Why do some plays falter by being too preachy and earnest while others with similar loads of heartfelt information and a clear agenda take flight? Home Street Home, currently in a short run at in the Guthrie Theatre complex, is…
Elephant & Piggie’s We Are In A Play! at the Children’s Theatre Co.
Elephant & Piggie’s We Are In A Play! (at Childrens Theatre Co., though October 23) is for the youngest children. Keep this is mind when you confront the relentless shallowness, the repetition, the wimpy characterizations, the pointless energy, the predictability,…
The Liar at Park Square Theatre
Productions of classic comedies can many times feel outmoded. Characters have romantic and societal motivations foreign to modern times and, well, people also tend to talk oddly, especially when dialogue is delivered in verse. None of this is overlooked by…
The Children at Pillsbury House Theater
Michael Elaynow’s The Children at Pillsbury House Theatre (through Oct 16), a retelling of Euripides’ Medea, is set in modern times with time travel elements enabling ancient Corinthians and Americans to inhabit the stage together. If you go, be sure to arrive…
The Two Kids That Blow Shit Up by Mu Performing Arts, performing in the Kilburn Arena at Rarig Center
The play has a clever title: The Two Kids That Blow Shit Up (Mu Performing Arts, performing in the Kilburn Arena at Rarig Center, through 9/18). What better response to life in an insane world? Let’s blow some shit up!…
The River by Walking Shadow Theatre Co. performing at Open Eye Theatre
One encounters: poetry in the theater, and poetry of the theater. In Jez Butterworth‘s The River (Walking Shadow Theatre Co., performing at Open Eye Theatre) there is a lot of the former. Pretty writing. Long set speeches. Memories, spun out…
Bars And Measures at the Jungle Theater
In the Jungle Theater‘s Bars and Measures, we are introduced to brothers Eric and Bilal as they bounce jazz notes off one another, establishing an immediate sense of familiarity, as well as joy and energy between these two men. Yet,…
Paint Your Wagon at the Ordway
Hardy HWTSers Janet Preus and John Olive attended the performance last night of the hoary musical (original production was in 1953) Paint Your Wagon, at the Ordway. Paint Your Wagon is a “collaboration” between the Ordway and Seattle’s 5th Avenue…
The Lion King at the Orpheum Theatre
The Lion King is back, and packing ‘em in already for an extended run in Minneapolis. If you’ve never seen it, you should. It may be the most beautiful show visually that you’ll ever experience. Dazzling, lush and fascinating, this…
The Tempest by Shakespeare & Company
There are some fine places to see William Shakespeare’s plays presented outdoors each summer and one of the best is on White Bear Lake’s Century College campus where Shakespeare & Company has been performing for more than 40 summer seasons.…
South Pacific at the Guthrie Theater
First, allow me to express some negativity: why does the Guthrie Theater so often insist on bringing in New Yorkers to play parts that should, by rights, go to equally talented (and often even more gifted) Minnesotans? In the case of…
tot: The Untold Yet Spectacular Story Of A Filipino Hulk Hogan by Mu Performing Arts performing at Park Square Theatre
Despite its extravagant titling, tot: The Untold, Yet Spectacular Story of (A Filipino) Hulk Hogan, a Mu Performing Arts world premiere running at Park Square through June 26, is a humble tale. Telling the story of a wrestling-obsessed young boy…