Leah Nanako Winkler‘s delicious Hot Asian Doctor Husband (Mu Performing Arts, performing at Mixed Blood Theater, through Sept 1) is a prime example of the hoary theatrical truism: when the actors have a good time, so does the audience. And…
Category: Theater
Review | Rent: makes the Orpheum rock
Is this a Tony Award-winning musical or a rock concert? For those lucky enough to catch Rent playing at the Orpheum through August 18th, get ready to cheer, clap, hoot and even moo right along with the show-stopping musical numbers.…
Review | Floyd’s: a play with heart — that will make your stomach rumble
Whatever you do, don’t go to Floyd’s hungry. Set in a greasy spoon truck stop in Pennsylvania, Floyd’s tells the story of the café’s kitchen staff, all formerly incarcerated and desperate for a paycheck (and a second chance). Floyd’s, written…
Review | Cosi Fan Tutte: buffa with a twist
To say Cosi Fan Tutte, one of Mozart’s classic opera buffas, is problematic, is an understatement. The very title, which loosely translates to “women are like that†gives you an idea of the dated and cliché subject matter. Yet, with…
Review | Stinkers: a giddy celebration of familial love
The jewelbox Jungle on a stinky, gruesomely hot summer evening: the gorgeous lobby, perfectly sized with actual comfy furniture; then the beautiful performing space, polished wood and rich lighting, small but substantial, highlighting the always wonderful set design, in this…
Review | To Let Go And Fall: an affecting study of love and aging
Cello music is, it has to be said, mournful, lugubrious and, well, a little creepy. “It’s not gloomy,” asserts the young son in A Little Night Music. “It’s profound.” IOW, ya gotta be in the mood and, luckily, at the…
Review | Dear Evan Hansen: a musical for today
“Dear Evan Hansen†has arrived in Minneapolis and it’s a hot ticket; the Orpheum Theatre was packed for opening night. Winner of multiple 2017 Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Score, the show astonishing technical flash with a moving…
Review | Blood Knot: apartheid redux
What a difference a production can make. I saw Blood Knot by Athol Fugard some time ago at an out of state venue and was not impressed. The play seemed to have little depth past the rather obvious conceit of…
Review | Small Mouth Sounds: meditative comedy
Six characters in search of an authorial presence. Bess Wohl‘s amusing Small Mouth Sounds (at the Jungle, through June 16) suffers from this. The primary problem with the play – essentially a portrait of six people at a wilderness (apparently;…
Review | The Sins Of Sor Juana: a nifty combination of religious and poetic fervor
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz was a gifted poet in Nueva España (as México was called in the olden days). Born a bit too late to be part of the Spanish Golden Age (Lope de Vega, Miguel de Cervantes,…