It’s the sweet summertime. Roll out those lazy hazy crazy days. Iced tea and crisp white wine. Summer dresses. Ah, yes.
And the Minnesota Fringe.
The Fringe is billed as “Minnesota’s Theater Invasion” and this is not an overstatement. In venues across the city intrepid theater artists are trying out new plays, new styles, new subject matter. Many of the shows are gems. Many are… not. HWTS will attend as many shows as possible, posting brief reviews here, helping you to separate the wheat from the chaff. Note that each day we will post to separate articles.
The specs: July 30-August 9. 174 (and counting) shows. No show runs over an hour. Basic price is $14 per performance (plus you have to purchase a $4 button). This is the first increase in a few years. The price goes down, significantly, when you buy multiple show passes. Performances begin at 5:30 week days, 1:00 on weekends.
Binge the Fringe!
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TRIAL BY JURY – Rarig Proscenium
The first thing to be said about this production, by the Gilbert & Sullivan Very Light Opera Company, of G&S’s silly Trial By Jury: it’s enormous. Uncountably huge. The orchestra alone numbers… 20, and the cast must make another 30. I’m not exaggerating. Trial By Jury more than fills the cavernous proscenium space (no mean feat, this) and in terms of bodies per buck, this is the biggest bargain the Fringe has ever seen.
The second thing to be said is that Trial By Jury features a terrific performance by the always-wonderful Steve Hendrickson. Hendrickson plays the goofy, lecherous and dipsomaniacal “learned judge,” supervising, or trying to, the farcical trial of an unfaithful groom-to-be. Director Lesley Hendrickson places the actor on a raised platform where he holds forth and generally misbehaves. And he sings good, too.
Other nice performances are turned by Felix Aguilar Tomlinson as the groom and Grace Lowe as the wronged plaintiff.
The third (and final) point to make: the entire cast handles the fast-moving Gilbert & Sullivan music very well, singing with great gusto and laudable lust. A little G&S goes, imho, a long way, but Trial By Jury makes for a delightful 45 minutes. Don’t miss it.
MELANCHOLY LONDON – Mixed Blood Theater
I then marched myself to Mixed Blood for this show, produced by Ghoulish Delights, a grim and turgid contrast to the frothy Gilbert & Sullivan. A young writer with a private income, Dyson, is compelled, for obscure reasons, to tell Salibury, a man whom he knew in the vague past, the story of his encounter with a woman and her savage (it seems) husband, Dr. Blackstreet. The story compels, but it’s also creepy and disjointed.
Adapted by Tim Uren from a piece by Arthur Machen, the great Welsh author of horror fiction, Melancholy London is static, utilizing long set piece speeches. It’s certainly well-done; the actors – Uren, Tristan Miller, Matt Saxe, Boo Segersin – perform with passion and commitment. But the… melancholy-ness of it made it difficult for me. Your mileage may vary.
FLOW – Rarig Proscenium
A dance piece, performed by the Ray Terrill Dance Group. Although I’m not a “dance guy,” I went to Flow because I wanted a cool contrast to the overheated (but wonderful) come-hither-right-now energy pervading the ivied halls of Rarig.
And I wasn’t disappointed. The dancers – Ray Terrill, Megan Gibbins, Sally Murphy, Paulette Mattson – expertly worked the cavernous (too cavernous; this show deserved to be better attended) theater, twirling and swirling with blissful and easy abandon, and with no tension. Even the final piece (there are 4), Heart In Mouth, about the frenzy of modern life, performed to jagged Bartok-like modern music, is serene and watchable.
The dancers are ably assisted by a percussion band (he said, revealing the depth of his ignorance): Stuart Bridge, Dan Engebretson, Alan Farnham, Linda Gremillion. The diaphanous and silky costumes were designed by Terrill.
Although sometimes repetitive (I’m a critic so I have to say something critical; feel free to ignore me), I found this performance sweet, cool, engaging. Check it out.