REVIEW: Inspired Readings in Leaves of Grass (Guthrie Theater) Arts Dance Theatre by Amy Donahue - July 16, 2019July 26, 2019 An illustration by Margaret C. Cook for a 1913 edition of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, the subject of a recent play of the same name by Patrick Scully at the Guthrie Theater. 2019 marks the bicentennial of Walt Whitman's birth. The American poet's long shadow still tinges much of American
Fringe File #2: The Overachiever’s Plan for Day 1 of the Minnesota Fringe Festival Arts Dance Music Theatre by Amy Donahue - July 9, 2019July 10, 2019 A collage of show images from the 2019 Minnesota Fringe Festival. There are many different ways to approach to the Minnesota Fringe Festival, the Twin Cities' annual performing arts binge extravaganza. Mine has two rules. The first? Park once, move never. The second? Variety. Rule 1 means that, once I've parked my
BREAKING NEWS: Rose Ensemble Aborts Planned Closure Arts Music by Amy Donahue - June 24, 2019June 29, 2019 The Rose Ensemble announced last June that the much-decorated vocal ensemble would fade away at the end of the present season, citing declining revenues. Today, the Rose Ensemble delighted fans by announcing that its planned sunset would not actually take place. Thanks to an outpouring of fundraising and audience support,
REVIEW: Bad Education on Trial in Spring Awakening (Chameleon Theatre Circle) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Amy Donahue - June 21, 2019June 21, 2019 Schoolboys in Chameleon Theatre Circle's production of Spring Awakening. Photo by Kari Elizabeth Godfrey Photography LLC. It's surprising how well Spring Awakening has aged. For a show based on an 1891 stage drama by Frank Widekind, the musical's indictment of harmful education systems and nonexistent sex ed play very well in
PREVIEW: Hilarious The Play That Goes Wrong Opens Tomorrow (Hennepin Theatre Trust) Arts Theatre Visual Arts by Amy Donahue - May 6, 2019May 7, 2019 Things quickly start going wrong to hilarious effect during The Play Goes Wrong's play-within-a-play The Murder at Haversham Manor, which opens at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis, MN on Tuesday, May 7. Photo by Jeremy Daniel. Making fun of theatre is a very British tradition. While many U.S. theatre audiences are
NEWS: 2019 Tony Award Nominations Announced Arts Dance Music Theatre Visual Arts by Amy Donahue - April 30, 2019April 30, 2019 Nominees for the 2019 Tony Awards were announced this morning. Notably, the musical Hadestown: The Myth. The Musical. received 14 nominations, while To Kill a Mockingbird (unpopular, perhaps, due to a high-profile licensing battle that canceled theatre productions around the country) and Network received none for Best Play. The annual Tony Awards are
PREVIEW: The Events Behind the Umbrella Collective’s Velvet Swing Arts Theatre by Amy Donahue - April 5, 2019April 6, 2019 A promotional image for the Umbrella Collective's production of Velvet Swing, which premieres tonight at Bryant-Lake Bowl in Minneapolis, MN. Google "Velvet Swing" and the first thing that comes up is a not-safe-for-work product mixing sex and cannabis. An odd pairing? Not if you know the history of the term, a now-and-again
REVIEW: Freewheeling Adaptation of The Hobbit at CTC (Children’s Theatre Company) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Amy Donahue - March 19, 2019March 19, 2019 Becca Hart and Reed Sigmund in the Children's Theatre Company's new adaptation of The Hobbit. Photo by Dan Norman. There's a freewheeling musical adaptation of The Hobbit playing at the Children's Theatre Company in Minneapolis. This new take on J.R.R. Tolkien's classic children's novel is very loosely based on the source
REVIEW: Powerful Iphigenia and Other Daughters (Theatre Unbound) Arts Music Theatre by Amy Donahue - March 10, 2019March 14, 2019 Iphigenia and Other Daughters, currently being presented by Theatre Unbound at Gremlin Theatre in Saint Paul, MN. Photo by Theresa Burgess. It says something that, 25 years after its premiere in Los Angeles, Ellen McLaughlin's play Iphigenia and Other Daughters still has something powerful to say. It also says something that
REVIEW: Evocative, Lush My Àntonia Returns (Illusion Theater) Arts Music Theatre by Amy Donahue - March 3, 2019March 3, 2019 The cast of the Illusion Theater's 2019 remount of My Àntonia, now playing in Minneapolis. Photo courtesy of the Illusion Theater. My grandparents' bookshelf had some novels whose titles caught my eye, long ago: Willa Cather's O Pioneers! and The Song of the Lark. Peek into senior centers and community libraries