Review on the fly:
#mnfringe show 3: Sound and Noise and Bodies: still trying to wrap my brain around this must see show from Jen Scott; remarkable writing; gentle jovial delivery of life events and insights that are often devastating; original ukulele song lyrics with equal punch; the message, "humans, am I right?" - 5 stars
One sign of a really great show sometimes is that it leaves me at a loss for words for how to coherently talk about it to other people and somehow convey to them just how amazing that show was. Jen Scott’s new solo show “Sound and Noise and Bodies” is one of those great shows.
“I am my deaf, French husband.”
Right after the show was over, walking over to the next venue to catch the final show for the evening, I was talking to a fellow audience member who had also just seen it, and then later waiting in line for the next show I was chatting to a couple of people about it and again finding it very hard to easily summarize its many virtues. In fact, we got off on a tangent because I mentioned original songs on the ukulele and one of the people thought I’d just seen the other ukulele show. (Ukuleles and all sorts of other musical instruments, plus anger about the state of society right now, manifesting around a number of issues, seem to be two common themes in the festival this year - and it was only opening night Thursday at the time)
“Traveling before children - there was still time to get lost.”
Perhaps the central thing that makes this show so great is that Jen Scott is the only artist who could pull it off. It is uniquely personal to her as a human, and also as a performer. Her style of performance is so easygoing and welcoming that it makes some of the more harrowing turns in her story easier for an audience to engage with. She’s made her peace with these things that happened, and so we’ll also be OK. There’s a looseness to the whole performance but it’s not because of a lack of precision. There’s a script on the stand for reference, with which Jen will occasionally check in, just to be sure she’s still on track (most of the time she is, and when she isn’t, well, it’s easy enough to loop that tangent right back into the main story).
“This instrument annoys fascists, and honestly, everyone else.”
The precision of the script, the turns of phrase, the use of language, and the ways of describing things that are unimaginable as commonplace, the whole thing’s just breathtaking. It is funny from pretty much start to finish, but it can also just be heartbreaking in a way that would be unbearable, if Jen hadn’t already borne it and processed it for us, and offered away to move on in a song lyric, or dialogue that often seems akin to poetry. Also this may be the only script I’ve ever encountered that references Pythagorus, Anne Hathaway, 10,000 Maniacs, Shiva, and Keppler all in the same show.
“The world sings with him in it.”
There’s also a reveling in the chaos of live theater. Jen makes great use of the space, and makes sure to play to all sides of the audience in the round. This also means that there’s an ongoing game of “where will my light be for this next musical number” and much comedic hay is made of the fact that the performer nearly always guesses wrong. The thing that makes it funnier is that it feels like an unplanned bit. There is genuine suspense as to what light’s gonna come up where throughout. That’s not a ding on the tech person in the booth, they’re a great partner in helping get the show from beginning to end. Shout-out as well to director Levi Weinhagen for the assistance he provided in giving Scott an outside eye to help her craft this story into a Fringe-sized presentation.
“You would take a bullet for your child, which is American for ‘I love you.’”
Scott from the opening lines harkens back to our human ancestors on this planet ten or even hundreds of thousands of years ago. These are people we still study and learn about today, even though they’re long since returned to the dirt. Nothing is really lost. No one is really gone. Things may be sad or unfortunate or unfair, but you can also look at them as ridiculous or just… well… part of life. And life is long. And life is short. Better to laugh and sing than cry. Better to forgive, when you can, rather than wallow in resentment.
“Fingers that can reach and octave, and pick up a squirrel.”
Jen is often soft-spoken but that gets the audience to just lean in a little more. She still fills the space with her performance. I don’t want to spoil the personal details related to Scott’s husband and children which play such a key role in the comedy and the melancholy of it all. “Sound and Noise and Bodies” is just one of those things you need to be present for. It’s a remarkable show about just a sliver of Scott’s remarkable life, and it really brought me up short and got me thinking about my own. Just one of many great gifts an artist can give their audience.
5 Stars, Very Highly Recommended
You can find reviews of other shows in these links to my listings of 5 and 4.5 Star Shows (VERY Highly Recommended) and 4 and 3.5 Star Shows (Highly Recommended). Here's a link to a list of all the coverage of returning favorite artists from past pre-Fringe Top 20 lists of mine that are part of this year's Minnesota Fringe Festival. And here's links to the 2026 versions of my pre-Fringe Top 10 list and Top 11 through 20 for the 2026 festival.
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