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
REVIEW: Thrilling Horror in La Dame Blanche (PARIS: Théâtre du Palais-Royal) Arts Theatre by Basil Considine - February 16, 2016November 26, 2017 You might not think about Paris as a theatre destination, but the French capital is home to more than a hundred professional theatres. If you speak even a little conversational French, it's worth checking it out. La Dame blanche ("The White Lady"), now playing at the Théâtre du Palais-Roy al, is not about
PREVIEW: Four Saints in Three Acts (VocalEssence) Arts Dance Music Opera by Basil Considine - February 8, 2016February 8, 2016 On March 19, 2016, VocalEssence is staging a rare performance of the opera Four Saints in Three Acts. This rarely performed work features a libretto by Gertrude Stein and music by Virgil Thomson, and is considered one of the most influential American operas of the 1930s. VocalEssence's staging brings the piece
SPOTLIGHT: The Mill City String Quartet Arts Music by Basil Considine - January 30, 2016January 30, 2016 From left to right: Valerie Little (viola), Huldah Niles (violin), Jeffrey Erbland (cello), and Erika Hoogeveen (violin). Today's Saturday Spotlight shines on the Mill City String Quartet, a classical music ensemble that has been making music across the State of Minnesota since 2007. Last season, the ensemble was a 2014-15 Artist-in-Residence in Minnesota Public Radio's
INTERVIEW: Costume Designer Raquel Barreto Arts Theatre by Basil Considine - January 23, 2016January 24, 2016 Raquel Barreto's costume designs in the 2016 staging of Pericles at the Guthrie Theatre. Photo by Jenny Graham. It's been 25 years since the Guthrie Theater's artistic director Joseph Haj first staged the Shakespearean play Pericles, Prince of Tyre. The production that opened last night at the Guthrie is the third incarnation of a critically