With four theater reviewers, HowWasTheShow.com is covering more theater than ever. We herewith wrap up an excellent year with How Was the Show’s first ever annual favorites list. Some of the plays weren’t even reviewed! But when they were, helpful links…
FUN HOME is fun, tragic, intelligent, witty
A few years ago Lisa Kron wrote the book and lyrics for a musical based on Alison Bechdel’s graphic memoir, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic. With the aid of composer Jeanine Tesori the result was the 2015 Tony Award winning,…
The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time, at the Orpheum
One of the great strengths of Mark Haddon’s novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is that is does not compromise its perspective, detailing the world through the eyes of a young autistic boy and demanding that…
The Lion In Winter at the Guthrie Theatre
When The Lion in Winter begins on the Guthrie‘s McGuire stage (playing through Dec 31), the great red-velvet curtain opens on a timbered, multileveled tower, topped with two tiers of flickering candles. The set, designed by Christopher Ash, deftly invokes the…
Orange at Mixed Blood Theatre
In Aditi Brennan Kapil‘s Orange (Mixed Blood, through Dec 4) Leela (the wonderful Annelyse Ahmad) is having an “adventure.” Her well-meaning albeit scattered and goofily irresponsible cousin (played by the even wonderfuller Lipica Shah) has taken her off into the…
Henry V by Theatre Pro Rata
In telling the story of a young king seeking to assert himself through violent conquest of his rivals and enlisting his country to risk their lives fighting for his cause, Henry VÂ (Theatre Pro Rata, performing at the Crane Theatre, through…
105 Proof, Or, The Killing Of Mack “The Silencer” Klein by Transatlantic Love Affair, performing in the Illusion Theatre
No doubt about it, Transatlantic Love Affair knows how to spin a ripping good yarn. Their newest effort 105 Proof or, The Killing of Mack “the Silencer†Klein is testament to their storytelling skill. Eight barefooted actors with no props…
The Oldest Boy at the Jungle Theater
In Sarah Ruhl‘s The Oldest Boy (at the Jungle, through Dec 18) culture and religion trump (Lord forgive me for using the t-word) the unselfishness, the pure life-focus, the power of parenthood. In the play, two friendly but very serious-minded…
The Good Person Of Setzuan by Frank Theatre, performing in the Rainbow Foods space on Minnehaha Avenue
Another of Frank Theatre‘s brilliant “found spaces”: the back room of the old Rainbow Foods. A gorgeous steel stairway, the “meat cooler,” the “sorting table” (whatever that is), an enormous ventilation pipe, weird platforms, a view out to the store…
The Baker’s Wife by Artistry, performing at the Bloomington Center For The Arts
Steven Schwartz and Joseph Stein’s rarely seen The Baker’s Wife (Artistry, performing at the Bloomington Center For The Arts) is a difficult little musical. A darkly comic comment on the fallibility of human relationships and romantic impulses, it is as unsettling…
Cabaret by Hennepin Theatre Trust, performing at the Orpheum Theatre
They’re all there, the famous and iconic Cabaret songs: “Willkommen,” “Don’t Tell Mama,” the anthemic “Cabaret.” John Kander (still with us) and Fred Ebb (who died in 2004) are/were masters of American musical theater. Kiss Of The Spider Woman, Chicago…
Pericles by Ten Thousand Things Theatre
Shakespeare’s Pericles is an almost perfect play for Ten Thousand Things and their target audience. TTT performs all of its plays free of charge at schools, correctional facilities, women’s shelters and other institutions before coming to Open Book in Minneapolis…