The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in a 2015 performance. Photo by Ash & James Photography. Sunday's SPCO concert began with a series of rambling and entirely unnecessary political remarks. It has become something of a fashion to use the podium in this manner, to which one might simply say that this
Music
PHOTOS: Leslie Vincent at the Troubadour Wine Bar
Brian Pekol, Leslie Vincent, Emily Dussault, and Jordan Hedlund performing at the Troubadour Wine Bar in Minneapolis. Photo by Basil Considine. Uptown Minneapolis is gentrifying like crazy, but it still has a few comfortable, cozy spots to enjoy wine and music that won't make your ears bleed. One of these is
INTERVIEW: Adam Jacobs on Playing Aladdin and Touring with Family
A scene from the national tour of Aladdin, now playing at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis. Photo by Deen van Meer. The stage version of Disney's beloved musical Aladdin has come to roost in Minneapolis for the next 3.5 weeks. The national tour of Aladdin plays at the Orpheum Theatre through October 8; the Arts Reader's Basil
PREVIEW: The 13th Annual Ivey Awards
A cropped version of Take a Bow, featuring Autumn Ness, Warren Bowles, Kevin Fanshaw, and Victor Zupanc; the full image is below. Photo by William Clark Photography. The 13th Annual Ivey Awards are coming to town. Next Monday, September 25, the annual event – fondly nicknamed "theatre prom" by local theatre practitioners
PREVIEW: Nuns Flocking Back to Chanhassen in Soaring Sister Act
Regina Marie Williams (center) as Deloris Van Cartier "blending in" at the convent in Chanhassen Dinner Theatres' 2015 production of Sister Act. Photo by Heidi Bohnenkamp. The Star Tribune's Graydon Royce said that Chanhassen Dinner Theatres' 2015 production of Sister Act "soared on the wings of Regina Marie Williams’ performance as nightclub
FEATURE/PREVIEW: The Tale of the Raucous Don Pasquale (Minnesota Opera)
A scene from Arizona Opera's 2015 production of Don Pasquale. The same production design will be used in Minnesota Opera's upcoming production of the same opera. Photo by Ed Flores. For an opera that people thought was going to be a failure, Don Pasquale (1843) certainly has done very well for itself. Today,
PREVIEW: An Advance Look at The Abominables (Children’s Theatre Company)
Rival hockey teams face off in The Abominables, opening this week at the Children's Theatre Company in Minneapolis, MN. Photo by Dan Norman. It is a time-honored theatrical adage that the show must go on. Thus, the Children's Theatre Company took a moment over the weekend to acknowledge the tragic death of
PREVIEW: In the Heights Rises (Ordway)
The cast of the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts/Teatro del Pueblo production of In the Heights. The musical Hamilton is such a cultural juggernaut that it's brought a lot of non-traditional audiences to the altar of musical theatre. Such is its publicity that many regular theatregoers assume that its creator
FEATURE: The Secret Life of Fringe Remounts
Note: This article has been updated to include a mention of Dancing Bare Feet. Extending or reprising a show's run is every theatrical producer's dream. Evidently dreams do come true, because several shows from the 2017 Minnesota Fringe Festival are having reprises and remounts. Two of the best-selling shows of this year's
PREVIEW: Lady with a Lap Dog (Fortune’s Fool)
Laurel Anderson (Mrs. Prozorov, Dasha, others), Joel Liestman (Dmitri), and Andrea Leap (Anna). Photo by Daniel Pinkerton. "Translation," Umberto Eco wrote, "is the art of failure." The subtleties of translation may make seemingly small differences large and cause one thing to be mistaken for another. Next week, Fortune's Fool Theater opens a