Macbeth's Awesome Scottish Castle Party at Black Forest Inn on 8/5/07

By: Jon Behm
[Read full review]
Back in the day, I worked as a server at the Black Forest Inn restaurant. I have seen a server’s share of crazy shit there, from a bartender falling off the roof to crack-heads trying to hide from invisible monsters in the bathroom. Nothing I experienced though was quite as strange as the Fringe showing of Macbeth’s Awesome Scottish Castle Party, which I saw at the Black Forest on Monday night.  MASCP is the latest bra...

Somewhere Else Mother at Intermedia Arts on 8/3/07

By: Jon Behm
[Read full review]
As the lights come up, the stage is empty. Not knowing what to expect, the audience waits for someone to enter. It is quite unsettling when that entrance comes from directly behind us, the authoritative voice of Tara North ringing out as she steps out from the shadows, and proceeds to, frankly, tell us how it is.  North is just one of four women who relate their experiences of homelessness in Somewhere Else Mother, the brilliant new p...

1776 at Guthrie Theater on 7/2/07

By: Janet Preus
[Read full review]
Norah Long (Abigail Adams) and Michael Thomas Holmes (John Adams) in 1776 - Photo by T. Charles Erickson The Guthrie Theater’s summer offering of 1776, just in time for the Fourth of July, suggests a stirring patriotic move, but hold on just a minute. Were our founding forefathers that cantankerous? Lazy? Arrogant? Uncooperative? Egotistical? Well, what do you know? Besides standing up to the world’s s...

Get Ready at Penumbra Theatre on 6/13/07

By: Jon Behm
[Read full review]
   Get Ready cast - Publicity Photo I have never forgiven my parents for not giving birth to me in Detroit in the early '60s so I could have seen the early Motown greats come into their own. While they could have had the foresight to birth me in time to see one of the most influential and revolutionary musical genres in America, I instead grew into maturity during the reign of...

Urinetown the Musical at Heritage Community Theater on 5/13/07

By: Jon Behm
[Read full review]
   Urinetown the Musical - Photo by Jon Behm (click for set) Ever had to take a piss so bad you thought you were going to die? That panicked feeling when you would give nearly anything to be able to release all that pent up pressure? That feeling is the central theme behind the Heritage Community Theater of Maplewood’s most recent production, Urinetown the Musical, which is in its fi...

Autistic License at Illusion Theater on 5/6/07

By: Andrea Myers
[Read full review]
   Autistic License's Mom (Amy McDonald), Dad (Ari Hoptman) and child (Michael Paul Levin) - Publicity Photo I'll be the first to admit that I don't spend a lot of time at the theater. It's not that I don't enjoy seeing plays; it just doesn't occur to me to seek out a play when there are always at least five different local bands playing around town. But since I live in a metropolitan area...

Rat Pack: Live at the Sands at State Theatre on 2/17/07

By: Brenda Bredahl
[Read full review]
One night my friend Tikidame called—she was laid up with a broken foot and cabin fever—to say she had scored comp tickets to The Rat Pack: Live at the Sands at the Historic State Theatre in Minneapolis. The catch was I had to deposit her at the door and park by myself. If that was the price to pay, then I was in. I unloaded Tiki and her crutches on busy Hennepin Avenue, and I secured a spot across the street. Just going to the Historic State is a trip by itself. The stately 1921 in...