(Because I am a completionist) MN Fringe 2025 - Day 11 in Brief - Sun. Aug. 10th - Death, Jewelry, Neon, Cancer, Diner, Hamluke and Closing Night swfringegeek.blogspot.com/2025/08/frin...

MN Fringe update: Closing Night Party at the Cedar was fun to drop in on; mostly there to see which shows ended up getting Golden Lanyard Awards for biggest attendance, as well as from Fringe staff, audience and fellow artists; as ever, a lot of shows I saw, and a bunch more I didn't. Great year!

MN Fringe show #55: Hamluke - a suitably cheesy end to my Fringe for the year; brows both high and low; Shakespeare and Lucas; John Williams’ music and puppets; Hamlet mashed up with Star Wars; oddly moving, these sights and sounds of my childhood; Mom would’ve loved it - 5 stars

MN Fringe show #54: Someone Always Pays - well, it was brief; so many questions; is the waitress in some kind of doom loop, since the other character doesn’t seem to know what’s going on but she does? Why is she stuck here? Why are we? At least they let her sing a song? Baffling - 2.5 stars

MN Fringe show #53: A Good Cancer To Have - yes, I’ve seen it 3 times; each time it gets better, I hear different details; like all good art, it’s worth revisiting; a treat at the end of Fringe I know is great, plus an hour I don’t need to take notes, I can just be; thanks, Sam and Leah - 5 stars

MN Fringe show #52: Dice of Destiny: Neon City - Bearded Company’s improv comedy based on the random roll of a 20-sided die for success or failure in a spoof of 1980s action flicks, where 2024 is the distant future; so much fluorescent clothing; so much silliness - 4.5 stars

MN Fringe show #51: Jewelry Power Elite - Lauren Anderson had audience eating out of her hand at minute 1 as she unpacked her personal history and philosophy of a fabulously accessorized life; enough humor and heart to light up the whole Fringe Festival; already can’t wait for what’s next - 5 stars

MN Fringe show #50: Death! a Musical - remarkable effort for young artists, unusual theology/mythology for the afterlife but a lot of humor and catchy tunes to move things along as a teenage girl needs to face the reality (necessity?) of death; solid production from promising new talent - 4.5 stars

Minnesota Fringe 2025 - Day 10 in Brief - Sat. Aug. 9th - Puzzles, Cartoons, Podcasts(?), Harpies, Softballs, Insomniacs, and Showstoppers swfringegeek.blogspot.com/2025/08/frin...

MN Fringe show #49: Delete Later - surprisingly stirring way to end long day of Fringe; YPC's Young Artist's Council assembled a killer group of vocalists performing inspiring/funny/thoughtful songs and monologues about...well, life these days; opens and ends w/a bang, strong throughout - 5 stars

MN Fringe show #48: Insomnia Dogs - not at all what I thought it’d be, in the best way; personal dynamics of a group of 5 female college friends experimenting with sleep deprivation to enhance their creativity; inventive new play, clever staging; happily embraces fluidity of sexuality - 4.5 stars

MN Fringe show #47: Rec League - a whole team of first-class improvisers hilariously pretending to play softball all over the theater; while also working out their personal issues in the dugout and the outfield; crazy funny rolling bits cascading over one another; plus wild sound cues - 5 stars

MN Fringe show #46: Shrieking Harpies: Period Piece - online poll chose American frontier for this improvised musical so we got twins, prostitutes, girl raised by wolves who wrote an opera, and a pivotal tin of crackers; mind-boggling that the keyboard and singing all come outa nowhere - 4.5 stars

MN Fringe show #45: The 4 Ws and The H of Murder - so many questions; if this is serious why is no one calling the cops? if this is comedy why isn’t it funnier? tone, logic and reality all over the place; no podcast works like this; there’s a dead queer person and no one cares (yikes) - 2.5 stars

MN Fringe show #44: Dolly Who’s Holiday Horror Show - Destiny Davison’s cartoons are adorably goofy, and creating a new holiday improv-style as a crowd amidst her established bits was a great communal experience; joy is in short supply so this was a real tonic :) - 5 stars

MN Fringe show #43: The Show Must Go On - this “backstage” puzzle game in the Phoenix Theater lobby was a lot of fun (made good time, 41 min.); tip: shows are sell out risk because it’s just 8 people each, but unless it says sold out, there’s still tix, go for it! - 5 stars

MN Fringe update: There's going to be a lot more running around on this, the last 7-show marathon day of the Fringe. Timing, luck, and the new slightly more laid back attitude toward latecomers on some shows/venues will all have to be working to make this possible, but we'll give it a go :)

Minnesota Fringe 2025 - Day 9 in Brief - Fake Rehearsals, Fake Relationships, Real Life High School Theater Cults, and So Many Colored Ping Pong Balls swfringegeek.blogspot.com/2025/08/frin...

MN Fringe show #42: Trust Exercises/Exorcises: Phil Gonzales spins the wonder wheel of story options to expel toxic memories associated with the truly bonkers real life theater cult centered on his high school teacher (yikes); just as full of manic energy, humor and honesty as ever (wow) - 5 stars

MN Fringe show #41: Ping Prov - great mix of improvisers in this performance; their 3 sets were fun, and then they all went in hard on the Ping Prov of it all as a group with bizarre and entertaining results; they were sharp and on it the whole time, which is all you could ask - 5 stars

MN Fringe show #40: One Who Is Home - Irie Unity and Olivia Nelson create some sweet moments and lovely turns of phrase throughout; but we know something’s up at the start, so why keep it secret rather than using all that time to explore all the questions instead? 3 stars

MN Fringe show #39: Final Dress - Allison Vincent subbed in last minute as guest director, bringing that Transatlantic Love Affair physical theater vibe to Sean Dillon and Michael DallaValle’s fake final rehearsal before “opening” (it’s hard, but funny, faking a whole play from scratch :) - 4 stars

Minnesota Fringe 2025 Review - Curly Hair Boy - Delightful Puppet-Fueled Adventure - 5 stars swfringegeek.blogspot.com/2025/08/frin...

Fringe 2025 - Day 8 in Brief - Thursday, August 7th - Goodbyes, Tattoos, Sexy Vampire Fanfiction, and more Cancer swfringegeek.blogspot.com/2025/08/frin...

MN Fringe show #38: A Good Cancer To Have (2nd viewing) - Sam Sweere's show has only gotten more confident (and funnier) since I saw its first performance a week ago (and I thought it was pretty great back then); the way his "theater brain" constructs a show fascinates (and entertains) me - 5 stars

MN Fringe show #37: Fangs and Bangs (and Sangs) - Nissa Nordland is a fearless mistress of ceremonies, embracing the absurdity of her teenage musings in journals, song and sexy vampire fanfiction, enlisting fellow actors and musicians to help bring it to awkward life with hilarious results - 5 stars

MN Fringe show #36: The Temporary Tattoo Trio - this time, I get it; while I don't always "get" the oddball sensibility of an alleged Theatre Co.'s work, this awkward tale of fraying bonds of friendship and reluctant growing up, combined with amusing audience interaction, connects with me - 5 stars

MN Fringe show #35: Your Hello To My Goodbye - sweet family drama with eldest daughter heading off for a new life and career in NYC while her slightly dysfunctional family needs to figure out how they’re going to get along without her; script a bit repetitive; voice projection an issue; 4 stars

Fringe 2025 Review - A Sad Carousel 2 - Inappropriate Humor for an Inappropriate Time - 5 stars swfringegeek.blogspot.com/2025/08/frin...

Fringe 2025 Review - Jon Bennett: American’t - Sneaky Comedy Show That Ties Together In Crazy Ways - 5 stars swfringegeek.blogspot.com/2025/08/frin...

Minnesota Fringe 2025 Review - Mind Reader - A Fun Way To Be Mildly Freaked Out - 5 Stars swfringegeek.blogspot.com/2025/08/frin...

Fringe Review 2025 - All Your Shimmering Gold - Wild Shiny Gold Operatic Satire - 5-stars swfringegeek.blogspot.com/2025/08/frin...

Minnesota Fringe Day 7 in Brief - Wednesday, August 6th - Curly Hair Boy, Holy Tree, Custer and Scrambled Shakespeare swfringegeek.blogspot.com/2025/08/frin...

MN Fringe show #34: Romeo & Juliet, Lottery Style: fun concept, cast assigned roles at start; incisive if imperfect cutting of the text; impressive work by 4 rotating leads, undercut by narrator/MC character inserting himself into key moments for no useful purpose, diluting, distracting - 2.5 stars

MN Fringe show #33: In The Garden of American Heroes - Andrew Erskine Wheeler has a thornier subject this time, General Custer as a representative of many of the founding (and continuing) sins of this country; pacing, staging just a bit off, but guy still commands a stage like few others - 4.5 stars

MN Fringe show #32: That Which Is Green - Michael Rogers does it again, and this time he’s not alone on stage for his character’s existential crisis; Alex Van Loh is there, too, which makes all the difference; a lovely, funny, moving exploration of growing up and moving on - 5 stars

MN Fringe show #31: Curly Hair Boy - delightful surprise, tale of boy with ability to heal and communicate with nature on quest to rescue his 2 older sisters; 3 perform entirely in Nepalese, a 4th gives English introduction then joins others; sweet, whimsical - 5 stars

Fringe 2025 Review - I Have Griefances - Funny, Profane Tribute to Family Members Battling Cancer (last show, tonight 8/6 at 8:30, Barker Center) - 5 stars swfringegeek.blogspot.com/2025/08/frin...

MN Fringe update: This year, Fringe overlaps w/ongoing union contract negotiations at the Guthrie for new unit representing the front-facing staff - box office, ushers, guest services, housekeeping. So that's taking a little chunk of today and Friday. Sigh. I'd rather be writing about theater.

MN Fringe Day 6 in Brief: Directing, Abortion, Dance and Podcasting swfringegeek.blogspot.com/2025/08/frin...

MN Fringe show #30: The Professionals: A Broadcast - so many interesting ideas here, perhaps too many? The cast is energetically committed but to what, exactly? Show rarely lands on a concept long enough to convey it to audience so it ends up a bit of a confusing dystopian muddle - 2.5 stars

MN Fringe show #29: husk/vessel from Kairos Dance; five dancers in a continuous evolving piece of movement set to a modern electronic instrumental soundscape; hard to summarize but you kind of feel it in your gut (in a good way); really impressive what some human bodies and fabric can do - 5 stars

MN Fringe show #28: The Abortion Chronicles - new stories, new urgency; the variety of different specific deeply personal tales is just the right mix; makes you stop and consider your own connections to the current situation we’re all living in - 5 stars

MN Fringe show #27: Director’s Cut, Where Play Becomes Magic - audience chooses the scene based just on some descriptive words; then the director and actors collaborate on building the scene, with director giving insights into their particular process; fascinating peek behind the curtain - 5 stars

Fringe 2025 Review - The Wickie - Inspired Clowning Goofiness - 5 stars swfringegeek.blogspot.com/2025/08/frin...

Fringe 2025 Review - Songs Without Words (or, The Mendelssohn Play) - Two Geniuses In One - 5 stars swfringegeek.blogspot.com/2025/08/frin...

MN Fringe update: Just as a marker, I had a discussion about this with friends at the end of the night last night; we're all seeing a lot of great shows this year, very few clunkers; I don't rate everything 5 stars as a default; we're just getting a really good Fringe across the board this year :)

MN Fringe Day 5 in Brief: Grief, Pratfalls, Horny Lesbians, and Joan of Arc swfringegeek.blogspot.com/2025/08/frin...

MN Fringe show #26: Joan of Arc for Miss Teen Queen USA - it would've been so easy for this to be a surface-level, flashy, one joke premise kind of comedy, so kudos to Melancholics Anonymous for serving up something not just funny but having depth, great characters; fascinating all-around - 5 stars

MN Fringe show #25: Cabin Fever - so many lesbians, so little time; this cast of improvisers/drag queen nails all the conventions of the reality TV dating genre and will say and do pretty much anything they can’t broadcast for the public :) just as funny as it is bawdy and unexpected - 5 stars