Ready to get out, be entertained and enjoy theater again? Of course, you are! Minneapolis Musical Theatre is back with its latest choice for a “rare musical,” a niche for which the company is well known. Hands on a Hardbody,…
Category: Reviews
Review | Thunder Knocking On The Door: can theater be more enjoyable?
Ten Thousand Things Theater Co. through April 5 — various venues; check websiteReview | Interstate: love and music on the open road
Mixed Blood Theatre, through March 29Interstate (Mixed Blood Theatre, through March 29) contains a standout performance: Sushma Saha as the young woman chafing in a small (and very conservative) American town, struggling to become Henry, to “man up,” to become who she really is. Saha…
Review | The Ugly One: an actual German comedy
Walking Shadow Theatre Co., performing at Open Eye Theater, 506 W. 24th St.; Minneapolis, through Feb 16All well and good, the Guthrie’s glitzy production of Guys And Dolls; and it’s good that they’ve scheduled (rescheduled actually) Shakespeare’s masterful history cycle; and it’s wonderful that in Three Little Birds CTC put together a show based on music…
Review || Blue Man Group: Slapstick for the digital age
Hennepin Theatre Trust, State TheatreDo you feel the need for some silliness? Just letting go and laughing? You’re not alone. Millions of people worldwide have felt the same way—since 1987! Now, that’s what I call a run! The Blue Man Group (“Still Blue, the…
Review | The Bridges Of Madison County: cornfed passion
Artistry Theater, Bloomington Center For The Arts, through Feb 16Fad-lit. In the 90s every woman (and many men) read Robert James Waller‘s novel The Bridges Of Madison County (nowadays the title is 50 Shades Of Gray). The book was hugely popular. And why not? The story, of two late-middle…
Review || Bernarda Alba: percussive intensity
Theater Latté Da, through Feb 16It’s a terrific idea: take the dense, lyrical prose of Federico Garcia Lorca‘s masterful The House Of Bernarda Alba and replace it with dense, semi-dissonant, percussive music (by Michael John LaChiusa). And it works! As long as you don’t expect…
Review | The Band’s Visit: subtle magic
The OrpheumThe Band’s Visit, with music and lyrics by David Yazbek and book by Itamar Moses, breaks so many rules for writing musicals—not by being outrageous, but by being not outrageous. It is a musical built on subtleties, just bits and…
Review | The Norwegians: if you’re looking for a few yuks…
Dark & Stormy Productions, through Jan 5Two young women walk into a Minnesota bar, one from Texas and one from Kentucky. They bond over the chilling effects of Minnesota winters, their broken hearts, and a desire to wreak revenge on their former boyfriends. Olive, the…
Review | Dog Act: post-apocalyptic rage
Fortune’s Fool Theatre, performing in The Gremlin, through Dec 22Liz Duffy Adams‘s intermittently amusing Dog Act (Fortune’s Fool Theatre performing in The Gremlin) brings to mind the work of a number of super-duper playwrights: Bertolt Brecht (Mother Courage), Samuel Beckett (Waiting For Godot), Caryl Churchill (The Skriker, produced a…