“I don’t do children’s theater,” director Julie Taymor informed the powers-that-be at the vaunted Disney Corporation “and I don’t do cute.” To their immense credit, they hired her anyway. The inventive Ms. Taymor then proceeded to transform the animated Disney film, with its simple story of a young lion, Simba, coming into his own...
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There’s still time to make a performance of West Side Story brought to the Twin Cities by the Hennepin Theatre Trust – and you should! This recent revival keeps all the grace and beauty of the original Broadway production, adding a little contemporary raunch for enough punch to reach today’s audience. Inspired by...
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The Hennepin Theatre Trust has brought a powerhouse hit in for the holidays with the Tony Award-winning Billy Elliot. Based on the Universal Pictures/Studio Canal film, but reworked for the stage production by bookwriter and lyricist Lee Hall, and with music by Elton John, it’s an especially interesting piece, conceptually, for a Broadway production,...
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In Spring Awakening (Hennepin Theatre Trust performing at the Orpheum, tonight — Nov 7 – only) the musical creators have made a magical discovery: that the flowery 19th century text can be combined with 21st century rock music and the effect isn’t at all anachronistic or jarring. In fact, the two reinforce each other. ...
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Get ready to rock, folks, Broadway is finally sharing its star-building power with music’s bad boys and their millions of fans. The national touring production of Rock of Ages, which opened at the Orpheum in downtown Minneapolis last night, is no Motley Crue concert, but it certainly pays homage to the power of the...
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The Wicked Express has arrived in Minneapolis for a 5 week stay (at the Orpheum, 910 Hennepin Ave., through Sept 19, hennepintheatretrust.org). Still going strong on Broadway (after 7 years), Wicked boasts two U.S. tours, strong runs in London, San Francisco, Osaka and Germany, upcoming productions in Australia and Finland. Plus, naturally, a film. ...
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It’s one of the enduring mysteries of the theater, and it goes back thousands of years, the way masks and puppets can take on such astonishingly lucid life. Every movement, gesture, every tilt of the head is amplified and what we get is bigger, richer, funnier, more alive than could be possible with mere human...
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The Hennepin Theater Trust continues its season of touring productions with the Mel Brooks classic, Young Frankenstein, a musical version of his movie spoof on the monster horror genre. But everybody knows that movie, right? If you do, you won’t be disappointed with the stage version. The schtick, the gags and the characters we’ve...
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Wow,” said my young companion, “she’s amazing,” and it’s true: as Effie White, Moya Angela turns in a knockout performance, one that lifts Dreamgirls (at the Orpheum, 910 Hennepin Ave., through Jan 17, hennepintheatretrust.org) and turns a solid Broadway production into something truly special. This isn’t a cheap show (top tickets fetch $78) but Angela’s...
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Thousands of eager theater fans braved the chill on Tuesday night to catch Minneapolis’s premiere of the Tony Award winning musical, Spring Awakening, at the Orpheum Theatre. The rock musical, which is based on a controversial 1891 play by German playwright Frank Wedekind, has become one of this season’s must see Broadway productions. The...
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