INTERVIEW: Itamar Moses and (Re-)Creating An American Tail for the Stage Arts Music Theatre by Kit Bix - April 24, 2023April 24, 2023 Lillian Hochman as Tanya and Matthew Woody as Fievel in the world premiere of An American Tail: The Musical, which starts previews Tuesday, April 25 at the Children's Theatre Company in Minneapolis, MN. Photo by Kaitlin Randolph. Twenty-five years ago, the Song of the Year at the Grammy Awards was a
INTERVIEW: Lissa deGuzman and Jennafer Newberry on Embodying Wicked Arts Music Theatre by Kit Bix - August 15, 2022August 15, 2022 Jennafer Newberry as Glinda and Lissa deGuzman as Elphaba in the national tour of Wicked. Photo by Joan Marcus. The Broadway megamusical Wicked is playing at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis through August 28. This revisionist take on the events of The Wizard of Oz foregrounds the evolving relationship between Galinda (later to
REVIEW: Remembering, Forgetting and Battling Impunity in Atacama (Full Circle Theater) Arts Theatre by Kit Bix - April 23, 2022April 23, 2022 Pedro R. Bayon and Lara Trujillo star in Full Circle Theater's production of Atacama, now playing at Park Square Theatre in Saint Paul, MN. The mission of the Full Circle Theater, the program reminds us, is “to produce heartfelt, groundbreaking theater that artfully addresses issues of diversity and social justice for
REVIEW: Murmurs of Discontent and Crucibles in What the Constitution Means to Me (Guthrie) Arts Theatre by Kit Bix - October 13, 2021October 14, 2021 Cassie Beck stars as Heidi Schreck in the National Tour of What the Constitution Means to Me, which opened last week at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, MN. Photo by Joan Marcus. What the Constitution Means to Me is a play about law. This show, now playing at the Guthrie Theater,
REVIEW: Listening to Lydia in The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley (Jungle Theater) Arts Theatre by Kit Bix - December 11, 2018December 12, 2018 A tableau vivant: Cassie (Roshni Desai), Brian (Jesse LaVercombe), Mrs. Reynolds (Angela Timberman), Mr. Darcy (James Rodríguez), Elizabeth Bennet Darcy (Sun Mee Chomet), and Lydia Bennet Wickham (Kelsey Didion) in the Jungle Theater production of The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley. Photo by Rich Ryan. The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley, now playing at
REVIEW: Send in the Clowns for Noises Off (Guthrie Theater) Arts Theatre by Kit Bix - November 9, 2018November 9, 2018 The cast of the Guthrie Theater’s production of Michael Frayn's classic farce Noises Off. Photo by Dan Norman. New York Times theatre critic Frank Rich once called Noises Off “the funniest play written in [his] lifetime.” I am not sure if I would go that far, but, certainly, Michael Frayn’s 1982 farce about
REVIEW: Jos N. Banks Shines in Kinky Boots Tour (Ordway) Arts Dance Music Theatre Visual Arts by Kit Bix - April 5, 2018April 5, 2018 The cast of the Kinky Boots national tour. Photo by Matthew Murphy. If you were considering seeing Kinky Boots and thinking "yes, but" or"it's cold, and April is the cruelest month, so I'm just going to skip this one," change your mind. Really, even if you've seen the show before, change
REVIEW: Indecent: Art and Erasure…and the Rain Scene (Guthrie) Arts Theatre by Kit Bix - March 10, 2018March 10, 2018 A "troupe" of Yiddish theatre players in the Guthrie Theater production of Paula Vogel's play Indecent, directed by Wendy C. Goldberg. Photo by Dan Norman. Indecent is one of the most powerful plays I’ve seen on the Guthrie stage. It is beautiful. At times, it’s funny. At moments, it’s transfixing. It is
REVIEW: Moving Humanity in the Downtrod of The Humans (Orpheum/Hennepin Theatre Trust) Arts Theatre by Kit Bix - February 17, 2018February 17, 2018 The cast of the national tour of The Humans: Richard Thomas, Pamela Reed, Daisy Eagan, Luis Vega, and Therese Plaehn. Photo by Julieta Cervantes. To paraphrase Tolstoy, all dysfunctional families are not alike. This is a good thing, because there are an awful lot of American dramas that seem to revolve
REVIEW: Breathtaking Moments, Inconsistent Vision in Chainsawed Hamlet (Park Square Theatre) Arts Theatre by Kit Bix - October 31, 2017October 31, 2017 Hamlet (Kory LaQuess Pullam) angrily confronts his mother Gertrude (Sandra Struthers) in Park Square Theatre's production of Hamlet. Photo by Amy Anderson. Revenge does not sit well on Kory LaQuess Pullam’s Hamlet. Pullam performs in Park Square Theatre's current production, staged by director Joel Sass in a modern setting. The action moves