Mud at Bedlam Theatre on 1/24/08

By: Carl Atiya Swanson
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Mud - Photo by Bryan Feir Vladimir:        Well? Shall we go? Estragon:        Yes, let’s go.                         They do not move.          &...

Robert Bly's Peer Gynt at Guthrie Theater on 1/20/08

By: Jon Behm
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   Peer Gynt - Photo by Michal Daniel Henrik Ibsen wrote Peer Gynt during his travels around the Mediterranean Sea. Perhaps touched by the same muse as ancient Homer, Ibsen created his own Iliad, a play far different from the rest of his catalogue and mostly written in verse. Though Gynt is generally considered a masterpiece, it was not originally written to be performed.  If anyone could brin...

The Blue Door, an Emigrant Theater Production at Guthrie Theater on 1/18/08

By: Janet Preus
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Eric Avery and  David Eulus Wiles in the Blue Door. Promotional photo by by George Byron Griffiths Emigrant Theater’s production of Blue Door by Tanya Barfield at the Guthrie’s Dowling Studio Theater is a play worth doing and a production worth seeing, but not the searing emotional and psychological journey it aspires to. In concept, it should be riveting, leaving the...

Looking for Normal at Minneapolis Theater Garage on 1/12/08

By: Jon Behm
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Sex change operations are one aspect of culture that most people decide is better faced at arm’s length. While multitudes of Americans rushed out to read Middlesex, Jeffery Eugenides’ best seller about gender identity, when it is experienced firsthand it is often a different story altogether.  So it is in Looking For Normal, a dramatic piece by Jane Anderson, currently being staged by Artisphere Theater (in partnership with To...

Titus Andronicus, A Cromulent Shakespeare Production at Bedlam Theatre on 1/11/08

By: Carl Atiya Swanson
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Charles Hubbel as Titus Andronicus ‘Tis the season to eat human flesh baked into pies. With Sweeney Todd in theaters (complete with Johnny Depp’s six-note range) Cromulent Shakespeare Company brings Titus Andronicus roaring into the Bedlam Theatre for a 4-week run. Titus is Shakespeare’s earliest tragedy (and goriest), but it contains the thematic seeds for his later, greater works.&n...

Wreck at Southern Theater on 1/11/08

By: Jon Behm
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Wreck - Photo by Randy Karels Chaos Theory is an idea that certain seemingly random dynamical systems are fully determined by their initial condition, or in layman’s terms—there is no “random” anything—any objects’ future can be determined by its original state. While I can’t come close to really understanding this theoretical concept, I was rem...

A Year With Frog & Toad at The Children's Theatre Company on 1/2/08

By: Brenda Bredahl
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  The Tony-nominated Children’s Theatre Company production, A Year with Frog & Toad, presented a stunning kaleidoscope of costume, song, dance, music and acting that delighted the adults in our group as much as our 8-year-old son and the scores of other kids in the audience. Based on the 1970s books by Arnold Lobel, the production brought the beloved Newbery- and Caldecott-honored children&rs...

Avenue Q at State Theatre on 1/1/08

By: Jon Behm
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Avenue Q company - Photo by Carol Rosegg As kids, we learned a lot from Sesame Street.  How to safely cross the street, for instance, or how to count bats in a spooky old castle while laughing maniacally. Unfortunately once we reach adulthood, we must leave Big Bird behind and start learning to solve adult problems on our own. Not so on Avenue Q though. The Tony award winning Broadway musica...

The Sound of Music at Ordway Center for the Performing Arts on 12/14/07

By: Jon Behm
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For someone who doesn’t really like musicals, I somehow end up seeing a lot of them. Most recently The Sound of Music, the Rogers and Hammerstein Broadway classic which has been revived for the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts’ stage under the direction of Wendy Knox. Whether you love Rogers and Hammerstein, or they just make you want to gag, everyone should at least be able to agree that the Ordway performance was spectacularly well done.   The Sound of Music is th...

Sweet William, devised and performed by Michael Pennington at Guthrie Theater on 12/11/07

By: David de Young
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Photo by Laurance Burns If you’re not a Shakespeare fan, Sweet William is not the show for you. But if you are, whether of the academic, armchair or thespian sort, this show makes for an educational and enjoyable night on the town.  English actor Michael Pennington, perhaps best known by the American general public for his portrayal of Moff Jerjerrord in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jed...