Janet Preus, interviewer You may be more likely to know John Olive primarily as a playwright or as a reviewer for www.howwastheshow.com, but he’s also written a book about storytelling. “Tell Me a Story in the Dark: A Guide to…
Author: Janet Preus
The Music Man at the Guthrie Theater
The Guthrie Theater has picked what may be the world’s most perfectly constructed musical for its summer audiences. Meredith Willson’s “The Music Man†is just brilliant writing, and that’s all there is to it—a musical comedy lovers’ musical, and a…
“Dido and Aeneas†and “Orpheus and Eurydice†by Garden of Song Opera at the Como Lakeside Pavilion
I was in Nashville recently and found myself bragging to musicians there about all the great legit singers, particularly women, in the Twin Cities. A new opera company, I learned last night, is out to give them more performance opportunities.…
Plotholes: A Fool’s Foibles Produced by Interact Theater at Interact Center for Visual and Performing Arts
A cardboard box on the edge of the stage shakes. A black-costumed “imp†emerges, and then several more imps appear, each with its own disfigurement. Farting. With this appropriate irreverence, Interact Theater celebrates the move to its new home with…
Hapgood, produced by Six Elements Theatre at Nimbus Theater
A man faces the audience, standing at a sink downstage center. He unhurriedly applies shaving cream, shaves, and ignores a considerable amount of coming and going behind him in this public swimming pool locker room. (It is CIA agent Ben…
COLLIDE Theatrical Dance Company presents Zoot Suit Riots at the Lab Theater
COLLIDE Theatrical Dance Company has leaped into spring with an original dance musical, landing it with a new verve and finesse that’s topped this unique company’s previous shows – and that’s saying something. What a great night out at the theater!…
The Most Dangerous Game at Bedlam Theater
The holidays are over, the weather has turned friendlier and you’ve got a little cabin fever, right? I know just the cure. Get in the car (or grab the light rail, which stops right across the street) and head to…
A Christmas Story the Musical at the Ordway
The Ordway is doing it up big this holiday season. “A Christmas Story the Musical†is a big show: big cast; big sets gliding on and off, and big production numbers that wow with a wink, as if to say, “We…
Loves Labours Lost by The Moving Company at the Lab Theater
The Moving Company’s reimagined “Love’s Labours Lost†is not your usual Shakespeare play, but this company “reimagines†theater the way the rest of us order lunch. This show is clever, beautiful and downright funny. Steven Epp’s and Nathan Keepers’ performances, co-imagined and…
On Golden Pond at the Jungle Theater
The Jungle Theater closes its season with the familiar and lovely “On Golden Pond†by Ernest Thompson, starring a “golden†duo, Bain Boehlke and Wendy Lehr. I don’t know how many shows Boehlke and Lehr have done together, or “how…