LIVE BLOG: The 24 Hour Plays Arts Theatre by Twin Cities Arts Reader - March 10, 2017March 14, 2017 Necessity is the mother of invention – or, according to Bill Watterson's Calvin of Calvin and Hobbes, mothers are the necessity of invention. Starting this Sunday at 10 PM, a group of six directors, six playwrights, and 24 actors will test out both as they create and perform six plays in just 24 hours.
PREVIEW: 2017 Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival Arts Movies Visual Arts by Twin Cities Arts Reader - March 6, 2017 A production still from The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki. The Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival, which bills itself as the Midwest's largest international film event, returns April 13-29, 2017. This year's festival includes 10 feature films and a variety of shorts. Films will be presented at five
REVIEW: Sumptuous R&H Magic in The King and I (Orpheum/HTT) Arts Dance Music Theatre Visual Arts by Basil Considine - March 1, 2017March 2, 2017 Laura Michelle Kelly, Baylen Thomas, and Graham Montgomery in Rodgers & Hammerstein's The King and I. Photo by Matthew Murphy. It was a full house at the opening of the Rodgers & Hammerstein's The King and I tour on Tuesday night. The Orpheum Theatre's seats were packed with an unusually broad balance of ages, waiting to
REVIEW: We Are Proud To Present Stabs You With Feels (Guthrie Theater) Arts Theatre by Basil Considine - February 28, 2017February 28, 2017 Lamar Jefferson (Actor 4), Nika Ezell Pappas (Actor 5), Sam Bardwell (Actor 1), Nike Kadri (Actor 6), Quinn Franzen (Actor 3) and JaBen Early (Actor 2) in the Guthrie Theater's production of We Are Proud to Present a Presentation. Photo by Dan Norman. The first hint that We Are Proud to Present a Presentation about the Herero
Fringe File 2017, #2: Minnesota Fringe Festival Announces New Executive Director Arts Dance Music Opera Theatre by Basil Considine - February 28, 2017July 21, 2017 A 2015 photo of the Art Shanty Project on White Bear Lake. Photo courtesy of the Art Shanty Facebook page. Last night was the Minnesota Fringe Festival lottery, where balls plucked out of a hopper determine the lineup of the country's largest unjuried arts festival. Attendees got an extra surprise: the
PREVIEW: Getting to Know Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The King & I (Hennepin Theatre Trust) Arts Dance Music Theatre Visual Arts by Twin Cities Arts Reader - February 27, 2017 One of the many expansive dance numbers in Rodgers & Hammerstein's The King & I. Photo by Matthew Murphy. New musical writers have it tough: Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II have an immense head start. By the time the most famous dynamic duo of musical theatre first teamed up, Rodgers
REVIEW: Steamy Words in Anna in the Tropics (Jungle Theater) Arts Theatre by Bev Wolfe - February 23, 2017February 23, 2017 Cristina Florencia Castro as Marela in Anna in the Tropics. Photo by William Clark. The world of Tolstoy collides with the world of Cuban-American cigar workers in Jungle Theater’s current production of Anna in the Tropics. Playwright Nilo Cruz’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama transports its audience to nearly a century ago in Tampa,
INTERVIEW: Composer Jodi Goble on the Art of Writing Art Songs Arts Music by Basil Considine - February 20, 2017March 15, 2017 Composer Jodi Goble at the piano. If you hang around classical singers, you're likely to hear the name "NATS" come up. No, not the things that fly around – the National Association of Teachers of Singing, one of the cornerstone institutions of the classical voice world. Know someone who took voice lessons in
REVIEW: Ruby! The Story of Ruby Bridges (SteppingStone Theatre) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - February 20, 2017February 20, 2017 A protest scene from SteppingStone Theatre's production of Ruby! The Story of Ruby Bridges by Christina Ham. It's February in the United States, a time that some see as set aside for the contemplation of the history of Blacks in the United States and the world at large. For others, it's a time
NEWS: Iowa Singer Advances to Met Opera National Council Auditions’ NYC Semi-Finals Arts Music Opera Theatre by Basil Considine - February 20, 2017March 10, 2017 Soprano Jessica Faselt singing at Bethel University on Sunday, Feb. 20. Photo courtesy of the Metropolitan Opera National Council – Upper Midwest Region. The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions for the Upper Midwest Region took place yesterday at Bethel University in St. Paul. The first place winner, soprano Jessica Faselt, will