REVIEW: Shaky but Interesting Girl Shakes Loose (Penumbra Theatre) Arts Music Theatre by Bev Wolfe - April 27, 2017April 27, 2017 Alexis Sims as Girl in Girl Shakes Loose. Poet Sonia Sanchez was a unique voice in 1965-75 Black Arts Movement with her poetry ranging from Black Nationalism to her later work emphasizing family, relationships and self-empowerment. Her poetry is the center of a promising musical titled Girl Shakes Loose, which premiered last
INTERVIEW: About the Sisters of Swing (History Theatre) Arts Music Theatre by Basil Considine - April 26, 2017April 26, 2017 Cat Brindisi, Katie Hahn, and Jen Burleigh-Bentz in the History Theatre's production of Sisters of Swing. Sisters of Swing, which opens tonight at the Dakota Jazz Club in Minneapolis, tells the story of the Andrews Sisters – one of the best-selling singing groups of all time. This close harmony group of three
FEATURE: Double Casting / INTERVIEW: Soprano Miriam Khalil on Bohème and More (Minnesota Opera) Arts Music Opera Theatre by Basil Considine - April 23, 2017April 22, 2017 A photo collage of soprano Miriam Khalil. See the originals and more at MiriamKhalil.com. The economics and programming of opera during the so-called Golden Age of Opera – the mid-19th-century up to the start of the First World War – were very different than they are today. Most opera companies operated on
INTERVIEW: Soprano Nicole Cabell on Mimi, Bohème, and More (Minnesota Opera) Arts Music Opera Theatre by Basil Considine - April 22, 2017April 22, 2017 A photo collage of soprano Nicole Cabell on- and offstage. See the original photos and more at Nicole-Cabell.com. Two weeks from today, Minnesota Opera opens the last production in its 2016-2017 season: Giacomo Puccini's classic opera La Bohème. The opera's flowing, through-composed score and concise verismo narrative originally took audiences aback; within
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
INTERVIEW: Ilima Considine as the Sexbots on SXSW, Summertime, and More Arts Lifestyle Music Visual Arts by Twin Cities Arts Reader - April 5, 2017April 5, 2017 Ilima Considine with PDX Dance Collective. Photo by Micah Goldstein. Two weeks after the 2017 installment of South by Southwest closed its doors, it's still the post-recovery (and/or hangover) period for festival attendees. Since its founding in 1987, this Austin, Texas-based festival has grown from a small new music festival to one
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