REVIEW: Thomasina Petrus Shines in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill (Jungle Theater) Arts Music Theatre by Bev Wolfe - June 29, 2018June 29, 2018 Many jazz greats passed away long before I could see them. Billie Holiday, also known as Lady Day, was among the greatest of the jazz greats. I never had an opportunity to see Billie Holiday sing live, but I suspect that Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill is the
REVIEW: Run, Do Not Walk, to Love Never Dies (Orpheum/Hennepin Theatre Trust) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - June 28, 2018June 29, 2018 Meghan Picerno as Christine Daaé in the national tour of Love Never Dies. Photo by Joan Marcus. If you have any interest in Phantom of the Opera, you should go see Love Never Dies. If you're interested in musicals but not super into Phantom of the Opera, you should probably see
REVIEW: Stylized New West Side Story Beauty to Behold (Guthrie Theater) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - June 27, 2018June 27, 2018 The cast of the Guthrie Theater’s production of West Side Story. Photo by T Charles Erickson. The Guthrie Theater's new production of the classic musical West Side Story is many things. The heavily stylized production is brilliantly adapted to the Wurtele Thrust Stage, features sparkling new choreography by Maija Garcia, and
PREVIEW: It’s Not All in the Hair in Beehive: The 60s Musical (Old Log Theatre) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - June 24, 2018June 25, 2018 Allyson Tolbert, Erin Nicole Farsté, and Kiko Laureano in the Old Log Theatre's upcoming production of Beehive: The 60s Musical. Photo courtesy of the Old Log Theatre. If you're going to do a musical about the Sixties and it's not going to be Hair, what would you pick? With all the decade's
INTERVIEW: Leslie Vincent on Beehives and the Singing Actor’s Life Arts Music Theatre by Basil Considine - June 24, 2018June 24, 2018 Singer-actor Leslie Vincent. Photo by Briana Patnode. Beehive: The 60s Musical opens at the Old Log Theatre this Friday, June 29. This period jukebox show stars eight fabulously talented women and features songs such as timeless classics as "My Boyfriend’s Back", "Be My Baby", "Son of a Preacher Man", and "Me
REVIEW: Lovely, Moving Ball: A Musical Tribute to My Lost Testicle Returns (Southern Theater) Arts Music Theatre by Basil Considine - June 23, 2018June 24, 2018 Max Wojtanowicz in Ball: A Musical Tribute to My Lost Testicle. Photo by Dan Norman. "Cancer's back" is one of the worst pieces of medical news imaginable. "That musical about cancer is back", however, is great news. Max Wojtanowicz's Ball: A Musical Tribute to My Lost Testicle is currently back at The
INTERVIEW: McKenna Kelly-Eiding on Becoming Sherlock Holmes in Baskerville Arts Theatre by Basil Considine - June 20, 2018June 21, 2018 McKenna Kelly-Eiding and Sara Richardson as Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson in Park Square Theatre's production of Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery by Ken Ludwiig. Photo by Petronella J. Ytsma. Park Square Theatre opens its annual summer mystery play this Saturday: Ken Ludwig's new play Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery. This freewheeling
REVIEW: It’s the Journey and the Candy in Fellow Travelers (Minnesota Opera) Arts Music Opera Theatre by Basil Considine - June 19, 2018June 24, 2018 The cast of Minnesota Opera’s Fellow Travelers. Photo by Dan Norman. Fellow Travelers, a fantastic new opera that opened at the Cowles Center on Saturday, is one of Minnesota Opera's best newer works of recent years. The music is beautiful and interesting, the story fraught with passion and the lure of
REVIEW: Good News, Bad News, Well… (Guthrie Theater) Arts Theatre by Dan Reiva - June 17, 2018June 17, 2018 JoAnne Akalaitis, the creator of BAD NEWS! i was there. Director JoAnne Akalaitis had a great idea: compile a dozen Ancient Greek dramas focusing on messenger scenes. She euphemistically calls the work, BAD NEWS! i was there... [sic], a humorous understatement since the messengers are inevitably revealing tragic events in the lives of the
REVIEW: Into the Woods Up Close (Shoot the Glass Theater) Arts Music Theatre by Basil Considine - June 16, 2018June 17, 2018 Rapunzel (Anna Maher) gets some bad news from her adoptive mother in Shoot the Glass Theater's production of Into the Woods. Photo by Twin Cities Headshots. The recent success of The Band's Visit at the Tony Awards reminds us that there is still great room for an intimately scaled, well-told musical tale. Intimacy