A page from the libretto of David Cote and Stefan Weisman's opera The Scarlet Ibis, which opens Thursday in Cambridge, MA in a production by Boston Opera Collaborative. January may be a frigid stormy time in much of the United States, but it's a florid time for new opera in the
Author: Basil Considine
Basil Considine is the Performing Arts Editor and Senior Classical Music and Drama Critic at the Twin Cities Arts Reader. He was previously the Resident Classical Music and Drama Critic at the Twin Cities Daily Planet and remains an occasional contributing writer for The Boston Musical Intelligencer and The Chattanoogan. He holds a PhD in Music and Drama from Boston University, an MTS in Sacred Music from the BU School of Theology, and a BA in Music and Theatre from the University of San Diego.
Basil was named one of Musical America's 30 Professionals of the Year in 2017.
INTERVIEW: Singer-Songwriter-Actor Emily Dussault – Gone Missing, Champagne Drops, and Songwriting
The cast of Theatre Elision's production of Gone Missing in rehearsal. On Thursday, 1/17, Theatre Elision opens its production of the musical Gone Missing. This is the Minnesota premiere of a 2003 musical by the late composer Michael Friedman (The Abominables, Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson) and book writer Steve Cosson. An
REVIEW: Classic Farce in Lend Me A Tenor (Old Log Theatre)
INTERVIEW: NYC’s PROTOTYPE Festival Leaders Talk New Opera and Music-Theatre
A promotional image for The Infinite Hotel at the NYC PROTOTYPE Festival of new operas. Artwork based on photos by Matthew Soltesz and Rachel Shane. Minnesota has long had a tradition of artistic leadership, influence, and practice beyond its borders. Whether in choral or popular music (or the odd Grammy-nominated orchestra
REVIEW: Disturbing Depths in Blackbird (Dark and Stormy)
Una (Sara Marsh) and Ray (Luverne Seifert)'s discomforting reunion in Dark & Stormy's production of Blackbird. Photo by Rick Spaulding. It's been a decade since Blackbird took home London's Olivier Award for Best New Play. The current staging by Dark & Stormy Productions, now playing at the Grain Belt Warehouse in
INTERVIEW: Actor McKinnley Aitchison on Tenor Problems and Resolutions
Melanie Wehrmacher and McKinnley Aitchison in the Old Log Theatre production of Lend Me a Tenor. Photo courtesy of the Old Log Theatre. Down at the Old Log Theatre, the Cast & Cru restaurant is dishing out desserts like the Berry Macaron Melange. What is this dairy-free, gluten-free treat, you say? Just
REVIEW: Uproarious Family Drama in The Wickhams (Jungle Theater)
REVIEW: The Last Cantus Concert (Of the Year)
A promotional photo of Cantus. Cantus brought its 2018 performances to a close on Sunday with the final installment (for now) of its Christmas with Cantus concerts. The performance featured an array of classic music, some more contemporary numbers such as Joni Mitchell's "The River", and a new vocal work by Catherine Dalton. That
PREVIEW: Welcome to Fight Night
An array of characters from Theatre Coup d'Etat's Fight Night performance series. Photos by Craig James Hostetler. If you saw a poster that said "Celebrity Deathmatch meets Highlander" and promised characters from Miley Cyrus to Darth Vader fighting it out with words, axes, knives, bricks, bats, hand-to-hand, and rubber chickens, you'd probably have a lot
INTERVIEW: Becca Hart on Jungles, Spoonfulls of Sugar, and Returning to the Wolfpack
The cast of the Jungle Theater's 2018 and 2019 productions of The Wolves. Photo by Dan Norman. The Jungle Theater's hit 2018 production of Sarah DeLappe's The Wolves is coming howling back in 2019. In a bit of sleight of hand, however, the January 31-February 17 revival jumps from the company's longtime home in Uptown