Category: Reviews

Review | The Tempest: spare and wondrous

By Theatre Coup d’Etat at Springhill Ministry through November 17

Theatre Coup d’Etat heads into Halloween with spirits and spells in an absorbing and taut production of Shakespeare’s The Tempest. We sit in a square, empty room. Chairs in a circle – one row only. A few dramatic lights. Sound…

Review | I Come From Arizona: beautifully bilingual

Childrens Theatre Company, through November 25

What does “Global Perspectives” mean, anyway? Carlos Murillo’s I Come from Arizona (CTC) offers a few suggestions. In this bilingual play, 14-year old Mexican-American Gabi Castillo (Ayssette Muñoz), who, living on the South Side of Chicago, moves to the elite…

Review | Mary Poppins: timeless appeal

Artistry Theatre, though Nov 4

Mary Poppins may be returning to the silver screen with a new Disney film Mary Poppins Returns but the original movie starring Julie Andrews exudes a timeless essence that continues to enchant audiences today. You can relive the magic of Mary…

Two Degrees: timely and well-played

The Guthrie’s Dowling Theatre, through Oct 21

Watching Prime Productions’ staging of Two Degrees (the Guthrie‘s Dowling Stage) about a woman scientist asked to testify before a senate select committee on the effects of climate change, one might think that this play was birthed over the past weekend…

The Great Society: a fascinating look at LBJ

History Theatre, through Oct 28

Pearce Bunting plays Lyndon Baines Johnson in Robert Schenkkan‘s theatrical (and loud) The Great Society (History Theatre) with none of the crude charm, the country-boy excess, the rude physical bullying that I’ve come to associate with our former president. Bunting’s LBJ…

Minnesota Theater Awards launches

New program celebrates area theater practioners

The Twin Cities theater community gathered last night to celebrate the year’s accomplishments and recognize its finest work. The Minnesota Theater Awards has sprung up in the vacuum left when the Ivey Awards folded earlier this year. According to Brant…

Is God Is: gorgeously nasty

Mixed Blood Theatre, through Oct 14

“The fire keeps tryna come out.” Mixed Blood‘s wonderfully repellent and highly original Is God Is, written by Aleshea Harris, is a clutch-popper. Credit – definitely the right word, because this play zips along like a house afire and is…