REVIEW: Melissa Etheridge – Take 1 (Ordway) Arts Music by Bev Wolfe - January 8, 2017January 9, 2017 On Thursday night, the temperature plunged to -2 degrees; not to be deterred, Melissa Etheridge’s loyal fans trudged out to the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in St. Paul to see her. They were rewarded by a performance with Etheridge's trademark raspy voice in top form as she belted out her
PREVIEW: Melissa Etheridge @ The Ordway Arts Music by Bev Wolfe - January 4, 2017January 4, 2017 Tomorrow, singer-songwriter and all-around rocker Melissa Etheridge descends on the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts for a one night-only engagement. Etheridge emerged in the 1990s as one of the decade's most prominent women songwriters, a distinction she shared with both Jewel and Sheryl Crow. Her self-titled album Melissa Etheridge made the Billboard
TOP 10: Bev Wolfe’s 10 Best Plays and Musicals of 2016 Arts Dance Music Theatre by Bev Wolfe - January 1, 2017January 1, 2017 Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine (Laila Robins) and Henry Plantagenet (Kevyn Morrow) in a rare moment in the Guthrie Theater's production of The Lion in Winter. Photo by Heidi Bohnenkamp. I have not seen all of the great shows that were performed in the Twin Cities in 2016, but here are the 10
REVIEW: Retro Walk in White Christmas (Ordway) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Bev Wolfe - December 15, 2016December 15, 2016 Photo by Rich Ryan Photography. It is only fitting that our first major snowfall occurred the same night that the Ordway’s White Christmas opened. This locally produced show is a revival of the Ordway’s 2008 production. Director James A. Rocco and Musical Director Jeff Rizzo combine their talents with Irving Berlin’s
REVIEW: Backstabbing Galore in The Lion in Winter Arts Theatre by Bev Wolfe - November 28, 2016December 9, 2016 The cast of the Guthrie Theater's The Lion in Winter. Photo by Heidi Bohnenkamp. A dysfunctional and scheming family dynamic played out at a Christmas gathering is the premise of the latest Guthrie Show. This family is the royal family of England, however, and the Christmas occurs in the 12th Century.
REVIEW: Victorian Cinderella Revival (Children’s Theatre Company) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Bev Wolfe - November 24, 2016November 25, 2016 Cinderella (Traci Allen Shannon) flees the ball. Photo by Dan Norman. A Victorian Christmas, a vaudeville show, and a romance are all encompassed in the Children’s Theatre Company's latest production of the fairy tale Cinderella. It is a remount of the show that CTC performed during the in 2013-2014 season with many
REVIEW: Aging 105 Proof (Transatlantic Love Affair/Illusion Theater) Arts Dance Theatre by Bev Wolfe - November 13, 2016November 13, 2016 The Transatlantic Love Affair Ensemble. Photo by Lauren B Photography. Transatlantic Love Affair’s latest production, 105 Proof or, the Killing of Mack “the Silencer” Klein, opened last week at Illusion Theater. Diogo Lopes directs this expanded version of the original 2015 Minnesota Fringe Festival production. The work delves into the world
REVIEW: Joan Baez (State Theatre) Music by Bev Wolfe - October 30, 2016October 30, 2016 Joan Baez, an icon of the folk music scene for the past 55 years, returned to the Twin Cities this week with a concert at the State Theatre. Coming out to greet her audience, Baez generated loud cheers when she revealed her “Nasty Woman” Tee shirt and her “Bad Hombre”
REVIEW: Touching Parchman Hour Cometh (Guthrie) Arts Music Theatre by Bev Wolfe - October 19, 2016October 19, 2016 The cast of the Guthrie Theater's The Parchman Hour. Photo by Dan Norman. The Guthrie Theater's production of The Parchman Hour is a socially significant play detailing the outrageously brutal treatment of the Freedom Riders in 1961 as they rode in integrated Greyhound buses through the deep South. Patrick McGregor directs Mike
REVIEW: Still Resonant Ragtime (Latté Da) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Bev Wolfe - October 3, 2016October 3, 2016 A police action and protest turn violent in Latté Da's production of Ragtime. Photo by Dan Norman. Is musical theatre relevant or mere entertainment? The musical Ragtime deals with immigration, economic disparity, and the killing of unarmed blacks by police. Although Ragtime is a period drama set in the United States near the start of