastily constructed out of corrugated cardboard and a box of sharpies, and the audience is encouraged to join in by chanting "PU-NY HU-MAN" and the like. The random short pieces were pretty good (especially Space Camp, with its large cast of cardboard kids and counselors), but the best part was the recap of the killer robot campaign (which our hero follows on YouTube and Facebook while scurrying from one abandoned coffee shop basement to another one step ahead of the robots.) Unfortunately we were stuck with a very passive audience, only a few of whom were willing to join in random chants of "PU-NY HUMAN."

4:00 The Anton Kissbougel Technique                * * *
Balance Fitness Studio
I had modest hopes for this one, but since it's right in the neighborhood it seemed worth a try. It was a parody of a beginning yoga class, with the audience of 16 joining in as students. The Kissbougel Technique turns out to be a system of breathing, meditation and simple poses that opens up the chakras and connects them to the digestive process. Warmups include visualization of baked goods ("If you don't eat wheat, feel free to visualize something else, like a spelt loaf"), massaging of auras and shaking off the crumbs. Eventually we learn the 4 basic exercises necessary to keep the body in tune for the ancient art of throat singing (sort of) with the "nether hole." It's all good-humored, entertaining and strangely refreshing.

7:00 Flops!    * * * *
Intermedia Arts
A selection of the best songs from the worst musicals, extremely well performed by an energetic cast. The songs were better than I expected, and the performances were excellent. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Man, Saturday looks bleak. One West Bank show both Richard and I want to see at 1:00 but nothing after that until late in the evening - not worth hanging out all day on the WB for that. Okay, we've put together a plan. Drive to Playwright Center for the 1:00 then home, then hit a few Uptown shows in the evening.

1:00 Do Not Kill Me, Killer Robots!
Playwright Center
I know it sounds stupid, but so did "Show Goons." It's gotten great reviews.

4:00 The Anton Kissbougel Technique
Balance Fitness Studio
Richard isn't interested in this one, but since it's right in the neighborhood (and across from the ice cream shop) I just might check it out.

7:00 Flops!
Intermedia Arts
I'm a little dubious about this one, but Richard wants to see it and it's close to home.

SUNDAY - looks much better

Pretty all the remaining shows I want to see are lined up like sitting ducks on Sunday evening. This probably IS worth biking to the West Bank for.

2:30 p.m.
Idiosynchronicity
presented by Rob Callahan
Venue: U of M Rarig Arena

4:00 p.m.
The Jack Chick Plays
presented by Colder by the Lake
Venue: U of M Rarig Arena

5:30 p.m.
The Princeton Seventh
presented by Partizan Theater
Venue: U of M Rarig Thrust

7:00 p.m.
Fruitcake-Ten Commandments from the Psych Ward
presented by Rob Gee
Venue: U of M Rarig Thrust

This last one leaves us in the Rarig with one last chance to get into the Shel Silverstein show, which will undoubtedly be the Encore presentation in the Experimental stage.

Spin * * * *
presented by Outspoke Productions
Venue: Ritz Proscenium

A real treat. Unusual mixture of spoken word, song, slide show and percussion bicycle. The content is great too - a mixture of fascinating historical tidbits, speculation, personal experience and musical experimentation. Annie Londonderry is my new hero! I can't believe I never heard of her before! The show loses its focus a bit during the last 15 minutes, detouring into an over-long song decrying mass consumerism *yawn* and never quite finding its way back to its bicycle core. But it's still a very solid 4 kitties.

Missing: the fantastical and true story of my father's disappearance and what I found when I looked for him * * *
presented by Jessica Ferris
Venue: Intermedia Arts

Starts out strong with some inventive physical theater and creative use of simple props to convey emotion. Kudos to Jessica Ferris for having the guts (and the flexibility) to wriggle her very substantial body through that tiny hole with all of us watching her long struggle. It was a curiously effective portrayal of her inner child's desperation and compulsion to keep searching for her missing father. And wonderful job turning that metal box into a full-fledged character in the play. Things get a little hard to follow after that. Jessica rotates through the roles of a few too many relatives to keep track of as she interviews them one after another in her quest to figure out who her father really was (is) and if he is still alive. Eventually she straightens out some of the confusion by making a pictorial family tree for us and naming them all, but I still had some difficulty figuring out when she was speaking as her mother and when as Grandma Sally, and some of the stories just seemed irrelevant (what was that business with Grandma Nina and the bed linens?). As Jessica's search continues it becomes more obvious just how permanently wounded she and her whole family have been by two generations of compulsive liars in their midst. Ultimately it's all just a very sad story with no resolution. I hope this poor young woman eventually comes to terms with just what she can and can't control about her family and moves on.

Yikes, falling behind. I've actually been posting reviews of most of the shows on the Fringe site, but I like to have them here as well. Not that very many of my FL is interested (

barondave excepted) but I like to look back at them the next year for reference.

Tuesday, August 10
--------------------------
Green as Grass                            * * *
presented by Far from the Tree
Venue: Jungle Theater

living traces - burning breath         * * * 1/2 (rounded up)
presented by The Manhattan Experimental Theater Workshop
Venue: Jungle Theater

Wednesday, August 11
--------------------------
Bloddeuwedd                * * * * *
presented by Mark Hunter (acted by Erin Daly)
Venue: Ritz Studio

( Read more... )

I'm getting a little burned out on the magic of the Ultrapass, and have been trying to target exceptionally good shows rather than cramming in as many shows as possible. I've seen 22 and am running out of steam. Richard (who is still enchanted with the all-you-can eat aspect, and probably always will be) is at 30-something. My scheduling strategies have been pretty successful. Here's the tally so far. I believe that the slant towards high ratings reflects wise choices rather than grade inflation. I've seen a lot of really excellent shows, and only one that I would consider a dud (and even that one was not without its charms).

5-kitty shows: 6
4-kitty shows: 8
3-kitty shows: 7
2-kitty shows: 1 (really 1-1/2 rounded up)

The Fringe people are always tinkering with the format. Some new ideas are better than others. A real loser in the bright idea department was requiring the house manager to take the stage before every performance and deliver a pointless, scripted, deadly dull introduction ("Hello, I'm xxx, the house manager. Welcome to the 2010 Fringe Festival, featuring 169 performances in 19 different venues! blah de blah de blah blah blah...") There is absolutely no useful information in this monologue unless you consider it important to let people know in advance that if the play stops suddenly in the middle, the house lights come up and the house manager sprints onto the stage to make an announcement -something is going on.

Needless to say, active Fringers got bored with this pretty quickly. Mostly people just did what they do on airplanes while the flight attendant explains how to use a seatbelt (ignored it). At some of the rowdier venues (e.g., Mixed Blood) audiences started cheering and applauding inappropriately throughout the spiel. Eventually a Rocky Horror style call and response routine started popping up ("How MANY shows are there??" ... "How many venues??"). Sometime in the last couple of days the intro quietly disappeared. I'm sure the house managers are even more relieved than the audiences.

Well, quiet for me, anyway - just 1 show. Richard on the other hand has turned into an unstoppable Fringe whirlwind, determined not to miss a time slot. He'd already seen a 5:30 show when we met at the Jungle for Bedroom Eyes, skipped the 8:30 slot but zoomed off to the Ritz to see "Bloedwudd" (or however it's spelled), which he heartily recommends. The only one we both saw was:

Bedroom Eyes * * * 1/2 (rounded down on Fringe site)
presented by Junkyard Theater (Miss Ginger)
Venue: Jungle Theater

There was less singing and more patter than we expected, and the dancing panda plays a larger role than you might think. We both enjoyed it. I could have done with a little more music and less vamping, but Panda Man was great, and ultimately kind of stole the show. Miss Ginger does a great job performing her songs, but I was distracted by trying to figure out exactly what our shared reality was supposed to be. Were we supposed to be pretending that Miss Ginger really is a woman, but not the woman she claims to be? If so, why did she make not one but TWO references to her left testicle? Was that supposed to indicate that Panda Man only thinks he knows the real person beneath the facade, but has another surprise in store? Or am I just over thinking this? None of this would matter if it were just a torchy musical performance, but since there actually is a little story line which seems to circle around the distinction between artifice and reality it kind of does. Bottom line - show is a lot of fun if you don't think about it too hard.

Only saw 4 shows, but enjoyed them all. The bike ride over in the sauna-like heat wasn't all that bad, really. The nice thing about biking is that there's always a breeze. Another advantage of biking in hot weather is that it makes beer taste like nectar of the gods, which made a quick beer and sandwich lunch at Fringe Central between shows into an ecstatic experience. Normally I don't even like beer particularly, but I truly believe what my karate sensei taught me - beer restores the electrolyte balance. It must be true or it wouldn't taste so good when I'm hot and sweaty. Anyway, here's the day's theatrical fare, with full reviews behind the cut:

Bite Me Twilight          * * * * *
presented by Tom Reed
Venue: Mixed Blood
More later

_____
Show Goons        * * * * *
presented by One of a Kind Productions
Venue: Mixed Blood
More later
_____
Ballad of the Pale Fisherman    * * *
presented by Isabel Nelson
Venue: Mixed Blood
Quick Review: sweet, simple, short. Material a little thin, but still a charmer.
_____
The Selkie            * * * *
presented by Scotia Productions
Venue: U of M Rarig Proscenium
Quick Review: good basic ethnic dance show with a little story ladled on top. Turns out I like Highland dance better than I thought I did.

( Full reviews behind the cut (finally) )

Profile

dreamshark

March 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 2026

Page Summary

Style Credit

Style: Ivory Alcea for Mobility by branchandroot
Resources: Mitsuba Aoi

|

Entries tagged with fringe

Best Fringe show EVER

Fringe 2015 - a rousing final day

A Fringe Friday

Fringe 2015 Reviews - first Sunday

Fringe 2015 Reviews - first 3 days

Fringe 2015 - first impressions

Anybody doing Fringe this year?

Fringe Plans for Monday

Top Fringe Recommendation

Last chance for Fringe Ultrapass at discount price

Fringe Festival - anyone looking for discounted Ultrapasses?

Yikes! Fringe starts next week!

Sunday, Day... okay, somewhere in there I think I counted wrong

Fringe Saturday (Day 9) - All went as planned

Fringe plan for the final weekend

SUNDAY - looks much better

Fringe Thursday - Day 8

Fringe reviews - Tuesday and Wednesday

Fringe - midweek report

Quiet Monday (Fringe Day 5)

Day 4 (Sunday) - an excellent day

Profile

Page Summary

Style Credit