REVIEW: Reproduction Little Shop of Horrors (Artistry) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Lydia Lunning - January 24, 2017January 24, 2017 Ty Hudson (left) in Artistry's production of Little Shop of Horrors, with the Greek chorus of Alicia Britton, Falicia Cunningham, and Jill Iverson to the right and Audrey II in the center. Based on the 1960 comedy horror movie of the same name, Alan Menken and Howard Ashman’s musical Little Shop of Horrors
REVIEW: The Bodyguard Wins Hearts (Broadway Tour/HTT) Arts Music Theatre by Lydia Lunning - January 23, 2017January 24, 2017 Deborah Cox as Rachel Marron in The Bodyguard. Photo by Joan Marcus. The U.S. national tour of The Bodyguard, a musical by Alexander Dinelaris based on the 1992 film and featuring the music of Whitney Houston, kicked off last Tuesday at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis. This tour stars the dazzling Deborah Cox,
REVIEW: Garfunkel, Sans Oates, Sans Simon (Hennepin Theatre Trust) Arts Music by Dan Reiva - January 16, 2017January 16, 2017 Last Thursday night, while waiting in line to be swiped by the metal detector, I met a slightly older woman who must have predated me as a Simon and Garfunkel fan by twenty years. She had heard them live in the Sixties. On a below zero night she had made
PREVIEW: Patti LaBelle and SaBeautiful, SaBountiful Voice (Hennepin Theatre Trust) Arts Music by Bev Wolfe - January 12, 2017January 12, 2017 Following an absolutely smashing concert at the Minnesota State Fair in 2015, Patti LaBelle returns to Minnesota for a one-night only concert at the Minneapolis State Theatre at 8 pm this Saturday, January 14, 2017. She has been performing for over fifty years and is a versatile performer known for
REVIEW: Melissa Etheridge – Take 2 (Ordway) Arts Music by Ali O'Reilly - January 8, 2017January 9, 2017 It was -2 degrees in St. Paul on Thursday, but the lot of us still went out to watch Melissa Etheridge perform her tribute album, MEmphis Rock and Soul [sic]. We were kept warm by the artist's timely reworking of iconic R&B-rock hybrids off the Memphis-based label, Stax Records. Covering gems from
REVIEW: Melissa Etheridge – Take 1 (Ordway) Arts Music by Bev Wolfe - January 8, 2017January 9, 2017 On Thursday night, the temperature plunged to -2 degrees; not to be deterred, Melissa Etheridge’s loyal fans trudged out to the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in St. Paul to see her. They were rewarded by a performance with Etheridge's trademark raspy voice in top form as she belted out her
TOP 10: Basil Considine’s 10 Best Shows of 2016 Arts Dance Music Opera Theatre by Basil Considine - January 8, 2017January 8, 2017 Lumière (Mark King) entertains Belle (Ruthanne Heyward) in Chanhassen Dinner Theatres' 2016 production of Beauty and the Beast. Photo by Heidi Bohnenkamp. Those of us living in the greater Twin Cities metro area are blessed with an embarrassment of artistic richness. There are far too many performing arts organizations for any one person to
PREVIEW: Melissa Etheridge @ The Ordway Arts Music by Bev Wolfe - January 4, 2017January 4, 2017 Tomorrow, singer-songwriter and all-around rocker Melissa Etheridge descends on the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts for a one night-only engagement. Etheridge emerged in the 1990s as one of the decade's most prominent women songwriters, a distinction she shared with both Jewel and Sheryl Crow. Her self-titled album Melissa Etheridge made the Billboard
TOP 10: Bev Wolfe’s 10 Best Plays and Musicals of 2016 Arts Dance Music Theatre by Bev Wolfe - January 1, 2017January 1, 2017 Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine (Laila Robins) and Henry Plantagenet (Kevyn Morrow) in a rare moment in the Guthrie Theater's production of The Lion in Winter. Photo by Heidi Bohnenkamp. I have not seen all of the great shows that were performed in the Twin Cities in 2016, but here are the 10
INTERVIEW: Randy Reyes on Flower Drum Song, Mu, and More Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - December 23, 2016December 23, 2016 A scene from Mu Performing Arts' 2008 production of Flower Drum Song. Photo by Michal Daniel. It's been three years plus change since Randy Reyes took over the artistic directorship of Mu Performing Arts from founder Rick Shiomi. In the interim, Reyes has been busy, leading the nationally acclaimed Asian American theatre company