AWARDS: The Inaugural Spice Awards in the Performing Arts Arts Dance Music Opera Theatre Visual Arts by Hanne Appelbaum - December 25, 2018December 28, 2018 It's been a whiplash year for awards and the Twin Cities performing arts scene. In fact, it's just been a whiplash year, period. In 2018, allegations of sexual assault and other misbehavior emerged at several local arts organizations. Cornerstone organizations such as Intermedia Arts and the Soap Factory remain shuttered
PREVIEW: Welcome to Fight Night Arts Theatre by Basil Considine - December 20, 2018December 20, 2018 An array of characters from Theatre Coup d'Etat's Fight Night performance series. Photos by Craig James Hostetler. If you saw a poster that said "Celebrity Deathmatch meets Highlander" and promised characters from Miley Cyrus to Darth Vader fighting it out with words, axes, knives, bricks, bats, hand-to-hand, and rubber chickens, you'd probably have a lot
REVIEW: The Memorable Return of Les Miserables (Orpheum/Hennepin Theatre Trust) Arts Dance Music Theatre Visual Arts by Brian Bix - December 19, 2018December 19, 2018 The cast of the national touring company of Les Miserables takes to the barricades. Photo by Matthew Murphy. In 1832 in Paris, at a time of growing inequality, the funeral procession for a popular public figure led to an eruption of violence. Hundreds died fighting at makeshift barricades with stolen weapons.
INTERVIEW: Becca Hart on Jungles, Spoonfulls of Sugar, and Returning to the Wolfpack Arts Theatre by Basil Considine - December 17, 2018December 18, 2018 The cast of the Jungle Theater's 2018 and 2019 productions of The Wolves. Photo by Dan Norman. The Jungle Theater's hit 2018 production of Sarah DeLappe's The Wolves is coming howling back in 2019. In a bit of sleight of hand, however, the January 31-February 17 revival jumps from the company's longtime home in Uptown
PHOTOS: Lend Me a Tenor at the Old Log Theatre Arts Theatre by Twin Cities Arts Reader - December 15, 2018December 16, 2018 Parallel lives (for an evening) in the Old Log Theatre's production ofLend Me a Tenor: Max (David Beukema) and Tito Merelli (Luke Davidson)'s lives become unexpectedly mirrored. Photo courtesy of the Old Log Theatre. Out Excelsior-way, the Old Log Theatre has been playing Lend Me a Tenor. This is the play
INTERVIEW: Catherine Dalton and Rough Cuts at Nautilus Music-Theater Arts Dance Music by Basil Considine - December 14, 2018December 14, 2018 A blue background. Today, the term "rough cut" generally refers to an early draft of an edit for audio or video recordings. The term, however, comes to us from sewing and cooking, which used the term freely in the 19th century before A/V recording was even a glimmer in an inventor's
REVIEW: Listening to Lydia in The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley (Jungle Theater) Arts Theatre by Kit Bix - December 11, 2018December 12, 2018 A tableau vivant: Cassie (Roshni Desai), Brian (Jesse LaVercombe), Mrs. Reynolds (Angela Timberman), Mr. Darcy (James Rodríguez), Elizabeth Bennet Darcy (Sun Mee Chomet), and Lydia Bennet Wickham (Kelsey Didion) in the Jungle Theater production of The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley. Photo by Rich Ryan. The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley, now playing at
PREVIEW: Les Misérables Prepares to Throw Up Its Barricade on Hennepin (HTT) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - December 9, 2018December 9, 2018 The cast of the national tour of Les Misérables marches towards revolution in "One Day More". Photo by Matthew Murphy. "If anyone doubts that the contemporary musical theater can flex its atrophied muscles and yank an audience right out of its seats, he need look no further than the Act I
REVIEW: The Grinch Still Rules the Roost (Children’s Theatre Company) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Bev Wolfe - December 8, 2018December 8, 2018 The Grinch (Reed Sigmund) sets off to commit dastardly deeds of humbug in the Children's Theatre Company production of Dr. Seuss’s How The Grinch Stole Christmas. Photo by Dan Norman. The Grinch is back and he is a green, mean, anti-holiday machine. It has been a long time since I have seen
NEWS: A Very Die Hard Christmas Sells Out Entire Run Before Opening Arts Music Theatre by Amy Donahue - December 7, 2018December 7, 2018 Josh Carson plays the foul-mouthed cop-in-a-tight-spot John McClane in the parody A Very Die Hard Christmas. On December 7, 2012, a show called A Very Die Hard Christmas opened at Bryant-Lake Bowl's theater space. The event page touted "a new holiday treat with all the trimmings: singing, dancing, and bloodshed. Don't