by MICHAEL J. OPPERMAN The two productions that constituted “Puppet Weekend” with my toddler daughter were startlingly different approaches to celebrating the natural world. In attempting to figure how to write about the performances, I thought about Kid Enkidu’s inclusion of a bit of Walt Whitman’s poetry and the contrast between his writing and Emily…
The Minnesota Opera is inviting readers to purchase $20 tickets to Doubt for tonight, Jan 26, or Tuesday, Jan 29! Here is a link to our review, and check out the offer details below. You can also see preview videos on the MN Opera’s YouTube channel! $20 tickets* to Doubt Saturday, January 26 or Tuesday, January 29 Use…
by SOPHIE KERMAN The Minnesota Opera has done a brave thing by commissioning John Patrick Shanley and Douglas J. Cuomo to write an opera based on Shanley’s Pulitzer- & Tony-winning play (and Oscar-nominated movie) Doubt. With the amount of acclaim the play and the movie have gotten over the years, a third adaptation could be seen as either redundant or…
by CHRISTINE SARKES SASSEVILLE The Guthrie Theater and The Acting Company’s staging and interpretation of William Shakespeare’s whimsical romantic comedy, As You Like It, is wonderfully inventive, superbly acted and suprisingly accessible to modern audiences. Everything from the mystical set design, roaring twenties costume vibe, musical interludes and the modern cadence of the monologues cleverly evokes Shakespeare’s motifs…
by SOPHIE KERMAN Though widely acclaimed as an American masterpiece and one of Eugene O’Neill‘s greatest plays, Long Day’s Journey Into Night is not a play that anyone particularly enjoys watching. The story of the Tyrone family’s struggles with addiction, money, and illness, Long Day’s Journey begins on a note of underlying anxiety and ends with the dissolution of trust,…
by LIZ PANTING, guest reviewer The Ultimate Pajama Party is advertised as “the ultimate girls-night-out show”. Going in, I admit to feelings of skepticism; pajamas, pink feather boas, and cabana boys are not my style. And how can a girls’ night out be had at a play? Well, it isn’t a play, really. What producers…
by SOPHIE KERMAN You know that quirky teacher you had in high school or college, the one whose tangents were always more interesting than whatever the lecture was supposed to be about? The teacher whose class you secretly loved going to, just to hear them ramble about their preoccupations of the day? Thom Pain (Based on…
by SOPHIE KERMAN Priscilla, Queen of the Desert the Musical is the reason why musicals were born. Adapted by Stephan Elliott and Allan Scott from the 1994 movie starring Guy Pearce and Hugo Weaving, Priscilla the Musical takes the film’s original heart and love of glamour, and cranks up the volume, the budget, and exuberance to create a spectacle that takes you…
by SOPHIE KERMAN In the new production of Elton John and Tim Rice’s Aida, the Hennepin Theatre Trust and Theater Latté Da present us with an excellent performance of a deeply problematic musical. The show opens a new collaborative series between the HTT and Latté Da called Broadway Re-Imagined, which casts local Minnesota talent in high-profile Broadway shows under…
Aisle Say - Twin Cities 