We see it when we walk into the McGuire: the Lorraine Motel sign, visible through the window of Room 306, stark against the black Memphis sky, crashes of lightning bringing it into high relief. The Lorraine. Where Martin Luther King…
Month: March 2014
Porgy and Bess at the Ordway
Soaring melodies! Big orchestrations and choruses of voices big enough to take it on! Diva voices larger than life! Oh, this is gorgeous! Thank you, Ordway, for bringing us our beloved “Porgy and Bess†in a form that befits this…
Cyrano at Park Square Theatre
Park Square Theatre is now presenting the regional premiere of Cyrano, the Michael Hollinger translation of Edmond Rostand’s classic play. Hollinger also adapted with Aaron Posner, who directed its first production. I’ll talk about the adaptation, but first, this production:…
The Odyssey by Walking Shadow Theatre Company, performing at Open Eye Figure Theatre
The rosy red fingers of dawn steal over the wine dark Aegean Sea. The rising (and eternal) Grecian sun shines down on wandering Odysseus, as he leads his battered fleet home from Troy. Odysseus! He of the unflagging spirit, unending…
The Scarecrow And His Servant at Children’s Theatre Company
“Bigger!” the wonderful Doc Whiting used to shout at us in the olden days. “Make it bigger!” One step backward wasn’t enough; Doc wanted two step reactions. Leaps of wild horror. Pop-eyed grimaces. Takes to the audience. Always run. Most…
Othello at the Guthrie Theater
In the dark and affecting Othello (at the Guthrie, through April 20) director Marion McClinton and costumer Esosa dress the Moor (played thrillingly by Peter Macon) in thick leather and stiff boots. This imparts to him a lumbering, dominating authority. …
Peter and the Starcatcher at the Orpheum Theatre
Throw out your idea of what a Broadway show is supposed to be. Peter and the Starcatcher, now playing at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis, has a new take: silly (but it’s clever-silly) goofy fun, fun, fun. If you like…
Freud’s Last Session produced by the Guthrie Theater at the Dowling Studio
The Guthrie has borrowed from the current Off-Broadway theater for its new play, Freud’s Last Session by Mark St. Germain. It’s cropping up from one coast to the other. Apparently there’s a hunger for a straightforward, intellectual, “talky†play –…