REVIEW: Backstabbing Galore in The Lion in Winter Arts Theatre by Bev Wolfe - November 28, 2016December 9, 2016 The cast of the Guthrie Theater's The Lion in Winter. Photo by Heidi Bohnenkamp. A dysfunctional and scheming family dynamic played out at a Christmas gathering is the premise of the latest Guthrie Show. This family is the royal family of England, however, and the Christmas occurs in the 12th Century.
REVIEW: Triple Espresso Still Has It (Hennepin Theatre Trust) Arts Music Theatre by Basil Considine - November 27, 2016November 28, 2016 Photo by Anna Eveslage. It's been 20 years since Triple Espresso first opened at the Music Box Theatre, becoming a runaway hit that ran for 12 years. A few revivals and many satellite productions later, it's back for the holiday season at the New Century Theatre in Minneapolis. At this point, there's
PREVIEW: Returning The Crucible to its Origins (Theatre Coup d’Etat) Arts Theatre by Twin Cities Arts Reader - November 24, 2016November 25, 2016 A 19th-century engraving depicting an episode in the Salem Witch Trials. The artist has moved the trial from its original church setting to a 19th-century courtroom. The basic narrative of Arthur Miller's 1953 play The Crucible is well-known: in colonial Massachusetts, a number of young women accuse other colonists of practicing witchcraft. Hundreds
REVIEW: Victorian Cinderella Revival (Children’s Theatre Company) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Bev Wolfe - November 24, 2016November 25, 2016 Cinderella (Traci Allen Shannon) flees the ball. Photo by Dan Norman. A Victorian Christmas, a vaudeville show, and a romance are all encompassed in the Children’s Theatre Company's latest production of the fairy tale Cinderella. It is a remount of the show that CTC performed during the in 2013-2014 season with many
REVIEW: Pleasant, Familiar Sounds in Christmas Carol (Guthrie Theater) Arts Music Theatre by Basil Considine - November 22, 2016November 22, 2016 Ryan Colbert (Fred) and J.C. Cutler (Ebenezer Scrooge) at work. Photo by Dan Norman. The Guthrie's 2016 production of A Christmas Carol will not surprise you if you've seen it in recent years. J.C. Cutler is still excellent as Scrooge, Mathew LeFebvre's costumes are still pretty dandy, and the music is just
INTERVIEW: A Wink from PWC’s Jen Silverman Arts Theatre by Twin Cities Arts Reader - November 21, 2016November 21, 2016 From December 5-6, the Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis will present Jen Silverman's play Wink as part of its Ruth Easton New Play Series. Silverman, a Core Writer at the Playwrights' Center, spoke with the TCAR's Hanne Appelbaum and Basil Considine about her writing and the upcoming play. HA: I've found playwrights
REVIEW: Leaky Passage (7th House Theater/Guthrie) Arts Music Theatre by Basil Considine - November 20, 2016November 20, 2016 Mary Bair and Alejandro Vega in The Passage. Photo by Amy Anderson. The Passage or What Comes of Searching in the Dark has a lot of good things going for it. The visuals are engaging, the child actors are fantastic, and Grant Sorenson is a standout member of the ensemble. Musically, however, it is as eminently
REVIEW: Sex Tips for Straight Women from a Gay Man Arts Theatre by Ali O'Reilly - November 20, 2016November 20, 2016 Photo by Jeremy Shaffer. The how-to book Sex Tips for Straight Women from A Gay Man by Dan Anderson and Maggie Berman was a 1997 instant best seller. Salon.com's Courtney Weaver called it a “cannily entertaining romp through the nuts and bolts of sex from the male perspective.” This cult classic served as
PREVIEW: 7th House Theater’s The Passage Arts Music Theatre by Twin Cities Arts Reader - November 18, 2016November 18, 2016 7th House Theater's production of The Passage or What Comes of Searching in the Dark. Photo by Amy Anderson. There's a joke that's sometimes tossed around the Twin Cities theatre community that goes like this: "What is Graydon Royce's perfect show?" "Eighty minutes, no intermission." 7th House Theater's The Passage, which opens tomorrow at
REVIEW: Das Rheingold Glitters, Commands (Minnesota Opera) Arts Music Opera Theatre by Lydia Lunning - November 15, 2016March 11, 2017 Steampunk elements in Minnesota Opera's Das Rheingold. Photo by Cory Weaver. Minnesota Opera’s eye-popping (er…sorry, Wotan) production of Das Rheingold, the first installment of Richard Wagner’s epic cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen, takes the stage at the Ordway Music Theater in St Paul through November 20. Such a cultural touchstone as this