Minnesota Fringe – Day 3 Round Up

Saturday

I decide to mix it up and use Lime to get from place to place today. Mostly because I have a pair of flowy pants that I feel like wearing and I’m not trying to get them caught in the chain of my bicycle. When I score a scooter, it’s nice to stand between the shows. When I score a bicycle, I always kick myself for not checking to see if you can adjust the seat (I’m sure you can) because most Lime riders in our city are significantly smaller than I am.

Juliet & Juliet, my 10 PM show for the night, almost gets kicked off the roster when my partner texts me, panicking about the incoming storm, but I figure it might blow over by the time the show is over. I cautiously pedal a Lime from Open Eye Theatre to Theatre in the Round. I get there with time to spare, slam a glass of pinot grigio (my first drink of the festival!), run into a few people I met the day before, and spend the next hour fully immersed in Shakespearean improv.

What a day.

Beanie Baby Divorce Play (Open Eye Theatre)

Beanie Baby Divorce Play is the story of a family torn asunder by Beanie Babies, narrated by a somehow affable CEO and billionaire. With a snifter of scotch in his left hand and a children’s book in his right, this man spins a tale that starts in divorce court before moving to a much more haunting realm.

This is fun, weird play that is perfectly paced and littered with nostalgic references to favorite ’90s snacks, books, toys, and more. The design – set, props, and costumes alike – are all amazing. A couple of my favorites include a surprisingly intricate tower of Beanie Babies and the horrifying Beanie Thing – a white puff ball with polar bear beanies nestled deep in its furry body.

This is billed as including LGTBQIA+ content, which I’m assuming is the singular “drag” performance, in which Timothy Kelly appears as an anthropomorphized “Princess” – the commemorative Princess Diana bear. It’s not exactly drag – Kelly is singing, not lip syncing, but it’s definitely a man belting a ballad in a stunning lavender dress, some cute little bear ears, and a sparkly tiara. Yes, this song on its own is worth the ticket price, which is not in any way meant to diminish the rest of the cast. Claire Chenoweth is spooky and hilarious, Bee Davis strikes the earnest cynicism of a preteen boy perfectly, and I want to run through the whole cast list, but it’s probably better if you just experience the show for yourself.

I recommend Beanie Baby Divorce Play for anyone who has ever owned a Beanie Baby (or another fad item), likes weird horror, or is looking for some 1990s nostalgia.

Remaining Shows:

8/6 – 5:30 PM 
8/7 – 8:30 PM 
8/11 – 7 PM

old growth (Southern Theater)

old growth is a stunning piece of dance that incorporates fighting choreography, circus elements, an oversized puppet made of trees, and so much more. The dancers mostly wear muted, autumnal overalls or utility suits, which evoke feelings of nature, communes, and comfort. Dancers move to their own atonal vocalizations, a soundtrack that utilizes sounds in addition to music, and the cellophane swish of a quilted costume that could be a metaphor for ocean plastic or personal narratives that weigh us down or something else entirely.

Although I’m tempted, I won’t waste review space waxing poetic about the meaning an audience member might glean from this piece. Suffice it to say that this is an evocative, emotional piece that keeps attention as easily as it captures it.

As someone who is overbooking their Fringe schedule, I appreciated that this performance was on the shorter side (just over a half hour) and gave me a little time to enjoy the sunshine and think Fringe before my next show began.

I recommend old growth for anyone who likes thoughtful dance, striking visuals, and short shows.

Remaining Shows:

8/6 – 7:00 PM
8/8 – 10:00 PM
8/10 – 8:30 PM 

Karaoke After Dark (Theatre in the Round)

Karaoke After Dark is an absolute treat. The premise is simple: audience members volunteer to sing karaoke songs and are randomly paired up with a burlesque performer. Pairings are weird, serendipitous, and so much fun. A couple of my favorite moments were when a singer and burlesque dancer both accessorized with the exact same shade of Barbie pink and when the dancer paired with the song Let it Go from Frozen revealed his sparkly white tank top.

This is a good show to bring a stack of ones to, although you can get change from the cast by exchanging bills or utilizing Venmo. There is a 10 PM show today that is guaranteed to be a blast. I love late night shows in general, but it feels especially appropriate to attend Karaoke After Dark, y’know, after dark.

I recommend Karaoke After Dark for anyone who likes karaoke, burlesque, and moments of serendipity.

Remaining Shows:

8/5 – 10 PM (Late Night Snacks)
8/7 – 8:30 PM (Fat & Fabulous)
8/11 – 4 PM (Glitz & Glam)

One Tree Hell (Open Eye Theatre)

I had two strikes working against me going into One Tree Hell. First, I have never seen an episode of One Tree Hill, so any nostalgia factor or winking references flew directly over my head. Second, I forgot that it was improv. Based on the whispered “Is this improv?” I overheard from the row behind me halfway through the show, I wasn’t the only one in the dark. An introduction to the cast combined with a reminder that the show is, indeed, improv would have gone a long way – especially because the pre-recorded parody of the One Tree Hill theme song primes the audience to be ready for a set-in-stone show.

Although the material is improvised, there is a set cast of characters for One Tree Hell. Most of them have beautiful, seemingly hand-made costumes. Tomorrow (Ari Newman) has a full face of goth makeup and bat ears. Murph (Bret Meyer), a fly, had fluorescent green blobs painted onto his hoodie. Birchney Spruce (Laura Berger) has a leafy crown. Seth Dermis (Ryan Klima) was wearing what looked like a hand painted suit made to look like the musculature of the human body. Would it have been easier to buy a similar Halloween costume? Probably, but I’ll take the hand painted version every time.

Aside from the whole improv confusion thing and a few moments where the cast struggled to keep the story moving forward, I enjoyed One Tree Hell. The six creepy students make their way through homework and side quests while cracking jokes and learning the kind of life lessons that make early 2000s television so cringey in retrospect. The show was also very queer friendly – one of the characters is non-binary and actors were just as likely to incorporate a queer relationship into their storytelling as they were a straight one.

I recommend this show for people who like improv, spooky aesthetics, and Very Special Episodes.

Remaining Shows:

8/7 – 5:30 PM
8/10 – 1:00 PM
8/11 – 2:30 PM 

Juliet & Juliet (Theatre in the Round)

“My face hurts from laughing so much,” one of my theater buddies say after the lights go up on Juliet & Juliet. The rest of us agreed, rubbing our cheeks while we chattered our way out of our seats and into the still stormy night.

Juliet & Juliet is a two person Shakespearean improv show. It begins with Meghan Wolff and Sami Haeli coming onstage, introducing themselves, asking for a theme and a few names, and then jumping in. Improvising in Shakespearean English is every bit as impressive as you think it might be and the sheer joy and humor emanating off of Wolff and Haeli brings life to the language. Shakespeare is rolling in his grave right now because he wants in.

Wolff and Haeli perform crisp improv, pushing the plot forward in every scene while still making room for comedic detours and a goofy brand of navel gazing that feels just as Shakespearean as the language itself. They try and mostly succeed at keeping their references a few centuries old and aren’t afraid to break storytelling rules in service to the story. In one of my favorite moments the pair found themselves with three characters in a scene, which forced them to rotate through characters, completely abandoning who had originated each role and just always making sure that a character was able to speak when they needed to.

I recommend Juliet & Juliet for people who like improv, Shakespeare, and laughing so hard that your face hurts.

Remaining Shows:

8/5 – 8:30 PM
8/8 – 5:30 PM
8/11 – 7 PM