Lady Day at the Emerson Bar and Grill is a day-in-the-life story of singer Billie Holiday, a.k.a. Lady Day. It is more accurate to say the play is a night-in-the-life story of this popular and singularly talented, jazz singer as…
Author: Mari Wittenbreer
Review | The Good Person Of Szechwan: Hensley comes full circle
Ten Thousand Things, through June 3The Good Person of Szechwan is Michelle Hensley’s last show as artistic director of Ten Thousand Things Theatre Company. In her distinguished career, she has brought her productions not just to the paying public but also free of charge to…
Review | Measure For Measure: theater underdone
Theatre Unbound, through April 8It isn’t surprising that Theatre Unbound, a company formed by women for the advancement of women theatre artists, was drawn to mount a production of Shakespeare’s Measure For Measure (playing through April 8, in the lovely Gremlin Theatre). In their…
Review | Newsies: First act: terrific. Second act: not so much
Chanhassen Dinner Theatre, through Sept 29I must admit I had low expectations when I arrived for opening night of Newsies, the Broadway Musical at the Chanhassen Dinner Theatre. When our waiter took our orders and told us that in the seven years he’s been at…
Review | 21 Extremely Bad Breakups: should I stay or should I go?
Walking Shadow Theatre Co., performing at Red Eye Theater (15 West 14th St., Mpls), through March 3Any play with a title like 21 Extremely Bad Breakups is bound to be a bit of a yuk-fest and so it is with Walking Shadow’s new work of that name. Though 21EBB fits this description, it’s more than just…
Review | Noises Off: a fine British farce
Artistry Theater, through Feb 18Noises Off is a perennially popular farce about all the things that can go wrong with a theatre production. Anyone who knows theatre knows the list is almost endless: last minute changes that rattle the actors, backstage romances that threaten…
Review | A Steady Rain: solid
Of all the horrific things that have happened over the past fifty years the Jeffrey Dahmer story stands out. What makes it especially distressing is that a fourteen-year-old boy escaped from Dahmer’s basement apartment, ran naked to two Milwaukee police…
Review | Dot: glitter, with tarnished gold
Park Square Theatre, through Jan 7Christmas time mingles past, present and future as families gather to celebrate and share common traditions and memories. So it’s no surprise to discover a play about a family’s struggle with Alzheimer’s during the holiday season when the loss of…
Review | Blithe Spirit: sparking sophistication
The Guthrie, through January 14Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit, now at the Guthrie, begins as the upper-class English couple Charles and Ruth Condomine are about to host a dinner party. He’s an established writer. She manages the household which includes a maid of uncommon exuberance.…
The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night Time: brilliantly skewed
Mixed Blood Theatre, through Dec 3The powerful and touching drama, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Mixed Blood, through Dec 3), opens when Christopher, an English lad who lives with his father in a working-class community, discovers the neighbor’s dog dead in the…