PREVIEW: High Stakes in The Highwaymen (History Theatre) Arts Theatre by Basil Considine - February 4, 2017February 4, 2017 The Booker T. Café (named after Booker T. Washington) in Rondo in 1960, one of many African-American businesses and community gathering spaces rolled over by I-94 construction. Photo courtesy of the Minnesota Historical Society. Tonight, Josh Wilder's new play The Highwaymen premieres at the History Theatre in St. Paul. This historical drama examines
INTERVIEW: Damon Runnals, Minnesota Playlist’s New Head Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - February 3, 2017February 10, 2017 Damon Runnals. On February 1, Damon Runnals became the head and owner of Minnesota Playlist, an online magazine that hosts artist profiles and functions as the state's central online clearinghouse for theatre audition notices. Runnals, who stepped down at the Southern Theater in October after spearheading the once-troubled theatre's financial and operational rebirth, is
Fringe File 2017, #1: The Basics Arts Dance Music Opera Theatre by Basil Considine - February 2, 2017July 19, 2017 Our popular Fringe File series on the Minnesota Fringe Festival returns for its first 2017 installment. Pictured: Grant Sorenson in New Epic Theater's Now or Later, an Ivey Award-winning production at the 2016 MN Fringe. Are you a dancer? Comedian? Actor? Writer? A one-woman band with a crazy magic show and a bunch of talking puppets?
TOP 10: Basil Considine’s 10 Best Shows of 2016 Arts Dance Music Opera Theatre by Basil Considine - January 8, 2017January 8, 2017 Lumière (Mark King) entertains Belle (Ruthanne Heyward) in Chanhassen Dinner Theatres' 2016 production of Beauty and the Beast. Photo by Heidi Bohnenkamp. Those of us living in the greater Twin Cities metro area are blessed with an embarrassment of artistic richness. There are far too many performing arts organizations for any one person to
INTERVIEW: Randy Reyes on Flower Drum Song, Mu, and More Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - December 23, 2016December 23, 2016 A scene from Mu Performing Arts' 2008 production of Flower Drum Song. Photo by Michal Daniel. It's been three years plus change since Randy Reyes took over the artistic directorship of Mu Performing Arts from founder Rick Shiomi. In the interim, Reyes has been busy, leading the nationally acclaimed Asian American theatre company
REVIEW: Sweet, Moving Coming Out in Fun Home (Hennepin Theatre Trust) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - December 14, 2016December 14, 2016 The National Tour Company of Fun Home. Photo by Joan Marcus. Last year, Waitress: The Musical made a splash on Broadway with its excellent score and script and the unusual-for-Broadway combination of an all-female creative and production team. Another show that picked up buzz for an all-female writing team was the excellent Fun Home, which
FEATURE: On Hamilton Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - December 13, 2016December 13, 2016 Daveed Diggs as Thomas Jefferson and the ensemble of Hamilton. Last Friday, the Hennepin Theatre Trust delighted Twin Cities theatregoers with a succinct message to its email subscribers: The national tour of the Broadway musical HAMILTON will play the Orpheum Theatre as part of the 2018-2019 Broadway on Hennepin Season. The best way
INTERVIEW: Dieter Bierbrauer on White Christmas Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - December 10, 2016December 10, 2016 Brian Sostek as Phil Davis and Dieter Bierbrauer as Bob Wallace in the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts' production of White Christmas. "Will it be a white Christmas?" It's still a little early to answer this perennial question in the Twin Cities, but if you head on over to St. Paul's
INTERVIEW: Christopher Ash on Set Design, Lions Arts Theatre Visual Arts by Basil Considine - December 9, 2016December 9, 2016 A humble throne (upstage center) is dwarfed by the massive staircase in the Guthrie Theater's production of The Lion in Winter. Photo by Heidi Bohnenkamp. Sit down to watch a production of The Lion in Winter at the Guthrie and one of the first things you'll notice is the monumental set design. This evocative
REVIEW: Engrossing Curious Incident of the Dog (Hennepin Theatre Trust) Arts Theatre by Basil Considine - November 30, 2016November 30, 2016 Christopher Boone (Adam Langdon) navigates an overstimulating world. Photo by Joan Marcus. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time opened Tuesday at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis. It's a rare spoken play in a Broadway touring season that's normally entirely filled with musicals. It's also an amazing, engrossing rollercoaster