Fringe 2017 - 5 star shows

Here's a running list (and links to reviews as I post them) of the 5 star shows I've seen in the Minnesota Fringe Festival this year:

The Banana Wars
tweet review - #mnfringe show 39 - Banana Wars - Derek Miller is scarily good at informing you about U.S. imperialism; entertaining, sadly true - 5 stars




 
Blackout Improv - link to full review
tweet review - For #mnfringe show 2, @blackoutimprov gives us a musical guest followed by 45 minutes of swag hat conversation and improv comedy - 5 stars

Boombox - link to full review
tweet review - Boombox (#mnfringe show 3) from @heyohannahstarr - "Now THAT was a 5" says Mom - comedy, song, audience interaction, amazing - 5 stars

Dungeon
tweet review - #mnfringe show 50 - Dungeon - mind-blowing combination of shadow puppets, live action, light/dark, brother/sister rescue mission - 5 stars

Fool's Paradise
tweet review - #mnfringe show 44 - Fool's Paradise - (short) but ingenious use of BLB house, stage, windows, street, pedestrians, traffic - 5 stars




 
Fruit Flies Like A Banana: World Tour - link to full review
tweet review - #mnfringe show 12 - Fruit Flies Like a Banana: World Tour; I see and hear music and dance in a new way every time I see them - 5 stars

Good Kids - link to full review
tweet review - #MNFringe show 29 - Good Kids - powerful play; unbelievably talented young ensemble; intense exploration of rape culture - 5 stars



It's About Love Again This Year - link to full review
tweet review - #mnfringe show 7 - It's About Love Again This Year, RE|dance - delightful, whimsical, dance to smile and sigh to, lovely - 5 stars

The Memory Box of the Sisters Fox
tweet review - #mnfringe show 36 - Memory Box/Sisters Fox - story of Spiritualist Fox sisters lovingly rendered; exquisite - 5 stars



The Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society
tweet review - #mnfringe show 42 - Mysterious Old Time Listening Society - could only stay for 1st story but what a fantastic recreation - 5 stars

Not Quite: Asian American by Law, Asian Woman by Desire - link to full review
tweet review - #mnfringe show 26 - Not Quite - incisive, urgent, funny, unsettling solo show about the fluid notion of home, and being alien - 5 stars



Odd Man Out - link to full review
tweet review - #mnfringe show 6 - Odd Man Out, @TheatreUnderdog - hour of drama, stuffed w/complex family relationships (also humor), powerful - 5 stars

Out of the Shadows - link to full review
(A show I got so excited about, I forgot the title in my first tweet - sigh)
tweet review(s) - #mnfringe show 24 - holy hell, that was... fringe crush absolutely, I may be in love; funny, sexy, vulnerable, powerful, perfect - 5 stars
Addendum #mnfringe show 24 - I have had it pointed out to me that I left out the title (oops); Out of the Shadows, my new Fringe love



#mnfringe show 49 - a return visit to @GabrielMata91's Out Of The Shadows; closing weekend, need to treat myself again to shows I like
#mnfringe show 52 - Out of the Shadows: yeah, yeah, I know, 3rd time; it's one of my favorites this year and it's the last day

A Pickle - link to full review
tweet review - #MNFringe show 31 - A Pickle - great script, great performance, recreating the story of an MN original (and those pickles) - 5 stars

A Resister's Handbook (for holding onto optimism in sh*tty times) - link to full review
tweet review - #mnfringe show 22 - Resister's Handbook (for holding onto optimism in sh*tty times): indeed it is; "we are called to greatness" - 5 stars

Sevlin and Devlin Presents: Seven Evans In Heaven
tweet review - #mnfringe show 20 - Seven Evans In Heaven - odd, sweet, very funny, and a frog dry-humps a clipboard so... 5 stars

Skirmish of Wit: Your Imaginary Forces
tweet review - #mnfringe show 47 - Skirmish of Wit: obscenely gifted young folk reworking Much Ado w/music, juggling instruments and each other - 5 stars




Spec - link to full review
tweet review - #mnfringe show 5 - Spec, @bensandel - speculative fiction that's mind-bending and also hilarious, Mom and I running out of words - 5 stars

Spy In The House of Men: A One-Woman Show With Balls
tweet review - #mnfringe show 46 - Spy In The House of Men: standing ovation; woman said to friend, "That's a winner!" I agree; trans solo show - 5 stars



 
Stranger-er Things: Neflix and KILL
tweet review - #MNFringe show #51 - Stranger-er Things: Tom Reed sings and sweats his way thru poking holes in yet another pop culture fad - 5 stars

Themselves They Made Immaculate: Clara Barton at Andersonville
tweet review - #mnfringe show 53 - Themselves They Made Immaculate: testimony from Reconstruction era both bracing and creepy #Charlottesville - 5 stars



The Wright Stuff, or You'll Believe They Can Fly - link to full review
tweet review -  #MnFringe show 13, Wright Stuff - mom says, "I haven't laughed like that in a long time!" Me neither - 5 stars

And here's some handy links to the full list of pre-Fringe top 10, and 11-20, the rest of the returning favorites, and all the random shout outs in these Top 10/Top 20 posts - links all gathered in a single list to take you to fuller posts and Fringe pages.  Enjoy!