REVIEW: C’est Belle! Beauty and the Beast à Chanhassen Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - March 12, 2016March 18, 2016 Gaston (Aleks Knezevich) and company in CDT's 2016 production of Beauty and the Beast. Photo by Heidi Boehnenkamp. It's been 11 years since Chanhassen Dinner Theatres opened its original production of Beauty and the Beast. In the intervening decade, this adaptation of the classic Disney movie musical has appeared on Twin Cities stages via Broadway
PREVIEW: The Look of Tosca Arts Music Opera Theatre Visual Arts by Twin Cities Arts Reader - March 11, 2016 Scarpia (Stephen Powell) revels in his diabolical plan. Photo by Dan Norman. Minnesota Opera's Tosca opens tomorrow. Here's a look at the production and the gorgeous sets and costumes by Lorenzo Cutùli; all photos by Dan Norman.
REVIEW: If/Then = Yes/But (Orpheum Theatre) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - March 9, 2016March 11, 2016 It's entirely possible that you'll leave If/Then (now playing at the Orpheum Theatre) without any certainty about what actually went on onstage. The basic schtick of this show is to play out the "what ifs" at different decision points, but it's not always clear where one version of events begins and ends. This
PREVIEW: Tosca (Minnesota Opera) Arts Music Opera by Basil Considine - March 7, 2016March 11, 2017 A scenic design sculpture for Act 2 of Minnesota Opera's 2016 production of Tosca. Design by Lorenzo Cutùli. Tosca, which opens this Saturday at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, is one of the most lethal operas in the standard repertoire. Les Troyens' mass suicide of Trojan maidens kills off more
PREVIEW: Women of Substance Festival (St. Catherine University) Arts Dance Lifestyle Music Theatre Visual Arts by Twin Cities Arts Reader - March 3, 2016March 3, 2016 The year 2016 has many milestones, but in the case of St. Catherine's University it marks the 20th anniversary of the university's celebrated Women of Substance Series. For two decades, this series has brought a brilliant succession of work by and featuring women to St. Paul, filling the O'Shaughnessy with innovative and
REVIEW: Iolanthe Hilarious, Lovely (GSVLOC) Arts Music Opera Theatre by Basil Considine - February 28, 2016February 28, 2016 Sort-of-maybe-star-crossed lovers The Lord Chancellor (Scott Benson), Phyllis (Sarah Wind Richens), and Strephon (Eric Sargent). 2015 was a good year for Gilbert & Sullivan fans in the Twin Cities. In a typical year, they might expect to see just one or two performances; in 2015, they got three: H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance, and Trial
REVIEW: A Heart-Thrumming Chorus Line (Ordway) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - February 26, 2016February 26, 2016 The cast of the Ordway's A Chorus Line. Photo by Rich Ryan. A Chorus Line is one of a very small number of large-cast musicals still performed by major companies. It features no fewer than 17 principals, 15 of whose job is to make you care about them and root for their being
PREVIEW: Nina Simone: Four Women (Park Square) Arts Music Theatre by Twin Cities Arts Reader - February 26, 2016February 26, 2016 Nina Simone at a concert in Morlaix, France, May 1982. Did you like what you saw of Regina Marie Williams at the 2015 Ivey Awards? Did you love the Regina-Christina combo and think it deserved a sequel? If so, you might want to be grabbing a set of tickets for the world
RELAY: The Broadway…Ab Connection Arts Music Theatre by Hanne Appelbaum - February 26, 2016February 26, 2016 A promotional photo of James Craven for the 2015 Ivey Awards. Photo by William Clark; note the lack of abs, flesh, and eroticization compared to the links below. Several of the largest and most-established theatre companies in the Twin Cities holding both local and New York casting sessions. What do companies
RELAY: The New York Times on the Minnesota Orchestra Arts Music by Twin Cities Arts Reader - February 25, 2016February 26, 2016 The New York Times ran a feature today on the Minnesota Orchestra's brush with bankruptcy, shutdown, labor dispute, and revival.