We saw Battle of the Improvement All-Stars in July, 2026. It is a show based on Whose Line Is It Anyway. What a talented group of comedians! So much fun. So many laughs. I would recommend bringing your own libations, though. $18 for maybe a 3 oz pour of sav blanc is outrageous. A can of beer was $10. Just be aware…

It was our 38th Wedding Anniversary and we decided to see The World is Burning so I Made Smores at the Brave New Workshop in the Dudley Riggs Theater in downtown Minneapolis. I am sound sensitive and put in my sonic earplugs as soon as we got into the theater because the audio was quite over amplified. The theater itself is a wide rectangle so the sound doesn't need to travel a great distance to be heard. The performances could be done in a normal stage voice. The performance covers the absurdity of changes occurring since the election in November 2024, and more pointedly from the inauguration in January 2025. The first act was well performed although the topics covered were less comedic and more newsy. The second act was more of the absurd over the top comedy we anticipated. The third act was improv with audience participation. Unfortunately, a particular audience member was quick to share that the best part of her day was getting drunk. She'd been on the planet perhaps ten fewer years than I, so a youthful indiscretion it was not. Each time audience participation was requested, her voice in the front row middle table drowned out the crowd. Even actor Denzel Belin made a comment from the stage. I want to especially note the acting of Jeffrey Nolan as the wounded Bald Eagle. He had no lines, but his eagle actions perched on the arm of another cast member in the background were spot on. I enjoyed the Mother Daughter interlude between Lauren Anderson and Isabella Dunsieth with the banter back and forth about the changes happening so fast that adults don't necessarily understand life right now and thus it is hard to pass along wisdom to the youth. Katy McEwen portrayed an appropriately frustrated business IT employee attempting to explain to a small group of employees how Artificial Intelligence would speed up their work flow and benefit them. Isabella did a great job of splitting the voices in her head that she so badly wanted to speak, with those of a frustrated employee promotionally passed over for another bad manager from the outside. Lauren portrayed the angry long term jaded employee who just wanted to make it to retirement age before the robots took over. Denzel was remarkable every time he came on stage, his enthusiasm and humor shown through in all his actions. I don't know who wrote any vignettes but it seemed as if Denzel's voice was flowing through the words in many. The piece with Katy, Lauren and Isabella skipping together in circles bemoaning the recent loss of women's freedoms was more dispiriting than comedic to me. Perhaps I am dismayed the America I'd grown up to believe in was dismantled by idiots faster than I thought possible. Perhaps, I just need another Smore.

The Brave New Workshop is always a great show and good opportunity for live theater downtown. The start of the show is usually scripted comedy, with improv after the show definitely worth staying for. The question is not if I will laugh so hard I snort, it's how many times I snort!

Perhaps the best Christmas show in Three Years - but not the best in four years. I wrote a very positive review in 2018. As I noted in the past review, the show delivered the promised Minnesota Christmas show. The actors (as always) were super professional and good. The new show skit topics weren't particularly fresh or appealing to me. Profanity seemed excessive. I gave the show three stars because I'm certain that many will find it funny and the cast is very talented. If you attended the play four years ago and are expecting a fresh new version - suggest something else.

Overall the performers were all very talented. We saw the Hindsight is 20/20 show - very clever. There was one skit about how paper is evil and it was awesome!