REVIEW: It’s the Journey and the Candy in Fellow Travelers (Minnesota Opera) Arts Music Opera Theatre by Basil Considine - June 19, 2018June 24, 2018 The cast of Minnesota Opera’s Fellow Travelers. Photo by Dan Norman. Fellow Travelers, a fantastic new opera that opened at the Cowles Center on Saturday, is one of Minnesota Opera's best newer works of recent years. The music is beautiful and interesting, the story fraught with passion and the lure of
REVIEW: Good News, Bad News, Well… (Guthrie Theater) Arts Theatre by Dan Reiva - June 17, 2018June 17, 2018 JoAnne Akalaitis, the creator of BAD NEWS! i was there. Director JoAnne Akalaitis had a great idea: compile a dozen Ancient Greek dramas focusing on messenger scenes. She euphemistically calls the work, BAD NEWS! i was there... [sic], a humorous understatement since the messengers are inevitably revealing tragic events in the lives of the
REVIEW: Into the Woods Up Close (Shoot the Glass Theater) Arts Music Theatre by Basil Considine - June 16, 2018June 17, 2018 Rapunzel (Anna Maher) gets some bad news from her adoptive mother in Shoot the Glass Theater's production of Into the Woods. Photo by Twin Cities Headshots. The recent success of The Band's Visit at the Tony Awards reminds us that there is still great room for an intimately scaled, well-told musical tale. Intimacy
NEWS: Jerome Foundation Announces Inaugural Organization Grant Recipients Arts Dance Music Opera Theatre Visual Arts by Basil Considine - June 15, 2018June 15, 2018 A photo collage of artists and art funded by the Jerome Foundation. The Jerome Foundation today announced $4,159,500 in grants to 84 arts organizations in Minnesota and New York City. These grants to nonprofit arts organizations comprise inaugural offering of the foundation's new Organization Grants Program. The two-stage application process attracted 254
REVIEW: Dat Black Mermaid Man/Lady/Show (Pillsbury House + Theatre) Arts Theatre by Dan Reiva - June 14, 2018June 14, 2018 Kenyai O'Neal and PaviElle French in Pillsbury House Theatre's Dat Black Mermaid Man/Lady/Show. Photo by Rich Ryan. I attended the opening performance of Dat Black Mermaid Man/Lady/Show at the Pillsbury House Theatre. Sharon Bridgforth wrote the play in the avant-garde theatre form called theatrical jazz. Under the direction of Ebony Noelle
REVIEW: Cell Block Tangos Still Kicking in Chicago (Orpheum/Hennepin Theatre Trust) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Bev Wolfe - June 10, 2018June 11, 2018 The cast of the Broadway tour of Chicago. Photo by Catherine Ashmore. Having worked as an attorney in the criminal justice system for fifteen years, I am always eager to see shows with a legal theme. Chicago is a fast-moving, lively legal-themed musical that gives a satiric portrayal of a decadent
PREVIEW: A New Twist on Underneath the Lintel (Latté Da) Arts Music Theatre by Twin Cities Arts Reader - June 1, 2018June 1, 2018 Sally Wingert in rehearsal for Theater Latté Da's upcoming production of Underneath the Lintel. Photo by Emilee Elofson. It is widely acknowledged that librarians are awesome. This is not a matter of intelligence or education: it simply is. One play that makes that point is Glen Berger's Underneath the Lintel (2001),
INTERVIEW: May Lee-Yang on The Korean Drama Addict’s Guide to Losing Your Virginity Arts Theatre by Basil Considine - May 29, 2018May 30, 2018 A scattering of papers from May Lee-Yang's forthcoming play The Korean Drama Addict's Guide to Losing Your Virginity. This October, Park Square Theatre's Andy Boss Thrust Stage turns four years old. Since opening in 2014, this second stage has exploded Park Square's season, fueling and facilitating collaborations that run parallel to
REVIEW: Excess and Glitter in Thaïs (Minnesota Opera) Arts Music Opera Theatre by Amy Donahue - May 27, 2018June 24, 2018 Gerard Schneider as Nicias, Kelly Kaduce as Thaïs, and Lucas Meachem as Athanaël with the cast of Thaïs. Photo by Cory Weaver. Sometimes, going to the theatre means checking your attitudes at the door. There's a certain market for pieces that have been edited to be politically correct and/or align with
REVIEW: Thought-Provoking Taking Shakespeare (Gremlin Theatre) Arts Theatre by Bev Wolfe - May 22, 2018May 22, 2018 John A.W. Stephens in Gremlin Theatre's production of Taking Shakespeare. Photo by Alyssa Kristine Photography. John Murrell’s play Taking Shakespeare is a story about a burnt-out professor and a young man at a transformative time in his life. Gremlin Theatre’s Artistic Director Peter Christian Hansen directs this show with a small but