Minnesota Fringe Festival

schedule

Show reviews by William Beeman

The Return of LICK!
Hugely funny with heart by William Beeman
Rating: 5 kitties
Lick! is a very clever show that sustains itself on a slim self-reflexive premise--that the troupe had been banned from the Festival for being too sexy in 2005. This turns out to be a questionable self-delusion, but the guys milk it for all it is worth. They resemble the best work of Will Farrell, Bill Murray, Chris Kattan and other SNL comedians who do ridiculous routines (like cheerleading) with such deep commitment that it becomes funny. About half way through the show, it suddenly becomes apparent that the silly dance routines, hip thrusts and all, have been meticulously rehearsed and are really perfectly coordinated. There is deep comedy here. No onw will leave this performance without a smile.

Animal Cracker Genocide
Beautifully constructed comedy by William Beeman
Rating: 5 kitties
Ben San Del is a masterful comedian, and this beautifully constructed show plays the audience like an instrument--maybe the trombone he starts with. Many comedians just riff on a laundry list of random stuff. He builds a tiny universe of references for the audience, and then runs the riffs on them, juxtaposing and recombining them in surprising ways. The material becomes familiar, and he gets deep belly laughs because the joke is now an insider joke, shared between him and the audience. It is so clever, and so insidious, the audience hardly knows how completely they have been coopted into co-creating the humor. All this is enabled by his engaging, comfortable style. This bright young performer is certainly on his way to a very distinguished career. If he can do this so completely well, what other arrows does he have in his quiver? Here it is really possible to say, see this and catch a rising star.

Holding Patterns
Stunningly Original Dance by William Beeman
Rating: 5 kitties
Monica Rodero and Dan Schuchart, joined by Minneapolis dancer Kimberly Lesik are on the cutting edge of dance. It is poignant that master choreographer and dancer Merce Cunningham died this week. He would have loved their work. He himself rehearsed his dancers without music, ingraining an inner pulse in their bodies. They only heard the music first in performance. This program shows choreography done to a wide variety of sound environments, including silence. One impressive interlude is performed entirely to the spoken word sandwiched between musical interludes. When the music resumes, the dancers are perfectly in step. This is somewhat like a chorus singing a long a capella passage and resuming accompanied singing perfectly in tune and in rhythm. However, this is not the only innovation in this fascinating dance program. Dan Schuchart dances in swim fins at one point--both comic and beautiful. He is in a conductor's coat and tails and quotes Tchaikowski that conducting and swimming (and presumably dancing) are alike--you have to keep moving or you die. There is choreography with a bowl of goldfish, and with coordinated placards expressing inner states like "I am horny." So ironically amusing, since it is precisely these inner states that one hopes to see reflected in dance. I saw the placard episode in truncated form in preview, and the placards were different and in different order, suggesting that there is also improvisation and random factors built into the performance. Along with the stunning work of Casebolt and Smith in this Festival, Rodero and Schuchart are pushing the boundaries of dance and movement as art. It is exciting, refreshing and infinitely interesting. This is really the cutting edge of dance/movement art. Festival goers are extremely fortunate to see this work.

Silent Poetry 2
Masterful Mimes by William Beeman
Rating: 5 kitties
Ok, get over your outmoded idea that you are not going to like a mime show. This one is just great. No whitefaced Pierrot figures, just very funny, very talented people acting in silence with imaginative, even touching stories and consummate skill. The audience laughed continually in the funny sections and was touched in the sentimental sections. I hope these performers become a fixture at the Festival. I will certainly return to see them. They are a tribute to their master, Marcel Marceau (and many other talented silent performers from Chaplin and Keaton to Mr. Bean).

Best Little Crackhouse in Philly (...or Crackwhore: The Musical!)
Outrageous, offensive and brilliant by William Beeman
Rating: 5 kitties
A lot of people will come to see this show because it is one of the most outrageous things anyone will ever see on stage with every offensive social vice (drug addiction, bestiality, necrophilia, murder, rape, pottymouth dialog) on display in abundance. Then in about two minutes one realizes that this is an awesome cast of triple-threat actors. They tap dance, they do ballet, they sing up a storm (with wonderful diction and projection, thank you!) and the over-the-top material achieves its goal of overloading the audience until the entire sordid scene achieves self-parody and becomes really hilarious. I feel that if Brecht were alive today, this is what he would be writing. I am truly admiring of author and composer Stan Peal's score and script. He has the superb taste to put a beautifully romantic vocal number in the middle of the show that provides a lovely contrast to the sordid goings on. This show has been honed since 2003, and it may not be fair to compare it with newer works, but if you can suspend your gag reflex at the raunch, you will find this show rewarding on many levels.

Comedy of Errors
Shakespeare on Steeroids--Hilarious by William Beeman
Rating: 5 kitties
Comedy of Errors is my favorite Shakespeare Comedy. It is hard to bring off unless one understands that it is a zany farce. The Bedlam Theater presented a total tour de force. Jerzy Grotowski would have been proud of them. In a parking lot amidst a pile of junk and a loading dock with no lighting and minimal props, they managed to bring this play to its hilarious manic fulfillment. The acoustics were challenging, with the light rail and traffic in the background, but every performer delivered their machine-gun dialog with perfect diction and wonderful projection, while managing to be funny, funny, funny. (It is so, so refreshing to see performers who actually know how to use their voices). So, there are two pairs of male twins. Well, this production shows the magic of live theater. The twins don\'t look anything like each other, and one pair is played by female actors (how Shakespeare-like). No matter. Dress them alike, as the company did here and the audience immediately accepts the convention. This is huge fun, theatrically magical and an amazing achievement for this talented group. Don\'t miss this, and bring your kids. They will understand everything and thank you for a fun hour with the Bard.

Mansion of Dust
Cute, original and whimsical by William Beeman
Rating: 5 kitties
The Scrimshaw enterprise in the Twin Cities is a fabulous cultural gift. These folks are so original, so talented. I would see anything they produce. Some may see this play as a little bit of light meringue for the stage. There are no heavy social issues, only a sweet romance in a semi-ghostly setting. It is cute without being cloying, funny without hitting you over the head. It has an insouciant romantic premise, dancing, some of the trademark Scrimshaw manic movement and gentle humor. It is shorter than many other shows, giving you time to catch a bite in Seven Corners before the next show. Joseph and Sara make an unlikely but cute couple.

Was my brother in the battle? SONGS OF WAR
A gorgeous and affecting recital by William Beeman
Rating: 5 kitties
You will not see many vocal recitals at the Fringe Festival, but this one is going to blow you away. Stephen Swanson has a gorgeous baritone with a stunning high register. David Gompper is a virtuoso pianist--even on an electronic keyboard. These songs, carefully selected, are deeply affecting portraits of war by composers ranging from Charles Ives to Tom Lehrer and, yes, Bob Dylan--all wonderfully arranged and presented. The songs brought tears to my eyes many times, and there were many laughs in the program as well. An added benefit for serious vocal students is to see how a truly wonderful recital program should be constructed, with balance, variety and dramatic presentation. Recitals should not be boring--they should be as entertaining as the most dramatic theater event, and Swanson and Gompper prove this in spades. Bravi!

Seasons in the Sun
Sweet and affecting by William Beeman
Rating: 5 kitties
Disclaimer: I saw this show in rehearsal and made some comments at that time. That being said, I was, and am impressed by the entire creation of this charming show. Steve Hirsch has managed to create a lovely and affecting storyline on which to hang the poetry and music of Rod McKuen. McKuen has a reputation for being highly sentimental, and it is a revelation to see some of his more piquant verses and lyrics presented here. Hirsch and his partner Carol Bergeron craft an unusual love story with sweet, unaffected vocalism, while Jeff Erickson lends his keyboard, singing and narrative talent to the story. This is a show for lovers. It will make you think about the fleeting nature of love and time.

The William Williams Effect
Extremely Impressive Drama by William Beeman
Rating: 5 kitties
This is a superb piece of theater, all the more impressive because of the extraordinary research and preparation that went into it. The playwrights and producers are careful to stick to the public record in construction the story, leaving the "case" of William Williams ambiguous enough to leave the audience with serious and important questions about the "last man to be executed in Minnesota." The hugely talented cast brought the story to life in an electric fashion, and the playwrights cleverly use flashbacks and disjunct time frames to put the puzzle of Williams' "crime" together. The play could be expanded to full length. I am sure that it has a very important future. Congratulations to Balance Theater for this stunning production.

Jurassic Dork
Skelley does everything and more by William Beeman
Rating: 5 kitties
John Skelley deserves all the praise he has gotten for this one-man show. It shows him in controlled mania as he, using props, unexpected toys and sound effects re-creates Jurassic Park with all the characters, raptors and over-the-top self-importance. This fine physical and comic actor also has a wonderful sense of theatrical irony as he breaks the fourth wall, recruits from the audience (disclaimer: I was hauled stage on Sunday at 1:00) and creates his own personal comic drama in completing the piece. This performance will go a long way to advancing Mr. Skelley's already established popularity as a performer and creative artist.

casebolt and smith: Speaking Out!
Stretches the limits of dance convention by William Beeman
Rating: 5 kitties
Casebolt and Smith present a brilliant program of material that stretches our conception of dance. This is what we expect of the most exciting artistic presentations. They establish in the first two minute sequence that they are truly accomplished dancers. Then in subsequent pieces they add dialog to dance--no small physical achievement given the strenuousness of the movement and the exacting nature of attention to physical coordination. In the second piece they rehearse their own exploration of each others biographies and tastes showing how a dance duo builds trust and rapport. In the third section the show us that there are movements that really are never used in dance--touching intimate body parts, for example. The matter-of-fact way in which they do this is hilarious, but it also tells us about choreography and its conventions. The amazing final piece is a complex piece of choreography--interesting, varied, unexpected--but with no foot work. The two dancers are seated at a table all the time. This is a cross between dance and the most intelligent performance art I have seen in years. I was incredibly impressed. These two intelligent artists will make a huge contribution to their art. Anyone in the Fringe Festival will be privileged to see them.

Tragedy of You
Brilliant Comedy by William Beeman
Rating: 5 kitties
Joseph Scrimshaw once again proves his comic genius in this inspired show. Choosing an audience member's name out of a bucket, he concocts a full five-act Shakespearean tragedy from the details provided by the patron. On Monday he luckily chose celebrated architect Robert (Bob) Mack of the firm of Mack and McDonald, award winning historical preservationists. Scrimshaw's Shakespearean landscape became "Historic Preservation Land" with Mack depicted as the monarch ruling over his hermetically sealed, temperature controlled kingdom where the enemies are school children on excursion, always touching things with their greasy hands. Some of the framework of the narration is a set piece, but no one can predict the humor derived from the information of the moment. At one point Scrimshaw stopped a bullet speeding toward him by writing a quick grant application to the bullet petitioning that he (Scrimshaw as Mack) be declared an historic artifact. Yes he CAN make this up. Hilarious. Scrimshaw is a treasure. We are lucky to have him among us. Every show will be different. You should try to see at least one of them.

Bard Fiction
Unbelievable Skillful Parody by William Beeman
Rating: 5 kitties
Who would ever think to do this--an Elizabethan version of the film Pulp Fiction. It is hilarious--all the more so because of the dead-on Elizabethan English dialog, and the amusing substitutions of daggers for pistols, snuff for cocaine, meat pies for Big Macs, etc.. For those who really know the film, it is funny times four, or eight. The die hard PF fans, the kind who have memorized large hunks of the dialog of the original film were apoplectic. The large ensemble cast plays beautifully off each other. Toward the end I got a very creepy feeling. Pulp Fiction was released in 1994--fifteen years ago. Most, if not all of the cast, could not have seen the movie legally when it was first released. Aagh! They know the film from DVD's or Videotape. For those of us of a certain age, this inspires a certain terror. The audience was the largest I had seen in the Rarig Thrust Stage space. The popularity is well deserved.

Secrets Revealed: Opera Bob Opens His Drawers
Gorgeous Music Drama by William Beeman
Rating: 5 kitties
This program of operatic rarities is sung with superb vocalism and a fine dramatic sense by some very talented singers. Opera Bob proves that opera can be tremendously entertaining, and vocally thrilling. The program is lightened by several bits of opera parody that everyone will enjoy, but singers especially will find amusing.

Comedy Go!
Unique Comedy Style by William Beeman
Rating: 4 kitties
Mike and Joe have a wonderfully unique comedy style. I would call it "hypertext" comedy, as they make a reference to an event and then switch frames to show the event they are referencing at an instant. They seem exceptionally aware of each other's body movements and are instantly in sync as they switch through several ongoing stories in flashbacks and embedded reference. That being said, they seemed a little off stride in their initial presentation. I am certain they will click more consistently as their run continues.

Livelihood
Locked in mad encounter by William Beeman
Rating: 4 kitties
Matt Greseth and Nate Hessburg create a fantastic synergistic duo on stage as a hapless job seeker and an out of control job interviewer. Greseth manages split-second comic timing and manic craziness reducing Hessberg to a puddle of confusion and dismay. This play fulfills Freud's observation that most humor involves aggression. This most aggressive comedy assaults the audience's sensibilities as they watch in horror wondering what Greseth's Torquemada interviewer can inflict on his poor victim next. The play itself runs out of material toward the end, leaving only one possible denouement. But it has been a very wild ride up to that point.

Food Shelf Follies
Totally, totally original and affecting by William Beeman
Rating: 4 kitties
I want to say from the outset that this show is underproduced, but it is also so stunningly original as a performance piece, you will be charmed and fascinated. Lane McKiernan is a talented writer whose story forms the thread of this production. Lane might have been even more effective if the story had been narrated rather than read, but it still held our attention completely. The underlay of this production is the transsexuality of the performers, but to the performers credit, this is not the centerpiece of the show--it is about food politics and providing adequate nutrition to people with economic and dietary challenges. McKiernan raises an issue that few have thought about, and does it in an effective way. Then the story is interspersed with Walken Schweigert's wonderful figure as a clown violinist, and Katie Burgess as a mostly competent, jolly juggler. The entire mix is infectious and engaging. It is more a hoot and a thought piece than a finished entertainment, but it still entertains and provokes thought. Bravi.

Needs, Wants, Desires!
Great acting--slight material by William Beeman
Rating: 4 kitties
The performers in this piece saved the day. Renee Werbowski showed enormous range in all three pieces as a superannuated Jewish American Princess, an uptight upper middle class housewife who gets turned on by an unseen object that looks "columnar," and a kind-hearted NGO solicitor sympathetic to a sad gay boy ignored and closeted by his older lawyer lover. Jack Kloppenborg jumps from being a hyped up womanizer to the very poignant young gay man, and Andrew Sass is a great foil in all three plays as the stolid anchor against which the other two play. The third episode shows the guys in the buff, but as other reviewers have noted, the nudity is gratuitous, if decorative. The writing is competent, but the vignettes are just not very exciting dramatically. The characters hardly change or develop, making the pieces more amusing sketches than comic (or serious) drama. Certainly go to see the good work of the cast, but appreciate the thespian skill rather than expecting dramatic catharsis or high humor.

Tech Support: The musical
Pleasant Diversion by William Beeman
Rating: 3 kitties
This is a pleasant musical with a somewhat strained premise. The frustration with the "tech support" is funny, but it makes up more than half of the show, and it becomes difficult to sustain. The show was originally 30 minutes, and probably had more impact at that length. The cast are all talented, good singers, and clever actors. The music is eclectic with influences ranging from Gilbert and Sullivan and Cole Porter to direct quotes from Frere Jacques, and Amazing Grace. Certainly worth a look.

Full Frontal: A Tale of Love & Lobotomies
Soap opera at the fringe by William Beeman
Rating: 3 kitties
I hate to be the lone dissenter in a pile of good reviews. This is a straight scripted soap opera about pre-frontal lobotomy. The acting is fine, but the social urgency of the theme of the play is outdated. The procedure is not unknown today, but it is certainly not the butchery depicted in the play. This makes the plot seem strained. "Dr. Pinsky," who performs this procedure willy-nilly on his hapless patients seems to be depicted as a mad scientist (singing with a chorus line about the virtues of lobotomy, yet!) against all the other relatively rational people--including those declared mentally ill. The show is well paced, and there is a gentle romance that is tragically thwarted by the mad doctor.