REVIEW: Melissa Etheridge – Take 2 (Ordway) Arts Music by Ali O'Reilly - January 8, 2017January 9, 2017 It was -2 degrees in St. Paul on Thursday, but the lot of us still went out to watch Melissa Etheridge perform her tribute album, MEmphis Rock and Soul [sic]. We were kept warm by the artist's timely reworking of iconic R&B-rock hybrids off the Memphis-based label, Stax Records. Covering gems from
REVIEW: Melissa Etheridge – Take 1 (Ordway) Arts Music by Bev Wolfe - January 8, 2017January 9, 2017 On Thursday night, the temperature plunged to -2 degrees; not to be deterred, Melissa Etheridge’s loyal fans trudged out to the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in St. Paul to see her. They were rewarded by a performance with Etheridge's trademark raspy voice in top form as she belted out her
TOP 10: Basil Considine’s 10 Best Shows of 2016 Arts Dance Music Opera Theatre by Basil Considine - January 8, 2017January 8, 2017 Lumière (Mark King) entertains Belle (Ruthanne Heyward) in Chanhassen Dinner Theatres' 2016 production of Beauty and the Beast. Photo by Heidi Bohnenkamp. Those of us living in the greater Twin Cities metro area are blessed with an embarrassment of artistic richness. There are far too many performing arts organizations for any one person to
PREVIEW: Melissa Etheridge @ The Ordway Arts Music by Bev Wolfe - January 4, 2017January 4, 2017 Tomorrow, singer-songwriter and all-around rocker Melissa Etheridge descends on the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts for a one night-only engagement. Etheridge emerged in the 1990s as one of the decade's most prominent women songwriters, a distinction she shared with both Jewel and Sheryl Crow. Her self-titled album Melissa Etheridge made the Billboard
TOP 10: Bev Wolfe’s 10 Best Plays and Musicals of 2016 Arts Dance Music Theatre by Bev Wolfe - January 1, 2017January 1, 2017 Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine (Laila Robins) and Henry Plantagenet (Kevyn Morrow) in a rare moment in the Guthrie Theater's production of The Lion in Winter. Photo by Heidi Bohnenkamp. I have not seen all of the great shows that were performed in the Twin Cities in 2016, but here are the 10
INTERVIEW: Randy Reyes on Flower Drum Song, Mu, and More Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - December 23, 2016December 23, 2016 A scene from Mu Performing Arts' 2008 production of Flower Drum Song. Photo by Michal Daniel. It's been three years plus change since Randy Reyes took over the artistic directorship of Mu Performing Arts from founder Rick Shiomi. In the interim, Reyes has been busy, leading the nationally acclaimed Asian American theatre company
NEWS: The Changing of the Iveys – Scott Mayer Steps Down Arts Dance Lifestyle Music Theatre by Twin Cities Arts Reader - December 21, 2016 Nathan Barlow rides in on a white horse in this publicity photo for the 2016 Ivey Awards. Scott Mayer has announced that he will be stepping down as the lead organizer and producer of the Ivey Awards. Mayer founded the Ivey Awards for local theatre in 2004 and has been the lead organizer
REVIEW: The Rose Ensemble’s A Rose in Winter Arts Music by Twin Cities Arts Reader - December 18, 2016December 24, 2016 "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet" quoth Juliet in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. But would an ensemble of any other name sing as sweet? The Rose Ensemble's current program, A Rose in Winter, looks at first glance like it might be a play on The Lion in Winter over
REVIEW: All is Calm (Hennepin Theatre Trust) Arts Music Theatre by Twin Cities Arts Reader - December 16, 2016December 19, 2016 Photo by George Byron Griffiths. Peter Rothstein's All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914 is an odd theatrical bird. This dramatic reading of soldiers' letters and diary entries from World War 1 is woven together by exquisite singing of English, Welsh, French, and German-language folk songs, often in many parts. It's
REVIEW: Retro Walk in White Christmas (Ordway) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Bev Wolfe - December 15, 2016December 15, 2016 Photo by Rich Ryan Photography. It is only fitting that our first major snowfall occurred the same night that the Ordway’s White Christmas opened. This locally produced show is a revival of the Ordway’s 2008 production. Director James A. Rocco and Musical Director Jeff Rizzo combine their talents with Irving Berlin’s