REVIEW: Capturing a Dance Icon in Dancing on the Edge (Theatre Novi Most) Arts Dance Theatre by Basil Considine - September 8, 2017January 4, 2018 A happier moment in Isadora Duncan (Lisa Channer) and Sergei Esenin (Sasha Andreev)'s turbulent romance in Theatre Novi Most's Dancing on the Edge. If you study modern dance, sooner or later you'll come across the name of Isadora Duncan. Duncan (1877/1878-1927) was one of the most famous dancers of the early 20th
PREVIEW: Lady with a Lap Dog (Fortune’s Fool) Arts Music Theatre by Basil Considine - September 6, 2017September 6, 2017 Laurel Anderson (Mrs. Prozorov, Dasha, others), Joel Liestman (Dmitri), and Andrea Leap (Anna). Photo by Daniel Pinkerton. "Translation," Umberto Eco wrote, "is the art of failure." The subtleties of translation may make seemingly small differences large and cause one thing to be mistaken for another. Next week, Fortune's Fool Theater opens a
FEATURE: Facts and Figures – the National Tour of Aladdin Behind the Scenes Arts Dance Music Theatre Visual Arts by Twin Cities Arts Reader - September 1, 2017August 18, 2017 Adam Jacobs (Aladdin) and Isabelle McCalla (Jasmine) star in the national touring production of Aladdin. Photo by Deen van Meer. How many people does it take to put on a national tour of a Broadway show? If the show is Aladdin, the answer is 75...if you only count the people who show
FEATURE: The Venezuelan Crisis and Music – A Tale of El Sistema, Bolivarists, and Sphinx Arts Music by Basil Considine - August 31, 2017September 6, 2017 The Catalyst Quartet rehearsing. It was the first of August. Dr. Deborah Justice was settling in for a month of fiddling around – musically speaking – when the email arrived. "I’m afraid I have some sad news from Caracas," it began. "Venezuela at this moment is now a war zone." At that
NEWS: Sally Ordway Award Proves Fatal to Recipient Arts Theatre by Basil Considine - August 29, 2017August 31, 2017 The late J. Otis Powell. Poet, playwright, and overall multi-talented artist J. Otis Powell died on Monday, August 28. Powell was 61 years' old, and had been awarded a Sally Ordway Irvine Award for Commitment just five days prior. He had struggled with ill health, and received a kidney transplant several
Fringe File, #30: Final Box Office Results for 2017 Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - August 23, 2017August 23, 2017 A bar chart showing historical box office totals for the Minnesota Fringe Festival. The Minnesota Fringe Festival announced the final statistics today for the 2017 Minnesota Fringe Festival. The 11-day festival brought in 46,076 butts-in-seats, spread across 860 performances of 167 shows at 17 venues in Minneapolis. Why Count Butts-in-Seats? Since 2016, the
NEWS: The 25th Annual Sally Ordway Irvine Award Recipients Arts Theatre by Twin Cities Arts Reader - August 23, 2017 The Ordway Center for the Performing Arts announced today the recipients of the 25th annual Sally Ordway Irvine Awards. These awards were given in five categories to recipients from across the State of Minnesota. This year's recipients are all based in the Twin Cities metro area: Hunter Gullickson (Arts Access)
PREVIEW: Love Letters (Cannery Works/Plymouth Arts Council) Arts Music Theatre by Twin Cities Arts Reader - August 22, 2017 Actors Gary Briggle (left) and Wendy Lehr (right). Photo by Keith Bridges. The playwright A.R. Gurney passed away two months ago. Many of the various eulogies and obituaries cited his 1988 play Love Letters, a tale of charmed correspondence that was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Love Letters encapsulated many of the themes
SET LIST: Lady Gaga at Xcel Energy Center Arts Music by Twin Cities Arts Reader - August 22, 2017August 23, 2017 Lady Gaga rocked the Xcel Energy Center with her trademark costume-heavy, immersive performance. Here's the set list from the concert: Act I "Video Intro" "Diamond Heart" "A-Yo" "Poker Face" "Perfect Illusion" Act II "John Wayne" "Scheiße" "Alejandro" Act III "Horns" "Just Dance" "LoveGame" "Telephone" Act IV "Claws" "Applause" "Come to Mama" "The Edge of
Fringe File, #28: Graphs and Charts, Part 1 Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - August 21, 2017August 21, 2017 A mosaic of different graphs of Fringe Festival sold-out attendance data. It's been one week since the 2017 Minnesota Fringe Festival closed its doors and the Fringe staff are still tallying and double-checking festival data. While a fuller report on the festival box office is still forthcoming, here are six figures