PREVIEW: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Musical (Children’s Theatre Company) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Twin Cities Arts Reader - April 14, 2016April 14, 2016 Photo by Dan Norman. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Musical opens Friday at the Children's Theatre Company. This adaptation of Jeff Kinney's best-selling book series is the fifth world premiere by CTC this season – and a very hotly anticipated show. As CTC Artistic Director Peter Brosius stated, "The finale
INTERVIEW: Jeff Whiting of Bullets Over Broadway Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - April 13, 2016April 14, 2016 Jeff Whiting, director of the touring company of Bullets Over Broadway. The mobsters of Bullets Over Broadway have brought their national tour to the Ordway. Director Jeff Whiting sat down with the Arts Reader's Basil Considine to talk about directing, touring, and acting careers. Read Lydia Lunning's review of the Bullets Over Broadway tour. Where are you based? I've
REVIEW: Jammed Bullets Over Broadway (Ordway) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Lydia Lunning - April 13, 2016April 14, 2016 Jemma Jane (Olive Neal) and the cast of Bullets Over Broadway. Photo by Matthew Murphy. The 1st National Tour of the Tony-nominated musical comedy Bullets Over Broadway has landed at the Ordway. These performers are doing their best to dance, sing, and mug with everything they’ve got to get you your money’s
REVIEW: Violet (Yellow Tree Theatre) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Bev Wolfe - April 11, 2016April 14, 2016 David Murray and Jessica Lind Peterson in Yellow Tree Theatre's production of Violet. Photo by Justin Cox Photography. For the final production of its eighth season, Yellow Tree Theatre presents a very satisfying production of Violet. This musical is based upon Doris Betts’ short story The Ugliest Pilgrim (her most-printed short story) and features music
REVIEW: Catch Catch Me If You Can (Chameleon Theatre Circle) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - April 11, 2016April 15, 2016 Austin Stole, Maria Isabel Gonzalez, and John Goodrich in The Chameleon Theatre Circle’s production of Catch Me If You Can. Photo by Daniel K. McDermott for Sinséar Productions. Let's say just one thing about the plot of Catch Me If You Can, the biographical musical about the life and escapades of Frank William
REVIEW: Hanggai for More (Ordway) Arts Music by Lydia Lunning - April 8, 2016April 8, 2016 Photo by Yang Feng. You say you need more traditional Mongolian punk rock cowboy music in your life? I may have some excellent news for you… well, more excellent if you hadn’t missed the performance, but you can still buy their music! The latest entry in the Ordway’s World Music and Dance series
PREVIEW: Taiko Drumming Hits the Twin Cities Arts Dance Music by Twin Cities Arts Reader - April 7, 2016April 8, 2016 One Voice performing with Mu Daiko last week as part of their annual school tour OUT in Our Schools. Photo by Brian Geving. April is Taiko Month in the Twin Cities. In the aftermath of World War 2, U.S. servicemen stationed in Japan encountered kumi-daiko, a modern performance art using traditional
INTERVIEW: Composer Richard Einhorn Arts Music Opera Theatre by Basil Considine - April 7, 2016April 9, 2016 Composer Richard Einhorn at the piano. There are many stereotypes about classical music after World War 2. Beautiful is usually not one of them: in the postwar era, many Western art music composers decided to explore other aesthetic directions, to which audiences often responded with words like grating, difficult to listen to, cerebral, and
REVIEW: Joseph an Entertaining and Fast Two Hours (Orpheum Theatre) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Bev Wolfe - March 31, 2016March 31, 2016 J.C. McCann as Joseph and the tour cast of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in “Joseph’s Coat”. Photo by Daniel A. Swalec. Before the fame of Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita, lyricist Tim Rice and composer Andrew Lloyd Webber collaborated on the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, which was made into a concept
REVIEW: Explosive Janis Joplin at the Ordway Arts Music Theatre by Lydia Lunning - March 30, 2016March 30, 2016 Hair, music, and lights in A Night with Janis Joplin, original Broadway cast. Photo by Joan Marcus. If you notice more construction near the Ordway in St Paul in the coming week, it may be because Mary Bridget Davies and the cast of A Night with Janis Joplin: A New Musical