REVIEW: Run, Do Not Walk, to Love Never Dies (Orpheum/Hennepin Theatre Trust) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - June 28, 2018June 29, 2018 Meghan Picerno as Christine Daaé in the national tour of Love Never Dies. Photo by Joan Marcus. If you have any interest in Phantom of the Opera, you should go see Love Never Dies. If you're interested in musicals but not super into Phantom of the Opera, you should probably see
REVIEW: Stylized New West Side Story Beauty to Behold (Guthrie Theater) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - June 27, 2018June 27, 2018 The cast of the Guthrie Theater’s production of West Side Story. Photo by T Charles Erickson. The Guthrie Theater's new production of the classic musical West Side Story is many things. The heavily stylized production is brilliantly adapted to the Wurtele Thrust Stage, features sparkling new choreography by Maija Garcia, and
PREVIEW: It’s Not All in the Hair in Beehive: The 60s Musical (Old Log Theatre) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - June 24, 2018June 25, 2018 Allyson Tolbert, Erin Nicole Farsté, and Kiko Laureano in the Old Log Theatre's upcoming production of Beehive: The 60s Musical. Photo courtesy of the Old Log Theatre. If you're going to do a musical about the Sixties and it's not going to be Hair, what would you pick? With all the decade's
NEWS: Jerome Foundation Announces Inaugural Organization Grant Recipients Arts Dance Music Opera Theatre Visual Arts by Basil Considine - June 15, 2018June 15, 2018 A photo collage of artists and art funded by the Jerome Foundation. The Jerome Foundation today announced $4,159,500 in grants to 84 arts organizations in Minnesota and New York City. These grants to nonprofit arts organizations comprise inaugural offering of the foundation's new Organization Grants Program. The two-stage application process attracted 254
REVIEW: Cell Block Tangos Still Kicking in Chicago (Orpheum/Hennepin Theatre Trust) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Bev Wolfe - June 10, 2018June 11, 2018 The cast of the Broadway tour of Chicago. Photo by Catherine Ashmore. Having worked as an attorney in the criminal justice system for fifteen years, I am always eager to see shows with a legal theme. Chicago is a fast-moving, lively legal-themed musical that gives a satiric portrayal of a decadent
REVIEW: Rapid Laughs in Lord Gordon Gordon (History Theatre) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Bev Wolfe - May 21, 2018May 21, 2018 The cast of the History Theatre's Lord Gordon Gordon. Photo by Scott Pakudaitis. A fast moving evening of comedy and song awaits all who attend Lord Gordon Gordon (the name repetition is not a typo) at the History Theatre. It is the third collaboration between Jeffrey Hatcher (who wrote the book)
PREVIEW: Cirque Goes to the Movies (MN Orchestra) Arts Dance Music by Twin Cities Arts Reader - May 16, 2018May 21, 2018 A photo collage of Cirque de la Symphonie in action. Love a live orchestra, wish there was more to look at? Then the Minnesota Orchestra's upcoming weekend concerts are just what the doctor ordered. The program Cirque Goes to the Movies mixes two great things: the orchestra's popular film music series and
FEATURE: On the Sweet, Seductive Decadence in Minnesota Opera’s Thaïs Arts Dance Music Opera Theatre by Basil Considine - May 11, 2018June 24, 2018 A scene from Jules Massenet and Anatole France's classic opera Thaïs, opening tomorrow at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in St. Paul, MN. Photo by Cory Weaver. Thaïs opens tomorrow at Minnesota Opera. The opera features some of the most beautiful music ever written, notably the famous Meditation (see below)
REVIEW: Flawed Script, Earnest Performance in Still Dance the Stars (Yellow Tree Theatre Arts Dance Theatre by Bev Wolfe - May 2, 2018May 2, 2018 A scene from Yellow Tree Theatre's play with dance Still Dance the Stars. Photo by Justin Cox. A disintegrating marriage following the loss of a child. That is the central theme of Still Dance the Stars, currently playing at Yellow Tree Theatre in Osseo, MN and bringing the company's 10th season to
PREVIEW: Five Fifths of the Matrix Runs Down the Rabbit Hole (Minnesota Fringe) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - April 29, 2018April 29, 2018 A promotional image for Five Fifths of The Matrix. On Monday, May 7, the Minnesota Fringe Festival rings in its approaching silver anniversary with the latest installment of its annual Five Fifths fundraiser. Each year, the festival selects a new movie to parody and riff on; this year, executive director Dawn Bentley