Minneapolis Musical Theatre is offering a fresh take on The Holiday Musical with a lesser-known show called “Striking 12” by Brendan Milburn, Rachel Sheinkin and Valerie Vigoda, a.k.a. the eclectic pop band GooveLily. MMT is known for their “rare musicals…
Ready to get out, be entertained and enjoy theater again? Of course, you are! Minneapolis Musical Theatre is back with its latest choice for a “rare musical,” a niche for which the company is well known. Hands on a Hardbody,…
You don’t need to know the ancient myths of Orpheus and Eurydice, or Hades and Persephone, to appreciate Hadestown’s timeless tale of the woes of love. In fact, it might be better if you didn’t, opening the way to embrace…
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…
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…
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…
Do you feel the need for some silliness? Just letting go and laughing? You’re not alone. Millions of people worldwide have felt the same way—since 1987! Now, that’s what I call a run! The Blue Man Group (“Still Blue, the…
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…
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…
The Band’s Visit, with music and lyrics by David Yazbek and book by Itamar Moses, breaks so many rules for writing musicals—not by being outrageous, but by being not outrageous. It is a musical built on subtleties, just bits and…
