REVIEW: Just See The How and the Why (Theatre Unbound) Arts Theatre by Basil Considine - March 15, 2016March 16, 2016 Writing a theatre review is a mix of art and craft. A play review that reads like a play-by-play live blogging of a sports game sits more on the side of craft; selecting details to comment on that resonate with the whole experience of the play is more on the
The Ordway’s 2016-2017 Season Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - March 15, 2016March 16, 2016 Oyate Okodakiciyapi. Photo by pauloTphotography. The Ordway Center for the Performing Arts announced its 2016-2017 seasons this evening with its annual festive celebration. The upcoming season includes a diverse mix of self-produced musicals, touring Broadway shows, world music concerts, dance performances, the Ordway's own Broadway Songbook concerts, and a variety of special
INTERVIEW: Director Shelli Place Arts Theatre by Basil Considine - March 13, 2016March 14, 2016 Theatre Unbound's production of The How and the Why opened on Friday at the New Century Theatre. Director Shelli Place sat down with the Twin Cities Arts Reader's Basil Considine to discuss this play and her work. Part of Theatre Unbound's mission statement reads "providing audiences with engaging, rarely-seen perspectives on issues that are
REVIEW: C’est Belle! Beauty and the Beast à Chanhassen Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - March 12, 2016March 18, 2016 Gaston (Aleks Knezevich) and company in CDT's 2016 production of Beauty and the Beast. Photo by Heidi Boehnenkamp. It's been 11 years since Chanhassen Dinner Theatres opened its original production of Beauty and the Beast. In the intervening decade, this adaptation of the classic Disney movie musical has appeared on Twin Cities stages via Broadway
REVIEW: If/Then = Yes/But (Orpheum Theatre) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - March 9, 2016March 11, 2016 It's entirely possible that you'll leave If/Then (now playing at the Orpheum Theatre) without any certainty about what actually went on onstage. The basic schtick of this show is to play out the "what ifs" at different decision points, but it's not always clear where one version of events begins and ends. This
REVIEW: Katherine Ferrand Rules the Seance in Old Log’s Blithe Spirit Arts Theatre by Basil Considine - March 8, 2016June 24, 2018 The living cast of Blithe Spirit gets a surprise visitor (Elvira, played by Summer Hagen, right) from beyond. You sometimes wonder what was going on in theaters in the age just before television. In London, enough British lords started marrying chorus girls to inspire a whole slew of P.G. Wodehouse characters, repertory
PREVIEW: Tosca (Minnesota Opera) Arts Music Opera by Basil Considine - March 7, 2016March 11, 2017 A scenic design sculpture for Act 2 of Minnesota Opera's 2016 production of Tosca. Design by Lorenzo Cutùli. Tosca, which opens this Saturday at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, is one of the most lethal operas in the standard repertoire. Les Troyens' mass suicide of Trojan maidens kills off more
REVIEW: Iolanthe Hilarious, Lovely (GSVLOC) Arts Music Opera Theatre by Basil Considine - February 28, 2016February 28, 2016 Sort-of-maybe-star-crossed lovers The Lord Chancellor (Scott Benson), Phyllis (Sarah Wind Richens), and Strephon (Eric Sargent). 2015 was a good year for Gilbert & Sullivan fans in the Twin Cities. In a typical year, they might expect to see just one or two performances; in 2015, they got three: H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance, and Trial
REVIEW: A Heart-Thrumming Chorus Line (Ordway) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - February 26, 2016February 26, 2016 The cast of the Ordway's A Chorus Line. Photo by Rich Ryan. A Chorus Line is one of a very small number of large-cast musicals still performed by major companies. It features no fewer than 17 principals, 15 of whose job is to make you care about them and root for their being
PARIS REVIEW: Le Portrait de Dorian Gray (Lucernaire/Théâtre Rouge) Arts Theatre by Basil Considine - February 20, 2016March 23, 2017 There aren't too many theatrical stops on the typical American in Paris tourist itinerary. It's not uncommon for tourists to visit the Opéra-Garnier, and perhaps see a show at the Moulin Rouge, but by and large they're missing out on a vital part of Parisian nightlife. Paris is home to more