Fringe File #1: Editor-in-Chief’s Short List Arts Dance Lifestyle Music Opera Theatre by Hanne Appelbaum - July 2, 2016July 10, 2016 Good Friday with Dillinger, presented by LookBack Productions. Yesterday afternoon, the Minnesota Fringe Festival officially launched its 2016 Fringe Festival website. Almost immediately, social media began filling with theatergoers' protests about not being able to see all the shows that they wanted. The Minnesota Fringe Festival has long been the Twin Cities' great buffet
FEATURE: The End of an Era: Minnesota Centennial Showboat’s Farewell Season Arts Dance Music Theatre by Bev Wolfe - June 30, 2016September 25, 2017 The original Minnesota Centennial Showboat. April 19, 2016 was a sad day on the Mississippi. That day, the University of Minnesota’s Department of Theater and Dance announced that the Minnesota Centennial Showboat – a staple on the river since 1958 and the first paid theatre position to many past and present theatre professionals
REVIEW: Fun, Playful Calendar Girls (Park Square) Arts Theatre by Bev Wolfe - June 26, 2016June 26, 2016 Linda Kelsey (Jessie), Carolyn Pool (Celia), Laurel Armstrong (Cora), Charity Jones (Chris), Christina Baldwin (Annie). Photo by Petronella J. Ytsma. Calendar Girls, now playing at Park Square Theatre, is an uncommon theatre experience and a play dominated by older female characters. Written by Tom Firth, this play is an adaptation of the 2003 movie by the same name
REVIEW: Creaky Bridges of Madison County (Orpheum Theatre/Hennepin Theatre Trust) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Lydia Lunning - June 22, 2016June 22, 2016 Elizabeth Stanley (Francesca) and Andrew Samonsky (Robert) in the national tour of The Bridges of Madison County. The national tour of The Bridges of Madison County plays at the Orpheum Theater in Minneapolis through June 26. This 2014 Broadway musical adaptation of Robert James Waller’s 1992 best-selling novel offers few surprises to its audiences.
Artistic Responses to Tragedy Arts Music Opera Theatre by Hanne Appelbaum - June 22, 2016June 22, 2016 Not a free seat was to be found on Tuesday night at Augsburg College as audiences gathered for the latest installment of Nautilus Music-Theater's Rough Cuts series of opera and musical theater (and things in the middle) excerpts. The performance kicked off some 15 minutes after the official 7:30 pm start time,
CONCERT PICK: Nautilus Music-Theater Rough Cuts Arts Music Theatre by Hanne Appelbaum - June 19, 2016June 19, 2016 One of the most interesting parts of developing music-theatre is the point where the musical numbers are full-fledged, standalone songs. As a show moves through its development, concessions must be made to pacing, context, exposition, and other dramaturgical demands. By the time a fully written and refined show hits the stage, there
REVIEW: Kandor & Ebb Broadway Songbook (Ordway) Arts Music Theatre by Lydia Lunning - June 11, 2016June 14, 2016 James Rocco (right) and Raymond Berg (right) in Kander & Ebb & All That Jazz. In the latest in the Broadway Songbook series, James Rocco and company explore Kander & Ebb & All That Jazz, the songs and stylings of composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb, the creative team responsible for many
REVIEW: Snagged by a Ballad of the Pale Fisherman‘s Line (Transatlantic Love Affair) Arts Dance Theatre by Bev Wolfe - June 7, 2016June 7, 2016 Transalantic Love Affair (“TLA”) staged a revival this past weekend of its famed Ballad of the Pale Fisherman as part of the Southern Theatre’s Artshare program for 2016. Director Isabel Nelson conceived the play based upon a Celtic legend about seals called Selkies who transform into women by removing their
REVIEW: Falling in Love with Rigoletto (Capri Theater/Really Spicy Opera) Arts Dance Music Opera Theatre by Lydia Lunning - June 6, 2016June 7, 2016 Small-scale opera productions, when well executed, are some of the underrated joys for audiences lucky enough to catch them—while their appeal of lavish design and big-budget spectacle seem synonymous with the art form, opera in a pared-down, more intimate setting is a great way to foreground fresh talent and focus
REVIEW: Fascinating, Striking Rigoletto (Capri Theater/Really Spicy Opera) Arts Dance Music Opera Theatre by Hanne Appelbaum - June 4, 2016June 4, 2016 Making fun of period operas in modern settings is like shooting fish in a barrel. There are so many clunkers out there that it's tempting to dismiss the proposition entirely and say, "That's a thing" – but sometimes a staging comes along where the new setting truly enhances the material. Really Spicy Opera's new production