REVIEW: Splendid Hit Parade in Motown: The Musical (Orpheum/Hennepin Theatre Trust) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Ali O'Reilly - July 13, 2017July 14, 2017 Gabriella Whiting (Florence Ballard), Allison Semmes (Diana Ross), and Tavia Riveé (Mary Wilson) in Motown: The Musical. Photo by Joan Marcus. Motown: The Musical returned to the Orpheum July 11th. The musical – which follows the story of Berry Gordy, Jr. and his iconic hit-making enterprise – includes more than 60 beloved hits
REVIEW: Timely Wicked-ness (Oprheum/Hennepin Theatre Trust) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Ali O'Reilly - April 17, 2017April 17, 2017 Jessica Vosk as Elphaba in the touring production of Wicked. Photo by Joan Marcus. The first (and only other) time I saw Wicked was in 2008, from the nosebleeds of Chicago’s Oriental Theatre, where it would play to 3.2 million audience members in a period of 3.5 years. The cast then featured
REVIEW: Dead Man Winter @ First Avenue Arts Music by Ali O'Reilly - February 14, 2017February 15, 2017 Photo by David McClister. First Ave is packed, but it's noticeably not annoying. I am chesting through what is undeniably the salt of the earth: Minnesotans buzzing with anticipation, familial-like recognition, whiskey. It’s cozy like a homecoming dipped in flannel, and I have the sense that if the world were to
INTERVIEW: A Dialogue with Dead Man Winter Arts Music by Ali O'Reilly - February 10, 2017February 10, 2017 I’m waiting in the Minnesota Public Radio lobby holding a baby that isn't mine when Dave Simonett takes the seat across from me and asks if it’s sleeping. At first, I don’t recognize the singer-songwriter, frontman of the long-celebrated folk-fixture Trampled By Turtles as Dead Man Winter. He’s with JT Bates, Erik Koskinen,
REVIEW: Melissa Etheridge – Take 2 (Ordway) Arts Music by Ali O'Reilly - January 8, 2017January 9, 2017 It was -2 degrees in St. Paul on Thursday, but the lot of us still went out to watch Melissa Etheridge perform her tribute album, MEmphis Rock and Soul [sic]. We were kept warm by the artist's timely reworking of iconic R&B-rock hybrids off the Memphis-based label, Stax Records. Covering gems from
REVIEW: Sex Tips for Straight Women from a Gay Man Arts Theatre by Ali O'Reilly - November 20, 2016November 20, 2016 Photo by Jeremy Shaffer. The how-to book Sex Tips for Straight Women from A Gay Man by Dan Anderson and Maggie Berman was a 1997 instant best seller. Salon.com's Courtney Weaver called it a “cannily entertaining romp through the nuts and bolts of sex from the male perspective.” This cult classic served as