REVIEW: Timely Wicked-ness (Oprheum/Hennepin Theatre Trust) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Ali O'Reilly - April 17, 2017April 17, 2017 Jessica Vosk as Elphaba in the touring production of Wicked. Photo by Joan Marcus. The first (and only other) time I saw Wicked was in 2008, from the nosebleeds of Chicago’s Oriental Theatre, where it would play to 3.2 million audience members in a period of 3.5 years. The cast then featured
REVIEW: Fun Crisis in Women on the Verge (NHCCT) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Bev Wolfe - April 10, 2017April 10, 2017 The cast of North Hennepin Community College Theatre's production of Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. Photo by Mike Ricci. Pedro Almodovar wrote and directed the Spanish Film Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (WVNB) in 1988. The film received critical acclaim, won the New York Film Critics
REVIEW: Youthful West Side Story Runs Scared (Ordway) Arts Dance Music Opera Theatre by Basil Considine - April 6, 2017April 7, 2017 Desiree Davar as Anita (center) with the Shark Girls in the Ordway Center for the performing Arts production of West Side Story. Photo by Rich Ryan. Where should one begin with an iconic musical like West Side Story? Composer Leonard Bernstein began by saying, "I'd always thought of West Side Story in terms of teenagers." This focus is
REVIEW: Dark Fun in Matilda: The Musical (Hennepin Theatre Trust) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Bev Wolfe - April 1, 2017April 1, 2017 Jaime MacLean as Matilda in Matilda: The Musical. Photo by Cybil von Tiedemann. Child abuse runs rampant in the Orpheum Theatre’s presentation of the Broadway touring musical Matilda. The musical is based upon Roald Dahl’s children's novel Matilda. Dahl is famous for such books as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. For
NEWS: Walker Art Center Transforms into Giant Robot, Stops Monster Menace (April Fools) Arts Dance Dining Lifestyle Movies Music Opera Theatre Visual Arts by Basil Considine - April 1, 2017April 1, 2017 The W.A.L.K.E.R. giant robot prepares to deal a finishing blow to the monster that menaced Minneapolis this morning. The Minneapolis Monster Menace has come to an end. In a stunning development, the Walker Art Center transformed into a giant robot and defeated the monster menacing Uptown in a climactic battle on
FEATURE: The Ordway’s White Christmas and Vocal Teeth (April Fools) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - April 1, 2017April 1, 2017 Ann Michaels in a discarded promotional photo for the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts/5th Avenue Theatre coproduction of White Christmas. Photo by Rich Ryan. Last November, while Minnesota was still flirting with fall and winter weather, the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts was going full-speed ahead with plans for an
INTERVIEW: Tyler Michaels on West Side Story and His New Theatre Company Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - March 24, 2017March 24, 2017 Caroline Innerbichler (Ariel) examines Tyler Michaels (Prince Eric) in Chanhassen Dinner Theatres' 2014 production of Disney's The Little Mermaid. Somali gangs in Minneapolis might get all the press, but the City of St. Paul is about to get its very own gang problem. Well, kind of – the Jets and Sharks of West
FEATURE: Trump’s Proposed NEA Cuts and the Legacy of Piss Christ Arts Dance Music Opera Theatre Visual Arts by Basil Considine - March 19, 2017July 11, 2017 Nikolay Petrovich Lomtev's Girolamo Savonarola preaching in Florence. Father Savonarola's incendiary critique of luxury led to the infamous Bonfires of the Vanities, the largest of which on Feb. 7, 1492 including the burning of several paintings by Renaissance masters. Among other achievements, Savonarola successfully advocated for laws banning sodomy and declared that
PHOTOS: The Swanky Look of Grease (Chanhassen Dinner Theatres) Arts Dance Music Theatre Visual Arts by Twin Cities Arts Reader - March 16, 2017March 18, 2017 Chanhassen Dinner Theatres' new production of Grease features eye-popping costumes by the award-winning costume designer Rich Hamson. Hamson, who has 60 productions at Chanhassen Dinner Theatres under his belt, is a three-time Ivey Award recipient and was named Lavender Magazine's 2014 Theatre Artist of the Year and Best Large Theater Costume Designer. Here's a
REVIEW: Sweeping Grease Rides Again (Chanhassen Dinner Theatres) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - March 11, 2017March 11, 2017 The ensemble of Chanhassen Dinner Theatres' new production of Grease. Photo by Dan Norman. Grease is still the word in Chanhassen. The classic rock-and-roll musical roared back to Chanhassen Dinner Theatres last night with eruptions of applause, hoots of approval, and some spontaneous hand jiving in the audience. The last time Grease played at