Like the recent The Music Man, Follies (Artistry Theater, through May 6) exudes sturdy but rough-around-the edges sweetness and charm. Director Benjamin McGovern has done a crackerjack job casting Follies, (music and lyrics by the great Stephen Sondheim, book by…
Category: Reviews
Review | Five Points: the production thrills, but the play needs work
Theater Latté Da, though May 6In the mid-nineteenth century, the now nonexistent Five Points in New York City was one of the nation’s most diverse neighborhoods, though it was far from a melting pot. As oppressed people groups found themselves relegated to its squalid accommodations,…
Review | The Mermaid Hour Remixed : an appealing premise
April 6-29 at Mixed Blood TheatreMixed Blood Theatre has just opened Mermaid Hour: Remixed by David Valdes Greenwood with music by Eric Mayson, as part of the National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere. The non-musical version is playing at other theaters around the country,…
Review | Something Rotten!: Yes, it’s that funny!
Orpheum Theatre through April 8What if two brothers got together and decided to write a musical about two brothers writing a musical? (A few adult beverages, perhaps, and …) The brothers come up with a wacky idea about how musicals were born in Shakespeare’s…
Review | The Wolves: breezy charm
Jungle Theater, through April 29The Wolves (Jungle Theater, through Apr 29) concerns a group of young women, 9 by my count, prepping for a series of soccer games. Soccer-haters (a category that includes myself) take note: you don’t have to watch these women play.…
Review | Measure For Measure: theater underdone
Theatre Unbound, through April 8It isn’t surprising that Theatre Unbound, a company formed by women for the advancement of women theatre artists, was drawn to mount a production of Shakespeare’s Measure For Measure (playing through April 8, in the lovely Gremlin Theatre). In their…
Review | Familiar: timely, thoughtful, and uproariously funny
The Guthrie, through April 14Cultural identity is rarely simple for immigrant populations. In leaving home for new frontiers, immigrants are daily tasked with balancing the dual ideals of assimilation and heritage. To nurture both is a lofty undertaking that demands determined effort and can…
Review | The Great Divide II: wonderfully uneven
Pillsbury House Theatre, through March 25The Great Divide II is a collection of 5 short one acts presented without intermission by Pillsbury House Theatre (through March 25), a follow-up to last season’s successful The Great Divide. The plays – by Andrew Rosendorf, Christina M. Ham,…
Review | Newsies: First act: terrific. Second act: not so much
Chanhassen Dinner Theatre, through Sept 29I must admit I had low expectations when I arrived for opening night of Newsies, the Broadway Musical at the Chanhassen Dinner Theatre. When our waiter took our orders and told us that in the seven years he’s been at…
Review | Indecent: beautifully dilapidated
The Guthrie, through March 24Your two agèd (make that astute and intelligent) www.HowWasTheShow.com reviewers, John Olive and Janet Preus, recently attended a performance at the G of Paula Vogel‘s Indecent. They then repaired to the bar downstairs and prepared the following review: John Olive:…