PREVIEW: Australian Dinosaurs Invade Ordway 2/13 Arts Theatre Visual Arts by Twin Cities Arts Reader - January 19, 2018January 19, 2018 Aimee Louisanne and a friend (aka, "lunch") get rather close to a T-Rex from Dinosaur Zoo Live. Photo by C. Waits. Dinosaurs from Australia are invading the United States via Canada. Yes, you read that right. The Land Down Under has sent its toothiest specimens to delight America's children, just as
REVIEW: Art/Disempowerment/Juxtaposition: The Inequality Dance in Rap on Race (Ordway) Arts Dance by Dan Reiva - January 18, 2018January 18, 2018 A promotional image for Spectrum Dance Theater's A Rap on Race. Seattle's Spectrum Dance Theater dropped on St. Paul's Ordway Music Theater on Saturday. In its best moments, the event was a notable experiment that illustrates how art can further discussions of racial inequality in America. Some moments were marvelously expressive and expressionist.
PREVIEW: Twin Cities Jewish Humor Festival Arts Movies Theatre by Twin Cities Arts Reader - January 17, 2018January 17, 2018 A sampling of acts at the Twin Cities Jewish Humor Festival. If the weather has you down, you can escape for a week by diving into the Twin Cities Jewish Humor Festival. The festival's 2018 incarnation features stand-up comedians, a film delving the darkest sources of humor, a hit show about
TOP 10: Basil Considine’s Favorite Twin Cities Stage Performances of 2017 Arts Dance Music Opera Theatre by Basil Considine - January 12, 2018January 12, 2018 Brittany Bellizeare as Pecola (foreground) in the Guthrie Theater's production of The Bluest Eye. Photo by Dan Norman. During the 2017 calendar year, I saw more than 150 theatre performances. That tally excludes shows that I directed and dance-only performances, but includes spoken theatre, musicals, opera, improv, and pretty much anything
PREVIEW: The Humans Captures a Vanishing Middle Class (Orpheum/Hennepin Theatre Trust) Arts Theatre by Basil Considine - January 10, 2018January 10, 2018 Sarah Steele and Cassie Beck in the Broadway tour of The Humans by Stephen Karam. Photo by Brigitte Lacombe. In the last several years, I have read and heard a growing chorus of calls for the American theatre to reflect and represent more of the turmoil roiling American society. As U.S. society
INTERVIEW: Sarah Rasmussen on the Jungle Theater’s New Season Arts Music Theatre by Basil Considine - January 8, 2018January 8, 2018 A promotional image for the Jungle Theater's upcoming production of Ishmael. It's been several winters – and, some would say right now, not enough summers – since the Jungle Theater announced the appointment of Sarah Rasmussen as its new artistic director in March 2015. At the time, the native of Sisseton,
INTERVIEW: Elena Giannetti, The Last Five Years, and Creating Directing Spaces Arts Music Theatre by Basil Considine - January 5, 2018January 5, 2018 A promotional photo for Artistry's upcoming production of The Last Five Years showing Cathy (Aly Westberg O’Keeffe) and Jamie (Ryan London Levin). Photo by Devon Cox/Artistry. One of the archtypical cult musicals of the early 20th century is Jason Robert Brown's The Last Five Years. This two-person show tells the story of a
TOP 10: Bev Wolfe’s 10 Best Plays and Musicals of 2017 Arts Dance Music Theatre by Bev Wolfe - January 4, 2018January 4, 2018 A less happy moment between Eisinin (Sergei Andreev) and Duncan (Lisa Channer) in Theatre Novi Most's production of Dancing on the Edge. In reading through the top 10 lists of other reviewers, I realized there were a lot of great shows that I missed this year. The Twin Cities is blessed with
REVIEW: The Tech and Design Sides of Annie (Ordway) Arts Dance Music Theatre Visual Arts by Bev Wolfe - December 31, 2017January 4, 2018 The presidential cabinet: Kersten Rodau, Adam Qualls, Randy Schmeling, Bill Scharpen, Carl Schoenborn, and Charles Fraser in Annie. Photo by Rich Ryan. A locally produced holiday production of Annie is ending is its run at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts. Since its original opening on Broadway in 1977, Annie
INTERVIEW: John Olive and How the Ghost of You Clings Arts Theatre by Basil Considine - December 27, 2017January 9, 2018 A photo collage of the early-20th century actress Anna May Wong, whose story is the focus of the upcoming How the Ghost of You Clings, the Anna Wong Story. Some people make New Year's resolutions to do less. The Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis doesn't seem to have gotten that memo – come