REVIEW: A Sweet, Sweet Spirit with the Cyrus Chestnut Trio (Vieux Carré) Arts Music by Brian Bix - September 27, 2018September 29, 2018 The Cyrus Chestnut Trio featuring Buster Williams and Lenny White. Photo courtesy of the AMI Agency. Some consider Cyrus Chestnut the finest jazz pianist of this generation. Without a doubt, he is one of the most entertaining; last evening at Vieux Carré, he arrived boosted by two excellent recent albums (2017's There’s
NEWS: Crystal Manich to Take Reins at Mill City Summer Opera Arts Dance Music Opera Theatre by Basil Considine - September 26, 2018September 26, 2018 Today, Mill City Summer Opera announced the appointment of Crystal Manich as its new artistic director. Manich, a lauded stage director, will take the artistic reins for the company's 2019 season and direct its production of Mozart's Così fan Tutte. Read an interview with Crystal Manich on directing. Manich takes over
NEWS: The 2018 MN Theater Award Honorees Arts Dance Music Opera Theatre by Hanne Appelbaum - September 25, 2018September 25, 2018 The 2018 Minnesota Theater Awards took place on Monday, September 24 at ARIA in Minneapolis. Last night, the 2018 Minnesota Theater Awards party unfolded at Aria. Unusually, there were no award recipients announced – only honorees who had been nominated. In a typically Minnesotan development, the organizers announced last week that they
REVIEW: Smoldering Coals in Playing With Fire (Guthrie) Arts Theatre by Amy Donahue - September 23, 2018September 24, 2018 Ryan Colbert (Victor), Jason Rojas (Adam), Elijah Alexander (The Creature), and Zachary Fine (Frankenstein) in the Guthrie Theater's production of Frankenstein–Playing With Fire. Photo by Dan Norman. It's been 30 years since Barbara Field’s Frankenstein – Playing with Fire first played at the Guthrie. 2018 also marks the 200th anniversary of the publication
REVIEW: Old Thrills Return in Dial M for Murder (Gremlin) Arts Theatre by Amy Donahue - September 19, 2018September 19, 2018 Events start to go to hell in a handbasket for Margot (Emily Dussault) and Tony (Peter Christian Hansen) in Gremlin Theatre's production of Dial M for Murder. Photo by Alyssa Kristine Photography. 1950s television has a certain romance for theatre fans. It was then and there that Neil Simon refined his craft,
INTERVIEW: Cantus on Lorelei and Cross-Country Concertizing Arts Music by Basil Considine - September 17, 2018September 18, 2018 The Boston-based Lorelei Ensemble, which joins Cantus for a concert this Thursday at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts. This Thursday will witness a rare choral event: the Twin Cities-based, all-male vocal ensemble Cantus sharing a program with the celebrated, Boston-based, all-female Lorelei Ensemble. The two ensembles will join forces
REVIEW: Fun, Different Little Women (Jungle Theater) Arts Theatre by Amy Donahue - September 16, 2018September 17, 2018 The March sisters and their mother in the Jungle Theater's world premiere of Kate Hamill's Little Women. L-R: Beth March (Isabella Star LaBlanc), Marmee (Christina Baldwin), Meg March (Christine Weber), Amy March (Megan Burns) and Jo March (C. Michael Menge). Photo by Rich Ryan. Little Women is a literary gift that keeps on
REVIEW: A Tale of Light and Darkness in Wait Until Dark (Theatre in the Round) Arts Theatre by Amy Donahue - September 14, 2018September 15, 2018 If ever there was a play where sound and lighting take center stage, it's Jeffrey Hatcher's Wait Until Dark. This update of the 1966 Frederick Knott play, now running at Theatre in the Round in Minneapolis, has as its protagonist Susan (Heather Burrmeister), a newlywed who happens to be blind. Susan solves mysteries while
REVIEW: If/Then/Anoka: Yes (Lyric Arts) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Bev Wolfe - September 10, 2018September 11, 2018 The cast of Lyric Arts' production of the musical If/Then. Photo courtesy of Lyric Arts. Impressive is the word that best describes my experience at Lyric Arts Main Street Stage’s production of the Broadway musical If/Then. The word describes both the theatre as well as the performance. Lyric Arts has been
PREVIEW: Ananya Dance Theatre’s Annual Dance Showcase (The O’Shaughnessy) Arts Dance Music by Twin Cities Arts Reader - September 6, 2018September 6, 2018 Ananya Dance Theatre. Photo by V. Paul Virtucio. This month, Ananya Dance Theatre closes out its 5-part series Work Women Do with the world premiere of Shaatranga at The O'Shaughnessy. This final chapter, whose name in Bangla translates as "Seven Colors", will be performed Friday, Sept. 21 and Saturday, Sept. 22