Fringe Round-up 08/07/2013 - 6:08pm

Editorial
We’re more than midway through Fringe, if you can believe that. With closing weekend rapidly approaching, plenty of fest-goers are looking for guidance on what to see in these precious final days. Here are a few blurbs culled from our bloggers’ extensive journeys through the Fringe-verse for inspiration. We think our folks know their stuff, but keep in mind that your mileage may vary. APPEARING LIVE! Magician Derek Hughes has been perfecting his skills for over 30 years and it shows. Or rather it doesn’t show at all. – Paul de Cordova Apocalypse Clown! A sweet little show that made me forget that stuffed toy clown in Poltergeist. – Paul de Cordova Bidgood to BidGREAT: Bumps and Blunders on the Boulevard to Brilliance I couldn’t ask for a better start to the Fringe. It’s a charming show with a warm friendly audience. I walk out feeling part of something. – Paul de Cordova Comedy vs. Calories: FIGHT! An appropriately energetic, charmingly ragged production that captured the spirit of opening night. – Ira Brooker Dear Madde As she sings scripted songs and letters, she occasionally dips into the audience's submissions for in-the-moment-improv genius. – Dawn Brodey Elysium Blues This made my soul sing. Stunning vocalists with effortless emotion, careful treatment of the abyss of domestic violence, and representations of the dangerous beauty and unsung heroism of stories we tell our children. – Lisa Hu Elysium Blues sent up the standard in a thoughtful and sharp way, and as an overall concept, it was bomb. – Kenna Cottman Expiration Date Expiration Date was great. Full and interesting and well-performed... – Dawn Brodey A great start to my fringe. – Joshua Humphrey The Final Act I feel this Elizabethan Noir tale is Tedious Brief’s best work, and if you're a fan of Marlowe and the hard-boiled genre, this will hit you in your sweet spot. – Joshua Humphrey Four Humors’ Lolita: A Three-Man Show Beneath its slapsticky surface, this play had plenty to say about art, pop culture, hell, even American society in general. – Ira Brooker A Gentle Spirit The show, to be fair, is exactly what people who like Dostoyevsky are looking for. Long (one hour became four, don’t know how), slow, dark, painful, and meandering. – Dawn Brodey Get Ready for the Vagina Fairy Performer Rebecca Kling literally bared it all - allowing us to see her nakedness; acknowledging the ways it may intrigue and repulse us. – Dawn Brodey This is a strong and uncommonly informative work, in part because, as Rebecca herself acknowledges, while most of us have heard of transgendered people, very few of us have first hand experience with them. I was fascinated, entertained and enlightened. – Paul de Cordova Gray Matter So here’s my schlubby, middle-aged, theatre trained self giving you a quick opinion of what I saw. It was pretty darn good. I think. – Paul de Cordova Hello Stranger It was uncomfortable, it was organic, it was fun. This show will make you smile and appreciate the ritual of entering an audience to create something new in 60 minutes. Shouldn’t all theater do something of the sort? – Lisa Hu I Make No Promises, But Someone’s Probably Going to Die A new-fashioned laugh riot. Absurd and sharp and strange. – Paul de Cordova Imagination Island: Surviving Reality Her journey is harrowing and grim and ultimately redemptive. And once again, the power of professionalism in the Twin Cities theater community is triumphant. – Paul de Cordova Katharina Von Bora I don’t want to talk about that show. And I don’t have to. – Dawn Brodey The Legend of White Woman Creek In addition to having a fantastic performance from Katie Hartman, it had some of the best lighting choices I've seen this Fringe, accentuating mood and performance while never being distracting. – Joshua Humphrey Men Will Be Boys An examination of male gender roles in our society requires direct looks at misogyny, and some might not be willing to go there. But I hope you do. I really do. – Joshua Humphrey Paper Training the Playground Cataholics The actors showed quite a bit of range from scene-to-scene, and therefore were doing their jobs as performers and acting. But while the show was hitting with other people in the audience, it just wasn't hitting with me. - Joshua Humphrey Private School Where was the real effort to support and develop the timid, silenced voice at the heart of this show? With an audience like this one at the Fringe, I wanted more honesty. - Lisa Hu Random Acts of BODYTALK This was movement as an expression of joy, choreographed and directed with an eye for arresting imagery. – Ira Brooker Standing on the Hollow As the full house was exiting the theater, I was still searching for a way to describe what I had just seen: '...like an emotional seizure...' No. '...made me feel sympathy-breathiness...' No, Dawn, dumb. – Dawn Brodey Teenage Misery: A Horror Musical Not only were the characters and jokes relatable and largely well-timed through the work of director Callie Meiners, these pieces I wanted to dislike all worked. - Lisa Hu The Television Will Not Be Revolutionized It’s sort of like someone adapted your buddy who’s always talking about moving to Portland’s 2012 Facebook feed into a stage production. - Ira Brooker They Called Her Captain Walking into the theater I see the set and understand that I’m in the hands of professionals. The whole package knocks the audience out. – Paul de Cordova Tizi Ouzo Made me forgive myself for not knowing shit about North Africa and just enjoy the way that people everywhere are obsessed with finding a partner. – Paul de Cordova Unknown Matters Whether or not you like it or even get it (and I’m not sure how much those two things impact each other), Unknown Matters’ themes of exploration, personal connection and the mysteries of outer space work wonderfully as a prelude to the evening sky. – Ira Brooker Yelling at Bananas in Whole Foods It reincarnated '90s infomercial queen Susan Powter and made me feel guilty about how much junk I eat. So much so that I decamped immediately to Pizza Luce for a couple of slices a coke and a brownie. – Paul de Cordova
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