Another of Frank Theatre‘s brilliant “found spaces”: the back room of the old Rainbow Foods. A gorgeous steel stairway, the “meat cooler,” the “sorting table” (whatever that is), an enormous ventilation pipe, weird platforms, a view out to the store…
Month: October 2016
The Baker’s Wife by Artistry, performing at the Bloomington Center For The Arts
Steven Schwartz and Joseph Stein’s rarely seen The Baker’s Wife (Artistry, performing at the Bloomington Center For The Arts) is a difficult little musical. A darkly comic comment on the fallibility of human relationships and romantic impulses, it is as unsettling…
Cabaret by Hennepin Theatre Trust, performing at the Orpheum Theatre
They’re all there, the famous and iconic Cabaret songs: “Willkommen,” “Don’t Tell Mama,” the anthemic “Cabaret.” John Kander (still with us) and Fred Ebb (who died in 2004) are/were masters of American musical theater. Kiss Of The Spider Woman, Chicago…
Pericles by Ten Thousand Things Theatre
Shakespeare’s Pericles is an almost perfect play for Ten Thousand Things and their target audience. TTT performs all of its plays free of charge at schools, correctional facilities, women’s shelters and other institutions before coming to Open Book in Minneapolis…
Hold These Truths in the Guthrie Theatre’s Dowling Studio
In an at-war America wracked with paranoia and fear of a subversive threat following the attack on Pearl Harbor, a young, patriotic university student decided to stand up and be relentlessly principled. That student was Gordon Hirabayashi, and at a…
Why We Can’t Have Nice Things presented by The Recovery Party at the Bryant-Lake Bowl
The Recovery Party’s latest original show is about options, from having too many to not having enough, but that doesn’t begin to describe the absurd lengths, heights and depths to which writer/director Joshua Will takes the simplest interactions. Such as…
Jitney at Penumbra Theatre
August Wilson’s plays are not slice of life dramas with straight-as-a-knife plotlines. They embody broad swaths of Black history played out decade by decade. Jitney, now at Penumbra Theatre, is no exception. Set in the 1970’s, Wilson employs gossip, personal…
The Parchman Hour at the Guthrie Theatre
It’s no accident that the program for Mike Wiley‘s Civil Rights drama The Parchman Hour (at the Guthrie, through November 6) references books for elementary and middle school students. These are the folks who most need to see The Parchman…
Camelot at Chanhassen Dinner Theatre
The best thing about the new production of Lerner and Loewe’s Camelot (Chanhassen Dinner Theatre, through February 25, 2017) is King Arthur. Keith Rice has everything the role requires and is a delight to watch. He’s developed a complex character…
Comedy of Errors produced by Maggie’s Farm Theater at the Lennox Center Little Theater
This is not a proper review, because I went to this play with no intention to review it. But when I found out when this company is up to, I decided I needed to pass the word along, so let’s…