INTERVIEW: Johanni van Oostrum on Figaro, Travel, and the Quest for the Perfect Burger Arts Music Theatre by Basil Considine - October 31, 2017November 2, 2017 Soprano Johanni van Oostrum. Photo by S. N. de Vries. Soprano Johanni van Oostrum stars in Minnesota Opera's upcoming production of The Marriage of Figaro. The international opera star's career has taken her from her native South Africa to Europe, North America, and Asia. The Arts Reader's Basil Considine caught up with van
REVIEW: Breathtaking Moments, Inconsistent Vision in Chainsawed Hamlet (Park Square Theatre) Arts Theatre by Kit Bix - October 31, 2017October 31, 2017 Hamlet (Kory LaQuess Pullam) angrily confronts his mother Gertrude (Sandra Struthers) in Park Square Theatre's production of Hamlet. Photo by Amy Anderson. Revenge does not sit well on Kory LaQuess Pullam’s Hamlet. Pullam performs in Park Square Theatre's current production, staged by director Joel Sass in a modern setting. The action moves
REVIEW: Thrilling Dracula (COLLIDE) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - October 31, 2017November 11, 2017 A scene from COLLIDE's Dracula. COLLIDE Theatrical Dance Company is getting creepy this season with its dance extravaganza Dracula. This action-packed piece, a revival of last year's hit, opened on Saturday. This contemporary twist on the classic vampire tale by Bram Stoker is set to a pounding modern soundtrack of pop songs. This
INTERVIEW: 2017 Ivey Awards Emerging Artist Meghan Kreidler Arts Music Theatre by Basil Considine - October 30, 2017October 30, 2017 Meghan Kreidler (center) in the Mu Performing Arts/Park Square Theatre co-production of Flower Drum Song. Photo by Rich Ryan. Actor Meghan Kreidler received the Ivey Awards' Emerging Artist Award for 2017. In recent years, she's appeared on the stages of the Guthrie Theater, Mixed Blood, Park Square Theatre, Ten Thousand Things, the
PHOTOS: BareBones Halloween 2017 (Hidden Falls Park) Arts Dance Music Visual Arts by Twin Cities Arts Reader - October 30, 2017 One of the Twin Cities' great Halloween traditions is BareBones Productions' annual outdoor show. For 24 years, The Annual Halloween Outdoor Puppet Extravaganza has brought giant puppetry, music, and storytelling to delight audiences young and old. This year's show takes place in Hidden Falls Regional Park in St. Paul, MN.
FEATURE: The Opera Lover’s Guide to Opera in Minnesota Arts Music Opera Theatre by Amy Donahue - October 29, 2017October 29, 2017 Baritone Jeehoon Kim in Really Spicy Opera's 2016 production of Rigoletto. New to the Twin Cities? Want to know where to go for opera? Well, you're in the right place: the Arts Reader's guide to opera in Minnesota. Where To See Opera Fargo-Moorhead The main producer of operas in the Fargo-Moorhead region is the aptly named
REVIEW: Rough but Poignant Birds Sing Differently Here (Guthrie Theater) Arts Theatre by Amy Donahue - October 29, 2017November 11, 2017 The aftershocks of war came home to the Guthrie Theater last night with the Iraqi and American Reconciliation Project’s Birds Sing Differently. This collection of stories is based on the real lives of 12 Iraqi-Minnesotan refugees and immigrants and is performed as part of the Guthrie's Level Nine Series. Unusually, this performance is given
REVIEW: The Ramsey Lewis Time Capsule (Dakota Jazz Club) Arts Music by Brian Bix - October 27, 2017October 27, 2017 A publicity photo showing jazz master Ramsey Lewis. Ramsey Lewis comes from a different time. It was a time when musicians produced record albums. He has had something like 80 of them (that is not a misprint: 80), going back to “Ramsey Lewis and the Gentlemen of Swing,” over 60 years
REVIEW: Classic Neil Simon Laughs in Come Blow Your Horn (St. Croix Off Broadway Dinner Theatre) Arts Theatre by Basil Considine - October 27, 2017October 29, 2017 It's not often that a first play stands the test of time as well as Neil Simon's Come Blow Your Horn, now playing at the St. Croix Off Broadway Dinner Theatre in Hudson, WI. Come Blow Your Horn is filled with all the situational humor and relatable character clashes that suffuse Simon's
REVIEW: Wedding Band Still Packs Gunpowder (Penumbra Theatre) Arts Theatre by Bev Wolfe - October 25, 2017October 26, 2017 The course of love does not run smooth for Julia (Dame-Jasmine Hughes) and Herman (Peter Christian Hansen) in Penumbra Theatre's production of Wedding Band: A Love/Hate Story in Black And White. Photo by Allen Weeks. Penumbra Theatre opens its 41st season with an explosive production of Wedding Band: A Love/Hate Story in