INTERVIEW: Ilana Ransom Topelitz on Sharpening Rocky Horror‘s Bite (Park Square Theatre) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - October 2, 2019October 2, 2019 Director-choreographer Ilana Ransom Topelitz on the set of Park Square Theatre's upcoming production of The Rocky Horror Show. Photo by Rachel Wandrei. Of all the people that you might expect to love The Rocky Horror Show, Princess Diana of Wales was probably not at the top of the list. But it
REVIEW: Saxophone Meets Pipe Organ: Branford Marsalis & Jean-Willy Kunz (Northrop) Arts Music by Brian Bix - October 2, 2019October 3, 2019 Left: Jean-Willy Kunz standing amongst organ pipes (photo by Koralie Woodward); Branford Marsalis (photo by Palma Kolansky); and Jean-Willy Kunz at an organ console (photo by Antoine Saito). If politics has its First Families, so does music. Branford Marsalis is a well-known member of the "First Family of Jazz", a group
INTERVIEW: Mariah Rose Faith on Mean Girls and Her Personal Screen-to-Stage Journey Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - September 30, 2019September 30, 2019 Jonalyn Saxer, Mariah Rose Faith, Megan Masako Haley, and Danielle Wade in a promotional photo for the national tour of the musical Mean Girls. Photo by Mary Ellen Matthews. Minneapolis is about to get mean. Mean Girls, that is. The brand-new national tour of this Broadway musical kicked off in Buffalo, NY
REVIEW: Rollercoaster All the Way in Ride the Cyclone (Jungle Theater) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Bev Wolfe - September 26, 2019September 26, 2019 Gabrielle Dominique, Michael Hanna, Shinah Brashears, Josh Zwick, Becca Hart, and Jordan M. Leggett in the Jungle Theater production of Ride the Cyclone. Photo by Dan Norman. The exploding musical Ride the Cyclone ushers in Jungle Theater’s new season. The show is best described as a mix between an amusement ride
INTERVIEW: Sabine Hogrefe on Battling the Soprano-Wrecker in Elektra Arts Music Opera Theatre by Basil Considine - September 24, 2019September 28, 2019 Costume sketches by Mathew LeFebvre for Minnesota Opera's upcoming production of Richard Strauss's opera Elektra. The Soprano-Wrecker. The End of Harmony. The Most Horrific Tragedy in Opera. The First Freudian Opera. These are but a few of the nicknames for the opera Elektra. Composed by Richard Strauss, the opera first took
REVIEW: Vibrant, Satirical Chicago Sends Up Celebrity Justice (Latté Da) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - September 23, 2019October 8, 2019 Britta Ollmann and Michelle de Joya in Theater Latté Da's production of Chicago. Photo by Dan Norman. You never know what you're going to get with Ebb, Fosse, and Kander's musical Chicago. Some productions are downright joyful, some are dark, and others morbid. Theater Latté Da's new production, which opened last night
PHOTOS: Theater Latté Da’s Chicago Arts Dance Music Theatre by Twin Cities Arts Reader - September 20, 2019September 20, 2019 Britta Ollmann and Michelle de Joya in Theater Latté Da's production of Chicago, now in previews at the Ritz Theater in Minneapolis. Photo by Dan Norman. Theater Latté Da's production of the classic Kander/Ebb/Fosse musical Chicago opens tomorrow at the Ritz Theater in Northeast Minneapolis. Here's a look at the company's
REVIEW: Retro Hit Parade in Smokey Joe’s Cafe Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - September 17, 2019September 18, 2019 The company of the Ordway's new production of Smokey Joe's Cafe. Photo by Dan Norman. Smokey Joe's Cafe is an unabashed jukebox musical revue. It has no plot, no throughlines worth reporting, and no dialogue. If these things were at all missed, the audiences at the Ordway Center for the Performing
PREVIEW: Donna Grantis at the Dakota Jazz Club, 9/24 Arts Music by Brian Bix - September 17, 2019September 17, 2019 Donna Grantis in concert at the Dakota Jazz Club in Minneapolis, MN. Photo by Joe Lemke. As a young Canadian guitarist, Donna Grantis dreamed of jamming with Prince. This dream actually came true: one day, out of the blue, a call came from Hannah Welton – Prince’s drummer – asking Grantis
PREVIEW: The Old Log’s Plan to Get Away With Murder Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - September 12, 2019September 12, 2019 A promotional image for the musical A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, which begins previews October 18 at the Old Log Theatre in Excelsior, MN. It's not every day that a theatre plans to commit mass murder and get away with it. However, the Old Log Theatre – a longtime