For the holiday season, Park Square Theatre has chosen to revive the warmly received show about George Gershwin that premiered there in 1999. The Soul of Gershwin: The Musical Journey of an American Klezmer is a delightful musical offering: a well-researched and interesting story backed by wonderful music – with not one single holiday...
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There is at least one theater in Minnesota that is not trying to be “relevant,” or “important.” They just want to get people in the door and show them a good time. In fact, that is exactly their mission and it appears to be working. A full house guffawed their way through “Bob’s Holiday...
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“Leaves leaving the branches… Winter is coming…” such is the opening line to this delightful winter’s tale chanted in ethereal tones reminding the audience that the curtain has just raised on the opening act of this region’s coldest of seasons. While there are several holiday shows vying for attention this time of year Winter...
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First the good news: the design of Charley’s Aunt (at the Guthrie through Jan 15) is exquisite. The Guthrie’s tech department, the best in the country, really outdid themselves (between this play and the richly produced A Christmas Carol they must have labored overtime and eminently deserve the holiday vacation I hope they are...
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Go to the Ordway and experience the “timeless enchantment” of Cinderella ($113 per ticket). Or try the Guthrie’s A Christmas Carol, after 35 years still “as powerful and uplifting as it ever was” ($73). Or maybe CTC’s “beloved” The Wizard Of Oz ($70). All this overpriced holiday feel-good about to send you shrieking into...
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“A turkey?!” sputters the Cranky Critic, sufferer from permanent indigestion and squinty short-sightedness. “There were no turkeys in 1840 England. Ha. This is nothing more than an excuse for the Guthrie prop department to manufacture an oversized bird, stick it on a bed of plastic crabapples and wheel it onstage on a—” Hush. Go...
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Interact Theater’s mission is to create art that challenges perceptions of disabilities. After last night’s performance of their new holiday show, “Joy, a Holiday Cabaret” (at at The Lab Theater, 700 First St. North in the Minneapolis Warehouse District through December 17th), I’d say it challenges our perceptions of what is theater, too – not...
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CTC’s The Wizard Of Oz (Childrens Theatre Company, through Jan. 8, 2012) imitates the 1939 MGM classic beat-by-beat: the structure is identical, the character conceits, the exquisite Arlen/Harburg songs. Much of the play’s dialogue comes directly from the movie. All the classic lines – “I’m not a witch at all!” “Who’d've thought a...
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GRUESOME PLAYGROUND INJURIES Mixed Blood Theatre has opened an ambitious three-play series they call Center of the Margins with the goal of “exploring the complex world of disability,” the publicity explains. The first play, Rajiv Joseph’s Gruesome Playground Injuries has a somewhat misleading title; the most “gruesome” injuries did not happen on a playground;...
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The Recovery Party and Table Salt Productions just closed an impressive run of “Danger! Will/Robinson,” an evening of sketch comedy and improv created by the local comedy team of Joshua Will and Jim Robinson. Supported by fellow Brave New Workshop alums, Michelle Cassioppi, Julie Grover, Eriq Nelson and Dan Hetzel the cast had an...
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