REVIEW: Faded Novelty, Enticing Melody in Once (Latté Da) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Dan Reiva - September 29, 2018September 29, 2018 Britta Olmann in Theater Latté Da's production of Once. Photo by Dan Norman. Once, I saw a play that was a romantic story about a Girl and Guy who make an unlikely couple connected by a love for music. The production was full of songs with folksy melodies played on guitar
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,
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
REVIEW: Stunning Hamilton Erupts on Hennepin (Orpheum/Hennepin Theatre Trust) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - September 1, 2018September 10, 2018 Joseph Morales and Nik Walker as Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, in the second national tour of Hamilton. Photo by Joan Marcus. The most remarkable thing about Hamilton is not that each song is so good. The most remarkable thing is that each element – the striking choreography, the immense variety
REVIEW: Spectacular Women, Amazing Voices in The Broadway Princess Party Arts Music Theatre by Bev Wolfe - August 24, 2018August 31, 2018 A promotional photo for the Broadway Princess Party, touched down at the Pantages Theatre in Minneapolis on August 18. Broadway/Disney royalty were in town last week at the Pantages Theatre. Which members of the royalty, you ask? Well, Cinderella, Jasmine, and Belle...to start. There was no need to splurge on spectacular