REVIEW: Book of Mormon A Sparkling, Splendid Trip (Orpheum/Hennepin Theatre Trust) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Amy Donahue - November 14, 2018November 14, 2018 Like most Americans, Elder Price (Kevin Clay, center) and Elder Cunningham (Conner Peirson, right) couldn't find Uganda (represented by Monica L. Patton, left) on a map in The Book of Mormon. Photo by Julieta Cervantes. As our performing arts editor likes to say, we don't do missionary work "that way" anymore. It
FEATURE: On the Launch of The Book of Mormon Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - November 13, 2018November 13, 2018 The cast of the National Tour of The Book of Mormon. Photo by Julieta Cervantes. In New York City, there is rarely a better theatre recommendation to be had than at the TKTS Booth. In a city of 8.6 million, hundreds of theatre organizations, and innumerable shows opening and closing all
PHOTOS: The Return of the Grinch at CTC Arts Dance Music Theatre by Twin Cities Arts Reader - November 13, 2018 The cast of the 2018 Children's Theatre Company production of Dr. Seuss’s How The Grinch Stole Christmas. Photo by Dan Norman. Strangely enough – despite having his heart warmed and growing upteem times and sizes – Reed Sigmund's Grinch is still unrepentently and ever-so-cantankerously making off with all the Whos' Christmas stuff. The
REVIEW: Send in the Clowns for Noises Off (Guthrie Theater) Arts Theatre by Kit Bix - November 9, 2018November 9, 2018 The cast of the Guthrie Theater’s production of Michael Frayn's classic farce Noises Off. Photo by Dan Norman. New York Times theatre critic Frank Rich once called Noises Off “the funniest play written in [his] lifetime.” I am not sure if I would go that far, but, certainly, Michael Frayn’s 1982 farce about
PREVIEW: Hot Funky Butt Jazz at the Guthrie Arts Dance Music Theatre by Twin Cities Arts Reader - October 25, 2018October 25, 2018 Zena Moses (as Marie Laveau), Messiah Moses Albert (as young Louis Armstrong), Jeremy Phipps (as Stringbean Russell), Michael Wolfe (as Professor James London), and Naa Mensah (as Essie) in the Center for the Visual and Performing Artists/Guthrie Theater co-presentation of Hot Funky Butt Jazz. There's a saying that if you think
REVIEW: A BeautifulTrip to Days of Songwriting Past (Orpheum/Hennepin Theatre Trust) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Brian Bix - October 23, 2018October 26, 2018 The cast of the national touring company of Beautiful do the Locomotion. Photo by Joan Marcus. There was a time when singers just sang and performed, leaving the songwriting to others. Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughan, and Elvis Presley did not write most of their own songs. For them, and for generations
REVIEW: Peter Yarrow Still Rocking in Concert (Hopkins Center for the Arts) Arts Music by Bev Wolfe - October 21, 2018October 22, 2018 A photo of Peter Yarrow in concert. Peter Yarrow, formerly of Peter, Paul and Mary, told Saturday night’s audience at the Hopkins Center for the Arts that his performance would be part concert, part protest march, and part orgy. Although he never progressed to the orgy part, Yarrow demonstrated through song
REVIEW: Wild David Sanborn in Concert (Dakota Jazz Club) Arts Music by Brian Bix - October 20, 2018October 20, 2018 A publicity photo of alto saxophonist David Sanborn. Photo by Scott Chernis. Saxophonist David Sanborn is often associated with the sound or style know as "smooth jazz". He has, after all, been a featured artist a number of times on the annual Smooth Jazz Cruise. That cruise bills itself as The Greatest Party
REVIEW: A Sometimes There’s Wine Appetizer (Park Square) Arts Theatre by Amy Donahue - October 18, 2018October 20, 2018 Shanan Custer and Carolyn Pool created and star in Sometimes There's Wine, now playing at Park Square Theatre in Saint Paul. Photo by Flordelino Lagundino. There's a lot of Fringe going on at Park Square Theatre this season. The company's 2018-2019 features not just the demented musical Jefferson Township Sparkling Junior Talent
INTERVIEW: Mill City Summer Opera’s New Artistic Director Arts Music Opera Theatre by Basil Considine - October 17, 2018November 4, 2018 Crystal Manich, the recently named Artistic Director of Mill City Summer Opera. Photo by Laura Marie Duncan. Next summer, Mill City Summer Opera will open its festival season under new leadership: Crystal Manich, the company's recently named artistic director. Manich has directed operas across the United States and in far-off cities