REVIEW: The Farce is the Thing in One Man, Two Guvnors (Yellow Tree Theatre) Arts Theatre by Bev Wolfe - April 20, 2017April 20, 2017 Elise Langer, Elena Glass, and Marika Proctor in Yellow Tree Theatre's production of One Man, Two Guvnors. Photo by Justin Cox. Yellow Tree Theatre is closing its ninth season with Richard Bean’s Tony Award-winning comedy One Man, Two Guvnors. This play is an English adaptation of Carlo Goldini’s 18th Century Italian commedia dell’arte
REVIEW: Timely Wicked-ness (Oprheum/Hennepin Theatre Trust) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Ali O'Reilly - April 17, 2017April 17, 2017 Jessica Vosk as Elphaba in the touring production of Wicked. Photo by Joan Marcus. The first (and only other) time I saw Wicked was in 2008, from the nosebleeds of Chicago’s Oriental Theatre, where it would play to 3.2 million audience members in a period of 3.5 years. The cast then featured
REVIEW: Fun Crisis in Women on the Verge (NHCCT) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Bev Wolfe - April 10, 2017April 10, 2017 The cast of North Hennepin Community College Theatre's production of Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. Photo by Mike Ricci. Pedro Almodovar wrote and directed the Spanish Film Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (WVNB) in 1988. The film received critical acclaim, won the New York Film Critics
INTERVIEW: Crafting a New Take on Ibsen’s Master Builder Arts Theatre by Basil Considine - April 9, 2017April 9, 2017 There are four plays by Danish playwright Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) that are commonly produced in the United States today. Which one you know (or know of) is likely a function of your interest. Feminists favor A Doll's House. Pianists and orchestral musicians favor Peer Gynt, for which Edvard Grieg wrote incidental music preserved in two
INTERVIEW: The Ladies of PRIME Productions on Little Wars and More Arts Theatre by Basil Considine - April 8, 2017April 9, 2017 Gertrude Stein and Alice Toklas in their apartment in the early 1920s; the pair hosted many dinner parties with literary luminaries. Photo by Man Ray. It's relatively uncommon for a new company operating under an Actor's Equity Association contract to suddenly appear in town, so when PRIME Productions announced its launch in March, the announcement
REVIEW: Youthful West Side Story Runs Scared (Ordway) Arts Dance Music Opera Theatre by Basil Considine - April 6, 2017April 7, 2017 Desiree Davar as Anita (center) with the Shark Girls in the Ordway Center for the performing Arts production of West Side Story. Photo by Rich Ryan. Where should one begin with an iconic musical like West Side Story? Composer Leonard Bernstein began by saying, "I'd always thought of West Side Story in terms of teenagers." This focus is
REVIEW: Dark Fun in Matilda: The Musical (Hennepin Theatre Trust) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Bev Wolfe - April 1, 2017April 1, 2017 Jaime MacLean as Matilda in Matilda: The Musical. Photo by Cybil von Tiedemann. Child abuse runs rampant in the Orpheum Theatre’s presentation of the Broadway touring musical Matilda. The musical is based upon Roald Dahl’s children's novel Matilda. Dahl is famous for such books as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. For
NEWS: Walker Art Center Transforms into Giant Robot, Stops Monster Menace (April Fools) Arts Dance Dining Lifestyle Movies Music Opera Theatre Visual Arts by Basil Considine - April 1, 2017April 1, 2017 The W.A.L.K.E.R. giant robot prepares to deal a finishing blow to the monster that menaced Minneapolis this morning. The Minneapolis Monster Menace has come to an end. In a stunning development, the Walker Art Center transformed into a giant robot and defeated the monster menacing Uptown in a climactic battle on
FEATURE: The Ordway’s White Christmas and Vocal Teeth (April Fools) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - April 1, 2017April 1, 2017 Ann Michaels in a discarded promotional photo for the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts/5th Avenue Theatre coproduction of White Christmas. Photo by Rich Ryan. Last November, while Minnesota was still flirting with fall and winter weather, the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts was going full-speed ahead with plans for an
INTERVIEW: Another Chat with The Realish Housewives of Edina Arts Theatre by Basil Considine - March 30, 2017March 31, 2017 The 50th & France shopping district name-dropped in The Realish Housewives of Edina, Season 2. Part 2 of Basil Considine's interview with The Realish Housewives of Edina, Season 2's writers Kate James and Tim Sniffen and actresses Katherine Kupiecki and Karissa Lade. Read Part 1 Reality TV is often a love-it-or-hate-it thing. Where do you stand