PREVIEW: Tosca (Minnesota Opera) Arts Music Opera by Basil Considine - March 7, 2016March 11, 2017 A scenic design sculpture for Act 2 of Minnesota Opera's 2016 production of Tosca. Design by Lorenzo Cutùli. Tosca, which opens this Saturday at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, is one of the most lethal operas in the standard repertoire. Les Troyens' mass suicide of Trojan maidens kills off more
REVIEW: Startling, Exciting A Man’s Requiem by SEOP Dance Company (Ordway) Arts Dance by Lydia Lunning - March 6, 2016March 7, 2016 Saturday night saw the South Korean dance ensemble SEOP Dance Company descend on Rice Park to perform at the Ordway. Stated simply, lovers of classical and modern dance should both make it a life goal to see the SEOP Dance Company perform. The show seen on Saturday, A Man’s Requiem, has been
PREVIEW: Women of Substance Festival (St. Catherine University) Arts Dance Lifestyle Music Theatre Visual Arts by Twin Cities Arts Reader - March 3, 2016March 3, 2016 The year 2016 has many milestones, but in the case of St. Catherine's University it marks the 20th anniversary of the university's celebrated Women of Substance Series. For two decades, this series has brought a brilliant succession of work by and featuring women to St. Paul, filling the O'Shaughnessy with innovative and
REVIEW: Iolanthe Hilarious, Lovely (GSVLOC) Arts Music Opera Theatre by Basil Considine - February 28, 2016February 28, 2016 Sort-of-maybe-star-crossed lovers The Lord Chancellor (Scott Benson), Phyllis (Sarah Wind Richens), and Strephon (Eric Sargent). 2015 was a good year for Gilbert & Sullivan fans in the Twin Cities. In a typical year, they might expect to see just one or two performances; in 2015, they got three: H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance, and Trial
REVIEW: Ruby! The Story of Ruby Bridges (Steppingstone Theatre) Arts Theatre by Bev Wolfe - February 27, 2016February 27, 2016 The history of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s is the story of individuals who, at great personal sacrifice, challenged the racial segregation practices in this country. Steppingstone Theatre’s production of Ruby! The Story of Ruby Bridges spotlights the quiet courage of one such individual: a six-year
REVIEW: A Heart-Thrumming Chorus Line (Ordway) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - February 26, 2016February 26, 2016 The cast of the Ordway's A Chorus Line. Photo by Rich Ryan. A Chorus Line is one of a very small number of large-cast musicals still performed by major companies. It features no fewer than 17 principals, 15 of whose job is to make you care about them and root for their being
Van Gogh/MIA Redux Arts Movies Visual Arts by Twin Cities Arts Reader - February 26, 2016February 26, 2016 Vincent van Gogh has featured prominently in several exhibitions and events at the Minneapolis Institute of Art over the past year. Van Gogh's 1890 painting Irises made an appearance on loan and the museum went big with a giant, farmer's field-sized recreation of the painter's Olive Trees – a truly memorable spin on art.
PREVIEW: Nina Simone: Four Women (Park Square) Arts Music Theatre by Twin Cities Arts Reader - February 26, 2016February 26, 2016 Nina Simone at a concert in Morlaix, France, May 1982. Did you like what you saw of Regina Marie Williams at the 2015 Ivey Awards? Did you love the Regina-Christina combo and think it deserved a sequel? If so, you might want to be grabbing a set of tickets for the world
RELAY: The Broadway…Ab Connection Arts Music Theatre by Hanne Appelbaum - February 26, 2016February 26, 2016 A promotional photo of James Craven for the 2015 Ivey Awards. Photo by William Clark; note the lack of abs, flesh, and eroticization compared to the links below. Several of the largest and most-established theatre companies in the Twin Cities holding both local and New York casting sessions. What do companies
RELAY: The New York Times on the Minnesota Orchestra Arts Music by Twin Cities Arts Reader - February 25, 2016February 26, 2016 The New York Times ran a feature today on the Minnesota Orchestra's brush with bankruptcy, shutdown, labor dispute, and revival.