3 Sticks presents Sarah Ruhl's Melancholy Play at Bryant Lake Bowl on 11/9/07

By: Janet Preus
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Melancholy Play publicity photo Directed by Eric Powell Holm Music by Andrew Lynch               The Question: Are we as a culture unable to appreciate what is appealing and satisfying about melancholy? Have we lost the sensuality to be melancholy? We’re angry, bitter, disappointed, depressed, sad – but melan...

Conor McPherson's Shining City at The Jungle Theater on 11/9/07

By: Jon Behm
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Patrick Bailey as Ian and Cheryl Willis as Neasa in The Jungle Theater production of SHINING CITY - Photo by Michal Daniel Conor McPherson’s Shining City can be a difficult play to sit through. The dark tale of Irish loneliness and depression is not something that will leave you feeling like the road is rising to meet you. That being said, it is also a realistically unpolished play,...

David Marshall Grant's Pen at Guthrie Theater on 11/9/07

By: David de Young
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Marc Halsey, Michelle Barber and Phillep Callen in Pen - Photo by Michal Daniel Directed by Rob Melrose Run time is two hours with a 15 minute intermission.   Directed by Rob Melrose, Pen, the most recent play from actor/playwright David Marshall Grant, opened at the Guthrie Theater in the Dowling Studio November 7th. The play originally debuted in 2006 at Playwrights Horizon ...

Sarah Ruhl's The Clean House at Mixed Blood Theatre on 11/9/07

By: Jon Behm
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The Clean House - Publicity photo by Anne Marsden Lisa Rafaela Clair’s Matilde opens up the play by telling a joke to the audience entirely in Portuguese. To the non Portuguese speaking members of the audience (all of us as far as I could tell) the joke was complete gibberish. It was funny to watch though, made so through Clair’s talent for expressing meaning with ...

La Boheme at Southern Theater on 11/3/07

By: Jon Behm
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Jill Sandager & Nathan Brian - photo by Rick Spaulding As I entered the Southern Theater on Saturday night, I couldn’t help but to be reminded of the St. Paul Caves. The theater is small and dark and completely composed of weathered looking stone. It is the perfect backdrop for the theater’s current opera, Puccini’s La Bohème, Theatre Latté Da Production...

The Mail Order Bride by Charles Mee, a nimbus theatre production at Minneapolis Theater Garage on 11/2/07

By: David de Young
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Rose Le Tran as June in nimbus theatre's production of The Mail Order Bride Directed by Josh Cragun Run time 1 hour and 50 minutes with no intermission   Inevitably when writing theater reviews one eventually gets to call a play “a satiric romp.” That phrase is apt in the case of Charles Mee’s The Mail Order Bride, which had its regional premiere at the Minne...

The Rocky Horror Show at Ordway Center for the Performing Arts on 10/12/07

By: Jon Behm
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Photo from www.ordway.org No one ever forgets their virgin viewing of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. The movie experience usually involves a red lipstick “V” painted on your forehead and some sort of humiliating spectacle in front of the crowd. Mine, many years ago, was unusually harrowing for both the audience, and me, but when you have a theater-full of people in drag ...

Global Voices presents: An evening with Ian McKellen in conversation with Joe Dowling at Guthrie Theater on 10/8/07

By: David de Young
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Ian McKellen (right) with Joe Dowling at the Guthrie - Photo by Daniel Schultz As you’ve likely heard, because it’s kind of a big deal, Sir Ian McKellen is at the Guthrie Theater this month as the Royal Shakespeare Company performs Anton Chekov’s The Seagull and Shakespeare’s King Lear in repertory. Both plays are directed by Trevor Nunn.   All Minneapolis performances have sold o...

Dead City, A Red Eye Theater Production at Red Eye Theater on 10/6/07

By: David de Young
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Jon Cole, Miriam Must and Darcey Engen in a publicity photo for Red Eye Theater's production of Dead City Directed by Steve Busa, Red Eye Artistic Director Runtime 1 hour and 50 minutes with no intermission. An email blast from Red Eye Managing Director Miriam Must reassured potential theatergoers they need not have read Ulysses to enjoy the theater’s current production, the Twin Cities premier...

Fashion 47, A Children's Theater Company production at The Children's Theatre Company on 9/28/07

By: Janet Preus
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  Written by Diane Paulus and Randy Weiner Directed by Diane Paulus Choreography by Michael Matthew Ferrell   Pre-teeners, your day has arrived. The Children’s Theatre Company has mounted a production that has your number. “Fashion 47” puts you right in the aisle seats next to the runway, with all the hype and pseudo-glam of a pint-sized “Runway” meets “Ameri...