Minnesota Fringe Festival 2010

In a post-apocalyptic wasteland, a desperate loner stumbles upon a tribe of robots programmed to recreate American musical theatre in an attempt to save humanity. As he learns their familiar ways, things take a turn for the deadly. . .

Or is it 'daid'-ly?

And why do they keep calling him Jud? and what's all this talk about a box social?

Are these musical androids pursuing the American dream, or are they intent on destroying the last of civilization?

Find out in ROBO-homa! A Territory Tale with a Technological Twist.


END OF SHOW DESCRIPTION

Pictured: The Peddler (Charles Hubbell) offers Laurie (Jane Samsal) some of his new liquid programs.

Check out our exclusive interview with Joshua Humphrey!

Get updates and new content about ROBO-homa! on your facebook feed!

Mark Sweeney
Role: Producer/ Book Lyrics Music
Mark has spent past Fringe Festivals with Perpetual Motion Theatre Company in such shows as "Common Frequency" and "The Depth of the Ocean". He hopes to spend future Fringe Festivals teaching robots to perform classic musical theatre. Only then will his plan will be complete.

Megan Kelly Hubbell
Role: Producer/ Choreographer
Megan was most recently seen as Shelley Gibson, Urleen, and Ariel in The New Chanhassen Dinner Theatre's production of Footloose. Along with working on camera, directing, choreographing, and in voiceoer, she also knows three recipes in the crockpot and makes really good toast.

Phil Gonzales
Role: Director/ Book and Lyrics
Phil has written for and performed in the Fringe shows
"Monsters in America" and "Death Penalty Puppetry." He spends his days
at the Brain Injury Association of Minnesota and loves pie.

Amelia English
Role: Movement Coach
Amelia moves all the time; teaching SpongeBob how to do the bubble dance at Mall of America or wiggling on stage with the likes of Live Action Set, Red Eye, Bedlam and her dance crew-Inimitable Feets. She has been part of the local theater scene for the past 15 years and accidentally won an Ivey Award once.

Jane Samsal
Role: Laurey
After a performance featuring only her arm in last year's Fringe production of Goodnight Andy, Jane is excited to be fully visible, although not fully human, in this year's Fringe.

Michael Lee
Role: Jud

Charles Hubbell
Role: The Peddler
Charles has appeared on stage in History of the Devil, Macbeth, Marat/Sade, We Gotta Bingo! Titus Andronicus, Hamlet, The Mystery of Irma Vepp and Enchanted April. Films and Shorts include The Midnight Chronicles, The Nihilist, Planetfall, Fall Into Me and War Propheteer. www.charles-hubbell.com

Jack Kloppenborg
Role: Curl E
Jack is excited to be returning to the Fringe Festival for his second year after NEEDS WANTS DESIRES last year. Check him out at www.jackckloppenborg.5u.com

Claire Richards
Role: Ado Android
Claire is excited to be playing a robot! She has worked in children's theatre, improv, Shakespearean theatre but has never played an android!

Jay Melchior
Role: W.I.L.L
Jay is performing in his personal best, fourth fringe fest! He enjoys doing theatre, especially silly, obscure, local theatre like "Google:The Musical" and "Hamluke". Watch Jay and his family tell stories & sing songs at the Bryant Lake Bowl in a few weeks in Good Ol' Variety show!

Rachael Schlee
Role: L.R.
Rachael was born a month and a half pre-mature. She's been an early riser ever since.

Izzy Waid
Role: IKE
Izzy is a founding member of American Candy Bar, and has also seen several plays. As always, he thanks his friends and family for their continued support and discretion.

Lisa Bol
Role: Carnes
Robo-Homa marks Lisa's 6th Fringe Festival production and she couldn't be happier to add Robot to her resume! For more info on her other productions as well as her thoughts on what's hip at the fringe, check out www.lisaannbol.com .

Molly Pan
Role: Ger-T
Molly is a newcomer to the Minneapolis theater scene and very excited to work with Rewired Theater this year. She would like to give a shoutout to her mother as well as articulate ardently how awesome robots are.

Elana Gravitz
Role: Viv.E.N
Elana has been seen on the Fringe stage in such productions as Monsters in America and The Jury Musical. She's been in a lot of other shows too, but we don't need to talk about them because they weren't for Fringe.

Kelsey Eide
Role: Lil.E
Kelsey is a student at the U of M majoring in Religious Studies, she recently moved to the Twin Cities from Lincoln, Nebraska. In the past she has performed with Eden Prairie Players and is so excited to work with a fun new group of people and to perform at the Fringe!

User reviews

A clever reworking with a twist
by Anissa Lubbers Follow this reviewer
Rating 4 kitties
I really enjoyed this as the musical Oklahoma has been so overdone over the past years. This took the basic characters and premise but tweaked it in enough of a way to leave you wondering what would happen next. It was very fun for OK buffs as there were many inside jokes that someone not as aquainted with the show would likely miss.
The music was a little weak (I don't think I can forgive them for that annoying "Everything's up to date" ditty they kept repeating again and again) but the lyrics were very clever (especially "People Will Say We Can Love), and the choreography also worked well.
I was very impressed by the two actors we played "Judd" and the "Peddler."

I very much enjoyed this show and I hope others will use it as a guideline of how to have fun with classics, for future Festivals.

ROBO-homa
by Pat Sukhum Follow this reviewer
Rating 5 kitties
Interesting concept with an eeire cool execution. Thanks!

When life hands you Robo-Homa...
by Jordan Ward Follow this reviewer
Rating 3 kitties
Worth killing an hour of time over.

Michael Lee brought to the stage a blatantly obvious talent and character form fitting physicality to his role distunguishing himself head and shoulders above the rest of the cast. There with him as the second obvious standout in talent was Charles Hubbel as the Peddler. The two seemed to make a show within their own dialogue that yearned to rise above the medium of Robo-Homa through shear will of acting.

Jane Samsel as Laurey brought elements of great stage movement and a real warmth of connection to the audience yet it could only play poorly off the looming presence of pretentiousness from Jack Kloppenborg as Curly.

Too much depended on knowledge of the underlying subject matter (oklahoma). The production straddled the purgatory between quality theater and glorious trash.

It could have been so much more
by Publius McGee Follow this reviewer
Rating 3 kitties
Interesting concept, mediocre execution. If I ever hear "everything's up to date" again I'll stab my eyes out.

Also, the variety of style and substance of the robot make-up really bothered me.

See it if you have absolutely nothing better to do.

OOOOOHHH-MG
by ADAM KING Follow this reviewer
Rating 4 kitties
I fell into going to the show when my time opened up. What a pleasant experience. This is what the Fringe is about. Forget the nit-picking...this show delivered. Great concept, and the presentation was fun. Special Kudos to Michael Lee, Charles Hubbell, and Jane Samsal. If you missed this one, hope for a remount.

Robots
by Collin McAninch Follow this reviewer
Rating 4 kitties
This is a well acted show with a metalic twist (ok they weren't really metal) but
with the make up & the acting I believed
that yes they were ROBOTS. The singing
was good and the story was well told. If
you saw this one your time was well spent!

A solid satire.
by Nick Decker Follow this reviewer
Rating 4 kitties
The sci-fi fan in me couldn’t pass this up. A robot apocalypse? And a comedy? Every year there seems to be a show tailored to my tastes, and this sounded like it.

This show may have fallen flat were it not for my basic knowledge of the musical “Oklahoma!” Many in-jokes, and the climax, hinged on knowing the characters and plot parodied here.

I thoroughly enjoyed the songs, best described as Rogers & Hammerstein-meets-Kraftwerk. I liked this show perhaps in spite of its ties to “Oklahoma!”, as I just wanted to see a show about the robot apocalypse, and I got my wish.

Worth seeing
by Follow this reviewer
Rating 3 kitties
I went into this show after hearing very positive word of mouth suggestions to see it. The idea is a brilliant fringe concept (the title alone guarantees an audience) and the story is very funny. While I felt the performers gave it a very nice go, it seemed underrehearsed and a bit slow on comedic timing (I'm not sure if that was because of performance or direction). Dance sequences of the robots were very funny, but the music became monotonous in my humble opinion. The performances I enjoyed most were those of Michael Lee and Charles Hubbell as the only actual humans. I WANTED to love the Ado Android character (there was SO much opportunity to do something fantastic with her and I kept waiting for an amazing song and dance number) but Claire Richards wasn't given the opportunity to truly shine with the script and the "Girl Who Can't Say No" spoof seemed short and subtle. I recommend seeing it, (Like I said I think it's a hilarious concept.) though it hasn't been my favorite fringe show this year.

Fun show even for a novice
by Lee Geoge Follow this reviewer
Rating 4 kitties
Even for someone who has never seen Oklahoma, or listened to the music over and over again, and only experienced its impact through cultural references, Robo-homa was a delight. The show was fun and upbeat. The script made good use of time and kept the audience moving along with the story. The lyrics were catchy, I and the others I was with found ourselves singing the songs as we walked back to our car. Only suggestion.... record release!

Fun and obtuse
by Ron Weber Follow this reviewer
Rating 3 kitties
Not really my cup of tea but I admire the effort.

Singing Robots
by Ben Thietje Follow this reviewer
Rating 4 kitties
I'd imagine it's pretty tough to do a Fringe musical in that humongous space. It can be tough to hear from time to time, but the cast/crew did a fine job. The concept is super-cool and Michael Lee was great, per usual.

Fun and well done.
by S. Michael Follow this reviewer
Rating 5 kitties
This show lives up to what it says it is.... robots and Oklahoma... without taking itself too seriously but maintaining a terrific energy throughout the show. It is a great concept and the cast really sells the idea. The lyrics are clever and even if you haven't seen or been apart of Oklahoma, the plot is interesting and the performances are very solid.The ensemble boasts great comedic timing and vocal strength. Find the time to see it this weekend. You won't be disappointed.

No.
by m. freiert Follow this reviewer
Rating 2 kitties
A lone human survivor is stumbled upon by a robot search party from an enclave of robots who are striving to recreate humanity through all they know of it, gleaned from a partial script of Oklahoma.

This is a brilliant concept that just never gets off the ground. Instead of using satire coverage for the original score, adequate original music alludes to Oklahoma, but doesn't compare.

The cast does what they can with this, but the script started to drag early on. Several good actors and singers unfortunately do not complete the possibly larger than necessary cast.

The recorded accompaniment stays at one volume irrelevant of if it's a solo or group number, alternately drowning them out or being appropriate.

If this consisted of the score with new lyrics truncated down to a few verses of key songs to hit on the clever story line, it would be well worth production. As it is, don't bother.

yes, turn down the accompaniment
by Kathy Ahlers Follow this reviewer
Rating 4 kitties
Fun show, well put together! Again, the one flaw, which can be corrected, would be to turn down the accompaniment--lyrics are routinely drowned out.

Silly fun
by Pat Lindgren Follow this reviewer
Rating 5 kitties
The premise was hilarious, the very large caste was excellent, the singing was likewise excellent. It was great fun and seemed like a fuller length production than most other Fringe shows - but it wasn't. There was just a lot packed into that hour; but it was still just one compact story. This would be a good show for kids (there are two Road Runner type deaths in it).

Public Service Announcement
by Sharon Kahn Follow this reviewer
Rating 4 kitties
Rewired Theater Company, are you reading this? If so, PLEASE TURN DOWN THE VOLUME ON THE MUSICAL ACCOMPANIMENT - IT IS DROWNING OUT THE SINGERS. I saw the show on Saturday, and sitting in the center of the 3rd row I could just barely make out the words to some of the songs over that loudly plinking piano.

Other than that, the show was delightful. Probably best if you have heard the soundtrack to "Oklahoma" so many times that you pretty much have it memorized, but I think it would stand on its own for people with only a passing familiarity with the original. There's a pretty decent little science fiction plot, lots of energy, and a standout performance by the guy that plays "Jud" as a study in manly confusion.

A good Twist, yes, but it can go further
by Derek Miller Follow this reviewer
Rating 4 kitties
Odds are, you have had an experience with the musical Oklahoma! The show was so revolutionary at the time it debuted in 1943 that the Pulitzer Prize committee created a special award just to honor it.

Of course, we don’t think of it as being so revolutionary today, because it’s been done to death by every high school and community theatre in existence. So, I was very happy to see this re-interpretation of the show come to life.

This is the concept that got me interested: in a post-apocalyptic future, a group of androids seeks to recreate humanity by restoring Oklahoma! The problem is that they don’t have the complete book or score, and they fail to understand the difference between fact and fiction. The few humans that are left in the world are either horribly mutated or hiding out in the cracks of a devastated world, while a sad parody of classic American musical theatre goes on in perpetuity in their midst.

That’s a pretty awesome concept, if you ask me.

ROBO-homa! is not really a parody of the original musical. It is very funny at points (because, honestly, killer androids rewired to endlessly re-enact portions of Oklahoma! is too weird a concept to take entirely seriously), but it is obvious that Mark Sweeney and Phil Gonzalez (the co-writers) have an affinity for the source text. You will not find the original music from the show (which would be a copyright nightmare, anyway), but fans of the original musical will appreciate the passing nods to Rodgers and Hammerstein found in the middle of tech-speak lyrics the robots bandy about in their songs.

Michael Lee and Charles Hubbell both give excellent performances as the only real humans in the show. Hubbell’s version of the Peddler has a twitchy, manic mad scientist twist to it, which he plays to the hilt. Lee plays a poor wasteland dweller forcibly drafted to fulfill the role of Jud (who, of course, dies at the end of Oklahoma!). His understated performance of a weary, cynical and shrewd survivor offers the audience a great contrast to the shiny, happy artifice the robots attempt to present. The 'Peddler' and 'Jud' both know more (or sometimes less) than they let on, and their individual survival schemes in this strange situation says a lot about the human condition.

In fact, the show works best when Lee or Hubbell (or, even better, both of them) are on stage. The robots masquerading as Will, Curly, Laurie, et al, are interesting in a theoretical concept, but, alone, without a human to comment or react to their behavior, they begin to seem too plastic, too simplistic or too alien to identify with. The large group scenes of the robot performers only began to slide into some of the classic musical theater staging traps, and in some stretches the momentum of the show lags where it should be driving forward.

There are a lot of good ideas floating around in the show, but not all of them are refined yet. The new score has an interesting balance between classical R&H arrangement and stabs of digital techno, but it could stand to have some more development to give it a more complexity and depth. Megan Kelley Hubbell’s choreography is good, but some really cool ideas—like a group dance in a dream sequence performed by the robots and lit only with cold blue LEDs attached to safety goggles—don’t get as much stage time to develop as they need. And there is more depth yet to be explored in Laurie, the only robot that can dream and experience emotions like a human being.

In all, I would say this is a good start toward making a very good, very clever deconstruction of a piece of classic American musical theatre. I hope that it will see the light of day again with even better results. As it stands now, it is a fun, enjoyable piece with good singing and good dancing, and it will help ease the psychic scarring you have no doubt incurred by being forced to watch that awful production of Oklahoma! your high school did all those years ago.

A good spoof, for sure.
by MaryLynn Mennicke Follow this reviewer
Rating 4 kitties
This review is coming late as I saw the show Friday night. I enjoyed the show very much. Charles Hubbell as the eccentric "peddler" and Michael Lee as the deadpan "Jud" are solid, smart actors in any play, and with such a silly, fringe-y premise as this, the production is served by their talents all the more.

Other actors, who all play robots, are great singers and dancers as well--their fun lies in their contrast of spoofing cheesy musical theatre, while being robots in a near-apocalyptic world. (Psst, nerd comment: as a big Star Trek: The Next Generation fan, I couldn't help but compare these characters to Data, since they are robots who want to be more human.)

I'm extremely familiar with OKLAHOMA!, so I understood every reference and joke very easily. If I had never seen the show, I don't know if I'd get those jokes, but the premise is absurd enough that you probably don't need to have see the musical.

I also tip my hat to choreographer Megan Kelly Hubbell, who did a great job fusing square dancing with robot moves. Very fun.

The music in this show is nothing gorgeous or striking--most of it takes fractions of songs from Oklahoma and then is stuck with repeating those fractions. However, this fits with the point and plot of the show--that these robots have only been able to download bits and pieces of the musical, and they're, well, robots. The most fun musical reference to the show was the final song which spoofs the classic "Oklahoma" finale.

Anyway, all in all, a very fun show. Congrats to the cast, writer, and crew!

Sit down front and enjoy!
by Carla Mantel Follow this reviewer
Rating 4 kitties
A solid, fun musical. May be hard to follow if you don't know the basic storyline of Oklahoma, but a quick trip to google should be enough of a reminder for the rusty.

Sit down front, though. While the projection is good, some of the action that goes on upstage gets a bit swollowed by the arch.

Mixed
by Karen Thiel Follow this reviewer
Rating 4 kitties
Our family of 3 attended the performance last night. Our daughter, 16 and a musical theater performer, enjoyed the performabnce the most. For me, the production seemed to bog mid show - I think one of the songs or singers needed to stand out a bit more either by vocal range or by tempo/style. Sorry, but Dad needed more silliness or a great appreciation of musical theater to enjoy this production.

A Cure for the Common Musical
by Peter Erickson Follow this reviewer
Rating 5 kitties
Seen Oklahoma! way too many times? This may be the antidote. Robots attempt to recreate the world in fragments of Rodgers and Hammerstein. Original song, dance, and laughs--all well done.

Brilliant
by Bill McTeer Follow this reviewer
Rating 5 kitties
The payoff for a theatergoer happens in unexpected gems. This show is a delightful confection in which cowboy robots try to work out how to live their lives based on fragments from a famous musical. It isn't deep, but it isn't shallow, either. The cast is great, the songs are neat, the situation is bizarre, and the stage tech is perfect. In short, it's a lot of fun. Yeehaw, y'all!

Asimov vs Rog/Hammer
by Patrick Pfundstein Follow this reviewer
Rating 4 kitties
"No Robot Shall Harm a Human" comes in direct conflict with the Oklahoma script that rules a post-apocalyptic robot world, when a human is forcibly cast as Jud (who ends up daid in the script). There are definitely times I felt the script was coasting more on concept-cred than substance, but the singing, energy and really (stealthily) effective movement make the show a winner.

Music Is Protocol
by Dave Romm Follow this reviewer
Rating 4 kitties
As science fiction, the concept is a bit iffy. As a fun spoof of Oklahoma involving post-apocalyptic robots and the dregs of humanity, it works fairly well. The music is not from the Broadway show, which gets in the way only a little. Rounded up to four stars for a decent conclusion to a silly comcept. A Shockwave Radio Theater Review.

Longer reviews with pictures at Baron Dave's LiveJournal and snarky comments on Facebook.

Much more than "OK"
by Dan Pinkerton Follow this reviewer
Rating 5 kitties
Look, this show didn't have to be brilliant. The setup is so perfectly Fringey --- robots perform OKLAHOMA! in a postapocalyptic world --- that it could pull in a lot of people if the execution were only "OK" (pun intended).

The execution is a hell of a lot better than that. The music is all original, with deft, witty references (musically and lyrically) to the original OKLAHOMA! The book is a nice combination of suspenseful and funny, though not perfect; it stumbles when it has nearly reached the perfect ending and settles for a somewhat weaker (and less meaningful) one. But it's still strong material.

The large cast performed the hell out of the material, though I would like to give a little extra praise to Michael Lee as Jud, Jane Samsal as Laurie, and Charles Hubbell as the Peddler. Extra nod to Megan Kelly Hubbell's choreography AND the cast's execution of it.

Highly, highly recommended.

A wonderful surprise
by Darlene Arnold Follow this reviewer
Rating 4 kitties
Saw this as a "filler." Better than many I had chosen as "must sees." Clever spoof. Proscenium stage does make it hard to hear, though.

A nice change of pace...
by Chase McCants Follow this reviewer
Rating 4 kitties
I picked this show because I wanted something different than the one-man-shows that I'd seemed to pick up until that point. Indeed, this show was a last minute switch.

To get to the point, I really enjoyed the performance. There was some strong voices in the cast and some really creative choices. I liked the fact that they kept the instrumentals to a minimum as to not out do the voices on stage. Still, the music would often drown out the actors on stage, especially when they sang in their lower register and I was pretty close to the stage. But I understood most parts and enjoyed the show even when I couldn't hear specific parts

The cast did an awesome job and the story was hilarious.

A delightful and witty spoof
by Hazen Markoe Follow this reviewer
Rating 4 kitties
Set in a post-apocalyptic era, "ROBO-homa" tells the tale of a wanderer who gets roped...quite literally.... into a town of daft robots who are determined to relive the events of the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical "Oklahoma." Forced into the villainous role of Jud, he tries to find answers with only a sinister peddler knowing the true secret behind the robotic chaos. Fast paced, with clever lyrics and smart dialogue, this is a charming entry in this year's Fringe. A strong cast led by Charles Hubbell's peddler and Michael Lee's Jud do a solid job with the wry libretto and score. The only thing that prevents this show from getting a 5 kitty rating is the fact that it was hard to hear and understand some of the singers in the large proscenium stage. That aside, this was a fun production and it is definitely a show that I recommend heartily.

What Good Fringe Should Be!
by Andrew Fafoutakis Follow this reviewer
Rating 5 kitties
A slick, clever, and unique production. Make some room on your Fringe schedule for this show. A must-see. This is what good Fringe is all about. Here we have a talented cast with cool music, great staging, and a nice twist on an old-classic. Even better is that this cast can sing and sing well! I hope to see more from this talented cast and crew in the near future. No pun intended.

my first unqualified recommendation
by Dave Stagner Follow this reviewer
Rating 5 kitties
Imagine, if you will, an army of killer robots in a post-apocalyptic wasteland trying to perform "Oklahoma!" from an incomplete script. Now, imagine the last two humans trying to not get killed by the clearly confused robots.

Now, imagine this being done REALLY REALLY WELL.

A fine fringeworthy script, superb performances by a cast well-versed in both musicals and Fringe silliness, and unusually good production values for a Fringe show, all adds up to a perfect little theatrical treat.

I'd also like to single out Jane Samsel as Laurie, whose marvelous singing and acting brought some real warmth and emotion to, well, a merciless killing machine. Acting like that is what separates the great shows from the merely good ones.