REVIEW: 21st Century Twists Complete & Juliet (Orpheum/Hennepin Arts) Arts Music Theatre by Bev Wolfe - May 18, 2025May 29, 2025 Corey Mach and the company of the North American Tour of & JULIE. Photo by Matthew Murphy. & Juliet uses the play within a play concept to provide Shakespeare’s classic Romeo & Juliet with an alternative ending. David West Read wrote the book for the show. Max Martin, a prolific song writer
REVIEW: Paul Simon’s Intimate Orpheum concert Arts Music by Bev Wolfe - April 28, 2025April 30, 2025 A promotional photo of American singer-songwriter Paul Simon. Paul Simon gave a low-key but stirring performance on Easter at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis. I was especially excited to see him in concert since cancer treatments prevented me from attending his farewell tour in 2018. Still dealing with cancer, but on
REVIEW: Musically Stellar MJ (HTT/Orpheum Theatre) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Bev Wolfe - May 25, 2024May 25, 2024 Brandon Lee Harris as 'Michael' Josh A. Dawson as 'Quincy Jones' Roman Banks as 'MJ' and the cast of the MJ First National Tour. Photo by Matthew Murphy/MurphyMade. The touring Broadway musical MJ is more than a show about Michael Jackson’s life, it is the Michael Jackson experience with an enthused
REVIEW: Powerful Jagged Little Pill Trip (HTT/Orpheum Theater) Arts Music Theatre by Bev Wolfe - August 12, 2023August 12, 2023 Jade McLeod (center) stars in the North American Tour of jagged little pill, currently playing at the Orpheum Theater in Minneapolis. Photo by Matthew Murphy for MurphyMade, 2022. Alanis Morissette’s powerful musical jagged little pill musical opened on Tuesday at the Orpheum Theater in Minneapolis. Based on the eponymous Grammy-winning album, the
PREVIEW: Waitress at the Ordway Arts Music Theatre by Bev Wolfe - March 8, 2022March 8, 2022 Gabriella Marzetta as Dawn and Brian Lundy as Ogie in the national tour of Waitress: The Musical, which opens tonight in St. Paul, MN. Photo by Jeremy Daniel. The Ordway Center for the Performing Arts is ending its Broadway show season with a bake-off. Pie baking, to be precise – a
REVIEW: “She Rescues Him Back” – But What More? Pretty Woman: The Musical (Orpheum/Hennepin Theatre Trust) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Bev Wolfe - March 1, 2022March 10, 2022 Kyle Taylor Parker starred in Pretty Woman: The Musical, which played at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis in February. Photo by Matthew Murphy/MurphyMade. Pretty Woman: The Musical follows what has become a steady diet of revamping successful movies into Broadway musicals. The 1990 movie was a big box office success, catapulting
REVIEW: The All-Too Brief Summer: The Donna Summer Musical (Ordway) Arts Music Theatre by Bev Wolfe - December 31, 2021January 2, 2022 The cast of the national touring company of Summer: The Donna Summer Musical. Originally scheduled to run through January 2, the show's remaining performances at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in Saint Paul, MN have been cancelled due to COVID-19. With many touring shows, you can blink and miss
REVIEW: New Rhythms in A Christmas Carol (Guthrie Theater) Arts Theatre by Bev Wolfe - November 30, 2021November 30, 2021 The cast of the Guthrie Theater's 2021 holiday production of A Christmas Carol, now playing in Minneapolis. Photo by Jenny Graham. Prologue Re-opening operations during the COVID-19 pandemic has been a work in progress, with many adjustments and surprises. One such surprise came with the opening of the Guthrie Theater's new production
REVIEW: Oklahoma! Retrospective: Reworking and Reviving a Classic Through Tone (Orpheum/Hennepin Theatre Trust) Arts Music Theatre by Bev Wolfe - November 18, 2021November 20, 2021 The national touring company of Oklahoma! played the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis, Minnesota from November 9-14, 2021. Photo by Matt Murphy. The national tour of Oklahoma! did not linger in town for too long. The Minnesota engagement was the formal launch of this tour, which sprouted from a famous (and Tony
REVIEW: My Fair Lady Tour Still Delights (HTT/Orpheum) Arts Music Theatre by Bev Wolfe - March 8, 2020March 8, 2020 Shavey Brown, Mark Aldrich, Shereen Ahmed (center), William Michals, and Colin Anderson in the national tour of My Fair Lady. Photo by Joan Marcus. A perfectly “lovely” experience awaits all who attend My Fair Lady at the Orpheum Theatre. Alan Jay Lerner wrote the book and lyrics and Frederick Loewe composed the