Minnesota Fringe Festival

schedule

Show reviews by David Trudeau

Best Little Crackhouse in Philly (...or Crackwhore: The Musical!)
trainspotting the musical by David Trudeau
Rating: 5 kitties
Aversion therapy for Dolly Parton whorehouse cuteness. Brilliantly conceived, acted, sung and choreographed by six triple threats- the cast. Unbelievably crass and disgusting and crude and enjoyable and funny - unless you happen to be an ex good-natured crack whore with PTSD.

Harold Pinter's The Dumb Waiter
impeccable by David Trudeau
Rating: 5 kitties
Timing, acting, directing, staging is impeccable in this very well rehearsed gem. We were lucky to get in with the last two tickets.

Buyer's Remorse
Superb script by David Trudeau
Rating: 5 kitties
Well done - keeps us guessing and laughing - full of surprises.

Secrets Revealed: Opera Bob Opens His Drawers
Bravo! by David Trudeau
Rating: 5 kitties
Lovely moving vignettes well sung and performed with comic relief along the way. Opera lovers love it and non opera fans get introduced. I would like to see the set changes done in the background as the narrative intros are given. Too much time spent in blackouts.

Crescendo
Classic by David Trudeau
Rating: 5 kitties
Classic story told to classic music in an exciting delivery interwoven with here and nowness that makes you glad to be who you are. What more could one ask of a storyteller?

Phi Alpha Gamma
Gives voice to many by David Trudeau
Rating: 5 kitties
Bernitt creates characters that bash gays, preach the holy bible at gays, get the ultimate punishment for gay hate crime, come out as gay and are rejected by even their best friends, and who are beaten for being gay. All are given voice and believability, and while his acting and characterizations do not create crisp persona, his writing does. I get the feeling that he is playwrighting out loud and that he will make something more out of this - a play that will expand and be done by five or six actors.

The Return of LICK!
Joyous send-up by David Trudeau
Rating: 5 kitties
This is the "This is Spinal Tap" of boy dance. OK - Tourettes is a syndrome we shouldn't make fun of - but this is funny. The show is about the characters and their group and its history and the strikingly bad "sexy" choreography and glitter is part of the send up.

Jurassic Dork
Sold out fast - as it should by David Trudeau
Rating: 5 kitties
What makes this show really click is all the nutty props and business, to say nothing of the dead on impersonations. Of course Jurassic Park is so well known that replaying the plot is easy fodder for jokes. John Skelly maximizes the possibilities, and truly exhausts himself doing it - and that becomes even another shtick he inserts.

AfterLife
well wrought and played tales by David Trudeau
Rating: 5 kitties
The believability of each of the three women presented is challenging because they are caricatures. The 'sconsin and the hills of Kentucky accents and mannerisms are so right on. And the tales are engaging. And Candy pulls it off superbly.

Two Short Operas: Mr. Berman's Bath-Size Bar and There's a Mastodon In My Backyard
High art high camp by David Trudeau
Rating: 5 kitties
Bravo! Absolutely must see if you like really funny, well thought out and brilliantly executed and performed satirical pieces. Plus free soap!

The Morning After the Summer of Love
Go raibh maith agat by David Trudeau
Rating: 5 kitties
means "thank you" in Gaelic, to these republican stalwarts who universalize the struggle for acceptance and equality in the land of "the troubles." The North of Ireland could be Selma in 1962, and their poetry takes us tripping through the little victories. This is the kind of poetry that is sung in bars with gusto, in the greatest of bardic traditions.

Something Witchy
Something really good by David Trudeau
Rating: 5 kitties
Well written, produced, directed, acted thriller. I can't wait to see it again in its new form. Will there be a part for Sarah Jane?

The William Williams Effect
Best show this year? by David Trudeau
Rating: 5 kitties
Wow! A finished product with a superbly written, produced, directed and acted high impact drama - unexpected at the Fringe. A history play that is better than most things I have seen at the History Theater (not to put down the History Theater.) It is GOOD. It could have legs as a mandatory middle school yellow bus play.

Tragedy of You
Brilliant by David Trudeau
Rating: 5 kitties
Once again Joseph Scrimshaw's brilliant structured improv, razor wit, and physical ability keeps us all laughing and laughing and laughing. I want to see it again. More!

Alice Unwrapped
Bring Kleenex to Share by David Trudeau
Rating: 5 kitties
The high quality we expect from Nautilus in Fringe (Meditations on Arion, John and Jen, etc.). This Musical story of a teen whose Father is absent - on duty in Iraq and MIA. Alice parents her younger sis while Mom breaks down. This is so touching. You will cry - but you will also laugh at the moments on tender humor. A must see. If you or anyone you know ever served in the Armed Forces Alice will make you feel pride and empathy for all the brave families who give up their Moms and Dads and Sons and Daughters to the uncertainties of war time service. The music and the presentation are standing ovation dynamite.

Silent Poetry 2
Funny, Classy, Professional by David Trudeau
Rating: 5 kitties
Experts who never stop entertaining and give their all. The chase scene is hard to top. Memorable.

The Harty Boys in The Case of the Limping Platypus
Great romp by David Trudeau
Rating: 5 kitties
Very funny concept fleshed out with lots of local jokes - well acted, written, directed. Totally fun and goofy and wholesome and full of energy.

Pipa
Ecstatic Dance by David Trudeau
Rating: 5 kitties
Best dance show - top notch in every way. Coherent and touching story performed in breathtaking choreography and acting by an exceptionally strong and artistic dancer. Brilliant unconventional use of furniture props, microphone, projector. High art, truth, goodness, beauty. Tamara filled our minds and hearts with love, compassion. Tip - if you can, sit in the front row.

Animal Cracker Genocide
Stand Up Star by David Trudeau
Rating: 5 kitties
I was turned away from the show I wanted to see - sold out - so saw this. Oh happy accident! Flawless joke weaving and not a dull moment. After a great musical people leave the theater singing the songs. They left Ben's show telling the jokes. I went to the men's room and a guy was laughing singing "Happy Birthday" washing his hands, I crossed Riverside and the crowd ahead of me was laughing doing street crossing jokes from the show.

Cigarettes for Jesus
Hugely funny concept by David Trudeau
Rating: 4 kitties
If this were set to music it could be another Urinetown. The show is a little rough around the edges as a bunch of raw college kids use folding chairs and tables as their set - along with some really clever projected graphics. The monetized Christian right, Altria, and the Chinese growth-at-any-cost ethic all get stabbed nicely. OK, the timing is rough, and some of the acting could be tweaked, but sit back and enlighten up and fill your soul with the Holy Smokes.

This Show Will Change Your Life!
Needs more writing by David Trudeau
Rating: 4 kitties
Started out with a huge bang and lots of funny material but not enough to fill the hour. You can't effectively satirize boring and meaningless motivational seminars by being boring and meaningless.

Strong
Tech? by David Trudeau
Rating: 4 kitties
I desperately want to give this five kitties for the superb writing and acting, but the annoying long dark pauses for choppy scene changes and light and sound miscues prevent me from doing so. With a few more cheap chairs the scenes could seamlessly flow from one area of the stage to another using light and sound cues. Writing and acting of this caliber deserves better direction.

Axed! (The Rockstars' Remix)
two out of three aint bad by David Trudeau
Rating: 4 kitties
One story teller stellar with high interest and imagery and clever unfolding of a tender plot enhanced with damn good singing. One good with church camp adolescent flashback I could relate to. One poor with incoherent, unbelievable plot and characters and not even read well from the notes nutzo fantasy.

Holding Patterns
Classy stuff by David Trudeau
Rating: 4 kitties
For some reason did not hold our interest like last years concert, but still huge. Seemed to us a little vague in parts where there's a story to guess at and the bit with the fishbowl trying to tell a story to me robbed the dance of its abstract elegance.

The Red Tureen
Polished by David Trudeau
Rating: 4 kitties
Its hard to avoid stereotypes and old chestnuts when doing a famine play because it is material that is so overworked. But aside from those unavoided thematic pitfalls, the delivery, the acting and singing and especially the music is wonderful. I wonder if it could be produced in an expanded version; in an hour the play is too compressed for adequate plot and character development, though it does a good job.

Concord, Virginia: A Southern Town in Stories
Mark Twain on Sodomy and Vultures by David Trudeau
Rating: 4 kitties
Another humorist wordsmith for the American Pantheon? These are engaging stories that are funny and engaging and scary and the delivery is impeccable and very alive.

The Rise of General Arthur
Really interesting by David Trudeau
Rating: 4 kitties
but do we need a library card to enjoy it? The distillation and retelling of Arthurian legend in modern times is indeed interesting and makes (again) a great story on which our Western ideas of chivalry, heroism and leadership are based. Nice insight. What is huge here, however, is the telling by Mr, Low which kept my interest. The program details his scholarship.

Rumspringa the Musical
A Hoot, a hit by David Trudeau
Rating: 4 kitties
Take a really good concept and flesh it out in a somewhat amateurishly but very sincerely acted and sung musical with really low budget costumes and props but with a lot of energy and some cute kids and direct it well and voila - a Fringe sellout.

Bard Fiction
they couldn't stop laughing by David Trudeau
Rating: 4 kitties
Clever send up sometimes hard to follow due to audience persistently laughing raucously over lines- a testimony to how clever. 1st performance so actors forgiven for not riding all the laughs. Suggest reviewing "Pulp Fiction" on Wikepedia or other movie source to get up to snuff on the in jokes before going. A hit.

Monster
resentment revenge rage fantasies by David Trudeau
Rating: 4 kitties
Is it a movie or a revenge daydream or a nightmare or reality and did it really happen and to whom? Guess. In the meantime be prepared to visit the dark side and maybe let it go once you see how it destroys. Brilliantly acted and directed - sometimes the characters emerge without introduction and I momentarily lost the flow for a few of them. I found it riveting, challenged my darkness. One of the better one person shows I have seen.

Sure to Cure, Dr. Amelia's Medicine Show
Pleasant, droll, fun by David Trudeau
Rating: 3 kitties
Dr. Amelia hits you in your third eye with songs and takeoffs on evangelistic money grubbing new age salvationists. She coulda hit a lot harder - there is a lot of material here to make fun of.

Full Frontal: A Tale of Love & Lobotomies
musical comedy or tragic drama? by David Trudeau
Rating: 3 kitties
Well directed and acted and sung but written inconsistently. Dr. Pinsky never develops his character and seems glib and aloof, leading a goofy musical number (the only one in the show). Half baked plot ideas abound, especially around Pinsky, whose actions suggest a self absorbed egoist, but whose lines suggest a happy go lucky sex fiend. The main difference between Pinsky (the lobotomist in cheif) and the inmates is that Pinsky gets to go home at night. Needs some work. It might work better if it goes the musical comedy route with more funny and poignant songs, but lets face it - psychosurgery is about as funny as death camps.

Slow Jobs: Servicing America for $12 an Hour
Story telling not quite rock-star by David Trudeau
Rating: 3 kitties
Good stories and mostly entertaining but not delivered with that eye-to-eye engaging I-was-there believability that a really good story teller has. Or maybe a guy is supposed to be believable when they look at the wall or their shoes when they tell a story. So that's Nort Dakota for ya, eh? The absolute best is the layoff letter on the back of the program.

Tales ... Of the Expected!
Fizzed by David Trudeau
Rating: 3 kitties
Maybe it was the late hour - we saw a 10:00 show. "Rumpelstiltskin" was good with good energy, and it could have well ended there because the next two tales went slowly downhill - the gags got further apart and the timing suffered.

Hogg and the Humors
Improv a dud by David Trudeau
Rating: 3 kitties
Jimmy did well and the written down stuff and dance was great and the guests were interesting but not even Mike Fotis could make the four humors come alive in the improv segments.

Blue Ribbon Burlesque
Energetic old fashioned burly-q by David Trudeau
Rating: 3 kitties
A little slow at times with blackouts to pick up the disrobings of the "Arteests," but it is as advertised. A sax in the band would be nice. I missed the cigar smoke. I sat in the third row next to another bald man.

Mansion of Dust
Cute but underworked by David Trudeau
Rating: 3 kitties
Good concept but not enough development - needs more interest in side plots. Characters good and well developed. Has a simple touching childishness which is appealing, but exhausts its meager plot in less than the 35 minutes it ran.

casebolt and smith: Speaking Out!
Too talky by David Trudeau
Rating: 3 kitties
I was disappointed that there was not more actual dance. The opening number was dynamite, and the closing number was interesting but over worked its concept. The talk got tedious in the middle two pieces, which seemed to me way too static.

The Tenth Muse
The Me Show by David Trudeau
Rating: 2 kitties
The songs were not interesting enough to sustain the hour. It seemed to me the story was mostly about Korenne, her setbacks in life, and her cleverness.

A Cynic Tells Love Stories
GLBT Anonymous? by David Trudeau
Rating: 2 kitties
While the writer/performer had some nice delivery and techniques, the autobiographical material was not interesting. Rather than using life experience as a springboard to create a good story, life experience is the story. Autobiographies are interesting when they are by really famous people. Self disclosure stories of struggles with sexual identities and relationships are really great in support groups, but not on stage.

Like a Virgin
adolescent sex is over-rated by David Trudeau
Rating: 2 kitties
I did look forward to seeing the wit and energy of Jimmy Hogg again, with all his Craig Fergusson charm, but it was the same old material delivered more frenetically and more diffusely focused than last year. My adolescent sexuality was awkward and embarassing (as I am sure yours was.) Now let's move on to something truly amusing.

Every Pastie* Tells A Story
theater stories by David Trudeau
Rating: 2 kitties
I felt like I was with an old friend telling theater stories and they went on and on and on... There is enough material here for 15 minutes. There is one good joke and it doesn't have an hours worth of amusement.