Fringe 2012 - the final weekend

Aug. 19th, 2012 05:09 pm
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Due to family obligations, the final weekend was just Saturday, but what a lovely day it was!  Again, a lovely morning for a bike ride to the West Bank, this time both of us together.  We ran into fannish friend Maria at our final show of the day and invited her to join us for a late supper at Jimmy John's before heading home. The weather wasn't quite so lovely in the evening, but the imminent rain held off long enough for us to get home safe and dry.  All four shows were good to excellent, so it was a fine way to end the Fringe.

Fruit Fly: The Musical   The Jansonowicz Players (Sheena Janson and Max Wojtanowicz)  * * * * *
I wondered why a show with such a lame description was getting 5-star rave reviews, and now I know. It really was a 5-star production!  For us, this was the sleeper hit of the Fringe - witty writing, energetic and charming performances, and astonishingly good singing and dancing.  One of two shows we saw this year that got a standing ovation.

Font of Knowledge       Shelby Company     * * * *
A film-noir sci-fi romp with everybody's favorite font  as the Maguffin. Very polished presentation (except for that damn desk lamp that was shining right into the audience's eyes) but awfully silly.  The costumes and special effects were top-notch. I loved the way they staged the train wreck, switching the spotlight from the actors inside the train to a model train chugging across a cloth-covered table towards disaster. I was so inspired by this show that I put the "Helvetica" documentary on my Netflix instant queue.


Brendon Etter presents several short plays and such which are for you to watch at      Northfield Arts Guild Theater
Richard and I used to be very fond of a Fringe format that has nearly died out in recent years: multiple 10-15 minute shorter works presented by a small group of players. So we decided to see this one, despite the inane title.  So glad we did - it was excellent.  Unlike the usual short-format production, this was 5 short pieces by the same author, each one presented by a different actor or pair of actors.  The pieces were extremely diverse, extremely well written and very well acted.

 Nightmare Without Pants   Joking Envelope (Joseph Scrimshaw and friends)   * * * * *
Predictably, this one was great.  Joseph Scrimshaw is always a treat to watch, but in recent years I've been thinking that he sometimes coasts on his reputation and presents shows that are just okay in terms of writing. This one is back to his best form.  The title is, surprisingly enough, completely literal.  It's a hilarious yet oddly touching trip into one woman's stressful dreamscape, apparently set off by falling asleep while working on her taxes while barefoot. The only surprise is that the dreamer herself gets to keep her pants on throughout - it's everybody else that is pantsless.  I almost skipped this show because I really really don't like that actress. I've seen her before and never liked her, and I didn't like her here. But the rest of the show was so strong that I loved it anyway.





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Fringe 2012 - the rest of the week

Aug. 19th, 2012 04:27 pm
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I guess I should finish this up, since I do like to look back on my past Fringe experiences every year when it's time to plan a new one.  In fact, if it weren't for my online Fringe schedule I wouldn't even remember now what we saw way back last weekend. Gosh, it seems like forever.

Actually, there was one weekday show. I didn't post this review on the Fringe site, because I feel a little mean being so critical.  This is a first production by a couple of Macalester students who obviously put a lot of love and effort into it, and I didn't want to knock down the chances of people seeing it.

To and From on the Earth      Mirror Maker Productions (Rob Gelberg and Alana Horton)      * * *
Tuesday 8:30, HUGE Improv Theater

Not bad for a first effort, but I was hoping for a little more. It's a great setup: Satan and Yahweh meet for coffee. The title, of course comes from Job, but I'm not sure where they found a translation that says "To and from on the earth" instead of the usual "to and fro in the earth."  It just sounds wrong, and I can't help wondering if it was just a typo, and lack of familiarity with the source material.

Oddly, God is played by a woman, but in his asides to the audience Satan always uses the masculine pronoun for God.  Perhaps it was to make the point that gender is arbitrary to God, but then why have God get all prissy and scold Satan for using the term "waitress" instead of the politically correct "server?"  I'd like to think that the playwright (Rob) was making a very subtle and ironic point, but I fear that he just didn't think it through. Although some of the dialogue is witty, overall the writing veers towards the sophomoric. But wait... these two really ARE college sophomores!  So maybe that's an unfair criticism. Like I said, not bad for a first production by a couple of college students.

The most winning parts of this production are the simple but elegant staging and the body language. Rob chews the scenery a bit as Satan, but Alana is cool, poised and perfect as God. I think my favorite part of the whole play was the minute or so that she has to wait for Satan to show up (of course he would be late!), which she spends fussily straightening the table settings to be just perfect. The idea of presenting God and Satan as a couple trying to be friends after a bad breakup is actually pretty clever, and the body language around that is the best part of the show. 

I'm definitely glad I saw it, but I can't help thinking how much better that concept would have been executed with Joseph Scrimshaw as Satan.



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Fringe 2012 - Sunday Aug 5

Aug. 13th, 2012 11:37 pm
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Here it is the final weekend and I'm still trying to catch up on last weekend. Sunday was a practically perfect day of Fringing. Once again the weather was lovely, so biking to and from the West Bank was a big part of the fun.  Again I was on my own for the first 2 shows as Richard industriously finished up the local art shows.  Too bad for him - he missed the 2 best shows of the day.  But really, they were all exceptional. 

BOOGIEography  - Blue Umbrella (choreographed by Windy Bowlsby)    * * * * *
2:30  Patrick's Caberet

Energetic, creative, funny, moving and totally delightful.  This is dance at its most accessible, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.  Clearly, if I'm going to keep attending dance events at Fringe I need to stick to this type of show and avoid the ones that the sophisticated dance mavens rave about.  My favorite was 3 people performing what I believe is called "the old soft shoe" to a jazz cover of "Rubber Duckie."  I also loved the mashup of "These Boots are Made for Walking" with something modern that I didn't recognize, and the very beautiful homoerotic pas de deux performed by the two really good male dancers.

The Hungry Games: Mocking the Mockingjay - Tom Reed             * * * * *
4pm  TRP

The same thing that Tom Reed always does (which is why a number of reviewers rated the show only a 4) but it really deserves 5 stars no matter how often he does it.  I think I've seen all of his Fringe shows, and I think this one was the best since "Parry Hotter and the Half Drunk Twins,"  probably because the source material is a lot meatier than "Twilight" or "Disney Princesses."   This man is just so damn multi-talented that it's a joy to watch him perform.

An Agony of Fools  - Ben San Del   -   * * * *
5:30 pm   Southern

The reviews described this plain old standup comedy, but done really well, and that's what it was. The material was pretty standard stuff, but the pacing, delivery and seamless segues were flawless. 


The Gentlemen's Pratfall Club  - Comedy Suitcase (Josh Scrimshaw and Eli Weinhagen)  * * * * *
8:30pm    Southern

An entirely successful all-ages show.  100% of your daily pratfall requirement, plus clever writing, absurdist humor, and the always entertaining spectacle of accomplished actors slipping in and out of multiple characters at the drop of a hat (sometimes literally). 




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Fringe 2012 - Saturday shows

Aug. 7th, 2012 01:10 pm
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A Drama in Midair           * * * *
A Johnny Daydreaming Project (a buncha guys from Brainerd)
Intermedia Arts

Flawed but worth seeing by Sharon Kahn
Rating: 4 stars
As a longtime fringer I am starting to grow weary of Shakespeare sendups, pop culture mashups, and frenetic absurdist humor. The antidote to Fringe predictability is the quirky "historicals," which usually turn out to be one of a kind productions about topics you never really thought about before. This is one of those shows. You can't throw a rock at Fringe without hitting a Shakespeare/zombie musical, but this is the only chance you'll ever have to see Jules Verne exploring the link between the history of ballooning and the US space program. The presentation of all these themes could have been more polished, but better a show with too many ideas to fit into the time block than one with no ideas at all.
More comments that wouldn't fit in 750 characters.  The pieces of this show were put together clumsily, but the basic idea was visionary: to put a human face on the space program and to show how NASA is part of the continuum of the eternal human drive to escape the clutches of gravity and soar into the heavens. And underlying all that is the sense of wonder that authors like Jules Verne kindle in the human spirit. All this got a little muddled with abrupt transitions between NASA footage, staged balloon disasters, and kindly old Jules Verne lecturing the audience. I think it would have been better if they'd left out Jules and the entire made-up balloon story and instead dramatized some of the real-life ballooning anecdotes that got shoe-horned into the  expository dialog. But still, an inspiring show by somebody who knows an awful lot about ballooning.

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Sneak Thief    * * * * *
The International League of Diamond Thieves (Brant Miller, Tim Hellendrung, Debs Holloway)
Mixed Blood

Perfectly done fluff by Sharon Kahn
Rating: 5 stars
The Two Stooges try to steal a diamond. That's pretty much it, but believe me, it's a lot funnier than it sounds. With such a thin premise it's all in the execution, and in this case the execution is flawless. The writing, the acting, the pacing, the use of music - everything is perfect. You may wait in line to get in, but you'll leave with a smile on your face. 

More comments that wouldn't fit in 750 characters.  There's a little more to this show than 3-Stooges goofiness. Although the brainpower of the main characters is about on that level, the Stooges were mean-spirited.  These guys have such an underlying innocence that it's impossible not to love them. Maybe a better theatrical referent would be "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" meets "Midnight Cowboy."  Oh, hell, just go see it.

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Nucleus and Other Cell Bodies       * *
Kelly Radermacher
Southern

Not Much Fun by Sharon Kahn
Rating: 2 stars

This may be a great show if you like this style of dance, but I am rating it based on the amount of enjoyment I got from it, which wasn't much. I'm one of those unsophisticates that likes to watch human bodies in lyrical motion, flying around the stage to beautiful music with frequent interactions among the dancers. This is not that.

There is a lot of slow writhing on the floor, sudden jerky movements, cryptic hand gestures, and quite a bit of time where the dancers are just lying there or wandering vaguely around the stage. I can't say I saw the relationship between cell biology and the dance moves, either. But thanks to the soporific music, I did get a nice little nap.

More comments that wouldn't fit in 750 characters.  I probably wouldn't have been so mean in my review if the description on the website hadn't been so misleading. If you're putting on a dreary post-modern dance production with soul-deadening background music, you shouldn't describe it as "Fun, frenetic and fulfilling" or "Jarring, silly, arresting."  Truth in advertising, people!

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On the Differences Between Two Ladies and the Resolution Thereof        * * *
Gremlin
Fell Down the Stairs

Disappointing by Sharon Kahn
Rating: 3 stars
This production had more than its share of opening night glitches: extremely long scene changes and way too many flubbed lines from such experienced actors. Those things will probably improve with subsequent performances. Unfortunately, the glib and shallow writing will not improve. While some of the repartee is amusing, the characters are the thinnest cardboard and historical context is completely lacking. Is it supposed to be surprising and shocking for women to duel? For a low-born countess to challenge a princess? For women to be hard-bitten battlefield physicians? Or is this story taking place in some alternate reality where such goings-on are commonplace? Impossible to tell, and ultimately hard to care.More comments that wouldn't fit in 750 characters. This production fancies itself a "comedy of manners."  It is not. A comedy of manners is a work that is rooted firmly in a clear set of social conventions that is well understood by the audience. The characters then play off of that set of expectations, typically doing things that are unexpected or outrageous to make a point or get a laugh. That's why this play doesn't work. It is set in some nebulous fantasy version of 19th-century European aristocracy where topless lady duelists are just as likely as anything else the writers might decide to toss in. On the other hand, the acting was really quite good except for first-night stumbles, and the character of The One-Eyed Baroness was a hoot. If the writers had just given up the whole "comedy of manners" idea and made the other two characters as over-the-top as the Baroness, it might have worked as "Black Adder" style historical farce. . 
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Fringe 2012 - Saturday

Aug. 7th, 2012 11:36 am
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Skipped Friday (actually, missed the one I was aiming for because I couldn't find The Huge Theater).  First half of Saturday was magical, 2nd half was still fun but not as successful Fringe-wise. Richard and I had a complicated plan for the day. First, we bike together to a local show  (Intermedia Arts) then separate so he can trudge through yet another art fair. I skip a timeslot while biking to the West Bank, see a 4:00 show solo. Meanwhile, Richard bikes home, gets the van, and meets me on the West Bank. We see one more show at Rarig, skip a timeslot to have dinner someplace fun,  and then put my bike in the van and drive to St. Paul to finish the night with 2 back-to-back at the Gremlin. What could go wrong?

Here's what really happened. We saw first show together as planned - not a GREAT show, but thought-provoking and fun. The unnaturally glorious weather made biking to the West Bank a delight, and I made such good time that I found myself riding past Mixed Blood at 2:25pm.  "Sneak Thief" was showing. There was a long line, which is always a good sign for a show premiere (Fringe insiders know which shows are going to be surefire hits and see them early). I managed to get in, and sure enough, the show was hilarious. Then I headed for a dance show at the Southern that turned out to be very much not to my taste ("Nucleus"). Oh well, at least I got a little nap.

On emerging from that show I find a missed phone call from R on my iPhone. Uh-oh, it's from our home number, not cell. Something's gone wrong, since he's supposed to be on the WB by now.  I call. Plans derailed - SOMEONE in our household has taken the van. Oops. Okay, I didn't care that much about "Steampunk Apocalypse" (our 5:30) anyway. I head home on bike, we eat at home, then head off to Gremlin.  8:30 show is resoundingly mediocre, and the crowd control at the Gremlin is a nightmare. Also, I've left my Fringe button at home. The upside of the volunteer chaos is that nobody notices that. Richard is tired after a long day at the Loring Art Show, and I am having a hard time facing the Theater Lobby from Hell again (especially without my button) , so we head home.

Not the best ending, but all in all a fun day. I see I never got around to the shows. I'll put my reviews in a separate post.
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Fringe 2012 - Thursday kickoff and a recommendation

Aug. 6th, 2012 04:26 pm
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No Ultrapass this year, but R and I are both attending.  We'll probably see about a dozen shows. Actually, R will see fewer because he also visited all three of the local outdoor art shows over the weekend, leaving me to Fringe alone for the early part of the afternoon.

This year I'm trying a deliberate strategy of choosing as many shows as possible with the "historical" tag. After many years of Fringe, I know how to find the big crowd pleasers (which usually turn out to be pretty good to excellent by anybody's standards). But sometimes you get a little tired of pop culture mashups, frenetic physical comedy, and inventive new approaches to Shakespeare. The "historical" show is a mixed bag, ranging from earnest but amateurish to surprisingly excellent. Our Thursday kickoff play was one of  the latter, and became the little-known show that we are recommending to everyone.  Here's the review I posted on the Fringe site.

The Accidental Hero
The Midlife Vic (aka Patrick Dewane)

An Overlooked Gem by Sharon Kahn
Rating: 5 stars
A superb multi-media one-man show that deserves a much bigger audience than the dozen or so in attendance on opening night. Alone on an almost empty stage, Patrick Dewane switches effortlessly between himself and his Czech-American grandfather to unfold the hidden tale of What Grand-Daddy Did in the War. It turns out to be pretty remarkable. Dewane starts with the pictures, memoirs and home movies that Grandpa left behind, adds some subtle rumination on human nature and heroism, and fleshes it out with his own considerable acting chops to make an extraordinary 1-hour performance. Strongly recommended for everyone who appreciates good story-telling, one-man shows, and history (both global and family).

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