REVIEW: Sterling Music Man Marches Back to Town (Channhassen Dinner Theatres) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - March 7, 2020March 7, 2020 Winthrop (Hugo Mallaney) receives a brand-new cornet in Chanhassen Dinner Theatre's The Music Man, now playing in Chanhassen, MN. Photo by Dan Norman. You might wonder what a musical written in 1957 has to say about the present day. Then come the famous lyrics – "Ya got trouble – right here in
REVIEW: Stellar, Riveting Romeo & Juliet (COLLIDE) Arts Dance Music by Basil Considine - February 16, 2020February 17, 2020 Renee Guittar (Juliet) and Rush Benson (Romeo) in a promotional image for COLLIDE Theatrical's ballet adaptation of Romeo & Juliet. Staging what is often described as the greatest love story ever told on Valentine's Day might sound hokey. COLLIDE Theatrical's ballet setting of William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet is anything but:
REVIEW: Engaging Noura Belies Marketing (Guthrie Theater) Arts Theatre by Basil Considine - January 26, 2020January 27, 2020 Gamze Ceylan (Noura) and Akshay Krishna (Yazen, alternate performances) in the Guthrie Theater’s production of Heather Raffo's Noura. Photo by Dan Norman. Some stories run too long in the telling, making you wish for a good editor's or dramaturge's pen. Others end naturally, like Ibsen's A Doll's House, where the only way
INTERVIEW: Matthias Maute on Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and 80 Concerts/Year (Bach Society of Minnesota) Arts Music by Basil Considine - December 6, 2019December 6, 2019 Conductor Matthias Maute leads the Bach Society of Minnesota in a trio of concerts this weekend. Photo by Bill Blackstone. There are many claimants to the title of "the most German composer", but there is one item on which all can agree: if such a spiritual lineage exists, the line to
REVIEW: SIX Short of Hype, Still a Splash (Ordway) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - December 5, 2019December 6, 2019 The cast of SIX, now playing at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in St. Paul, MN. Photo by Brett Beiner. From all the hype, you could be forgiven for thinking that the Broadway-bound SIX is the second coming of, well, Hamilton. It is not – the two are apples and
INTERVIEW: Chilina Kennedy on The Band’s Visit and Rocking the Road Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - December 1, 2019November 26, 2019 What would you do if a whole busload full of strangers was stranded in your town overnight? What if they were from a country that has historically not gotten along well with your own? A scene from the national tour of The Band's Visit, which plays at the Orpheum Theatre
REVIEW: The Many Returns of Jane Austen in Christmas at Pemberley (Jungle Theater) Arts Music Theatre by Basil Considine - November 26, 2019November 26, 2019 Fitzwilliam Darcy (James Rodríguez, left) and Charles Bingley (Jesse Lavercome, right) advise the inexperienced Arthur de Bourgh (Reese Britts, center) on how to write letters to women in the Jungle Theater production of Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley. Photo by Dan Norman. The Jungle Theater's 2017 holiday hit Miss Bennet: Christmas
REVIEW: Phantom of the Opera Returns for Final Rollercoaster Ride (Orpheum Theatre) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - November 25, 2019November 26, 2019 The famous Masquerade in The Phantom of the Opera, now playing at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis, MN. Photo by Alastair Muir. This is your last chance to catch The Phantom of the Opera. Wait, that's not quite right. This is your last chance to catch the magnificent 25th Anniversary Tour
INTERVIEW: Derrick Davis on Becoming the Phantom of the Opera Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - November 21, 2019November 22, 2019 Derrick Davis (right) returns to the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis as The Phantom in the national tour of The Phantom of the Opera. Photo by Matthew Murphy. Playing the Phantom of the Opera is a famously demanding role, and playing the Phantom amidst the rigors and winter winds of a national tour
REVIEW: Brilliant, Hilarious Homicide in Gentleman’s Guide (Old Log Theatre) Arts Dance Music Theatre Visual Arts by Basil Considine - October 31, 2019October 31, 2019 Monty Navarro (Max Wojtanowicz, right) drops in on his paramour Sibella (Emily Scinto) in A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, now playing at the Old Log Theatre. Photo courtesy of the Old Log Theatre. It's a good thing that entertainment consumption and morals are only thinly linked. If the association