If you are looking for a theatre adventure this summer–or next—you won’t find a better location or value than at Wisconsin’s American Players Theatre. Located in Spring Green just west of Madison, APT has been impressing theatre goers with excellent…
Author: Mari Wittenbreer
Circus 1903: Step right up!
The Ordway, through June 30Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls Circus 1903 is in town. And what a fine circus it is. Couched in the conceit of an old fashioned big top entertainment from the turn of the last century Circus 1903: The Golden…
Rent: a super-appealing show about AIDS, addiction and underemployment. Go!
At the Orpheum, though June 11There’s a love fest happening this week in downtown Minneapolis where the Tony and Pulitzer prize winning musical, Rent, is playing. Most of the people in the Orpheum theatre on opening night knew all the words to the songs, and…
Refugia: Serrand & Co. do gorgeous work
The Moving Company at the Guthrie, through June 17Lately there’s been a multitude of shows in Twin Cities theatres about refugees and immigrants. They’ve run the course from last year’s pandering production of Flower Drum Song at Park Square to the spare but beautiful production of Promise Land…
Red Velvet: rich and passionate
Walking Shadow Theatre, performing at the Southern TheatreIn the first scene of Red Velvet (Walking Shadow Theatre Co., performing at the Southern Theatre, through May 28), actor JuCoby Johnson as Ira Aldridge says there is “Something about velvet – a deep promise of what’s to come, the sweat…
GIRL Shakes Loose: tight show, loose story
Penumbra Theatre, through May 14There are so many things right with the musical GIRL Shakes Loose at Penumbra Theatre. First off the show is nearly flawlessly performed. The depth of talent in our cities never ceases to amaze, as the cast of this show…
Battlefield: A Cycle Of War And Peace
At the Guthrie, through April 23Walk into the McGuire Theatre and all the way to the back wall the stage is nearly bare. There’s a drum, a chair, some bamboo and a few pieces of cloth. An apt introduction to a piece by Peter Brook,…
To Begin With: Full Throttle Bombast
Hennepin Theatre Trust performing in the Wesley ChurchEvery ten years or so someone decides to put some part of the bible on stage. The latest attempt is To Begin With by local playwright Jeffrey Hatcher (Hennepin Theatre Trust, performing in the old Wesley Church). Hatcher has taken…
Grease: slick and entertaining
Chanhassen Dinner Theatre, through October 28The Chanhassen Dinner Theatre‘s production of Grease is a funny, tightly performed show. Set in 1959, (book, music and lyrics by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey) Grease pairs a group of high school girls, more interested in boys and parties…
King Lear: a grandly produced disappointment
At the Guthrie, through April 2Shakespeare’s King Lear is a dense tapestry of a play. Themes of loyalty, insanity, blindness, compassion and even base nature are all explored. Every director must choose what to emphasize and what to allow to pass without development. Guthrie artistic…