Ms. Luisa Eats
Ms. Luisa Eats is a hit cabaret comedy show created by Genné that has performed been at the Edinburgh and Minnesota Fringe Festival, in San Francisco and New York City since 2009.
The show is inspired by her Italian ancestors and the life of early 20th century Italian opera diva, Luisa Tetrazzini, who was known for consuming heaping plates of pasta before a performance and who also had a tumultuous love life. The show is peppered with Genné’s uproarious character improvisation, and operatic, folk and popular songs from around the world. Her saucy use of food and humor, and playful interactions with the audience, showcase her comic gifts and singing.
Ms. Luisa Eats collaborative Artists:
Lauren Asheim, Morgen Chang, Sean Hansberry, Tom Johnson, Eduardo Mpls, Jäc Pau, Gary Ruschman, Kassy Skoretz, Maggie Sotos, Ty Otis, Nathan Lane, Kevin Washington & Aubrey Weger.
PRESS
Sunday: Writer, director and performer Parker Genné has taken this quirky mix of munching and music to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and to venues in New York and San Francisco. The title character is inspired by Italian opera diva Luisa Tetrazzini, an early-20th-century soprano known for the power of her voice, her love of food and a torrid love life. She is memorialized on many a menu as some savory dishes are named after her, including seafood tetrazzini, made with wine and cheese and served over pasta. Genné’s Luisa, who will be eating holiday-appropriate gingerbread cookies, is the center of a wheel of technically sound but irreverent performers in what is essentially a vaudeville show. There will be music, dance and drag from percussionist Kevin Washington, drag queen Eduardo Mpls, dancer Morgen Chang and Charlie Chaplin clown Kassy Skoretz. “Luisa is this super-interesting character who invites people to fall in love — with other people around them, with food and with themselves,” Genné said. (6 p.m. Sun., Icehouse, 2528 Nicollet Av. S., Mpls. $8-$10. icehousempls.com.)
Rohan Preston
Fringe Festival: Shake it up | Star Tribune
"Ash Land" showed how inventive and intelligent theater artists can be when they put their muscle behind the work. Tamara Ober's "Sin Eater" was virtuosic, and even something as silly as "Ms. Luisa Eats" or "Mary Mack's Anti One-Woman Show" illustrate how we need the wacky/tack stuff…"
My lunch with Luisa Tetrazzini at Jakeeno's Pizza & Pasta
"For this year’s Minnesota Fringe Festival, we focused on the true newbs. These are artists who are dipping their toes in for the first time, who haven’t achieved the press and PR savvy that comes with experience, or who are simply too young and too green to have made a name for themselves…"