REVIEW: Superb In the Heights Runs to the Finish (Ordway) Arts Dance Music Theatre Visual Arts by Basil Considine - September 22, 2017September 22, 2017 Debra Cardona stars as Abuela Claudia in the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts production of In the Heights. Photo by Rich Ryan. The biggest thing wrong with the Ordway's production of In the Heights is that it's only running for two weeks. This powerhouse production deserves a much longer run, with
REVIEW: Stellar, Magnificent Aladdin Tour (Orpheum/Hennepin Theatre Trust) Arts Dance Music Theatre Visual Arts by Basil Considine - September 20, 2017September 20, 2017 The Genie (Anthony Murphy) gives Aladdin the friendship sell in "Friend Like Me" in the national tour of Aladdin. Photo by Deen van Meer. There's a song in Aladdin with a well-known lyric: "You never had a friend like me." Well, you've never seen a show like this – the Broadway tour of Aladdin is
INTERVIEW: Sam Graber on Creating mONSTER Arts Theatre by Basil Considine - September 20, 2017September 19, 2017 On September 29, Swandive Theatre premieres Sam Graber's play mONSTER at the Southern Theater in Minneapolis. This play is set entirely in a college dorm room in August 1994, during what's billed as "the dark beginnings of the World Wide Web." Some of the play's themes include the mechanics of
INTERVIEW: Adam Jacobs on Playing Aladdin and Touring with Family Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - September 18, 2017September 18, 2017 A scene from the national tour of Aladdin, now playing at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis. Photo by Deen van Meer. The stage version of Disney's beloved musical Aladdin has come to roost in Minneapolis for the next 3.5 weeks. The national tour of Aladdin plays at the Orpheum Theatre through October 8; the Arts Reader's Basil
PREVIEW: The 13th Annual Ivey Awards Arts Dance Music Theatre by Twin Cities Arts Reader - September 18, 2017September 18, 2017 A cropped version of Take a Bow, featuring Autumn Ness, Warren Bowles, Kevin Fanshaw, and Victor Zupanc; the full image is below. Photo by William Clark Photography. The 13th Annual Ivey Awards are coming to town. Next Monday, September 25, the annual event – fondly nicknamed "theatre prom" by local theatre practitioners
PREVIEW: Nuns Flocking Back to Chanhassen in Soaring Sister Act Arts Dance Music Theatre Visual Arts by Basil Considine - September 17, 2017September 17, 2017 Regina Marie Williams (center) as Deloris Van Cartier "blending in" at the convent in Chanhassen Dinner Theatres' 2015 production of Sister Act. Photo by Heidi Bohnenkamp. The Star Tribune's Graydon Royce said that Chanhassen Dinner Theatres' 2015 production of Sister Act "soared on the wings of Regina Marie Williams’ performance as nightclub
FEATURE/PREVIEW: The Tale of the Raucous Don Pasquale (Minnesota Opera) Arts Dance Music Opera Theatre by Basil Considine - September 16, 2017June 24, 2018 A scene from Arizona Opera's 2015 production of Don Pasquale. The same production design will be used in Minnesota Opera's upcoming production of the same opera. Photo by Ed Flores. For an opera that people thought was going to be a failure, Don Pasquale (1843) certainly has done very well for itself. Today,
NEWS: Royal Shakespeare Company Announces Season of All-Female Directors Arts Theatre by Basil Considine - September 13, 2017September 13, 2017 A promotional image for the Royal Shakespeare Company's upcoming production of Macbeth. The Royal Shakespeare Company, one of the world's pre-eminent theatre organizations, announced yesterday that every single new mainstage production in its next season will be directed by women. The announcement came the same day as news broke of the
PREVIEW: An Advance Look at The Abominables (Children’s Theatre Company) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Twin Cities Arts Reader - September 11, 2017September 11, 2017 Rival hockey teams face off in The Abominables, opening this week at the Children's Theatre Company in Minneapolis, MN. Photo by Dan Norman. It is a time-honored theatrical adage that the show must go on. Thus, the Children's Theatre Company took a moment over the weekend to acknowledge the tragic death of
PREVIEW: In the Heights Rises (Ordway) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - September 11, 2017September 12, 2017 The cast of the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts/Teatro del Pueblo production of In the Heights. The musical Hamilton is such a cultural juggernaut that it's brought a lot of non-traditional audiences to the altar of musical theatre. Such is its publicity that many regular theatregoers assume that its creator