Secrets of the City

What I wonder is, with so many sell-outs, if people are sticking to the tried and true this year?  Is it possible that though there are more people in attendance that they aren’t trying out as many new things, so much as waiting in select long lines for the safer choices of the festival?

Well… Here are some reviews of the randomly selected shows I’ve attended:

• WORD
• casebolt and smith: Speaking Out
• You/Provoke/Me
• Holding Patterns
• Voyages
• Made Up: Confessions of a Counter Girl
• In Another’s Size

In terms of noteriety and publicity, Fringe has gone mainstream. That’s were the money is.

Expect complaints soon (if they haven’t already started) that the larger, more successful Fringe has “sold out.”

I’ve seen 13 shows so far this year. I think the venues are very busy and I’ve heard lots of buzz about good shows from other audience members, so I’ve had a very different experience than Christopher.

And of the shows I’ve seen, I’ll recommend:
You/Provoke/Me (dance)
Something Witchy (drama)
Cigarettes for Jesus (comedy)
Silent Poetry 2 (mimes)
Frog Prince (kids’ musical)
The William Williams Effect (drama)

In terms of noteriety and publicity, Fringe has gone mainstream. That’s were the money is.

Expect complaints soon (if they haven’t already started) that the larger, more successful Fringe has “sold out.”

Care to elaborate on that, Bob?

Since I’m not doing the cram-in-as-many-shows-as-possible thing this year, I’ve purposely opted out of the tried and true stuff. I’m sure it’ll be good, but it’s… safe. I already know what I’m going to get. (Okay, I made an exception for Curt Lund and Laura Bidgood.)

I don’t think they get great stats on this, but I’m curious to know if there’s a significant shift in fringe newbies. I don’t know if you can infer that from the number of single ticket sales vs punch cards and passes or if they get enough opt-in survery responses or what. If I hear anything interesting/disclosable at the next board meeting (next week), I’ll report back.

The number of early sell-outs surprises me, but looking at the groups that achieved those sell-outs, I wouldn’t say they were obvious and/or predictable. Tom Reed had great timing doing a Harry Potter themed show right now, and he’s also benefiting from a small-ish venue at the Augsburg Studio. I’m positive that Ben San Del’s Sunday sell-out of “Animal Cracker Genocide” at Augsburg Mainstage was a direct result of people not getting into “Parry Hotter” and just going to that one instead.

The increased early attendance could be due to a couple of other factors as well. My guesses:
1. Better marketing by the festival as a whole (less likely).
2. Better marketing by the artists in the festival (more likely).
3. Folks leveraging the previews and showcases before the festival to get a better idea of what they want to see and seeing shows right away instead of waiting for the buzz to build.
4. The realization among many that a Fringe show is a pretty good value for the money–in spite of the hit-or-miss-ness of the shows themselves–in times where folks are spending less on entertainment. Same reason movies are doing so well.

More to Erica’s point…
I’ve run into quite a few newbies. Some were just there to support friends, but that is how you get Fringe supporters. That’s how I became a Fringe lover- watching my brother in a show.

Fringe is an amazing value. I could get two tickets to the Minnesota Opera for the price of my Ultimate Pass at Fringe. And there are two Operatic performances at Fringe.

And some of the sell outs have been quiet confusing. Since I HATED ‘The Dumb Waiter’ and I believe it is selling out, I don’t get that one. And ‘Two Short Operas’ has been selling out, and it is only fair.

And when Opera sells out, it can’t be “sold out” since Opera is pretty much a dying art, unfortunately because I love it.

My complaints, which I wish there was a good place to express, is that there isn’t enough cultural diversity in the shows, the website and mobile site don’t remember me, and Rarig needs food and drink.

Care to elaborate on that, Bob?

Just that success often breeds some level of contempt and longing for the days when only the most dedicated theater fans in the Twin Cities had even heard of Fringe.

Just an observation of human nature, not a critique of the Fesival or its organizers.

Hey, I should write a one-act, solo perfomance piece for next year: The Fringe Sells Out!” It will be HUGE!

(grin)

My complaints, which I wish there was a good place to express, is that there isn’t enough cultural diversity in the shows, the website and mobile site don’t remember me, and Rarig needs food and drink.

I’ll look into the festival’s available and preferred methods of feedback. I can also mention it to the appropriate staff types.

On the cultural diversity thing, they do reserve a certain number of slots for shows that self-identify as representing or serving minority groups (same as they reserve some slots for out-of-towners and teens). They are very adamant about the lottery system, but companies sometimes roll the dice as to whether they think their odds are better in the “reserve” pool vs the larger pool. So, to an extent, the cultural diversity (or lack thereof) is reflective of the groups that apply in the first place. Whether the festival can do a better job of encouraging said groups to apply is something to discuss. There’s also the part where the onus is on the groups that make it in the festival to market their own show well and to adequately represent it on the web site.

I’m glad to hear that a certain reserved number of slots for minority groups.

I feel that Fringe is a lot like the State Fair, my other favorite MN thing. Way too white. But how do you get groups outside of the majority to participate? And how do you make them mainstream and nor just the token Asian group of the token Deaf group?

I guess that’s why Erica is on the board of directors and I’m not. I don’t know where to begin, I just know that I think the Fringe is the perfect place to show off the great diversity Mpls-St. Paul has.