NEWS: IRS Drops Proposed Donations Rule; Nonprofits Rejoice Arts Dance Music Opera Theatre Visual Arts by Twin Cities Arts Reader - January 8, 2016January 11, 2016 The Internal Revenue Service announced today that it has formally withdrawn proposed new regulations for donations to nonprofits. The proposed regulations would have required nonprofits to retain and provide considerable new documentation for charitable, tax-deductible donations of $250 or more. The rule was opposed by a broad spectrum of nonprofit
REVIEW: A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder (Tour/State Theatre) Arts Music Theatre by Basil Considine - January 5, 2016January 11, 2016 A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, now playing at the State Theatre in Minneapolis, is easily one of the best musicals to come out of Broadway in the last several years. It is also a breath of fresh air in that theatre world that has become dominated by movie-to-stage
INTERVIEW: Kevin Massey of A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder Arts Music Theatre by Twin Cities Arts Reader - January 4, 2016January 4, 2016 The Tony Award-winning Broadway musical A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder opens Tuesday at the State Theatre. The Twin Cities Arts Reader's Basil Considine chatted up Kevin Massey, who plays the charming Monty Navarro in his quest to become the heir to the D'Ysquith family fortune. Are you sure that you want
The Star Tribune’s 2015 Theatre Awards Arts Music Opera Theatre Visual Arts by Twin Cities Arts Reader - December 27, 2015 Roger Guenveur Smith in Penumbra Theatre's production of Rodney King. Photo: Craig Schwartz. It's the end-of-the-year awards sweeps at our sister publication. The Star Tribune's 2015 Artist of the Year is Ivey Award-winning director Peter Rothstein; honorable mentions went to: Jesse Bishop, the programming director the Film Society of Minneapolis St. Paul; Sha Cage, an
REVIEW: Great The Great Work (7th House Theater) Arts Music Theatre by Basil Considine - December 23, 2015December 23, 2015 Hans Gartner (David Carey) shares a heart-to-heart with daughter Charlotte Gartner (Kendall Anne Thompson). Photo by Amy Anderson. One of the hottest tickets in town last holiday season was 7th House Theater's production of Jonah and the Whale, the ensemble's first original musical. Jonah was a hot ticket for a cold time of year;
REVIEW: Liberty Falls, 54321 (The Moving Company) Arts Music Opera Theatre by Basil Considine - December 19, 2015December 20, 2015 Back in the days of Theatre de la Jeune Lune, reviewers trying to describe the company's shows often used the term mise-en-scène. A literal translation of this term is deceptively simple: "placing on stage." In practice, the term refers to the importance of how everything fits together as a whole –
REVIEW: Blue Man Group (Orpheum Theatre) Arts Music Theatre by Basil Considine - December 19, 2015December 19, 2015 Blue Man Group bills itself as the "enemy of monotony, remedy for boredom, promoter of overjoy and elation." While these sound hyperbolic, they are also quite true. The show, which touched down at the Orpheum Theatre on Friday night, is a refreshing piece of alternative theatre that blends wordless situational
REVIEW: Hills of St. Paul = Alive with Music. Huzzah! Arts Music Theatre by Basil Considine - December 18, 2015December 20, 2015 The Ordway Center for the Performing Arts is not what it once was – and that's a good thing. Since 1980, when Sally Ordway Irvine donated the seed money for a new concert hall, the building and host organization have grown by leaps and bounds. Tours and headliner performers still
WEEKEND PICKS: Sound of Music, Blue Man Group, Snow Queen Arts Music Theatre by Twin Cities Arts Reader - December 18, 2015December 20, 2015 Pictured: Blue Man Group. November-December are some of the busiest months in the Twin Cities theatre season, with umpteen holiday shows and more Christmas Carol and Nutcracker variations than you can shake a stick at. Here's a non-holiday sampler of shows to take the kids to this weekend: Blue Man Group. This hard-to-describe
INTERVIEW: Blue Man Group’s Steven Wendt Arts Theatre by Basil Considine - December 18, 2015December 18, 2015 Steven Wendt (Blue Man) hails from Kansas City, MO. A graduate of the Walnut Hill School for the Arts in Natick, MA, and from CalArts in Valencia, CA, he arrived in town this week to perform in the Blue Man Group tour at the Orpheum Theatre. His past performance credits include Blue Man Group–Orlando, Ground