Minnesota Fringe Festival 2010

A fun musical comedy murder mystery for the whole family!

Man plans, and the Gods laugh. With the help of his sidekicks, a Greek Chorus with attitude, Eros thwarts the plans of his mother, Aphrodite, with mortals as pawns in this tuneful game. Who will fall in love, who will get their heart's desire, how many musical styles will be used, and who committed MURDER!





This World Premiere musical is set in ancient Greece. The show has many original songs composed by our music director Joan Fitch, one composed by Timm Holmly and original pre-show music by our accompanist Brian Keenan. There are some old songs with new lyrics. Musical styles include opera, jazz, ragtime, folk and of course show tunes. Our cast includes cabaret singers that have performed locally and around the country, actors who have performed with many theater companies in the Twin Cities and some talented young up and coming performers.

Victoria Valencour
Role: Hecuba
Playing the heroine Hecuba, aspiring courtesan, marks Victoria's second season at the Fringe Festival with New Breath Productions! She is thrilled to be part of such an amazing cast and crew. As a graduate of the University of Minnesota School of Music, Victoria has performed in such opera productions as The Tales of Hoffman, Don Giovanni, La Boheme and The Turn of the Screw. Recently Victoria performed the role of "Ms. Partlet" in The Sorcerer with the Gilbert and Sullivan Very Light Opera Company, "Holly" in Where Ego's Dare at the 2009 Minnesota Fringe Festival, "Aunt Melanie" in Casting Christmas with The Season's Players at Bunker Hills, and "Mama" in I Remember Mama with New Breath Productions. She hopes to continue her career in music within the Twin Cities and beyond...

Alex Sundvall
Role: Greek Chorus
Alex is an eighth grader and excited to be in his second Fringe Festival show with New Breath Productions! Alex's previous work also includes Falsettoland with Kenny Kiser Studios, Oliver! and I Remember Mama both with New Breath and The Grapes of Wrath with the Minnesota Opera. He recently performed a Beatles tribute at Minneapolis' Art-A-Whirl and played the role of Augustus Gloop in Willy Wonka Jr. at his Junior High School. Along with singing, Alex also enjoys playing piano, ornithology, Greek mythology (how appropriate!) and volunteering as a Junior Naturalist at Westwood Hills Nature Center. Alex has thoroughly enjoyed working on this production with all of the talented and inspiring performers and wishes to thank them for this great opportunity. He hopes there are many more to come!

Laurie Kemp
Role: Phryne - Producer
Laurie has been working with New Breath Productions since 2001. She is grateful to have had the opportunity to perform in various cabarets, musicals and non-musicals with a variety of companies in the Twin Cities. Favorite recent roles include Mrs. Medlock in The Secret Garden, Miss Lodge in Whistle Down the Wind, Domina in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Mother Abbess in The Sound of Music, the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet and Goddess/Mary in Invocation to Free Women. Laurie was most recently seen as Terra and Elizabeth in Nimbus Theatre's Emerald and the Love Song of the Dead Fishermen. Laurie is Managing Director for New Breath, and co-creator/producer of last year's Minnesota Fringe Festival show Where Egos Dare, The Musical.

Brian Keenan
Role: Khaos and Accompanist
Brian Keenan earned a degree in composition from the University of Colorado at Boulder. He has been a featured performer at ragtime festivals in Iowa, Indiana, Missouri, Colorado and California. He has also been accompanist in several Twin Cities community theatres for shows including Mame, Seven Brides For Seven Brothers, A Grand Night For Singing, Seussical, and My Fair Lady. His solo piano CD releases include Solo Piano, Hidden Falls, River Bluffs, and Traditions. He has also issued two sheet music folios of original works, River Country Piano Solos Vol. 1 and 2.

Joe Johnson
Role: Oedipus
Joe has been involved in theater in the Twin Cities for over 30 years in over 100 productions. He has performed with such theaters as: Chimera Theater (Cinderella, George M!), Glass Theater (Guys and Dolls, Damn Yankees!), Woodbury Community Theater (Fiddler on the Roof, The Fantasticks), Chameleon Theatre Circle (The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Children of Eden) The Guthrie Theatre (The Winter's Tale, Naga Mandala), The Minnesota Opera (Don Giovanni, La Traviata, Salome) and Oops Dinner Theater (The Night Karaoke Died, Not Another Class Reunion). For 20 years Joe has been an actor/writer/director for Duck Soup Players touring various senior citizen communities and hospitals. Joe is excited to be involved with New Breath Productions and the Fringe Festival once again.

Bryan Ineson
Role: Greek Chorus
This is Bryan's Fringe Festival debut. He has been doing theatre since the 5th grade and since then has done 19 shows in his the various schools he has attended. Bryan will be attending Anoka Ramsey Community College in the fall to pursue an AFA in acting. Bryan also likes long walks on the beach and romantic candle lit dinners. Bryan thanks the audience for attending our production and hopes you enjoy.

Timm Holmly
Role: Eros - Composer
Timm has been performing with New Breath for 5 years, and is happy to be back for more fun and frolic at the Fringe! Timm has been performing professionally for 30+ years as a singer & actor. He has recorded two solos CDs, national & regional commercial jingles, performed in numerous musical theatre productions & has written, produced and performed his own cabaret shows. Timm has worked at the Seasons Dinner Theatre at the Bunker Hills Country Club for over 10, and can be seen in their upcoming holiday production. Timm is thrilled to have been asked to write an original song for this production! Thanks to Chris and Laurie for the opportunity, to Joan for the musical mastery, and to Steven, for everything joyful.

Parker Genné
Role: Cassandra
Parker is a performer from Minneapolis. She enjoys singing while riding her bicycle around town and prefers to spend windy days on a sailboat. Parker loves to perform in theater, musical theater, opera and cabaret and has a crush on Cole Porter tunes. She is pleased as punch to be part of this wonderful production and would like to thank her family for their continued love.

Jonathan Flory
Role: Dave the Knave
Jonathan is pleased to be a part of a New Breath Production and the Fringe Festival for the first time this year. Since graduating from Drake University, Jonathan has performed with the Gilbert and Sullivan Very Light Opera Company, and as Mr. Sowerberry in Oliver with Lyric Arts. As a current member of both CORO! and DeCantus, Jonathan can also be found singing opera choruses and madrigals across the twin cities. Always the entertainer, Jonathan has also gone to the pit to play for productions at the Phipps Center for the Arts and with Concordia University. Jonathan would like to thank all of the talented people at New Breath for giving him yet another opportunity to entertain with song.

Abby Fields
Role: Greek Chorus
Abby, 15, will be a sophomore at South High in Minneapolis. This is her fourth season with New Breath Productions, beginning with a chorus part in "Oliver!," then as Johanna in "I Remember Mama." Last year, Abby was Penny in New Breath's Fringe Festival debut "Where Egos Dare." She also participated in the 2008 Fringe Festival production of "Snip, Snap, Snute" as Huldra, the troll changling. At South High, she performed in "Our Town" and played Sybil in "Private Lives." Abby also played sax in the South Jazz Band II and French horn in the concert band. She has sung with both the Metropolitan Choralaires and the Twin Cities Girls' Chorus. She is super excited to be with this cast in the Fringe Festival this year. Thank you for everything!

Maggiy Emery
Role: Greek Chorus
Maggiy Emery is thrilled to be a part of her first show with New Breath! She attends St Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists.

Erin Duffy
Role: Aphrodite
Erin is excited to be doing her second Fringe show and working with New Breath Productions again. Erin has also performed with Nautilus Music-Theatre in St. Paul, the Minnesota Orchestra, The Children's Theatre Company of Minneapolis, Minnesota Opera, Lyric Arts, Heritage Theater, Bloomington Civic Theatre, Theatre in the Round, and the Phipps Center for Performing Arts. Erin also performs cabaret and jazz. Her cabaret act has been seen around the Twin Cities, Atlantic City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, France and the Italian Riviera. She is a fellow of the 2003 and 2007 Cabaret Conference at Yale University and a founding member of the Twin Cities Cabaret Artists Network.

Joan Fitch
Role: Music Director, Composer, Arranger
Joan Fitch (Music Director, Composer) - This is Joan's fifth production with New Breath. Joan is a freelance pianist/music director in the Twin Cities. She has worked with Ashland Productions, Heritage, Lakeshore and Playhouse 15. Joan also music directs/accompanies for musicals at several high school and middle schools across the metro, as well as serving as staff accompanist for the Mahtomedi middle and high school choirs. Thanks to this talented cast and company. Much love to my husband, Gary, for all your support and putting up with the wacky schedule of a musician!

Shira Caldie
Role: Stage Manager
Shira is very excited to be stage managing her first show with New Breath Productions. She has studied acting at Caryn International and has been involved in the chorus and lighting crew for B' Nai Emet Youth plays. Shira has been playing the trumpet for 8 years. She has toured internationally with Minnesota Ambassadors of Music and with the St. Thomas Wind Ensemble. She is attending the University of Minnesota studying cinema and theatre arts. In the future, Shira plans to work in film/television production and also in theater production, hoping to be a set designer and/or lighting.

Chris Kemp
Role: Writer/Lyricist/Director
After last years Fringe success Where Egos Dare, Chris is excited to be back in the directors chair. Working with Joan and Timm and Timm in creating music and lyrics for this show has been especially fun. Chris has been on the other side of the director's chair, most recently in the Minnesota Opera's production of Solome. Other companies he has worked with include: Minnesota PerformDance; Rosetown Playhouse; and the Moundsview and Heritage Community Theaters. Thanks to the cast how have done a wonderful job in bringing the script to life. My biggest thank you goes to Laurie who continues think I am occasionally funny. Thank you for all your work on the project and for sharing your life with me. You still make me smile.

User reviews

Uninspired.
by Ryan Vanasse Follow this reviewer
Rating 2 kitties
I came to this show not knowing anything of it (even mistakenly thinking that it was about the classic Oedipus), and unfortunately it did not do anything to become a hidden success for me.

A show that seems to be aping Greek plays through a lens of Shakespeare, "Oedipus" falters out of the gate by not clearly explaining the setting and characters. It tries, but mixes them into some difficult-to-hear songs. Once I finally did start to understand what the basic plot of this was going to be (it seemed to switch several times--annoying), I found it difficult to care about what any of the characters were trying to do, or even to understand what they did. Why did Eros free the chorus? Why does it matter that Cassandra doesn't want to be a courtesan? etc.

The music was all right, though not impressive, and the "classic public domain tune with new lyrics" trope is a bit unfortunate.

It's too bad that this had to be at Theater in the Round, as the "in the Round" didn't help the singing, and some of the sightlines as well (Don't put the chorus standing on pedestals when the rest of the cast is in the center).

I feel like it's really difficult to put on a greek-themed show at fringe. You have to overcome a lot to get your audience to accept the different world in less than an hour, and unfortunately, "Oedipus Rocks" was not able to overcome these obstacles to produce an engaging show.

Grab bag
by Fringivitis Vulgaris Follow this reviewer
Rating 2 kitties
Greek tales, Roman tales, Shakespeare, and repurposed tunes get tossed into a trail mix of musical theater. Aphrodite and Eros are played by middle-aged singers who affect Brit-sounding delivery. The Chorus is a group of 4 young adults who can harmonize well. Eros's main talent seems to be an oversized cape swirl. The rhymes in the songs are acutely painful in many cases. The brightest spot is the talented keyboard player.

Clever!
by Ed R Follow this reviewer
Rating 4 kitties
Attended this play totally blind - e.g. did zero research beforehand with this play - and was pleasantly surprised.

This musical has great music, vocals and I found the play to be clever and entertaining. All the cast members sing beautifully - and the "chorus" was perfectly entertaining.

Well done.

Sweet, but not spectacular
by Missie Kittok Follow this reviewer
Rating 3 kitties
The singing in this show is very good; the songs are okay. The acting is good; the script reads a bit like a high school project. I really, really could have done without the approximately 500 anachronism jokes (by which I mean that the joke was purely that it was anachronistic, with no other reason for being in the play).

Fun and great music
by Maggie Passmore Follow this reviewer
Rating 5 kitties
A fun show with an all around great cast -- particularly nice voices, and impressive original score.

Greece is the Word
by Joe Stuntebeck Follow this reviewer
Rating 5 kitties
A very pleasant romp set in ancient Greece that starts slowly and builds to a crescendo.A musical highlight are songs by the actress who plays Hecuba, who has a voice that projects not only to the back row, but throughout the West Bank. Especially fun, however, is the creative and understated sophicated use of the Greek Chorus, four youth that mostly stay in the background and sometimes mug for the audience and occasionally make fun of the adults in the cast. Definitely one to see before the end of the festival.

Good musical comedy/murder mystery
by Pat Lindgren Follow this reviewer
Rating 5 kitties
I have played murder mysteries for years and love the genre. This was great fun too. And the quality of the musical productions is also top notch with this company. It was campy and great fun!

Beyond the Title...
by Patrick Pfundstein Follow this reviewer
Rating 3 kitties
...there was a lot of talent on display in Oedipus Rocks. Several of the actors carry outstanding singing voices, and the younger players were outstanding (loved the Chorus). Some of the original songs and music were really good (with murder song rhymes like "inter" it was my kind of humor). The show drops a couple kitties though, because the title is totally misleading; there is a Greek named Oedipus in it, but not THE Oedipus, and there really isn't anything rock about the show. Plus the new play gets off to a slow start establishing premise (which it wouldn't have to do if it hadn't staked a different premise in the title), and the ending was a bit muddled as well. Still, a fun effort and worth seeing!

Seriously fun theatre!!
by Steven Filler Follow this reviewer
Rating 5 kitties
I saw the first showing of Oedipus Rocks! and it ROCKED! Great show, really great cast. It's wonderful to see people on stage that are having as much fun as the show itself. The show is well written, the musical numbers are well crafted even when borrowing from other selections. It puts things into perspective and makes you stop and think.... Hmmmm, what if.... See the show. The cape alone is worth more than the price of admission. ;-) Bravo!!

Oedipus Rocks
by Steve Garrigan Follow this reviewer
Rating 2 kitties
The concept is truly creative! However, the execution leaves much to be desired. In my opinion the cast was often mismtached - Who thinks of Eros as a large, bald man? Perhaps a smallish, boyish man might have worked better. Hopefully the pacing will get tighter as the show continues its run. Hecuba's voice was amazing and while Aphrodite's was also beautiful, she doesn't have the power of projection needed for a space as large as Theatre in the Round. There were some great lines particularly referening Shakespeare in the future.

Truly silly and light-hearted
by William Beeman Follow this reviewer
Rating 4 kitties
OK, New Breath Productions structures its productions to combine young performers "in training" with more seasoned professionals. These are their ground rules, which I absolutely applaud. It means, however that there is some unevenness in the cast of this show. However, the show itself is fast paced and relentlessly silly (in a good way) with verbal puns, musical puns, groaning references to Shakespeare, Gilbert and Zullivan, Zeno's paradox (!), Cole Porter and a murder mystery with dinner-theater audience feedback to find the perpetrator. It is a bit like Offenbach meets Noises Off. About halfway through I realized that I had forgotten about the creakiness of the performances and was thoroughly enjoying the romp. This is not the classic Oedipus story, but a fantasy with a thin story and all that hilarity. Almost anyone will enjoy it.

It was funny
by Sarah Kemp Follow this reviewer
Rating 5 kitties
I enjoyed myself and I thought it was funny. It keeps you guessing all the way through. If you enjoy mystery and murder than you will enjoy this show.

I wanted to like this show, but...
by Sharon Kahn Follow this reviewer
Rating 2 kitties
I feel a little mean writing this, but this show just isn't very good. The first thing you notice is how amateurish the cast is - but a glance at the program explains that the company is a mixture of experienced performers and beginners - sort of a theater workshop project.

Okay, I'm now prepared to cut some slack to the singers who can't project and respect the fact that they all remembered their lines. It might have worked with better writing. But the story makes no sense, the humor is juvenile, and the lyrics strain desperately to rhyme and scan with lines like "I am old with age."

On the plus side, it's obvious that a lot of work went into blocking the play to work well in the theater-in-the-round space, and everybody delivered their lines smoothly. The musical numbers had good tunes (as they should, since most were "borrowed" from well-known songs) and the kids in the chorus harmonized well, even if they were a little hard to hear.

Incidentally, this play is NOT a musical version of Oedipus Rex, as one might assume. It's a silly farce about Greek gods (who for some reason are obsessed with Shakespeare) meddling in the affairs of mortals.

It is completely kid-safe. In fact, this could be quite a good show for kids, especially ones with an interest in the theater who will enjoy the role of the junior-high-aged chorus.

Oedipus Means Well
by Andrew Fafoutakis Follow this reviewer
Rating 2 kitties
Shame on me for thinking of a different Oedipus and hoping this was a rock musical. Chris Kemp gathers a group of talented singers with some lovely music, but some of the tunes crib from well known songs. A whodunnit where we really do not get to know the characters to care much. The script could use some work with gags relying too heavily on plays on titles of Shakespeare works. Certainly an interesting premise that could use some re-tooling as well as pulling back on the use of the chorus which could at times be distracting. Costuming was well done as well as use of the stage with only a few sight-line problems.

Oedipus does rock!
by joey Sundvall Follow this reviewer
Rating 5 kitties
Really good show....the chorus was mischevious and fun! Should definately see if you like Greek mythology...even if you don't!