PREVIEW: Constellations (Jungle Theater) Arts Theatre by Basil Considine - April 13, 2016April 16, 2016 Marianne (Anna Sundberg) and Roland (Ron Menzel) in the Jungle Theater's production of Constellations. Photo by Dan Norman. When Nick Payne's play Constellations opened on Broadway, the show's advertising copy trumpeted the New York Times' verdict as "the most sophisticated date play Broadway has seen." That's pretty close to the truth – what Ben Brantley
NEWS: Minnesota Theater Alliance’s New Director Arts Theatre by Twin Cities Arts Reader - April 12, 2016April 15, 2016 It's transition time for some of Minnesota's leading arts organizations, and the Minnesota Theater Alliance is no exception. Today, MTA named Joanna Schnedler as its new Executive Director, succeeding the outgoing (and founding director) Leah Cooper. This leadership transition includes a 2.5-week overlap for Cooper to hand off the reins in good
REVIEW: Violet (Yellow Tree Theatre) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Bev Wolfe - April 11, 2016April 14, 2016 David Murray and Jessica Lind Peterson in Yellow Tree Theatre's production of Violet. Photo by Justin Cox Photography. For the final production of its eighth season, Yellow Tree Theatre presents a very satisfying production of Violet. This musical is based upon Doris Betts’ short story The Ugliest Pilgrim (her most-printed short story) and features music
REVIEW: Catch Catch Me If You Can (Chameleon Theatre Circle) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - April 11, 2016April 15, 2016 Austin Stole, Maria Isabel Gonzalez, and John Goodrich in The Chameleon Theatre Circle’s production of Catch Me If You Can. Photo by Daniel K. McDermott for Sinséar Productions. Let's say just one thing about the plot of Catch Me If You Can, the biographical musical about the life and escapades of Frank William
INTERVIEW: Composer Richard Einhorn Arts Music Opera Theatre by Basil Considine - April 7, 2016April 9, 2016 Composer Richard Einhorn at the piano. There are many stereotypes about classical music after World War 2. Beautiful is usually not one of them: in the postwar era, many Western art music composers decided to explore other aesthetic directions, to which audiences often responded with words like grating, difficult to listen to, cerebral, and
REVIEW: Buyer & Cellar (New Century Theatre) Arts Theatre by Bev Wolfe - April 2, 2016April 3, 2016 Photo by George Byron Griffiths. Buyer & Cellar, a play by Jonathan Tolins that Variety called "Absolutely delicious!", concerns an out-of-work gay actor getting a “dream job” working as a store clerk in a shopping mall – a mall that just happens to be located in the basement of Barbara Streisand’s Malibu home.
REVIEW: Joseph an Entertaining and Fast Two Hours (Orpheum Theatre) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Bev Wolfe - March 31, 2016March 31, 2016 J.C. McCann as Joseph and the tour cast of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in “Joseph’s Coat”. Photo by Daniel A. Swalec. Before the fame of Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita, lyricist Tim Rice and composer Andrew Lloyd Webber collaborated on the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, which was made into a concept
REVIEW: Explosive Janis Joplin at the Ordway Arts Music Theatre by Lydia Lunning - March 30, 2016March 30, 2016 Hair, music, and lights in A Night with Janis Joplin, original Broadway cast. Photo by Joan Marcus. If you notice more construction near the Ordway in St Paul in the coming week, it may be because Mary Bridget Davies and the cast of A Night with Janis Joplin: A New Musical
So Who’s In the Minnesota Fringe Festival (So Far)? Arts Dance Music Theatre by Hanne Appelbaum - March 27, 2016July 5, 2016 The Minnesota Fringe Festival is the largest unjuried theatre festival in the United States. What makes it onstage runs a wide range – you can see producers trying out works before backing auditions in New York City, a bunch of friends getting together to mess around, and everything in-between. Last year
PREVIEW: A Night with Janis Joplin (Ordway) Arts Music Theatre by Bev Wolfe - March 24, 2016March 25, 2016 The original Broadway Cast of A Night with Janis Joplin performing at the Lyceum Theater in New York. Photo by Joan Marcus. Next week, the Ordway Center presents A Night with Janis Joplin, a biographical musical show on the eponymous singer. Janis Joplin, a self-described social misfit from Texas, became a rock blues