Minneapolis/St. Paul - "The Chaos of the Bells"

Regional Reviews: Minneapolis/St. Paul

The Chaos of the Bells
Brave New Workshop
Review by Deanne McDonald Haywood | Season Schedule

Also see Arty's reviews of The Phantom of the Opera and A Nice Family Christmas and Deanne's review of Rollicking! A Winter Carnival Musical

Doug Neithercott, Denzel Belin,
Isabella Dunsieth, Rita Boersma,
and Lauren Anderson
Photo Courtesy of Hennepin Arts

If you have never had a chance to see a Brave New Workshop holiday revue, do yourself a favor and check out The Chaos of the Bells. Starring Brave New Workshop performers Lauren Anderson, Denzel Belin, Rita Boersma, Isabella Dunsieth, and Doug Neithercott with music director Jon Pumper and technical director Matthew Vichlach, the production features a variety of sketches and satirical songs that lovingly skewer Minnesotans and our holiday traditions. These holiday productions are so consistently irreverently funny, I make it a point to see them every year.

In this year's production, the satirical songs are some of the strongest material, such as the opening number, which begins as your traditional "Carol of the Bells" and descends into satirical chaos with lines referencing Minneapolis' snow emergency parking crisis ("Is it on the even or odd side?"), Chanhassen's White Christmas "Sisters" performed by the Brave New Workshop's own "gay hype squad," Belin and Neithercott, and of course the annual finale, "The Twelve Days of Christmas," which skewers all manner of holiday topics from family and neighbor relationships to the city of Minneapolis ("Please come back downtown"). No jokes are lost as everyone in the small cast is a solid vocalist with the diction to sell every witty line.

Not every sketch in the first half of The Chaos of the Bells is as original or biting as some of the songs, although there are still laughs to be have in their take on a Southwest flight attendant having a nervous breakdown, the band NewSong, writers of "Christmas Shoes," only able to write songs about other kinds of footwear, and Target employees orgasming over Josh Groban singing "O Holy Night." The sketches in the second half of the production really take off, particularly an extended scene with two neighbors, played by Lauren Anderson and Rita Boersma, who discover the gift of male friendship in the most repressed Minnesotan way possible.

Brave New Workshop notes that "there's something for everyone" in this production and, considering this is their 68th holiday season, they know what they're talking about. Even an uncle who is offended by Neithercott's Trump impression will get a kick out of Anderson packing up some leftovers in a Country Crock tub, and her very Minnesotan line, "I am going to need that tub back, though."

Brave New Workshop's The Chaos of the Bells runs through January 17, 2026, at the Dudley Riggs Theatre, 824 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis MN. For tickets and information, please call 612-339-7007 or visit hennepinarts.org.