tweet review - #mnfringe show 12 - The Windblown Cheeks of Lovers: inspired lunacy; a non-existent horny TV miniseries from the 1980s through several lenses: family TV time, documentary interviews, behind the scenes footage, and the series itself; just 3 people, live onstage; nuts! - 5 stars
The Windblown Cheeks of Lovers is a very strange comedy, but I found it very funny. Mike Fotis, Rita Boersma, and Tim Hellendrung have created something that’s sort of a show within a show within a show within a show - which we are in the audience watching so I guess that takes the hall of mirrors out another level.
“It’s all in the mouth. That’s where the acting happens.”
The Windblown Cheeks of Lovers is a Fringe show about a fake 1980s miniseries called "The Windblown Cheeks of Lovers" (which is also based on a fake book with a similar title but we won’t go there in this review - they more than take care of the lost in adaptation angle in the show itself). We start by watching a family (Boersma, Fotis and Hellendrung) get ready for TV time together, to watch the miniseries. Then the same three actors present the opening credits and a scene from the miniseries. Then the same three actors portray journalists and interview subjects in a documentary about the making of the miniseries (and the tragic death of one of the actors). Then the same three actors create behind the scenes footage of the cast and crew creating the miniseries. And the show whips back and forth between all these different threads, all done live onstage with different camera angles and a TV screen that presents in both black and white and color.
“For the record, it was MY nipples on YOUR butt.”
Everything in this Fringe show is completely ridiculous, and ridiculously horny. No one emerges unscathed - actors and writers and directors and journalists alike all get skewered for their self-importance, hypocrisy and other human foibles. But that makes it sound like the play is trying to make a serious statement about art or society and it is definitely not. It’s just an inspired and complicated but very, very funny bit of silliness. All these goofy characters also have human depth (the three actor/creators involved know their stuff), but they’re still goofy.
“We won a lot of Emmys, but I don’t think they’ll get us into heaven.”
If you’re looking for something extremely funny this Fringe, The Windblown Cheeks of Lovers should be at the top of your list. It must be seen to be believed, because it probably shouldn’t work, but boy does it.
5 Stars - Very Highly Recommended
Here's some handy links to a rundown of 5 and 4.5 Star shows I've seen this year, also the 4 and 3.5 Star shows, and the rest, plus this year's Top 10 list, and Top 11-20 List, and the full list of all returning favorites in the 2023 Fringe, plus a link to all the 2023 Minnesota Fringe Festival coverage.
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