REVIEW: Gondoliers Gone Wild (GSVLOC) Arts Music Opera Theatre by Twin Cities Arts Reader - March 18, 2017March 18, 2017 Gondoliers Giuseppe Palmieri (Ryan Johnson) and Marco Palmieri (Michael Burton) with their maybe wives Tessa (Maggie Burr) and Gianetta (Blanka Melbostad) in GSVLOC’s The Gondoliers. The Gondoliers was only the fourth-most popular work in the Gilbert & Sullivan canon when it was written, as counted by the length of its original theatrical
REVIEW: The 24 Hour Plays: The Second Half (Hennepin Theatre Trust) Arts Music Theatre by Basil Considine - March 16, 2017March 18, 2017 There's always something exciting about a frenzied rush to create. Sometimes the work produced under pressure is brilliant, with daringness that would probably get sanded with too much reflection. Sometimes the results are...less than appealing, which is something that happens. Most often, the results are a mixed bag – which
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: Dinner at Eight, Performance Edition (Minnesota Opera) Arts Music Opera Theatre Visual Arts by Basil Considine - March 14, 2017March 15, 2017 The eponymous dinner party in Minnesota Opera's Dinner at Eight. Photo by Cory Weaver. Minnesota Opera's Dinner at Eight, which premiered on Saturday at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, is a vibrant new comedy with an engaging score and finely tune libretto. This review focuses on the performances in the
REVIEW: Dinner at Eight‘s Splendid Comic Melodrama (Minnesota Opera) Arts Music Opera Theatre by Basil Considine - March 14, 2017March 15, 2017 New money socialites Dan Packard (Craig Irvin) and Kitty Packard (Susannah Biller) squabble in the world premiere production of Dinner at Eight by Minnesota Opera. Photo by Cory Weaver. Contemporary American opera is usually no laughing matter. At any given opera premiere, you can expect an occasional inserted joke and perhaps some moments of wry underscoring,
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
WEEKEND PICKS: Grease, Gondoliers, Dinner at Eight, FOOR Folkz Arts Dance Music Opera Theatre Visual Arts by Twin Cities Arts Reader - March 10, 2017March 11, 2017 Aleks Knezevich as Danny Zuko in Chanhassen Dinner Theatres' production of Grease. Photo by Bernadette Pollard. Winter windchill has returned to the Twin Cities again and darn it if there isn't a forecast of snow on Sunday. Here are some indoor entertainments to keep you distracted and warm this weekend. Retro Fun: Grease at
PREVIEW: Dinner at Eight (Minnesota Opera) Arts Music Opera Theatre by Basil Considine - March 10, 2017March 11, 2017 It took two and a half years for Edna Ferber to convince George S. Kaufman to cowrite the play Dinner at Eight (1932) with her. Ferber was already one of the best-selling writers in the United States, with a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel (1924's So Big) to her credit. Nor was she unfamiliar to theatre
REVIEW: Sumptuous R&H Magic in The King and I (Orpheum/HTT) Arts Dance Music Theatre Visual Arts by Basil Considine - March 1, 2017March 2, 2017 Laura Michelle Kelly, Baylen Thomas, and Graham Montgomery in Rodgers & Hammerstein's The King and I. Photo by Matthew Murphy. It was a full house at the opening of the Rodgers & Hammerstein's The King and I tour on Tuesday night. The Orpheum Theatre's seats were packed with an unusually broad balance of ages, waiting to
Fringe File 2017, #2: Minnesota Fringe Festival Announces New Executive Director Arts Dance Music Opera Theatre by Basil Considine - February 28, 2017July 21, 2017 A 2015 photo of the Art Shanty Project on White Bear Lake. Photo courtesy of the Art Shanty Facebook page. Last night was the Minnesota Fringe Festival lottery, where balls plucked out of a hopper determine the lineup of the country's largest unjuried arts festival. Attendees got an extra surprise: the