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YOU DID IT...LIVE!

Yes, theatre summer camp has come to a close (sadness). But we all learned a little something, right? We learned that if there is a Hell, it will be you constantly trying to get around on University Avenue. We learned that HUGE Theater is a thing that's in our lives (thank god). And finally, we learned that FringeFamous is fucking brilliant. Yup, this year we correctly predicted nine of the top 15 best-selling shows (although, we only nailed the #1 and #3 shows - hey, we're not perfect). Want to see the whole list? Ugh...fine.

Brain Fighters presented by Joking Envelope at U of M Rarig Center Thrust

7 (x1) Samurai presented by David Gaines Productions at U of M Rarig Center Proscenium

The Smothers Brothers Grimm presented by Comedy Suitcase at U of M Rarig Center Thrust

Red Resurrected presented by Isabel Nelson at Lab Theater

Minnesota Middle Finger presented by Ben San Del Presents at Theatre in the Round Players

Hamluke presented by the Nerdyad at U of M Rarig Center Arena

Fletcher & Zenobia Save the Circus (by Edward Gorey) presented by Live Action Set at Mill City Museum

Tempests presented by Tedious Brief Productions at U of M Rarig Center Thrust

Comedy = Tragedy + Someone Else presented by the Importance of Being Fotis at U of M Rarig Center Thrust

Knit One, Purl the Other presented by Unfold the Sky Productions at Theatre in the Round Players

Disney Dethroned: Snowcahontas and the Tangled FrogBeast presented by Tom Reed at Mixed Blood Theatre

Underneath the Lintel presented by Pat O’Brien’s Vanity Theatrics at U of M Rarig Center Arena

Buckets and Tap Shoes presented by 10 Foot 5 Productions at U of M Rarig Center Proscenium

Taiko Blast! presented by Mu Performing Arts at Mixed Blood Theatre

Balls Out! presented by Late Night Menu at Mixed Blood Theatre

The Fringe issued 48,350 tickets this year...which is an absolute shit ton. The Fringe issued an absolute shit ton of tickets last year, as well. So both years were basically the same. HOORAY!

#2011 Fringe

2011 FRINGIES!

Remember that thing where you voted for some shows? Here is that.

Outstanding Family Show: The Smothers Brothers Grimm

Outstanding Spoken Word: Callahan and Lingo presents: The Last Ditch

Outstanding Solo Show: Underneath the Lintel

Outstanding Dance Show: Buckets and Tap Shoes

Outstanding Musical: History Camp

Outstanding Play: Tempests

Outstanding Performance (female): Adelin Phelps (Red Resurrected)

Outstanding Performance (male): Derek Lee Miller (Red Resurrected)

Outstanding Direction: Isabel Nelson (Red Resurrected)

Outstanding Production: Red Resurrected

And if you haven't heard about this year's Fringe Encore winners, go here and be enlightened.

God bless the Fringe.

#2011 Fringe #Fringe encore #Fringies

THE 2011 FROT LIST

You've seen 'em at Rarig. You've seen 'em at HUGE. You've seen 'em all over at Fringe Central. It's now time to get it out in the open, people...this year's Frot List (frot = Fringe + hot). And don't forget to check out the Fringerati's #frotties on Twitter. Let's do this!

-JAY-

Sara Lahti, Our Freaking Kids Show If I had a personal assistant like that, I'd never get anything done.

Jane Froiland, Tempests When I saw this girl on stage, my penis busted out of my pants and did a little tap dance number ala that scene in "Spaceballs".

All Females, Once Upon a Time in the Suburbs Cowgirls...FUNNY COWGIRLS...

Alexis Jones, Four Clowns I'd really like to investigate her clown pocket.

Sarah Frazier, Uptown: The Musical If only more hipsters looked like this...

Dawn Brodey, YARRRH! The Lusty, Busty Pirate Musical My timbers were definitely shivered.

Rob Callahan, Callahan and Lingo presents: The Last Ditch We got so many write-in votes for this guy, I just had to put him on the list. FROT!

-RYAN-

Ariana Venturi, Sousepaw Dear Lizard Girl, I have whiskey AND cash. Please love me.

Katherine Moeller, Indignorance I didn't even see her show and she still made my list. That's how frot she is.

Brigid Kelley, Tempests I'll admit I had as much of a hard-on for Carrie Henn as a ten-year-old boy could have. Thank you, Brigid Kelley, for making my childhood fantasy legal.

Sara Jensen, Damn You Auto Caress Seeing her makes me want to furiously masturbate. *furiously masturbate *furiously masturbate *WATER MY PLANTS! DAMN YOU AUTOCARESS!

Lisa Berg, House Manager Gentlemen, put on your waders and grab your Acqua Di Gio: it's Cougar season.

The Girl in the Ice Cream Truck Outside Rarig You smile at me and sell me something sweet to suck on. I love you.

Rebecca Ogren, Once Upon a CSI I firmly believe that Rebecca Ogren is the frottest girl in Fringeland this year.

-SINGLE WHITE FEMALE-

Derek Lee Miller, Red Resurrected Is it fucked up that I didn’t give him a second glance in Ballad of the Pale Fisherman, and then as soon as he plays a creepy molester I’m all over it? Based on the way he wields an imaginary axe, I’m guessing he’s pretty good with his hands.

Sam Pearson, The Day the Nineties Died I have no idea if he’s as mouthy in real life as his character is on stage, and I’m never going to find out because I’m pretty sure he isn’t old enough to hang out at moto-i, which makes me a total pervert. But watching Sam tirelessly rattle off radical left-wing ideological made me want to know what it would take to make the torrent of words stop.

Darius Dotch, Tales of the Twisted Cities Even through a winter coat you can make out Darius’s chiseled torso and perfect biceps. I’d get lost with him at St. Anthony-Main any time.

Jaimi Paige, Green Eyes I don’t know if I’m bi-curious or just jealous, but goddamn that girl has got it.

-GAYE-

Bruce DeMorrow, Tapsized Bruce participated in one of the most homo-erotic-tap-dancing-shower situations I have ever seen. And I’ve seen a lot of those. He tapped into my heart and my pants.

James Rone, Deadline: A Choose Your Own Adventure Story James is one of those nerd frotties that I love so very much. I would always choose the adventure that ends with him waking up to a few regrets and an unexplained pain in his rear.

Kevin J Thornton, I Love You (We’re F*#cked This man is just plain frot. I want him to Love me, and...well, you know.

Billy Borea, The Folly of Crowds I’m usually not into guys like Billy, but for some reason I wanted to run my hands across every muscle this dude had to offer. Every. Single. Muscle.

Tim Lee, Scientist Turned Comedian If this guy was my science teacher, I would constantly have to hold my books in front of my boy parts.

Jordan Roll, Balls Out I almost took my balls out during the show. But I didn’t want the audience to hear when my junk hit the floor. Amirite?

-LEIGH-

Nic Lincoln, FLESH As I mentioned previously: Ho. Ly. Shit.

Bob Galligan, Detached: The Return of the Pastor Brothers I am unable to explain this, yet it is somehow very real. I am filled with shame.

Adelin Phelps, Red Resurrected She can pull back my red hood any time she wants.

Jenny Moeller, Venue Technician This is my kind of girl: cute, funny, and curvy in all the right places. Totally frot.

Laura Baller Mahler, Delores Grimm Why are mermaids so freaking frot?

Madelyne Riley, Nightmare Man My only nightmare about her would involve a broken corkscrew and a stuck zipper.

Abby Zimmer, Front of House Coordinator She can coordinate my front of house any day. And by "front of house" I of course mean my vagina.

Dawn Krosnowski, Macbeth: the Video Game Remix Redheads are my kryptonite (if you haven't noticed). Also, cosplay!

#2011 Fringe #Frotties

2011 FRINGIE NOMINIZZLES!

Boom! Just like that, we're almost done. Monday morning is going to make you feel sad...but until then, have a little fun and vote for your favorite Fringe show (until Sunday at 2am). Now remember: we obviously didn't see every single show. And we didn't review all the shows we saw. So, don't get all up in our face about this shit, okay? Gawd!

#2011 Fringe #Fringies

More on Reviewing

Just in case you’ve missed it in the comments, Johnny and I are engaging in a discussion of reviews – why do we write them, why do we read them, should there or is there a standard by which we evaluate Fringe festival shows (with the implied question of whether that standard is different from the standard we’d use to evaluate Non-Fringe Shows)?

I want to directly address Johnny’s most recent comment, because I think he brings up some awesome points, and I don’t want to forget to talk about any of them.

Thank you for the response. I read the linked reviews. What I saw was one daily newspaper give it a negative review while the other gave it a middling-to-negative review. Both are writers who's byline I've seen in previous years, which answers this question of yours: "But have these reviewers ever been to the Fringe Festival before? Like, even once?" The third review is a rave review, but it's not from a general-interest daily newspaper, but a specialized industry website that says it exists to provide "information and inspiration for Minnesota’s performing arts" It is also a long-form, first-person essay, which is not like the brief capsule reviews the newspapers run. I just went and read audience reviews for the show and they seem to fall roughly into the same three categories as the reviews you cited: negative, middling-to-negative and rave. To me, this example doesn't really fit the issues you raised in your second point of the original post. Where does "on crack" fit in here?

Both of those newspaper reviews were written by actual arts writers, although Ross Raihala is, I believe, usually more of a music critic than theater, so less practiced at viewing and writing about theater. So that only halfway proves my point about random journalists reviewing shows. But it does illustrate the wide range of responses in the media to Fringe Festival shows – Playlist is more of a personal essay, as you said, with the focus on the writer’s personal connection to the piece. The newspaper reviews are perhaps more focused on what the readership of each newspaper would or would not enjoy. Which brings me to a question:

Are we reviewing shows for a specific group of people, and who are those people? How will they use our reviews?

Tenet #1 of my Fringe-Reviewing Philosophy: As a Fringe fanatic, writing for FringeFamous, I am writing for medium to heavy Fringe users. I’m writing for ultra-passers, artists, people who see a ton of shows. The reason I say this is that I think FringeFamous is, itself, Fringe famous. I.e. if you don’t spend a lot of time at the MN Fringe, you’ve never heard of us.

That’s not universally true, and that’s not to say that sometimes-Fringers can’t use our site to help decide what to see, but I think our target audience is the hard-core Fringer. Presumably, then, the bigger publications are writing for a wider group of people, a fatter slice of the demographic pie. They’re reviewing Fringe shows for people who aren’t as familiar with the Festival. In my opinion, if you are writing about Fringe for a publication with a decent sized circulation, it is your responsibility to do your homework. Get to know the Fringe. Be the expert, so that your readers don’t have to. A better example of “have these reviewers ever been to the Fringe Festival before?” and “Are you on crack?” would be this review of …a Murder.

Nancy Ngo seems to be a writer for the paper who doesn’t otherwise specialize in theater or arts coverage. Which is maybe why she would recommend a show to her readers which includes “excessive dialogue [which] made it difficult for the audience to follow - as well as for the actors to memorize their lines”. She’s recommending a show in which the actors weren’t memorized? That does not sound “Worth Considering” to me. She seems to have a super low standard for what a “good” Fringe show is. Which brings us to...

What do we expect from Fringe shows, and is it different from what we expect of professional theater productions during the regular theatrical season?

Tenet #2 of my Fringe-Reviewing Philosophy: I am willing to meet the show where it’s at. If you are doing an experimental dance show with no music, I’ll show up expecting experimental dance with no music. If you are a Normal Guy doing your first ever play, I will arrive with the understanding that you aren’t a professional. If you are an established performer or theater company, I will expect something good. Even if it’s more of an experiment, something that doesn’t fit in with the rest of your professional theater season, something raw or new or in-progress, great. I’m not expecting perfection. But if I know you are good at what you do the rest of the year, I will be less likely to forgive a totally half-assed piece of shit.

I have no beef with you or this web site, I'm just trying to understand where you are coming from.

Right on. It’s mutual.

Personally, I enjoy reading reviews from numerous sources (audience members, newspapers, blogs like this one), and I use them to help me decide my own Fringe schedule.

Yeah – in my mind FringeFamous (and the Strib, and the PiPress, and Playlist, and Daily Planet, and audience reviews, and, and, and) is one of many different resources that Fringe-goers will use to determine which shows they want to see. I personally read everything I can get my hands on, and ask everyone I know what they’ve seen, and through the mess of information shows start to emerge that appeal to me. But there are a lot of people in the Twin Cities who are not Fringe fanatics like me, who maybe have heard of the festival but don’t even know where to start in terms of picking a show, and these people turn to the Pioneer Press, or the Star Tribune to help them choose. (See above re: doing your homework and being an expert.)

I still wonder about your use of "free for all." Fringe itself is unjuried, so to me, it truly is a free for all. Maybe I am seeing things differently.

Yes, the Fringe is itself a free-for-all. I love that anyone can put on a show, that there isn’t some committee of people to judge whether your work is “good enough” to be in the Festival. I think that creates a really vibrant, diverse, exciting Festival. But I don’t think reviewing the Fringe, or viewing Fringe shows, should be a free-for-all. This goes back to Tenet #2 – take each show for what it is, but don’t condescend to the festival. If something is lazy, it’s boring. If something is engaging and daring and smart, even if it’s rough around the edges, or half-finished, it can be electrifying. I’m saying, the Fringe has its own standards. Those standards are different from the standards we use to decide whether we liked something we saw at Mixed Blood, at Park Square, at Open Eye. But they are standards. I’m saying hooray for first-time play-makers, and experimental performances, and naturalistic drawing room dramas, but don’t tell me something is worth seeing because the actors tried hard, and don’t tell me something isn’t worth seeing because it’s not Guthrie-ready. That’s over-simplifying the Fringe experience, which is condescending to everyone involved, and I will not have it!

-SWF-

#2011 Fringe #Single White Female

Hamluke

If you fucking LOVE "Star Wars" and are somewhat familiar with Hamlet I'll bet one million Fringe Bucks that you will die from a geek-induced orgasm of nerdosity no later than halfway through this show. Its premise is to hang Hamlet's skeleton on a tree branch and have the entire Ewok nation hurl "Star Wars" jokes on it until said branch bows under the immense weight of as much as fifty Geoge Lucases. It's not intelligent. It's not even terribly clever. But it is fun. Even for this reviewer who hasn't seen either source material in a good five years.

-Leigh-

#2011 reviews #leigh #Hamluke

Your Responsibility for Sex Failure

Several people recommended this show to me and I was totally looking forward to seeing a fun play about the ridiculous clichés, stereotypes, and ideas about sex in the 1950's. Unfortunately, the show's tone and style left me confused and annoyed. What makes plays of this genre successful are their innocence, naïveté, and honesty. None of this works as humor when it's played as a hard melodrama with a shit-ton of mugging. There were some moments when I smiled and yes, even laughed, but there were so many opportunities lost in the writing and playing of it that could have made this show a monster hit. Anyone remember Commedia Beauregard's Five Fifths of Romeo and Juliet? Those kids knew what they were doing.

-Leigh-

#2011 reviews #leigh #Your Responsibility for Sex Failure #Commedia Beauregard

Nineteen Cows Leaving Beirut

I love theater. Really. But sometimes I see shows that make my soul cry. This one came awfully close. A parody? Commentary? Satire? On the No Child Left Behind Act this play follows a struggling teen and the girl that, for some reason, loves him. Something happens to them...they get captured by the government or something. I don't really know. All I remember is a violent ending whose profundity was completely unearned by the grade-school antics that drove the show up to that point.

-Leigh-

#2011 reviews #leigh #Nineteen Cows Leaving Beirut

Animal FarmVille: A Friend Me, Like Me, Poke Me Musical

Disclaimer: I do not play Farmville, nor am I on Facebook or FourSquare or Twitter or Google+. I am probably the worst person to review this show. However, I believe that I can say with some authority that this was half-baked. The premise is fine; it's a series of sketches that revolve around a war that breaks out between Mayors real and virtual over local turf. And while it's certainly cute, I didn't find it particularly clever. I mean, it's sketch comedy, right? It's not supposed to be well-written. But at the same time, it's a real show with a great plot idea that simply comes up short. But, like so many other shows this year, I found that my fellow audience members enjoyed it much more than I. Even the senior citizens in the house were laughing at a few tech jokes which only made me feel even more like an uber-luddite that just crawled out from under my rock for my weekly dose of whatever. So they get an extra half-star for that. Also, you should know that while the cast can sing they are by no means singers. So just be prepared for that.

-Leigh-

#2011 reviews #leigh #Animal Farmville

The Great Midwestern Drug Circus

I can't really describe to you what this show is about other than it's possibly the most unique fringe experience I've ever had. It's honest and dark and wonderfully weird. While it's not for everyone, it's definately worth seeing and discussing post-show. Whatever your expectations are, forget about them and just come and see this show. There were only about 16 people in the audience the night I was there and 8 of them got in for free so please come support there guys. They deserve to make their money back.

-Ryan-

#2011 reviews #ryan #The Great Midwestern Drug Circus

Robot Lincoln: The Revengeance (The Musical)

I was going back and forth over whether or not to post a review for this show. I mean, I sat there and watched it. There were clever costumes and they had more props than Carrot Top and The Amazing Johnathan combined. But I couldn't really concentrate on the actual show due to the astonishing amount of heckling coming from the audience. It was almost an entire row of what looked like college-aged dudes, some of whom were wearing Red Hamlet tees. Now, look...I have no idea who these people were. They could've been anyone. Hell, at one point I thought they were plants being utilized by the producers (I did find out later that this was not the case). Regardless of who they were, they absolutely ruined this performance for any of the other audience members who were actually trying to pay attention to the show...and are probably a little responsible for this 1-star review.

-Jay-

#2011 reviews #Jay #Robot Lincoln: The Revengence (The Musical)#Red Hamlet

FLESH

Nic Lincoln might be this year's Joel Smith. It's been a while since a dude made my lady bits all warm and tingly, but seeing Mr. Lincoln's near-perfect form in high heels and latex pants bent over on all fours and prancing around like a horse might have been the highlight of my day. Also, Ms. Ober is totally topless and moves around the stage like some sort of deer with a chromosomal abnormality. What were they doing? Oh, right. They were dancing. Yes...FLESH is a five-piece dance show curated(?) by Tamara Ober, the long-time Zenon member and PIPA creator (Fringe '09). It's also a last-minute replacement show and though the pieces don't really form a cohesive whole, it's admirable that she's able to pull this all together on a few weeks' notice. The show is a veriety of modern dance and movement and while I didn't love or even understand every piece there's definitely something for everyone. Ms. Ober's piece, as I mentioned before, is more abstract and unconventional, but it's fascinating to watch a human being move in that way. But the most profound moments of the show belonged to Leslie O'Neil. Her bathtub transformation gave me chills and was one of the more raw and beautiful pieces I've seen in a while.

-Leigh-

#2011 reviews #FLESH #leigh #Nic Lincoln #Joel Smith #Tamara Ober #Leslie O'Neil

Sousepaw: A Baseball Story

You don't need to like baseball to understand this play. It's a well-crafted and ably-acted story about two desperate people who need each other to survive the night. If you arrive expecting to see a Traveling Treasure Trunk you'll be disappointed. But what you will find is a good character-driven drama and a refreshing break from the clowns and innuendo. It's a terrible fit for HUGE, which, I maintain is a terrible stage for the variety of shows that Fringe attracts, but nevertheless, they do the best they can and though it feels confined, the actors never feel trapped. Their characters on the other hand...

-Leigh-

#2011 reviews #leigh #Sousepaw: A Baseball Story

Macbeth: The Video Game Remix

If you play WOW or any sort of MMO, I'm willing to bet ten Fringe Bucks that you will love this show. If you haven't played video games since your friends' NES because your parents refused to buy you one for fear of your brain turning to mush like mine did, you'll still appreciate the humor and plot. Its writing is better than I expected and while not perfectly acted, I got the feeling that these guys love gaming and love theater and what better way to combine the two but at Fringe. Also, Dawn Krosnowski can wear a costume.

-Leigh-

#2011 reviews #leigh #Macbeth: The Video Game Remix #Dawn Krosnowski

HOFF

John Middleton made it...he fucking made it.

#2011 Fringe #Hall of Fringe Fame #John Middleton

Gaye's Just The Tip!

Guurl, guess what. There is a fab bar near the Lab. If you love yourself, you’ll go there. If you’re like me, and you can’t run fast enough to the next venue after seeing a show at the Lab...because your heels are too high, bitch relax. Stroll on over to Toast Wine Bar & Café. 415 North 1st Street. It’s amazeballs. Lots of delicious wine and an amazing menu! Gaye recommends the antipasti plate, and the goat cheese and asparagus crostini.

Enjoy my tip.

If any of you Fringe-tastic darlings has a tip you’d like to slide into my radar, let me know. Perhaps I’ll check it out and write about it.

-Gaye-

#2011 Fringe #gaye #Just the Tip

Is it just me, or is the 2011 Fringe super weird?

There are no great life-changing standout shows this year. Or there are fifty great life-changing standout shows this year. Most years after the first weekend, I have some sense of who is going to Win the Fringe. But this year there doesn’t seem to be a clear front-runner (I mean, aside from Joe Scrimshaw, who could sell out the proverbial reading of a phonebook if it was called “Joseph Scrimshaw Presents: The Entire Yellow Pages!”). Or maybe there are fifty front-runners. I’m having a hard time narrowing down the list of shows I want to see because I keep hearing buzz about EVERYTHING. Which means NOTHING.

What is up with the on-crack reviews coming from the bigger newspapers? I love that I live in a city where the Fringe Festival is a big enough deal that the mainstream press sends a team of journalists to cover it. But have these reviewers ever been to the Fringe Festival before? Like, even once? How can the same show get a “Must See!” review in one paper, and an “Avoid Like the Plague!” in another paper? Critics are allowed to have differing opinions, from each other and from me. But there doesn’t seem to be any standard against which critics are measuring Fringe shows. It’s like a free-for-all. It shouldn’t be this hard to figure out which Fringe shows are working, and which aren’t.

Why is everyone so angry about the pre-show announcements? I have heard so much bitter smack talk directed towards these announcements. The reason the pre-show speech exists is because morons keep leaving their phones on during shows, and chatting in the theater seats after the show is over like it’s the Southdale AMC. If you hate the pre-show announcements so much, you better be turning off your cell phone like a fucking champ. Just think of the pre-show like the safety spiel on an airplane, or the robot lady who explains how to leave a message after the beep as if you haven’t left eleven thousand voicemails in your life. Yeah, it’s mildly irritating if you see a lot of shows, but it’s not doing you any actual bodily harm.

WTF, Moto-i? True fact: I was never a huge fan of the Bedlam. The bartenders always ignored me, and the whole place smelled like sweaty bicyclists. But it was ours. During the month of August, it was all Fringe all the time at Bedlam, and I appreciated that. Southwest High School class of 1986? You suck. Why are you having your reunion at Moto-i on a Fringe night? I do not care about your retarded slideshow of past glories, and if you don’t move that fucking slideshow screen I am going to have to shove past it in a rude and slideshow-disruptive manner. Oh, wait, I just did. Fringe Central is where I get the lowdown on what to see, what to skip, what has partially-naked hotties in it, who has a surprisingly good singing voice, where the best new Fringe-adjacent food is (thanks, Gaye!), et cetera. Not to mention getting drunk and telling people what I really think of them and/or their show. But when I have to fight off a birthday party or a reunion or a stupid-confused bouncer from Moto-i, I can’t get any of this shit done.

-SWF-

#2011 Fringe #Single White Female

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