I have been hoping to see Metamorphoses by playwright/director Mary Zimmerman for a long time. More than twenty years ago it made a big splash when first produced in Chicago. Metamorphoses has garnered praise and awards ever since and is…
Review | Hedwig And The Angry Inch: this one will rock you right to the end
Theater Latté Da, through May 5Hedwig and the Angry Inch is not an easy show to pull off. But when it’s done right, it pulls you in, sinking its Aqua Net misted hooks into you and will stay with you long after the final curtain.…
Review | Cyrano de Bergerac: swashbuckling romance
The Guthrie Theater, through May 5The Guthrie‘s program for Edmond Rostand‘s ageless Cyrano de Bergerac lists, in a first for this reviewer, a credit for “Intimacy Consultant” (Lauren Keating). Oh boy, says I to myself. Intimacy. Tantalizing, erotic, pervading the play. Giving the play a…
Review | Roe: wows in all the right ways
Mixed Blood Theater, through March 31Mixed Blood Theatre‘s production of Roe could not come at a timelier moment in our country’s history as the landmark Supreme Court ruling continues to face fierce opposition today. However, Roe, written by Lisa Loomer, doesn’t spend too much…
Review | The Hobbit: more action than inspiration
Childrens Theatre Co., through April 14In The Children’s Theatre Company‘s world premiere production of J.R.R Tolkien‘s famous The Hobbit has many things going for it. Adapted for stage and directed by Greg Banks, with music by Thomas Johnson, the show has an inexhaustible cast of only…
Review | She Persists: challenging
Pillsbury House Theatre, though March 24She Persists (at Pillsbury House Theatre, through March 24) is a collection of 5 very short playlets which posits an America rent by a “great divide” – political, cultural, religious, racial. And maybe it is. Maybe those of us who…
Review | Into The Woods: ethereal and powerful
Ten Thousand Things, through March 24You might could call Stephen Sondheim‘s exquisite and delicate Into The Woods a “problem play.” Like Shakespeare’s problem plays (one thinks of A Winter’s Tale) to call Into The Woods problematic is in no way to criticize. Rather, it’s to…
Review | As You Like It: true love in exile
Guthrie Theater, through March 17In the Twin Cites we take good theatre almost for granted. Even so, this has been an exceptionally fine winter season. From provocative new plays like The Children and The Father at the Jungle and Gremlin Theatres to A Little…
Review | benevolence: scary-powerful
Penumbra Theatre, through March 10Difficult. Difficult, and presented with unrelieved intensity. This is an apt description of benevolence (playing at Penumbra Theatre Company through March 10). If you’re looking for feel-good entertainment, a sweet and undemanding play to watch while you digest a rich…