INTERVIEW: Daisuke Kawachi and Sara Ochs on Directing The Last Firefly (Theater Mu/SteppingStone) Arts Theatre by Basil Considine - March 11, 2019March 11, 2019 A fight rehearsal for the Theater Mu/SteppingStone Theatre for Youth co-production of The Last Firefly. Photo by Jessica Kray Martin Photo. Fireflies float on the boundary between the mundane and a world of magical realism. They are also important biomarkers, whose disappearance foreshadows local ecosystem collapse. This dual role has made
INTERVIEW: Bob Neu on Skylark’s Così fan tutte Arts Music Opera Theatre by Basil Considine - March 8, 2019March 8, 2019 A word cloud showing the most popular words in an English-language translation of the opera Così fan tutte, which will be staged by Skylark Opera Theatre from March 22-31 at The Historic Mounds Theatre in St. Paul, MN. Long before Trading Spaces, Celebrity Wife Swap, and other reality televsion, Wolfgang Amadeus
REVIEW: Unexpectedly Deep Tenderly (Old Log Theatre) Arts Dance Music Theatre Visual Arts by Basil Considine - March 8, 2019March 8, 2019 Gracie Anderson and C. Ryan Shipley star in Tenderly: The Rosemary Clooney Musical at the Old Log Theatre in Excelsior, MN. Photo courtesy of the Old Log Theatre. There are jukebox musicals that pass like a piece of cotton candy dissolving on the tongue, and there are jukebox musicals that surprise
REVIEW: Holy Caramels in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Orpheum/HTT) Arts Dance Music Theatre Visual Arts by Basil Considine - March 6, 2019March 7, 2019 Noah Weisberg as Willy Wonka with the cast of the national touring company of Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Photo by Joan Marcus. It's a little ironic that a musical about candy opened in Minneapolis on Ash Wednesday, a day of fasting in many Christian traditions. By all rights,
INTERVIEW: Rick Shiomi on Updating The Mikado, Combatting Yellowface, and Post-Mu Life Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - March 5, 2019March 5, 2019 Director Rick Shiomi and Music Director Randy Buikema look at an updated score for Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera The Mikado. On March 15, the Gilbert & Sullivan Very Light Opera Company opens a very different look at The Mikado. The updated version of this classic light opera, which plays at
REVIEW: Thrilling A Bronx Tale Opens (Orpheum/Hennepin Theatre Trust) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - February 20, 2019February 20, 2019 The cast of the national touring company of A Bronx Tale, which opened at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis, MN on Tuesday. Photo by Joan Marcus. The real crime in A Bronx Tale is that child actor Frankie Leoni isn't featured after the first several scenes. Sure, there's violence, gambling, and outright murder
REVIEW: Potted Potter Not Just for Harry Potter Buffs (Pantages Theatre/Hennepin Theatre Trust) Arts Theatre by Basil Considine - February 14, 2019February 14, 2019 Harry Potter (left) and Professor Albus Dumbledore (right) prepare to battle dark wizardry in the Harry Potter mashup parody Potted Potter. Photo by Dahlia Katz. If you ever wondered how broadly Harry Potter cuts across demographics, look no further than the spread of ages at Potted Potter's opening night at the Pantages Theatre. The
REVIEW: Tongue-in-Cheek Rock of Ages Opens Loud (Orpheum/HTT) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - February 9, 2019February 9, 2019 Sam Harvey (center) and the cast of the Rock of Ages National Tour. Photo by Jeremy Daniel. It's been ten years since Rock of Ages opened on Broadway for what became a 2,328-performance run. This jukebox musical, now playing at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis, features numerous rock hits from the 1980s, a
INTERVIEW: Visualizing Unexploded Ordnances (UXO) and Nuclear War: A Chat with Claire Nolan (Guthrie Theater) Arts Theatre Visual Arts by Basil Considine - January 31, 2019July 10, 2019 Peggy Shaw in the Split Britches production of Unexploded Ordnances (UXO), now playing at the Guthrie Theater. Photo by Matt Delbridge. When Joseph Haj started at the Guthrie Theater, he announced plans to reach and move audiences through the ambitious Level Nine Initiative. Three seasons later, the initiative has manifested in
PREVIEW: Potted Potter – The Unauthorized Harry Experience (Pantages/Hennepin Theatre Trust) Arts Theatre by Basil Considine - January 30, 2019January 30, 2019 A promotional photo for Potted Potter. Photo by Dahlia Katz. Twelve and a half years ago, a little parody show called Potted Potter premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland. There must have been something substantial in that pot, because this one-time Fringe show moved up sold-out runs in London's West End