We can’t review plays when there are no plays to be reviewed. Therefore, until Gov. Walz decides to “re-open” live theaters, we will, unfortunately, be on hiatus. There is, however, movement in the theater world: the estimable Sarah Rasmussen, artistic…
Author: John Olive
Review | Thunder Knocking On The Door: can theater be more enjoyable?
This terrific show puts me in mind of the Greg Brown lyric: “I get the good blues / When I think about you.” Keb’ Mo’ and Anderson Edwards have the good blues. These two have put together the tastiest, bluesiest…
Review | Interstate: love and music on the open road
Interstate (Mixed Blood Theatre, through March 29) contains a standout performance: Sushma Saha as the young woman chafing in a small (and very conservative) American town, struggling to become Henry, to “man up,” to become who she really is. Saha…
Review | The Ugly One: an actual German comedy
All well and good, the Guthrie’s glitzy production of Guys And Dolls; and it’s good that they’ve scheduled (rescheduled actually) Shakespeare’s masterful history cycle; and it’s wonderful that in Three Little Birds CTC put together a show based on music…
Review | The Bridges Of Madison County: cornfed passion
Fad-lit. In the 90s every woman (and many men) read Robert James Waller‘s novel The Bridges Of Madison County (nowadays the title is 50 Shades Of Gray). The book was hugely popular. And why not? The story, of two late-middle…
Review || Bernarda Alba: percussive intensity
It’s a terrific idea: take the dense, lyrical prose of Federico Garcia Lorca‘s masterful The House Of Bernarda Alba and replace it with dense, semi-dissonant, percussive music (by Michael John LaChiusa). And it works! As long as you don’t expect…
Review | Dog Act: post-apocalyptic rage
Liz Duffy Adams‘s intermittently amusing Dog Act (Fortune’s Fool Theatre performing in The Gremlin) brings to mind the work of a number of super-duper playwrights: Bertolt Brecht (Mother Courage), Samuel Beckett (Waiting For Godot), Caryl Churchill (The Skriker, produced a…
Review | Miss Bennet, Christmas At Pemberley: a delight once again
Oh, the trials and tribulations of the middle child! Less accomplished (theoretically) than the eldest, less adorable than the youngest, her voice is often ignored, if it’s heard at all. But Mary Bennet, the enonymous hero of Miss Bennet, Christmas…
Review | Fast Company: enjoyably confusing
Fast Company (Theater Mu performing at the Guthrie, through Nov 24) wants to be good. All the production elements are in place: a zippy pace, muscular direction (by whip smart Brian Balcom), excellent acting. The play has some tasty design (sets…
Review | The Song Of Summer: a trifle confusing, but great fun
The pre-show publicity for Mixed Blood Theatre‘s production of Lauren Yee‘s clutch-popper The Song Of Summer (running through Nov 24) makes the point explicitly: Lauren Yee = God. Beshowered with grant money, with dozens of productions amounting to a national…