HowWasTheShow.com

Atmosphere & The Flaming Lips at Pitka Kuuma Kesa, Helsinki, Finland

2009-06-28T00:00:00-04:00

Atmosphere and the Flaming Lips performed at the Pitka Kuuma Kesa Festival in Helsinki, Finland on Sunday night, and I was there. Read the blog reports of how I ended up in an abandoned natural gas refinery in Finland. On the guest list, no less.

Meeting Wayne Coyne in Helsinki.

Review of the Atmosphere, Flaming Lips show.

Atmosphere & The Flaming Lips at Pitka Kuuma Kesa, Helsinki, Finland

2009-06-28T00:00:00-04:00

FLower Drum Song, A Theater Mu production

2009-06-27T00:00:00-04:00

Theatre Mu – which under the steady artistic direction of Rick Shiomi has become a national treasure – has tackled a toughie: Flower Drum Song (at the McKnight Theatre at the Ordway, Th-Sun, through July 12). With songs by the grandmasters of American music theatre, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, Flower Drum Song made a splash when it premiered fifty years ago. The first major show about Asian-Americans, with a (mostly) Asian cast. But the Civil Rights Movement was flowering and Flower Drum Song, with its rather stereotyped characters (in the original the lead, Wu Mei-Li, is a mail order bride) fell out of favor.

But those songs! "A Hundred Million Miracles." The famous "I Enjoy Being A Girl." "Don't Marry Me." All jewels. This show can't be allowed to fade away.

Enter dramatist David Henry Hwang (a national treasure in his own right). Hwang reworked the material, made Mei-Li (Sara Ochs) a refugee from communist China, living on the memory of her sainted father. Hwang sends her to a dying opera troupe in San Francisco's Chinatown. Mei-Li retains the ability portray the demure yet stylized women of Chinese opera. This is contrasted by the brassy Linda (the wonderful Laurine Price) belting out "I Enjoy Being A Girl." Thus we get two versions of womanhood: the ancient Chinese versus the blowzy 1950s California glamour girl, both mannered and attenuated. Rich stuff.

Hwang brilliantly portrays the transformation of the traditional Chinese opera into the "Club Chop Suey", an Apollo Theatre-like send-up of Chinese stereotypes. The "fresh off the boat dancers" zestfully rip into their musical numbers ("Chop Suey", with the oversized chopsticks and the dancing girls wearing white to-go boxes, is unforgettable). Audiences (those "white demons") crowd in and everyone makes good money. But are they creating, as Ta (Sherwin Resurreccion) frets, an "Oriental minstrel show?" This is Hwang's achievement: he makes the Club fun and scary at the same time.

Not everything in this show works. After her beautiful entrance, Mei-Li becomes something of a cipher. She abruptly leaves the Club and connects with fellow refugee Chao (Kurt Kwan, in a lovely turn) who works at a fortune cookie factory. Just as abruptly, she leaves Chao and returns to Ta. These transformations don't fully land but even so Hwang treats his characters with affection and writes with admirable dexterity.

The cast brings a variety of skills and experience levels, but Shiomi directs with a sure hand and everyone charms. As Mei-Li, Sara Ochs is a marvel. Her restrained and fragile performance (not to mention her physical beauty) makes her the quiet center of every scene she's in. Resurreccion imbues Ta – and the whole show – with intelligence and emotional resonance. Randy Reyes's Wang (later, as he warms to his new role as Club Chop Suey impresario, Uncle Sammy Fong) is brash and vivid. Also excellent are Melissa Bechthold as Madame Liang and Brian McCormick as Harvard. As the elder Chin, Arnold R. Felizardo is a lovely presence. The ensemble is solid. These folks are having a grand time, and it shows.

The gorgeous ending has to be mentioned: the characters, all wearing traditional Chinese wedding clothes, slowly come out, bowing, smiling. Finally, the newlyweds, Mei-Li (wearing a veil) and Ta enter. Applause, as everyone comes downstage. Then, suddenly, proudly and loudly, each actor tells us where she was born: China, California, Laos, Japan, the Philippines, Minnesota, Florida, etc, the rich panoply of Asian life in 21st century America. This is Theatre Mu.

My Father's Bookshelf

2009-06-19T00:00:00-04:00

Pictured: Bob Rosen (Photo by Mike Neuharth)

By some estimates 5 million Americans are now living with Alzheimers, a degenerative and ultimately terminal disease that causes irreversible destruction of memory and reasoning ability. Sadly, the disease is becoming so familiar, one in seven Americans is now closely related to someone with the disease. My Father’s Bookshelf, a new production from Live Action Set tackles the subject of Alzheimers head on with sensitivity and humor in a way that will hit home for many theater-goers.

Billed as a “tragicomic exploration of Alzheimer’s Disease,” My Father’s Bookshelf takes an approach that permits us to laugh along as the central figure of the cast, Bob (played by Theatre de la Jeune Lune co-founder Robert Rosen), faces the disease. Though the production is frequently humorous, you also share the frustration and eventual despair of Bob’s family and a rapid and steady decline in his mental abilities. Particularly hard hit, as you would expect, is his wife Carmella (Barbara Berlovitz, also a Theatre de la Jeune Lune alum). One analogy the play employs is that consciousness is like an orchestra playing. With Alzheimers it's as if musicians as well as parts of the score are being lost.

Developed in collaboration with several groups specializing in care and treatment for Alzheimers patients, the script has been caressed and shaped by co-directors Noah Bremer and Galen Treuer. The action of the play takes place mostly in a kitchen filled with refrigerators, a kitchen table and chairs, symbols of the center of the home. The play is framed by a lecture from a neuroscientist, Dr. Henderson (played by Megan Odell) who is searching for a cure. (Odell also plays Bob’s daughter Shannon.) The cast is rounded out by Jason Ballweber as David and Dario Tangelson as Hunter, Bob’s two sons. (Tangleson has another great role as a scientist.) The set by Paul Whitaker is creative and versatile, the refrigerators and tables and chairs doubling as closets, cars and even a rocket ship. Costumes are by Anna Lee of Voltage Fashion Amplified.

What plot there is follows Bob’s decline and how he and his family attempt to cope with it. A metaphor of electrical connections ties much of it together, and we are led to believe Bob was some sort of electrical engineer while we was still able to work. The play takes on a heavier tone following the intermission, and eventually Bob is institutionalized. The ultimate sadness comes when Bob forgets even his own wife.

“Reality is in the eye of the beholder,” Mark Twain is rumored to have said. And perhaps different theater-goers will have different impressions of whether this play ends on an optimistic note – there’s some question as Bob slides further and further out of touch with our “reality” if the reality he’s heading for is a better place or not.

My Father’s Bookshelf has duel goals of both raising awareness and standing on its own as a work of art, and on both counts it succeeds. I recommend particularly this play to those who have family or friends coping with Alzheimers interested in seeing a relevant, contemporary, sensitive treatment of the subject.

My Father’s Bookshelf runs through June 28.

A Chorus Line

2009-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

Instant classic.

That's what happened back in 1975 when Michael Bennett, director/choreographer talent extraordinaire, transferred A Chorus Line from the small off-Broadway Public Theatre to a Broadway venue. The show ran for an astounding 6,137 performances – 15 years. A revival in 2006 ran for nearly 2 years. Innumerable touring productions crisscross the country. Tony Awards, the Pulitzer – A Chorus Line has become a permanent high spot in American Theatre.

Everything gels in this story of 17 "gypsy dancers" (as they are called in the harshly competitive New York theater world). The music (Marvin Hamlisch – this American treasure gives us what may be his best work), the lyrics (Edward Kleban), the book (James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante), the fabulous and famous choreography (Bennett, along with Bob Avian), the design, everything. They serve us up a deceptively simple, intermissionless, and near-perfect two hour theatrical rondo.

We start with "One", a difficult song-and-dance number which takes shape under the tense supervision of Zach (Kevin Neil McCready), the director/decision-maker. He lets 8 of the dancers go. The remaining 17 line up. For the next hour and a half we're treated to some truly marvelous, classic music theatre songs. Standouts include "I Can Do That" (Clyde Alves), in which Mike describes sneaking into his sister's dance class. In "Dance, Ten; Looks, Three" Val (Mindy Dougherty) gives us a hilarious description of how (and why) she acquired her surgically augmented chest. Diana Morales (Rebecca Riker)'s "Nothing", her riff on the High School of Performing Art's improv class is funny, and then suddenly very moving. At the end, "What I Did For Love" (Riker again, with the company) is stunning.

Dancing, as might be imagined, is rich and complex. The ensemble pieces work like a dream; ditto the solos. Cassie (Robyn Hurder)'s dance has become a famous show-stopper, a shattering portrait of an artist a heartbeat away from obscurity, desperate to keep working. Paul (Bryan Knowlton)'s achingly beautiful monologue about his early days as a dancer and his parents acceptance of his homosexuality is thrilling.

At the end we're treated to a reprise of "One", this time in full costume, beautifully rehearsed, the dancer/singers in top form. Wow.

One of the touring productions of A Chorus Line – a very good one – has been brought into town by the Hennepin Theatre Trust. The cast, to a person, is a standout. Bob Avian directs with a sharp ear for the characters and their stories. The show plays at the Orpheum Theatre until June 21. Top ticket price is $76 – high, but not at all bad by Broadway standards. So snap these tickets up, folks, they are going to go fast.

"The best musical. Ever." This is how the Hennepin Theatre Trust describes the show. Hyperbolic to be sure, but not far off the mark.

Slideshow: Mark Mallman tour kickoff show

2009-06-13T00:00:00-04:00

HowWasTheShow is proud to present Jenn Barnett's photo slide show from Mark Mallman's sold out show Saturday at the Bryant Lake Bowl. Music is You're Never Alone In New York from Mark's upcoming album Invincible Criminal

My review of the show (with additional photos) is posted at the City Pages blog, Gimme Noise. Read it here.

An Interview with Eric Lovold of the Alarmists

2009-06-09T00:00:00-04:00

In the week leading up to their CD release for their new album The Overhead Left, Eric Lovold of The Alarmists took time out to answer a few questions from HowWasTheShow's David Rachac.

How Was The Show: When did you get started playing music? Did you take organized lessons or are you mostly self-taught?

Eric Lovold: My parents gave me my first guitar when I was 13. It was a Fender Mexican Stratocaster. I still have it, customized with a bunch of humbuckers now. It's pretty much the heaviest sounding guitar ever now! I took some lessons in guitar and piano, but became frustrated with it. I really got into playing guitar in college. I learned how to play A.M. by Wilco and after that I wanted to play all the time.

HWTS: Who were the bands that influenced you the most when you were first starting out?

EL: Smashing Pumpkins was the band that made me want to play music. I grew up listening to 60s and 70s rock, so The Beatles and Pink Floyd were huge influences. I've always really loved the middle Floyd albums: Wish You Were Here, Animals, The Wall. Radiohead and Spoon are probably my favorite bands making new albums now. Wilco is one of my all time favorites.

HWTS: How did the original members of The Alarmists first get together?

EL: Joe and Ryan and I went to high school together. Joe and I shared a love of pretty much all the same bands. We were listening to all these bands like Placebo and Kent in high school, Sparklehorse and Radiohead and My Bloody Valentine. We felt like we could take a shot at music. For a couple of years, the three of us just sat in my parents’ basement and worked on songs. It was just what we did for fun. Then we made the Detail E.P. in our rehearsal space, and since then we've been doing music almost non-stop.

HWTS: Many reviews of The Alarmists’ music exclusively mention “Brit-pop” and bands associated with that sound – is it a fair comparison to make?

EL: We never set out to be a 'Brit rock' band. I guess when you consider the bands that we really like, it makes sense, but I remember being a bit taken back by that association at first. We love a lot of American bands and we are American -- so doesn't that mean we're American rock? It's a good label, regardless. I think it helps people categorize and gives them a basis for comparison.

HWTS: The Alarmists had an amazing amount of initial success – recognition from the Star Tribune for one of the top records in the Twin Cities Critics Tally in 2006 & 2007, winning City Pages “Picked To Click” in 2006, and many high-profile shows. What was it like to receive so much attention in a relatively short amount of time?

EL: We weren't really expecting much with the first E.P., so it was definitely something that caught us off guard. I'm glad that we spent a lot of time preparing in the rehearsal space before we released that CD. We were ready to play live and were comfortable together. I remember being completely terrified the first time people actually showed up to see us. We were playing the Kitty Cat Klub and I came up from the basement and there were over 100 people there. And I was thinking, "Shit! WE have to play??" But after that it was just one show after another, and we got comfortable and just had a blast.

HWTS: And now you have a new CD called The Overhead Left – what are the biggest differences between your previous works and this CD?

EL: I think that this album is kind of like the third part of a trilogy. We've had a different lineup on each album, and each album has been pretty different. This is the album that I'm most happy with. I think it's a nice balance between what we went for on each of the previous albums.

HWTS: I noticed there were large-scale changes to the band lineup again.

EL: Yeah, we had some members leave during the recording, and that gave us the opportunity to ask Joe to come back. Each album we've done has had a different cast of players, though Ryan and I have been on all of them. Our new live lineup is Joe and Ryan and I, and Mark Schwandt on drums, Brian Gruidl on bass, and Randy Tomes on keys. This lineup expands us to a six-piece. It's been pretty interesting working on new live arrangements.

HWTS: Your CD release party for The Overhead Left will be Friday, June 12th at the Varsity Theater. What are we going to see there?

EL: This is the first time we've played in six months in town, so we're pretty fired up. It is also the first time the new lineup will hit the stage together. The supporting bands for this show are amazing. We're really excited to play with all of them. Our friends The Championship from Milwaukee are really a great band, so we're excited that they are returning to Minneapolis. And we've never had a chance to play with Coach Said Not To or The 757s, so that's pretty great also!

HWTS: What are your plans for playing out this summer?

EL: We have a couple of local shows planned. Highland Beer Dabbler is on July 18th. Outdoor, beer, live music -- that's my favorite kind of afternoon.

HWTS: Thanks for taking the time to answer all these questions. Any final comments?

EL: If you come to the CD Release on Friday, you will get access to a webpage where you can download our album for free. We will have CDs available for purchase, for people who like having art, but we want everyone who comes out to support us to have the album.

The Alarmists CD release show will take place at the Varsity Theater on Friday, June 12th, with special guests The 757s, The Championship and Coach Said Not To. $10

Slideshow: Idle Hands CD Release w/ First Communion Afterparty

2009-06-06T00:00:00-04:00

HowWasTheShow is proud to present Jenn Barnett's photo slide show from The Idle Hands CD Release at the Kitty Cat Klub. Music is "Sunshine on the Tenements" by the Idle Hand from their new album The Hearts We Broke on the Way to the Show. Slideshow also features photos of First Communion Afterparty.

Review to follow.

Slideshow and short review: Two Harbors CD Release Show

2009-06-05T00:00:00-04:00

HowWasTheShow is proud to present Jenn Barnett's photo slide show from Two Harbors CD Release show at the Uptown Bar. Music is "You Pulled The Rug Out" from All The Places We Would Rather Be.

Two Harbors celebrated the release of their first CD on the Susstones label Friday night to an enthusiastic crowd of supportive local music fans at the Uptown Bar in Minneapolis. The band, formerly known as Colonial Vipers Attack, took the stage just before 11:30 and wowed the crowd with their soaring Brit pop ballads and nothing short of world-class presentation. This is a band that is ready for the limelight, and once the Uptown Bar crew had adjusted the lights so we could actually see them, one could see why.

Lead vocalist Chris Pavlich's voice soars, and he is remarkably relaxed onstage giving the music an epic and unquestionably confident weight. Two Harbors new album All The Places We Would Rather Be is one for long drives on sunny afternoons (or overcast ones, for that matter.) It's centerpiece, opening track "You Pulled The Rug Out" would be at home on any radio station in the world, and it's no surprise it's getting heavy airplay on 89.3 The Current here at home. Just as strong is the album's second track, "What I Keep Inside," a song that would surely have hands in the air at many a British rock festival if this band were to be slipped onto a bill at say Glastonbury or Reading this year. Oasis and Ian Brown often come to mind when Two Harbors are at their best, and this song brings together the best of what you might expect from both those sources and more.

After a few spins, you realize this 11-song album is a stronger offering than many nationally-signed acts have turned in lately. Forget what you knew about Colonial Vipers Attack. The same four musicians who made up that band, Pavlich and Kris Johnson (lead guitars), Jeremy Bergo (bass) and Shawn Grider (drums) have thrown out anything that wasn't working before and fine tuned the rest leaving them one of the better bands playing Minnesota stages right now. One reason why is where any collection of musicians can call themselves a band, the lineup of Two Harbors is truly one that is greater than the sum of its parts. Easy to root for, a sinch to enjoy, settle in to your corner of the club next time you see them listed on a bill and sit back and soak in the music.

Set list:

Service Secret
Drowning
Landslide
Right Now
Miles Away
Only Chance
Silent Treatment
What I Keep Inside
Went So Far
You Pulled the Rug Out

Zanna, Don't, a Minneapolis Musical Theatre production

2009-06-05T00:00:00-04:00

You know you're in the land of exuberant camp and out-there theatricality when the main character, Zanna (Bart Ruf) starts the show wearing a pink 1980s shag wig and kiss-kiss PJs, waving a magic love-wand, and singing a song called "Who's Got Extra Love?"

What churl wouldn't like a whiz-bang concoction like Zanna, Don't! (Minneapolis Musical Theatre, performing at the Illusion space in the Hennepin Center for the Arts, through June 21)? It's tuneful, campy, wildly energetic, relentlessly happy. The characters all but turn somersaults to make you like them. The show creates a mixed-up, topsy-turvy world in which boys fall in love with boys, and girls with girls. Everyone is happy in their homosexuality – until a boy and a girl kiss (in a play-within-the-show exposé about heterosexuality in the military) and then – Gasp! – fall in love.

Certainly there are things to complain about: the play wants to be taken seriously as an indictment of how our society mistreats gays and it falls flat. The boy-girl outlaws are fitfully and confusingly developed. They disappear before the story is over. Does the couple run off? Do they call their heterosexuality an unfortunate phase and put it behind them? We never find out. If coherence and thematic depth are what you're looking for, look elsewhere.

But, really, who cares? The thin plot is nothing more than a structure on which Zanna, Don't!'s auteur, Tim Acito – he does it all, book, lyrics and music – hangs a series of boffo musical numbers, 18 in all. There's the raunchy R&B of "I Ain't Got Time", the doh-si-doh exuberance of "Ride 'Em", the Village People high spirits of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (in which the singer, Ruf again, whips off his long black military leather coat to reveal a merry widow and fish-net stockings). Acito does lyrical intensity as well, as in the affecting "Do You Know What It's Like?" and the sweet "I Could Write Books". Based on the opening night crowd's cheering reaction, these songs went over extremely well.

The young MMT cast (in addition to Ruf: Andrea Alioto, Joseph Bombard, Anna Carol, Emily Brooke Hanson, Andrew Newman, C. Ryan Shipley and Alan Wales) tears into this material with never-let-go gusto. Their acting (aided by the smart direction/choreography of Steven Meerdink) is broad, buoyant, hyper-energized, but never self-conscious. Their singing is truly terrific, precise and on-target. There isn't a bland voice or a poorly staged musical number all evening. These performers are the real reason to see this show.

So eat a good dinner, then head up to the Illusion space for this potpourri. And leave your thinking cap in the car. You won't need it.

Tickets and more information available from http://www.aboutmmt.org/

A Bronx Tale

2009-06-02T00:00:00-04:00

Chazz Palminteri in "A Bronx Tale." Publicity photo by Joan Marcus, photographer

I was so ready for a meaty story performed by a real heavyweight, the kind of show that sets the standard for every other writer, actor and director. Chazz Palminteri’s autobiographical play A Bronx Tale is, simply, how it’s done: start with a great story and get out of the way. We don’t need dancing and singing or sets flying in and out. We need great acting, and directing that prefers finesse and nuance to a more conspicuous hand. This is what we got, and it was just so classy.

The rough streets of the Bronx in the 1960’s that Palminteri called home, where Dion and the Belmonts really did sing do-wop in the alley, and mobsters hung out at Chez Joey next door, was a foreign land to much of the rest of the country. Palminteri, and director Jerry Zaks didn’t glory in its tough image, though, or its now stereotypical characters. They just told us a good story. With nothing but a chair for a prop, and a simple, unit set as a backdrop, we were drawn inside his world as a child, then a teenager, growing up in a neighborhood with its own set of laws.

The law, basically, was a hood named Sonny, who took the young boy he called “C” under his wing and taught him the way of the streets. C’s father, a bus driver, didn’t approve, and told his son that the saddest thing in life was wasted talent. Both adult influences taught him important lessons about love and hate, fear and trust.

It would be easy to say Palminteri was just playing himself, but that is a superficial way of looking at this performance. He, in fact, plays all the roles—over a dozen, I’d say, but I didn’t count. Sometimes he seemed to be playing several roles all at the same time, but I never wondered “who” he was. Able to physically differentiate among them all with absolute precision, he simultaneously delivered a staggering collection of emotional bundles—a jumble of virtues and vices working at cross purposes. Somehow this life experience managed to produce a rare artist.

But don’t go because Palminteri is technically such a good actor, go because you’ll forget that he’s acting at all.

A Bronx Tale runs through June 7.

Podcast: HowWasTheShow Minneapoliscast CD Reviews for June, 2009

2009-06-01T00:00:00-04:00

HowWasTheShow's David de Young talks with Andrea Swensson of the City Pages, Jason Nagel of Cities 97, Pat O'Brien and Eric Bass about the HowWasTheShow 7 Year Anniversary Party coming up Friday, June 12th at the Turf Club and other new and recent releases in Minnesota music.

Knownam ft. Erin McCormick – “Crazy Minnesota Girl” - http://www.myspace.com/knonam
Mark Mallman ft. Craig Finn – “You’re Never Alone in New York”- http://www.myspace.com/markmallman
The Rockford Mules – “Step Aside Son” - http://www.myspace.com/therockfordmules
Two Harbors – “You Pulled the Rug Out” – http://www.myspace.com/therockfordmules
Alarmists – “Rhyme & Reason” – http://www.myspace.com/thealarmists
Ryan Paul & The Ardent – http://www.myspace.com/ryanpaulandtheardent
Aby Wolf – “Focus” – http://www.myspace.com/abywolf
Big Trouble – “Joshu” – http://www.myspace.com/getinbigtrouble

MP3 File

Podcast: HowWasTheShow Minneapoliscast CD Reviews for June, 2009

2009-06-01T00:00:00-04:00

Knownam ft. Erin McCormick – “Crazy Minnesota Girl” - http://www.myspace.com/knonam
Mark Mallman ft. Craig Finn – “You’re Never Alone in New York”- http://www.myspace.com/markmallman
The Rockford Mules – “Step Aside Son” - http://www.myspace.com/therockfordmules
Two Harbors – “You Pulled the Rug Out” – http://www.myspace.com/therockfordmules
Alarmists – “Rhyme & Reason” – http://www.myspace.com/thealarmists
Ryan Paul & The Ardent – http://www.myspace.com/ryanpaulandtheardent
Aby Wolf – “Focus” – http://www.myspace.com/abywolf
Big Trouble – “Joshu” – http://www.myspace.com/getinbigtrouble

MP3 File

Podcast: HowWasTheShow Minneapoliscast CD Reviews for June, 2009

2009-06-01T00:00:00-04:00

Knownam ft. Erin McCormick – “Crazy Minnesota Girl” - http://www.myspace.com/knonam
Mark Mallman ft. Craig Finn – “You’re Never Alone in New York”- http://www.myspace.com/markmallman
The Rockford Mules – “Step Aside Son” - http://www.myspace.com/therockfordmules
Two Harbors – “You Pulled the Rug Out” – http://www.myspace.com/therockfordmules
Alarmists – “Rhyme & Reason” – http://www.myspace.com/thealarmists
Ryan Paul & The Ardent – http://www.myspace.com/ryanpaulandtheardent
Aby Wolf – “Focus” – http://www.myspace.com/abywolf
Big Trouble – “Joshu” – http://www.myspace.com/getinbigtrouble

MP3 File

Podcast: HowWasTheShow Minneapoliscast CD Reviews for June, 2009

2009-06-01T00:00:00-04:00

Knownam ft. Erin McCormick – “Crazy Minnesota Girl” - http://www.myspace.com/knonam
Mark Mallman ft. Craig Finn – “You’re Never Alone in New York”- http://www.myspace.com/markmallman
The Rockford Mules – “Step Aside Son” - http://www.myspace.com/therockfordmules
Two Harbors – “You Pulled the Rug Out” – http://www.myspace.com/therockfordmules
Alarmists – “Rhyme & Reason” – http://www.myspace.com/thealarmists
Ryan Paul & The Ardent – http://www.myspace.com/ryanpaulandtheardent
Aby Wolf – “Focus” – http://www.myspace.com/abywolf
Big Trouble – “Joshu” – http://www.myspace.com/getinbigtrouble

MP3 File

Podcast: HowWasTheShow Minneapoliscast CD Reviews for June, 2009

2009-06-01T00:00:00-04:00

Knownam ft. Erin McCormick – “Crazy Minnesota Girl” - http://www.myspace.com/knonam
Mark Mallman ft. Craig Finn – “You’re Never Alone in New York”- http://www.myspace.com/markmallman
The Rockford Mules – “Step Aside Son” - http://www.myspace.com/therockfordmules
Two Harbors – “You Pulled the Rug Out” – http://www.myspace.com/therockfordmules
Alarmists – “Rhyme & Reason” – http://www.myspace.com/thealarmists
Ryan Paul & The Ardent – http://www.myspace.com/ryanpaulandtheardent
Aby Wolf – “Focus” – http://www.myspace.com/abywolf
Big Trouble – “Joshu” – http://www.myspace.com/getinbigtrouble

MP3 File

Podcast: HowWasTheShow Minneapoliscast CD Reviews for June, 2009

2009-06-01T00:00:00-04:00

Knownam ft. Erin McCormick – “Crazy Minnesota Girl” - http://www.myspace.com/knonam
Mark Mallman ft. Craig Finn – “You’re Never Alone in New York”- http://www.myspace.com/markmallman
The Rockford Mules – “Step Aside Son” - http://www.myspace.com/therockfordmules
Two Harbors – “You Pulled the Rug Out” – http://www.myspace.com/therockfordmules
Alarmists – “Rhyme & Reason” – http://www.myspace.com/thealarmists
Ryan Paul & The Ardent – http://www.myspace.com/ryanpaulandtheardent
Aby Wolf – “Focus” – http://www.myspace.com/abywolf
Big Trouble – “Joshu” – http://www.myspace.com/getinbigtrouble

MP3 File

Power Balladz

2009-05-30T00:00:00-04:00

If you owned a pair of Zubaz or ratted your bangs to look like a tiara on your forehead, you could undoubtedly sing along with the entire show, Power Balladz, now running at The Lab Theater.

And that’s what this show is all about.

The “whale tail” and tattoo featured in the publicity are about a decade off, spelling with “z’s” was more of a rap thing that rockers wouldn’t be likely to adopt, and costuming was, except for a couple of numbers, a little tame for the genre, but that’s all forgivable. The musicians were top-notch, the singers could belt into the stratosphere and there was enough schtick to fill the bumpy parts with laughs.

There is much to poke fun at in the era, but with all of its excesses, the ‘80s rock ballads were just so good – well-written, performed by people who could really play and sing, and recorded impeccably in professional studios. This band was more than up to the challenge of taking on these iconic rock recordings, slamming out one classic hit after another with ease.

It couldn’t have been that easy to hear perfectly with the drummer encased in Plexiglas; even so, there were moments where that band absolutely locked in, creating the excitement so necessary to push the singers fronting the show to the max. And, no, we weren’t peering around, or getting our heads blown off by, stacks of Marshall amps. Thanks to some intelligent mixing by Chopper Black, the music had the power and presence it had to have, but you could still hear yourself laugh.

And there were plenty of jokes, from big hair to a silly t-shirt cannon, to a well-deserved parody of “Come Sail Away,” which launched the second half of the show. I laughed through the whole song. (Styx just took themselves too seriously.)

Three powerhouse singers, Dieter Bierbrauer, Randy Schmeling and Katy Hays, shared the leads. Stuck with the sideman role for much of the first half of the show, Hays got her moment when she absolutely nailed Lita Ford in “Close My Eyes Forever.” I couldn’t wait for her to step out in front again. Amazingly, she almost outdid Heart on “Alone,” punching high notes that would make a lesser talent just pass out.

Randy Schmeling was so good at adopting another persona that I actually enjoyed seeing his technique. Normally, if I think you’re waving your acting chops in front of my face, I’m done, but when a guy maybe half the heft of Meat Loaf can make us believe “I would do anything for love…” I’m won over. Yes, Meat Loaf rules.

Finally, the spandex showed up in Bierbrauer’s smooth turn as Freddie Mercury in a camped-up finale, and the greatest power ballad of them all.

I had the sense, though, that director Peter Rothstein had not lived this. If I’m wrong about that, then I’m betting that Rothstein didn’t really identify with the music. Every once in a while (it was either his heavy theater background, or it was that Bierbrauer was also steeped in that genre) it got too musical theater-y and lost its grounding in “this is rock, man!”

There was little pretense of a story, which surfaced a couple of times, made perfect rock sense in The Scorpions reference and then, more or less, disappeared. The short bits of narrative connecting the songs was only slightly above the level of improvised. Had it been pushed as far as the songs, and balanced parody and respect as the songs did, it might have worked better. They just weren’t badass rockers.

But nobody came to listen to them talk anyway. In fact, half the fun was an audience confidently playing the “power ballads or not” game, and ready with their lighters as each song launched into a familiar chorus. If you honestly don’t know who Aerosmith is, this is probably not the show for you. Everybody else should go, just for the fun of it.

Power Balladz runs through June 28^th. Tickets and more information from http://powerballadz.com/

Slideshow: Alison Scott

2009-05-30T00:00:00-04:00

HowWasTheShow is proud to present Jenn Barnett's photo slide show from Alison Scott at the Dakota on May 30th. Set to "Stop" by Alison Scott.

The Trial of Mother Teresa, a Nimbus Theatre production

2009-05-30T00:00:00-04:00

Roneet Aliza Rahamim (left) and Jane Froiland (right) in the Trial of Mother Teresa. Publicity photo by John Behm

Nimbus Theatre has mounted the premier of The Trial of Mother Teresa, a new work by first-time playwright Dani Givens that imagines a post-life meeting between Mother Teresa (who died in 1997 at the age of 87) and Joan of Arc (now one of 3 patron saints of France, who died in 1431 at the age of 19). In simply describing a theoretical meeting between these two women in a purgatorial limbo beyond space and time, Nimbus already had my attention; surely when producing a new and unfamiliar play, it helps to have a hook. That is indeed one.

Directed by Nimbus co-artistic director Liz Neerland, the play introduces us to Mother Teresa (Roneet Aliza Rahamim) as she is welcomed to this “no man’s land” by Joan of Arc (Jane Froiland), long dead, and for years interested, we learn, in meeting her. Joan lays out tea and snacks for Teresa. “You don’t need to eat anymore, but some still enjoy it,” Joan tells her newly deceased friend.

For the next two hours, the two spiritual leaders become acquainted, but the central action of the play revolves around the two separate trials being staged by church officials to determine if either of these women deserves canonization or should instead be censured. “We make saints,” one of the church officials proclaims. Another asserts that in this day and age one is “presumed ordinary until proven holy.”

Director Neerland keeps this play paced at a leisurely trot. It neither drags, nor does it clip along. We get an excellent performance from Froiland as Joan, who brings grace and wisdom to the role. Another stand out performance full of deadpan comedic flair comes from Eric Ringham as one of the cardinals. (Ringham has another zinger of a role as the filmmaker Malcom Muggeridge, who shot a documentary of Mother Teresa in 1969 called Something Beautiful for God which helped make her an international superstar.) Ringham is surely one of the reasons this production is a success. Mother Teresa herself is played less strongly by Roneet Aliza Rahamim. The shy hesitation Rahamim brings to the role was likely intentional, but for some reason I expected Mother Teresa to be a stronger, less apologetic female personality who would have more than been prepared to hold her own were she to encounter Joan of Arc in the afterlife.

The panel of cardinals is rounded out with fitting businesslike matter-of-factness by Heidi Berg, KariAnn Craig and David Otto Simanek.

One interesting issue raised by this play is institutionalized sexism of the sort built into which clothing choices appropriate for men and women. An argument can easily be made that if Joan of Arc had not donned men’s clothing to go to war, she might never have been accused of heresy. But it’s a Catch 22, since dressed as a woman she would have been unlikely to be able to lead the French army into battle. Dressing as a man also kept her safer from sexual assault in prison after she had been captured.

Among the charges levied against Mother Teresa in her “confirmation hearings” is an accusation that she did not believe in the human soul and that on several occasions she did not use her Mission’s money to save human lives as often as that might have been possible. There is also at least one documented case where Mother Teresa’s Mission had accepted money from someone who had defrauded investors, but she still refused to give it back even when she learned the truth about the money’s source.

One of my main takeaways from this play was that even saints and prospective saints are multifaceted people who experience moments of doubt and make mistakes. It’s unclear whether anyone would be canonized when subjected to the inquisition of this panel. Just be thankful saint making is not yet a reality TV show in the style of Project Runway or Britain’s Got Talent.

The Trial of Mother Teresa runs through June 21^st. Reservations and more information are available from www.nimbustheatre.com

800 Words, The Transmigration of Phillip K Dick

2009-05-29T00:00:00-04:00

(From left) Kimberly Richardson, Maggie Chestovich, Luverne Seifert, Mo Perry, Ryan Parker Knox, Clarence Wethern, Allison Moore. PHOTO CREDIT: Kevin McLaughlin

"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away.” – Philip K Dick

A mind-trippy but very human drama, Victoria Stewart’s play 800 Words, the Transmigration of Philip K. Dick opened Thursday at the Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis in a Workhaus Collective production directed by Jeremy Wilhelm. The title (we learn during the action of the play) comes from the late Canadian science fiction writer A.E. van Vogt, who said that in order to keep your fiction engaging, you should introduce a new idea every 800 words.

800 Words a smart new work, informational, thought-provoking, and not just a little bit weird. The play, which tells part of the life story of Philip K Dick, the novelist and short story writer most famous for having penned the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (which was turned into the film Bladerunner) is a must see for Science Fiction fans. (We also learn from the play, if we did not know before, that “SF”, not Sci-fi is the politically correct abbreviation.) PKD’s stories have also served as the basis for other films including Total Recall and Minority Report. (Incidentally, Take-Up Productions has arranged screenings of all three of these films at the new theater The Trylon, June 1^st, 8^th and 15th.)

In the title role, Luverne Seifert is arguably fantastic as Dick, portraying him sympathetically as more than just likable, despite his frequent bouts with paranoia and possibly schizophrenia. In the opening scene we see him writing in his office taking down words his long dead twin sister Jane (Maggie Chestovich) is whispering into his ears. The centerpiece of the set, a 12 foot in diameter carpeted Lazy Susan of sorts (also designed by director Wilhelm) is spun around by the actors during scene changes, and its various positions during the play seem to suggest different periods in Dick’s life, most centering around his office. The action of the play jumps around between March 3^rd, 1982 (the date of Dick’s death) and what Dick called "two-three-seventy four" or “2-3-74” to refer to February and March of 1974 during which he said he experienced a series of visions, some of which he wrote about in a later novel, VALIS.

How much of this play is true history? My post show research into Dick’s life leads me to believe it’s more historically accurate than I had initially thought. But there is still plenty of pure fantasy, and Dick eventually is shown to be just a character in a play when “the author,” aka the playwright Victoria Stewart (played by Allison Moore) makes an appearance turning what was already a bit of a Total Recall-style mind fuck even more meta. “I write meta theatrical plays about historical figures” the author character says, pulling out the actual script of what we are watching (during a discussion about whether or not free will exists, no less). (This echoes an intriguing line of Dick's himself from earlier in the play: “We are in this groove. God is the groove. Our lives are the needle in the groove.”

Anchored by Luverne, the supporting cast is also quite strong. Playing multiple roles is Ryan Park Knox as the Secret Agent Man and European writer Stanislaw Lem (again a real historical figure.) Of particular interest is a scene late in the play when Knox actually plays each of his characters back to back without leaving the stage, his hat being on or off the trigger of his insta-role metamorphosis. Maggie Chestovich also plays at least three roles, including the aforementioned Jane, Stanislaw Lem’s assistant, and the teenage neighbor girl who sells Dick his drugs.

Clarence Wethern brings a refreshing matter-of-factness to his role as Jim, Dick’s literary agent. Mo Perry has some moving scenes with Dick as his ex-wife Tessa that show us yet another dimension of Dick's troubled life. Kimberly Richardson is delightful as puppetmaster to Sascha, Dick’s cat.

Subtle care was taken with the musical selections, including the use of The Beatles’ “She Said She Said” which evokes psychedelic mind games. There are also some great Patti Smith and Linda Ronstadt references. As all over the place as this play goes, it still holds together in one cohesive piece very well.

800 Words is being produced in a limited run ending Sunday, June 7^th, so don’t delay. Tickets and more information available at http://www.workhauscollective.org

An Interview with Brad Senne

2009-05-27T00:00:00-04:00

Brad Senne publicity photo by Ellie C. Rader

Former Beight frontman Brad Senne is releasing his second solo CD, Aerial Views, at the Kitty Cat Klub on Friday, May 29^th. In this interview, he talks about his musical past, working with producer Ed Ackerson, and why he loves making music in the Twin Cities.

How Was The Show: When did you get started playing music? Who were your earliest influences?

Brad Senne: I started playing music years ago, too long ago to remember exactly when. I first started playing in hardcore groups and I was just the singer, but I started writing my own songs about 9 years ago. As far as writing and playing music, the first stuff that really influenced me was R.E.M, The Cure, early U2 and whole bunch of punk music like the Circle Jerks, Minor Threat, Quicksand, Inside Out - the list goes on and on.

HWTS: What kinds of bands did you play in when you first started performing?

BS: The one that got the most attention was Picturesque and that was more of a hybrid of hardcore and rock music. We put out an E.P. on Trustkill Records called Shine in Eyes. That label is huge now.

HWTS: You first gained some local notoriety as the mastermind behind Beight, which you recorded with Ed Ackerson. How did that pairing come about, and how did you put together the subsequent band to perform those songs live?

BS: Initially, I sent Ed a demo of some songs and he was really excited about recording them. Then I flaked out and didn't go in and get them down. A year or so later, I sent him some totally different demos and those are the songs on File in Rhythm. I guess he heard something in those rough mixes that sparked an interest in recording me.

When I first started recording that album, I didn't even know if I was going to put a band together. I had some bad band break-ups in the past and didn't want to invest the time in putting a band together. It was more like I'm going to go into a really nice studio and see what happens. Then I started playing with Brian Just as a duo and really had a lot of fun with that, so I thought maybe I should try adding other people. About that time, I met Andre Leroux (bass) and Josh Lemoine (drums) at a New Year’s Eve party. It all happened very smoothly.

HWTS: Your solo output, especially the new CD Aerial Views, is quite a departure from the power pop sounds of Beight – was this a conscious shift in your approach or something that just happened organically?

BS: It's more just using the tools you have available and making the best of it. When I was working with Ed, he really encouraged me to start recording on my own and that's what I did. I bought a laptop and just jumped into it. What I like about recording on my own is that I can put out more albums frequently.

HWTS: Tell me about your songwriting and recording process -- how does a song go from idea to finished form?

BS: I sit down and it just comes to me. When I try to force it, it never comes out very well. My new approach is to record the vocals and acoustic live and then add sounds after that. I'm still trying to figure it all out, but I'm having a blast doing it! I will also record the song as thoroughly as possible and then listen to it over and over again. If I can listen to it for a month or so, and I still like it, then it's all good.

HWTS: What do you enjoy most about the Twin Cities that makes you want to live and make music here?

BS: There are so many places to play. People like to drink here, so there are tons of places to perform. I can't believe all the talent here these days. It's incredible! And most of the bands you can see for free! That's nuts. It's very inspiring.

HWTS: Your CD release party for Aerial Views will be Friday, May 29th at the Kitty Cat Klub. What are we going to see there?

BS: An acoustic filled evening. Ballast will be opening the evening, on second it's Unguided (acoustic) and I'll be rounding off the evening. Ben Durrant (Roma di Luna & Unguided) will be sitting on guitar and Ryan Lovan (Roma di Luna) will be playing drums with me. I'm super excited about playing with those two. They're pros!

HWTS: Do you have any plans for the road this summer?

BS: Yeah I'm hoping to play a Midwest tour in late August or early September.

HWTS: Thanks for taking the time to answer all these questions. Any final comments?

BS: I want to say that the Minneapolis music community is very lucky to have all the support it does from the writers and people who enjoy listening to music. We got something special here and we should all be very proud to be a part of it. I know I am.

Shipwrecked!

2009-05-26T00:00:00-04:00

Emily Gunyou Halaas (left), Edwin Strout (masked, in center) and Michael Booth (right) in Shipwrecked! Publicity photo by Michal Daniel

Shipwrecked! at the Jungle Theater is a play that requires exclamation points. In an intermission-free 90 minutes, playwright Donald Margulies literally takes us around the world. Starting in staid 1869 London, our not-so-trustworthy hero, Louis de Rougemont, having been robbed of his patrimony, signs onto a South Seas pearling expedition; meets a psychopathic sea captain; dives for pearls and finds a priceless golf-ball sized blackie; is capsized by a rare giant octopus and marooned on a deserted isle with his strangely human dog, Bruno; meets and marries a lovely native girl, Yamba; sires and raises two girls; buries Bruno; makes his way to Australia, and then home to a now cacophonously loud London; makes a mint selling his story to a magazine; is accused of being (or is exposed as) a fraud; dies penniless.

Whew! If it sounds breathless and wildly eventful, well, it is, but the cast and crew at the Jungle are up to it. The set, designed by the always smart director, Joel Sass, with costumes by Sonya Berlovitz, lighting by Barry Browning and some highly diverting "shadow puppetry" by Michael Sommers, is a mad jumble of props, costume pieces, banners, sound effects devices, musical instruments, drums of all sorts. The three person crew of musicians, noise-makers, puppet operators, set and costume piece bringer-onners (Alicia M. Dansby, Amber Davis, and Paul Rutledge), are constantly onstage, giving every important moment in the play some kind of theatrical underline. Because of their Herculean efforts, the play has genuine flair. They are aided enormously by composer Greg Brosofske who serves up some tasty musical effects.

The acting ensemble (Emily Gunyou Halaas, Stephen Cartmell, and Edwin Strout) attack the play with a zest and relish that verges on the indecent. Each actor plays 6 or 8 characters, and their ability to find varying accents, physical mannerisms, etc, amazes. All are wonderful, but Stephen Cartmell deserves particular praise for his puke-eating dog Bruno and his oddly stunted (he plays her on his knees) Queen Victoria.

A play like this lives or dies on the verve and charisma of de Rougemont, our main character and story-teller extraordinaire. As Louis, Michael Booth does admirably. He's an unflagging presence, tall and angular, with a mop of wiry hair and slightly deranged smile. We know (from the program) that de Rougemont was a famous fraud. Nonetheless Booth makes us believe every moment – a real achievement.

More than a little over-the-top? Actors have a distressing tendency to mug and gnaw the scenery? Maybe, but who cares. If you're looking for an evening of pure entertainment in the air-conditioned splendor of the Jungle, then "Shipwrecked!" is the show for you.

Finally, a note to the Guthrie, Park Square, Ten Thousand Things, et al: produce Donald Margulies. This writer has it all, a sharp eye for character, diversity of subject matter, comedic flair. He's an American talent whose work is superior to any number of better known playwrights and it's been too-absent from Minnesota stages. At the Jungle we get our chance to watch him at work.

Shipwrecked! runs through June 28^th. See http://www.jungletheater.com for more information.

Podcast: Josh Cragun and Liz Neerland talk about the new Nimbus Theatre production, The Trial of Mother Teresa

2009-05-25T00:00:00-04:00

Publicity photo for The Trial of Mother Teresa by Nimbus. From L to R: Roneet Rahamim as Mother Teresa and Jane Froiland as Joan of Arc. Photo credit: John Behm.

Nimbus Theatre's new production The Trial of Mother Teresa, a new play by Dani Givens, opens on Friday, May 29th at the Minneapolis Theater Garage.

On Monday, May 25th, HowWasTheShow founder David de Young sat down with Nimbus's co-artistic directors Josh Cragun and Liz Neerland to talk about Nimbus, their new production and the joys and challenges of running an independent theater company in today's financial climate.

26 minutes.

MP3 File

Slideshow: England Swings VIII

2009-05-23T00:00:00-04:00

Jenn Barnett's photo slideshow from England Swings VIII at the Fine Line featuring Stephanie Says, Mars To Mercury, Little Man, 'Fab' Tab & the Teds (featuring Katy Vernon), Sika, The Wag, Pretty in Pink and Johnny & the Moondogs (featuring members of The Alarmists, The Duke of Dark, The Melismatics, Ouija Radio and Jacques Wait.) The event was hosted by HowWasTheShow's David de Young

Music for this slideshow is "The Step and the Walk" by the Duke Spirit.

See also videos of Mars to Mercury's medley of British songs from this show here.

Rebel Rebel: Rock for Pussy VI

2009-05-22T00:00:00-04:00

We're pleased to present photographer Jenn Barnett's slideshows of photos from Rebel Rebel: Rock For Pussy VI at the First Avenue.

HowWasTheShow has been covering Rock for Pussy since its very start. After a couple of lean years in the middle, the event at First Avenue on Friday put the event back firmly in its spot as one of the most exciting local music extravaganzas of the year. Featuring a cast of dozens of local musicians covering nothing but David Bowie tunes, Mary Lucia hosted the event while hundreds of fans enjoyed the music of the Thin White Duke presented by the likes of John Eller, Janey Winterbauer, Tommy Alsides, Chris Pericelli, Steve Price, Leslie Ball, Noah Levy, Dave Russ, Max Ray, Cory Eischen, Michelle Massey, Randy Casey, Jeremy Messersmith, Chris Pavlich, Venus and All The Pretty Horses, Matt Coffee, Ciaran Daly, David Campbell, Liam Watkins, Lori Barbero, George Mckelvey, Laurie Lindeen, Chris Lynch, and more.

If seeing Jeremy Messersmith in makeup and Dave Campbell in a kimono isn't enough to convince you what an awesome night this was, be sure to stop by Debbie Donovan's YouTube page for a look at the finale to "Young Americans" with the entire cast on stage at once.

Proceeds benefit Minnesota Valley Humane Society cat shelters.

See more of Jenn's slideshows on her blog at http://www.jennbarnett.com/blog

The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism & Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures

2009-05-22T00:00:00-04:00

Michael Cristofer (August Giuseppe Garibaldi Marcantonio [Gus]) and Ron Menzel (Vito Marcantonio) in the world premiere of THE INTELLIGENT HOMOSEXUAL’S GUIDE TO CAPITALISM AND SOCIALISM WITH A KEY TO THE SCRIPTURES, by Tony Kushner at the Guthrie Theater. Photo by Michal Daniel.

The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism & Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures is Tony Kushner’s first play since Caroline or Change, which opened Off-Broadway in New York in 2003. To say the Guthrie’s world premier of Kushner’s new work has been hyped is an understatement. But despite exceedingly high expectations, the play came through in ways I could not have dreamed. It is traditional theater, stretched to the limit. As opening weekend comes to a close and the reviews begin to roll in, I am eager to see if the level of other people’s excitement about this provocative new work is on par with my own.

As part of the Everything Kushner series at the Guthrie, The Intelligent Homosexual was one of three separate Kushner shows with curtains at 7:30 p.m. Friday night. (Caroline or Change is still on the Wurtele Thrust Stage and Tiny Kushner, a series of short plays, is playing in the Dowling Studio). The new play opened to a full house that included Guthrie Artistic Director Joe Dowling and Tony Kushner himself. Directed by Michael Greif, it stars Michael Cristofer as Gus, a retired longshoreman from Brooklyn, a third generation Communist who at 75 years old is feeling defeated by the 21^st Century and has decided the only thing left that makes sense is to commit suicide.

The play is set in 2007 with Gus’s family coming together to try and dissuade him from suicide at his brownstone which he has put up for sale. The opening scene sets the hyper-contemporary tone for the play as a cell phone conversation between Gus’s son Pill (Stephen Spinella) and Pill’s prostitute lover Eli (Michael Esper) segues right out of the ringing cell phone cacophony of the Guthrie’s own recorded “turn off your phone” message. (One audience member’s phone still rang during the first act, and since cell phones were strapped to many of the actors, I actually expected one of them to answer it.) The Twin Cities’ audience’s ears surely perked up to hear that Pill had moved to Minneapolis and that our own fair city would serve as a remote reference point during much of the play. This provided fodder for several humorous local references. “Any good theater in Minneapolis?” Eli asks Pill in the very first line of the play.

As the action develops, at one level, we as an audience feel as if we’re peering through the window at a real and extremely dysfunctional family: Pill is married (his husband Paul is played by Michael Potts) and ultimately proposes a three way relationship that includes Eli. His lesbian sister, Empty (Linda Emond) is still sleeping with her ex-husband, Adam (Mark Benninghofen) while her new partner Maeve (Charity Jones) has been become pregnant by Pill’s brother Vinnie (Ron Menzel). It’s a complicated set up, and to help you sort it all out the Guthrie program includes a family tree to trace all the connections.

The cast also features Kathleen Chalfant as Gus’s sister, Bennie, a former nun who dispenses some of the show’s cynical and removed wisdom almost like a single member Greek chorus at times. The cast is rounded out by Sun Mee Chomet as Vinnie’s wife Sooze, Michael Potts as Pill’s husband Paul, and Michelle O’Neill as Shelle O’Neill (a matchup of names I am told occurred because Kushner was looking for an Irish sounding name, and actress O’Neill came equipped with one) as Gus’ friend.

Two central themes of Kushner’s new play are connectedness and belonging and how they work or do not work in 21^st century America, but these are far from the only themes. Also tackled are issues surrounding Alzheimer’s, suicide, workers’ rights to own the fruit of their own labor, birth and death. The play careens around like an unrelenting parade for three and a half hours of theater that goes by quicker than just about any I’ve experienced.

A brilliant set designed by Mark Wendland (extravagant even by the Guthrie’s standards) lent itself to the play in such a way I can’t imagine this production working without it. Two floors of the Brooklyn brownstone were often visible at once as scenes played out on multiple floors, or inside and outside the building simultaneously. (Despite recent research showing that people can’t truly multi-task, Kushner seems to have faith that we actually can, or that we’ll at least be able to catch the important stuff.)

The expletive-filled mouths of most of the characters may shock some theater-goers. For me, the unrestrained language just added to the feeling I was looking through a window at real life. Kushner has gotten out of his own way and let things go where they want to go, much of the humor coming from shock value when you think to yourself “Please Tony, don’t go there” and the next thing you know, that’s exactly where he’s taken you. One example? Theorizing about maternity strap-ons, worked into a discussion of Maeve and Empty’s sex-life during Maeve’s pregnancy.

The play’s long title, a mash-up of George Bernard Shaw’s The Intelligent Woman’s Guide to Socialism and Capitalism and Mary Baker Eddie’s Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures is a bit of a catch-all, but oddly enough describe the play quite well. Some dialogue is a welcome refresher on the central concepts of the Communist Manifesto, and three of eleven characters (Maeve, Paul & Bennie) have ties to theological studies in one form or another.

During the blackout at the end of the final act, “Wow”, and “Oh My God” were uttered aloud around me even as I thought them in my own head. In the final scene Kushner manages to tie the madness together and bring the rollercoaster ride to a graceful close. Surely I wasn’t the only theater-goer with teary eyes sitting in a kind of shocked sadness as I watched the curtain call.

This play is clearly not for everyone, but if you like to be challenged while you are entertained, this is theater right at the edge of your comfort zone and you should find it nothing short of exhilarating.

The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism & Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures runs through June 28th. Tickets and more information at www.guthrietheater.org

Animal Collective

2009-05-20T00:00:00-04:00

Animal Collective at First Avenue - Twitpic courtesy of Chuck Olsen

Last night I saw Animal Collective at First Avenue. It was my first time seeing them live (though we reviewed their 2007 First Avenue appearance here.) I’d been eagerly anticipating the show after enjoying Merriweather Post Pavilion, their highly-praised 2009 album and one of my favorite discs of the year. MPP hits some of the emotional buttons in me that conjure up sunny days in the ‘80s listening to OMD or the vocal harmonies of the Cocteau Twins, or (more recently) carefree days in the ‘00s listening to Modest Mouse.

Hearing their live show webcast from DC on May 11^th, 2009 by All Songs on NPR clinched the deal. The show sounded magical on the interweb. I listened twice, and through my stereo speakers it transformed my living room each time. So I tracked down a ticket to the sold-out show and made it down to First Avenue.

Animal Collective had a big inflatable ball set up behind the First Avenue Screen that people joked might contain Wayne Coyne from The Flaming Lips, but no, ultimately it turned out to be just an orb that served as a spherical projection screen. Before the curtain screen rose, strains of Husker Du’s “Don’t Wanna Know if You Are Lonely” filled the room at concert volume, setting expectations high. Then came the show.

The show definitely had its moments, and highlights from the album (songs like “Summertime Clothes,” “My Girls,” “Lion in a Coma”) definitely caught my attention. But the moments were too far between, and for most of the night I felt like I was on the outside of the music listening in, not “one with it” as I had when listening in the car that morning. I spent most of the set restlessly wandering around First Avenue from the main floor (all ages admittance meant no drinks were allowed down there) to the balcony trying to find a spot that made sense for me to be, where I would fit into it all, where I could see, hear and enjoy.

Still, there wasn’t much worth looking at going on on stage (save a tasteful and cool light show), and the sounds coming from the stage were less engaging than they are in their recorded versions. At the same time, it was clear that people were really enjoying themselves. The dancing masses in the center of the room on the main floor obviously felt the love, and that was not lost on me. (At least one of my own friends emerged from the crowd sweating and smiling.) It just didn’t translate into something I could experience for myself.

Had I been 20 years younger, perhaps on psychotropic drugs, and dancing in that throng it would have been a different show for me, and I have no desire to tread on the enjoyment those people clearly had. (Nothing against drugs either, they just don’t mix well with 9 a.m. corporate meetings the next morning.) Instead, I found myself looking forward to the show ending so I could grab the dinner I had somehow forgotten to eat before hand.

Fortunately, today, Merriweather Post Pavilion sounds just as good, perhaps even better than yesterday.

Setlist (via setlist.fm)

Chocolate Girl
Who Could Win a Rabbit
Summertime Clothes
Guys Eyes
Chores
Also Frightened
Sky
Lion in a Coma
My Girls
Lablakely Dress
Fireworks

Encore:

12. Bleed

13. Slippi
14. Brothersport

Tiny Kushner

2009-05-20T00:00:00-04:00

Jim Lichtscheidl, J.C. Cutler, Kate Eifrig and Valeri Mudek in “Terminating or Sonnet LXXV or ‘Lass Meine Schmerzen Nicht Verloren Sein’ or Ambivalence,” part of Tiny Kushner, an evening of short plays by Tony Kushner at the Guthrie Theater. Photo by Michal Daniel.

"Tiny Kushner" (an evening of short plays by Tony Kushner, at the Guthrie's Dowling Studio, May 16-June 13) is bit of a misnomer as there is nothing diminutive about this work. The settings – the moon, a country estate in paradise, a 20 minute play with two dozen separate scenes – all exhibit Kushner's trademark inventiveness. Ditto the characters: angels, a deceased psychotherapist, Countess Geraldine of Albania, an overweight tax protestor in an Indiana prison. Intellectual expansiveness combined with raw passion, overlaid with comic fervor, meshing together to create a playground for actors (and, therefore, for audiences). Vintage Kushner.

The production is what we've come to expect up at the Dowling: stripped down, with heavy use of projection (nicely done by Alexander Nichols), with the emphasis where it should be, on the four excellent actors, Jim Lichtscheidl, Valeri Mudek, Kate Eifrig and J.C. Cutler. Tony Taccone directs, and he has the good sense to coordinate the work of the cast and designers and then get out of the way.

The first piece, an encounter between Countess Geraldine (Kate Eifrig) and the dreamily eccentric American musician Lucia Pamela (Valeri Mudek) is a moony romp, ending in a wonderfully silly song-and-dance. It sets us up nicely for the second play, a knockout, in which Hendrick (J.C. Cutler in an outstanding turn), suffering from a "thought disorder" confronts his ex-psychiatrist Esther (Eifrig) and demands to sleep with her. What might have been a straight forward naturalism is given vivid theatricality through the simple device of putting the patient and the doctor's lyrically calm lovers (Jim Lichtscheidl and Mudek) at their shoulders. It's marvelous stuff, a fast-paced and thoroughly entertaining investigation of sexuality, mental illness, the nature of love.

The third play stumbles somewhat. A "teleplay" with several dozen settings and as many characters (all played by Lichtscheidl), the story, about the efforts of a large group of New York City employees to avoid taxes (by claiming 98 exemptions), is predictable and overlong. Still, the actor is a marvel and the piece is great fun. The fourth and shortest play concerns a hay fever stricken psychotherapist (Cutler again) in paradise who analyzes, five times a week, Richard Nixon (who just wants to be called "M"). Quite enjoyable.

This brings us to the fifth and final play, a genuine stunner. In "Only We Who Guard The Mystery Shall Be Unhappy" Laura Bush (Eifrig) reads Dostoyevsky to a polite group of deceased Iraqi children, all the while guarded by a smilingly nasty angel (Mudek). Bush prefaces her reading with a gorgeously disjointed Kushnerian riff, on her husband "Bushy", Jesus, the Devil and Dick Cheney, the nature of evil, the constant presence of death, the nature of innocence. Eifrig plays her role with brittle savagery and the her descent from perfumed GOP sweetness into gut-wrenching emotion is perfect. It sends us out of the theater still struggling to catch our breath.

To sound perhaps a crass note, it's worth mentioning that these short plays are indeed short. The famously long-winded Kushner gives us five plays in a disciplined two hours and twenty minutes.

Perfection? No. Some motifs are over-used – do we really need two plays about psychoanalysts? – and much of the material seems stuck in the Bush years. But there is more than enough theatrical richness here to keep us happy.

Highly recommended.

King Khan and the Shrines

2009-05-16T00:00:00-04:00

King Khan and the Shrines - Photo by Jenn Barnett
More photos forthcoming.

My anticipation for what I expect to be a really great show can sometimes get me overly wound up, prompting me to engage in uncharacteristically sassy and even unsavory behavior. The King Khan & The Shrines show at the Triple Rock on Saturday, May 16 was no exception. I should have known the evening would be raucous from the moment I left the house in a black leather motorcycle jacket, bright red lipstick, and 4” platform heels. Starting the evening at the 331 Club for Art-A-Whirl, I teetered precariously from the start, while getting a good start on the blinding drunkenness that would punctuate the evening’s mayhem.

There was some debate among my friends as to what sect of people is actually allowed to rock a motorcycle jacket, and whether I was among them. I stand by my wardrobe choice. Not only was it a chilly 40 degrees, but let’s face it – when King Khan is in town, feathered headdresses, leopard-print sports jackets, sequined flapper-cheerleader dresses, and bone necklaces are de rigueur. If that doesn’t give a tee-ball mom some temporary bad-ass license, I don’t know what does.

The shoes, on the other hand, proved a poor choice. Once at the Triple Rock, I frantically danced the night away in bare feet, the concrete floor cool and smooth (read: filthy and slimy) against my blister-ravaged feet. That I did intermittently suffer the shoes to achieve a higher vantage point is a testament to the incredible visual spectacle that is King Khan & The Shrines. That headdress! That cheerleader! Was I hallucinating sparkly rainfall, or was she at times employing some kind of shaker full of glitter? That is, when she wasn’t busy with the pom-poms. (What’s with the recent psychedelic cheerleader trend, by the way? Quintron & Miss Pussycat also rocked the kooky pom-squad shtick at The Entry back in April. But I digress.)

Triple Rock, all spinny - Photo by Jenn Barnett

Why not cheer? King Khan’s raw, soul-powered energy is, at the very least, worthy of celebration. The Berlin-based band is fronted (to use a complete understatement) by the illustrious showman King Khan, who reminds me of a modern-day James Brown…on acid. And nothing gets me quite so out of control on the dance floor as a great horn section, except maybe good bourbon. In this case, two saxophones, a trumpet, and several ounces of the aforementioned libation spun me into veritable dance frenzy. I wasn’t the only one, either. The sold-out venue was packed to the gills with hyper fans, who hollered and boogied tirelessly, worshipping at the altar of King Khan & The Shrines.

In case you haven’t noticed, this review is more about my outfit and drunkenness than it is about the actual music. That’s because it’s difficult to write an esoteric music-geeky dissection of the show when what you remember most clearly about it is how beautifully the room spun in time to the beat. A few things stuck with me, however. I do remember being simultaneously disgusted and intrigued during King Khan’s graphic description of being, um…reborn…in a most sexual way. And I do remember his clothes disappearing gradually as the evening wore on, culminating in him being shirtless, but caped. The feathered headdress was eventually replaced by what registered in my foggy perception as “a bucket with eyeholes,” but what I now recognize was actually something resembling a Darth Vader mask, which he sported during the hilarious encore of “I Took My Baby to Dinner.” “My baby’s fat! She’s ugly! But I love her!”

King Khan & The Shrines were joined by France Has The Bomb, and Mark Sultan, whom King Khan jokingly introduced as his “life partner.” Sultan and King Khan do, in fact have a partnership, in the form of King Khan & the BBQ Show, their two-man band, featured briefly before King Khan fully took the reins.

Sadly, I cannot offer any futher commentary on the opening acts – I was over on the other side of the bar, preoccupied with lining my stomach with my genius new concoction - a fried egg sandwich topped with mozzarella sticks & ketchup. I think it shall be aptly named “The Chubby Cheerleader,” and I hope to see it added to the Triple Rock’s menu soon. It left some great authentic-looking grease stains on my motorcycle jacket.

Phantom of the Opera

2009-05-15T00:00:00-04:00

Phantom of the Opera is the longest-running show in Broadway history. A quick Google search shows that it has been running since January 26th, 1988 and is still running today at The Majestic. The original cast and crew won 7 Tony Awards that year, and if this touring production has even a touch of what that first production had, it's easy to see why.

Phantom of the Opera (there's a completely different show entitled simply "Phantom") is based on a novel by Gaston Leroux, published in 1909. Its eponymous character has taken up residence in the sewers beneath the Opera Populaire in Paris around the turn of the century. Maimed terribly since birth, he is described as a genius inventor, architect, magician and composer. Years of brooding there have finally given way, and he has fallen in love with a chorus girl in the Opera's resident company, Christine Daae (Trista Moldovan). Preying on a story told to her by her dying father, he has assumed the identity of her "Angel of Music," playing the role of both obsessor and tutor. Normally this is not behavior we'd tolerate in a teacher, but the stage is a funny place. Enter the opera's new owners: Monsieur Andre (D.C. Anderson) and Monsieur Firmin (Michael McCoy), who have brought with them the young and handsome Raoul, the Vicomte de Chagny (Sean McLaughlin) who also happens to be a childhood friend of Christine's.

As a welcome gift to them, the Phantom disrupts a rehearsal just as the diva Carlotta Giudicelli (Kim Stengel) is squawking through an aria for her new producers. Carlotta throws her first of many, many tantrums and leaves the theatre, vowing not to return until the Phantom is dealt with. Christine is tapped to replace her and opens the show to a raving audience. Her success emboldens both Raoul and the Phantom to begin vying for her affections. Raoul enters her dressing room to relive a few memories and then orders her to dinner despite her protests, and the Phantom kidnaps her, taking her to his underground lair where she reveals to her a mannequin dressed as Christine in a wedding gown. Such choices. And so begins the action of the show.

The Phantom himself, played by understudy Stephen Tewksbury during the opening week, is a difficult character to properly portray. He is both a bloodthirsty killer and tender lover, tortured by his deformity and forced to live outside of society's eye. Tewksbury instantly owns the duality of the Phantom as he seems perfectly natural both dulcetly serenading young Christine and killing whoever may stand in his way. His Phantom tiptoes the very thin line between obsession and devotion with remarkable alacrity, giving way to an antagonist the audience catches themselves actually rooting for on more than one occasion. Vocally, Tewksbury dominates every song afforded him with gravitas and a chilling softness that reflects that schism in the Phantom himself.

The object of his affection and living up to every accolade given her by the characters around her is Moldovan's Christine. Moldovan has a voice that seemingly knows no bounds as she effortlessly belts out notes challenging human hearing at several points in the show. The role of Christine is vocally demanding, with nearly every production casting two women to share the role throughout the run. Moldovan never once shies away from the challenge however, and appears equally at ease softly cooing songs like "Angel of Music" as she owns the entire stage with her voice in "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again." When Moldovan and Tewksbury combine in several numbers, the audience is breathless just listening to them. In fact, her vocal quality is so powerful that the demureness she portrays when not singing seems almost like a facade.

In fact, with so much going right in this production, it's actually quite easy to forgive these smaller pieces that just don't quite work. McLaughlin's Raoul is by no means a liability, but is played with such affected bravado that it almost seems as though he's bullying Christine into falling in love with him. An accomplished singer, McLaughlin clearly has the chops for the role, but is directorially pushed in a direction that doesn't make us want him to win. In fact, direction for this show is choppy, to say the least. There are moments of absolute joy to watch, which can quickly devolve into actors standing on stage mechanically gesturing outwards or to each other without ever really seeming to know why themselves. These moments are fleeting though, and the cast is strong enough to pull the entire audience right back into the world of the show.

The supporting cast has some truly wonderful assets as well in both John Whitney's Piangi, and Kim Stengel's Carlotta. Whitney builds an adorable Piangi who is just as big of an egoist as Carlotta, but is infinitely more lovable; it’s hard to look away form Stengel's Carlotta whenever she is on stage. Both actors completely commit to their characters, and both are worth watching closely every moment.

Musically, this show does not disappoint. The score is a driving and pulsing heartbeat, ever-pushing the action of the show forward, and the moments it does take to stop and breathe for a moment are so well executed that they don't feel a bit out of place. David Caddick's musical direction picks us up from the moment the chandelier raises off the ground and doesn't let go until the house lights come up and we realize where we've been for the last two hours.

Finally, huge credit must be given to Maria Bjornson and the rest of the Production design team. Elaborate and gorgeous set pieces flit on and off the stage so fast, you'd think they were ghosts themselves, and the special effects are Hollywood-worthy. A boat glides across a foggy lake, explosions and crashes startle the entire house, and more than a little magic is at work in the faux-proscenium surrounding the stage. There are a few moments where you will be at a loss for how they did it. (Don't try to figure it out.) The entire production is a smorgasbord of light and sound, sight and spectacle that keeps your heart pumping to the music of the night.

The Kills

2009-05-11T00:00:00-04:00

The Kills - Photo by Amber Schadewald

As the dial tone and telephone sound intro to their set began, the crowd hush only slightly, too excited to hold back their screams of anticipation. My knees went weak as the two figures dressed in black let out their first notes to “U.R.A. Fever”, the bass tones hitting my chest with a erotic thrust, followed by strong, smoky vocals. The Kills’ Midnight Boom is by far one of my favorite albums to date, so you only imagine how much I was anticipating this show. I was not disappointed.

Alison Mosshart is totally badass in the sexiest way possible. With her long black hair and tight black jeans she strode around the stage with immaculate confidence. She’s my modern-day Janis, a rough voice that takes prisoners when accompanied with that piercing stare. In between songs Mosshart paced the dimly-lit stage, mimicking a lurking shadow as her counterpart Jamie Hince ripped apart his guitar solos. From atop the speakers Mosshart crouched, bent over backwards, and she twisted wildly as the music had its way with her body. While singing she’d flip her long locks with serious head-banging, leaving her rosy cheeks in a tornado of tangles. She was hard not to watch.

An immense amount of sound erupted from the duo as they played a variety of songs from their three albums, although Midnight Boom definitely dominated the set. The song “Sour Cherry” was hot, along with “Alphabet Pony” and “Last Day of Magic.” The more dramatic slow songs, “Goodnight Bad Morning” and “Black Balloon” were eerie and intense. Mosshart was relentless with her burning eyes, playing her shiny red guitar for about half of the songs. Hince consistently scratched away at the rough and ragged melodies throughout.

Mid-set the duo set-up their mics center stage and sang to one another with only inches between their faces. Wearing dirty grins as they strummed and sang, “Kissy Kissy” felt like ease dropping on a deep secret. The Kills are not only super entertaining to hear, but visually they know how to work it. Stomping in their cute boots, their energy was in just the right place. Sweat streamed down their faces and by the end of the night Mosshart’s hair was soaked and ratty.

The end of the show included a cover of Patsy Cline’s “Crazy” that sounded like a drunken ode at the corner bar. Mosshart lit a cigarette, encircling herself in a cloud of smoke as she played up the lyrics with her distant body language. The encore featured a cover of “I Put a Spell on You,” which was equally creepy as “Crazy”, Mosshart thrashing around and staring down the front row with a death grip. Hince wore a captain’s hat and for the last minutes of the show he created loud reverb while perched on one speaker while Mosshart sprawled out on the one above.

Venus, a Musical

2009-05-09T00:00:00-04:00

Venus, a Musical - Photo by Michal Daniel

The night before I saw Venus, a Musical by Chan Poling, I saw the Guthrie’s production of Tony Kushner’s Caroline or Change, possibly one of the best musicals to grace Twin Cities’ stages in years. (See our review of that production here.) Without a doubt, that’s some tough competition for Poling’s new show. But if Venus misses its mark as often as Caroline or Change hits it, I’m still here to tell you that Venus is not only a show you should see, but one you are likely to enjoy despite its flaws.

Allow me to get my criticisms out of the way: the band was too loud in the mix, there were other audio and mic problems the night I saw the show, many of the jokes fell flat, and a few songs reminded me a bit too much of “The Rainbow Connection” from The Muppet Movie. (Okay, “The Rainbow Connection” is a great song, so maybe that’s not a real criticism.) At the same time, I’m not sure the last time I saw a show with such fresh energy bursting with so much clear potential. Venus is a no brainer for audiences to root for. The talented cast gives 110 percent. (Mathematical possibilities be damned, it was more than that.) And as an audience you can’t help but respond.

Twin Cities music legend Chan Poling of The Suburbs and more recently of The New Standards spent by some accounts 10 years assembling the show that debuted this past week at The Ritz Theater in Northeast Minneapolis. Poling had a lot to live up to in my my mind. The New Standards holiday show at the Fitzgerald Theater was likely the best live music event I saw in the Twin Cities in 2008, and an early ‘90s performance by the Suburbs at Grand Old Day in St. Paul is one of the top three concert experiences of my life.

The storyline of Venus goes basically like this: Doctor Margaret Kennedy (played by Broadway veteran Jennifer Leigh Warren), a research professor, stumbles upon a fountain of youth elixir while mixing lotus flower essence and Altoids. She uses her discovery to land a job as a supermodel, who adopts the name Venus (after the song popularized by Bananarama), and following a short stint in the superficial fast-lane she finally achieves self-acceptance and finds true love. The story is far-fetched yet familiar (it’s partially a female Jekyll & Hyde tale), and the Jekyll & Hyde gimmick makes for one of the show’s many groaners, when Venus shows up late for a public appearance saying, “Sorry I’m late. I had to change.”

Anchored by Warren as Dr. Kennedy (known to her friends as Maggie), the cast is relentless. They are unified in performing as if they really care about this production from the moment they step on stage until the curtain call. Warren, admirably, never let on when a microphone failure early in the show left her to do much of the first act without the use of monitors.

Rounding out the well-balanced central cast are Joel Liestman as Harry (Maggie’s secret love interest), Jody Briskey as Jo, who plays a spunky and wise jean-jacket-wearing middle-aged woman most of us will recognize. Shawn Hamilton plays the role of Damon expansively and reminded me of a not quite as cool MC Hammer, and Ian Holcomb shined as Troy, a role which at one point had the potential to take the show over in hint of a sub-plot which was abruptly cut short before it had a chance to develop.

The direction and choreography by Myron Johnson was artful and precise, and the graceful physical interaction of the full cast when they are all onstage together is one of the impressions you’ll be left with at the end of the show. The pacing that Johnson brings to Poling’s script is one of the reasons the show works. It’s injected with energy and music and never drags even when the jokes miss and some short scenes go by leaving you wondering what just happened.

The band assembled for this production is a bit of a supergroup and features many musicians familiar to those who follow the local music scene, including Steve Roehm vibes player from The New Standards on drums, Brian Roessler of the Fantastic Merlins on bass, Dan Schwartz on guitar, Sanford Moore (Moore by Four) on piano and Gregory Theisen on keyboards.

Venus plays through May 24^th. Tickets and more information from http://www.ritztheaterfoundation.org

Raskol, a Ten Thousand Things production

2009-05-08T00:00:00-04:00

Kris Nelson as Raskol - Photo by Peter Vitale

Did he?

In Raskol, Kira Obolensky's rich deconstruction of Dostoevsky's classic Crime And Punishment, currently enjoying a masterful staging by Ten Thousand Things Theater (at the Minnesota Opera Center, 620 N. 1st St., through May 24, tenthousandthings.org), the question of Raskolnikov's guilt is deliberately and potently unclear. Did Raskol (as Obolensky calls him; he's played with sly intensity by Kris Nelson) really kill the pawnbroker and her dim half-sister? We don't witness the murder as we emphatically do in the Dostoevsky novel. We meet the two victims as grizzled dream figures, the product of Raskol's feverish late night imaginings. How reliable are they, really? What Raskol did, or didn't do, is never explicitly spelled out.

Instead, Obolensky gives us Raskol's life in a fast-moving and surprisingly comic swirl – the grasping but sweet landlady (Lisa Clair), his friend Muzhkin (Luverne Seifert), Raskol's mother (Karen Wiese-Thompson), Marmelade the drunk (Seifert again – he very nearly steals the show with his lightning quick character changes) his sister's wealthy but strange fiancé Leonard Wolf (Craig Johnson), and many others. The play moves quickly and as it does we get tidbits of information about the murders. Could he have? Raskol visits the scene of the crime. His increasingly strange behavior causes the other characters to suspect him. We become aware of his blood-stained hands (the theater is small and the play is performed with the houselights up full).

It's at this point that Obolensky gives us her most brilliant creation of all: Detective Perfidy Petrovich, the investigator (superbly played by Charles Schuminski). Arch, well-dressed, almost prim, calm and incisive, Detective Perfidy cuts to the heart of Raskol's guilt. But is he really a policeman? Could he be the product of Raskol's over-heated mind? Are we, the audience, somehow complicit in this crime? Obolensky is not giving out easy answers. Instead, she continues to fly through the story: Raskol confesses, is tried and convicted, sent to Siberia where the story ends with a rich series of encounters between Raskol and the poised yet emotion-rich figure of Sonya (the wonderful Tracey Maloney). Through her, Raskol achieves something like salvation.

The theatricality of all this is heightened by Peter Vitale's jazz score, which weaves sinuously through the action, underscoring and heightening without becoming distracting. This, along with the modern dress approach to the characters and streamlined steel set design puts the emphasis where it should be: on the story and on the acting. This is not an easy play and it may not be to everyone's liking – play-goers expecting a straight-forward take on Dostoevsky's original story are going to be disappointed. But it is rich, satisfying stuff.

The performances are uniformly terrific. The show is anchored by Kris Nelson as Raskol. He prowls the stage, hands twisting, leaping effortlessly between dream and reality, self-absorbed yet very connected to unexpected turns in the side characters. His opposite number is Schuminski, self-contained, deliberate, and probing. Obolensky relies on the rest of the five person ensemble to give us Dostoevsky's huge tapestry and they do so with effortless aplomb. Good acting is always a sign of good writing – and good direction. Particular kudos must go to Michelle Hensley's deft and intelligent staging. She knows when to keep Raskol at the center and when to bring in the other characters, and how to keep the whole thing moving.

Finally, lest this sound too much like an overly intellectual "variation on" a hoary old classic, it should be noted that this play has been staged, like all of TTT's productions, at a variety of prisons (both men and women's), homeless shelters, chemical dependency facilities, community centers, etc. Reaction to the play has been raucously inspiring. This is rich material and it works.

So: did he really? Come see the play and decide for yourself.

Podcast: HowWasTheShow/Minneapoliscast CD Reviews for May 2009

2009-05-05T00:00:00-04:00

HowWasTheShow's David de Young is joined this month by Chris DeLine of Culturebully.com and Pat O'Brien of HowWasTheShow to discuss recent and upcoming Minnesota music CD releases.

Communist Daughter - "Not The kid" - http://myspace.com/communistdaughterband
The 757s - "Amateur" - http://the757s.com
Big Quarters - "Ladies Know" - http://myspace.com/bigquarters
Brad Senne - "Sing & Dance" - http://myspace.com/bradsenne
Me & My Arrow - "Revolver" - http://myspace.com/meandmyringostarr
The Sunny Era - "A Cold Calculation" - http://thesunnyera.com
Magic Castles - "Life if Gemini" - http://myspace.com/themagiccastles

Blooper alerts. Brad Senne's name is actually pronounced SEH-Nee, per Brad himself. Also, although David says "she" at one point when referring to '70s singer Terry Jacks, Jacks most definitely used the little boys' not little girls' room.
MP3 File

Podcast: HowWasTheShow/Minneapoliscast CD Reviews for May 2009

2009-05-05T00:00:00-04:00

HowWasTheShow's David de Young is joined this month by Chris DeLine of Culturebully.com and Pat O'Brien of HowWasTheShow to discuss recent and upcoming Minnesota music CD releases.

Communist Daughter - "Not The kid" - http://myspace.com/communistdaughterband
The 757s - "Amateur" - http://the757s.com
Big Quarters - "Ladies Know" - http://myspace.com/bigquarters
Brad Senne - "Sing & Dance" - http://myspace.com/bradsenne
Me & My Arrow - "Revolver" - http://myspace.com/meandmyringostarr
The Sunny Era - "A Cold Calculation" - http://thesunnyera.com
Magic Castles - "Life if Gemini" - http://myspace.com/themagiccastles

Podcast: HowWasTheShow/Minneapoliscast CD Reviews for May 2009

2009-05-05T00:00:00-04:00

HowWasTheShow's David de Young is joined this month by Chris DeLine of Culturebully.com and Pat O'Brien of HowWasTheShow to discuss recent and upcoming Minnesota music CD releases.

Communist Daughter - "Not The kid" - http://myspace.com/communistdaughterband
The 757s - "Amateur" - http://the757s.com
Big Quarters - "Ladies Know" - http://myspace.com/bigquarters
Brad Senne - "Sing & Dance" - http://myspace.com/bradsenne
Me & My Arrow - "Revolver" - http://myspace.com/meandmyringostarr
The Sunny Era - "A Cold Calculation" - http://thesunnyera.com
Magic Castles - "Life if Gemini" - http://myspace.com/themagiccastles

Podcast: HowWasTheShow/Minneapoliscast CD Reviews for May 2009

2009-05-05T00:00:00-04:00

HowWasTheShow's David de Young is joined this month by Chris DeLine of Culturebully.com and Pat O'Brien of HowWasTheShow to discuss recent and upcoming Minnesota music CD releases.

Communist Daughter - "Not The kid" - http://myspace.com/communistdaughterband
The 757s - "Amateur" - http://the757s.com
Big Quarters - "Ladies Know" - http://myspace.com/bigquarters
Brad Senne - "Sing & Dance" - http://myspace.com/bradsenne
Me & My Arrow - "Revolver" - http://myspace.com/meandmyringostarr
The Sunny Era - "A Cold Calculation" - http://thesunnyera.com
Magic Castles - "Life if Gemini" - http://myspace.com/themagiccastles

Caroline or Change

2009-05-02T00:00:00-04:00

Jamecia Bennett (The Washing Machine), Felicia Boswell, Aurelia Williams and Lynnea Doublette (The Radio) and Greta Oglesby (Caroline Thibodeaux) in the Guthrie Theater production of CAROLINE, OR CHANGE. Photo credit Michal Daniel.

The Guthrie Theater has begun a series of Tony Kushner plays, including a world premier opening later this month, a rare chance to see three productions by this major contemporary playwright. I bought my tickets to Caroline, or Change back in the fall, and have been looking forward to it. I realized it was “a musical,” but knew from Kushner and the Guthrie it would not be your standard Broadway musical. Still, calling it a musical is misleading. Director Marcela Lorca calls it a “modern opera.” And it is. The entire piece is sung, in rhymed lyrics that are nonetheless communicating like spoken dialogue.

So, OK, an opera. It’s important to set your expectations before you go into this production. What was clear to me about Kushner, knowing only Angels in America, was that he pushes the conventions of theater to include as much spectacle, character and ideas as he can. He also pushes it to include as many settings, characters and costumes as he can. Reading Angels, you realize it is written like a novel and lives fully on the page. It’s hard to imagine how anyone can do what he’s proposing in the script on a stage.

Caroline, or Change does the same thing with the musical format. Kushner packs in a tremendous number of musical styles (Motown, funk, soul, rock, gospel, klezmer, jazz, and on and on), sometimes in a single song/speech. What would have been a monologue for August Wilson, or an aria for Giuseppe Verdi, becomes for Kushner a medley of arias with the depth of a Wilson monologue.

When it was on Broadway, Caroline was nominated for six Tony Awards. The one it received was for Best Featured Actress, awarded to Anika Noni Rose in the role of Caroline’s daughter, Emmy. This role is also well-sung and played in the Guthrie production by Nikki Renee Daniels. It is not, however, one of the more interesting roles in the musical. However, she has discreetly demarcated songs to sing, which makes her role stand out. The role of Caroline Thibodeaux, played by Greta Oglesby with great emotional intensity and wonderful singing talent, is astonishing demanding, as she goes from song to song, scene to scene, aria to aria, with few breaks. Of the secondary characters, the most impressive were Regina Marie Williams as Dotty and Julie Reiber as Rose Stopnick Gellman.

But it is the washing machine and the radio who steal the show. The washing machine is possessed by Jamecia Bennett, who in a full island-style dress and turban sings of Caroline’s troubles. The radio is played by Felicia Boswell, Lynnea Doublette and Aurelia Williams, a trio of Motown singers in bright pink shimmy dresses and spike heels dyed to match. They provide a wonderful chorus and soundtrack to Caroline’s life, a show of her spunk and attitude, and dreams gone by the wayside. T. Mychael Rambo has a powerful solo as The Bus, and a small, smoldering role as The Dryer, and overhead serenades Aimee K. Bryant as The Moon.

Another thing the program promised that varied widely from my experience of the play was that “This play reminds us that once again we are living in a time that calls for individual choices, for greater responsibility, for profound change within ourselves, the culture, the global economy.” Further, that “Hope is at the end of this play, hope for change.” I think the play is better than these easy platitudes—platitudes that have lately revived and again flattened through overuse. Caroline goes through a transformation during the course of the musical, but it is from anger and regret to resignation. Her personal choices result in a slim moral victory, but if you are concerned about the life and happiness of Caroline Thibodeaux, the end of the musical is more tragedy than comedy. Hope resides in her daughter, Emmy, who inherits her better chance at life from Martin Luther King and the sacrifices her mother has made. And as far as I can tell, the white people who employ Caroline do not learn their (any) lesson, though poor Noah has an illusion or two broken. The Gellman family is all the more interesting, however, when one realizes that Tony Kushner himself grew up as the son of a clarinet playing father and bassoon playing mother (like Noah), Jewish New York transplants to Lake Charles, Louisiana. And if the musical format and plot restraints keep their family life from being overly realistic, it does not flatten them into stereotypes—they seem also to reflect a myriad of mid-century white, Jewish, American experience. (The one small reference to homosexuality comes when Noah imagines buying Barbie dolls on the sly with his Hanukkah geld).

I highly recommend this production. The sets, costumes, direction and performances are all first rate (and even Noah has his charm). And I haven’t even mentioned how much amazing music comes from what turns out to be an 8-piece combo above the stage. Just don’t forget that this is a Tony Kushner musical, which means it is not light, and it is not airy. But it also means it’s well worth the effort of your attention.

Caroline or Change runs through June 21^st. Tickets and more information from http://www.guthrietheater.org

Legally Blonde, the Musical

2009-04-29T00:00:00-04:00

Legally Blonde - Photo by Joan Marcus

For those of you who love traditional, splashy, singing-and-dancing, feel-good musicals, you’re going to love Legally Blond, the Musical. Closely following the movie, it chronicles the determined heroine, Elle Woods’, journey from sorority girl to Harvard Law School stand-out – a journey precipitated by her love for a self-centered opportunistic snob. (We know what he is from square one but, in the style of good comedy, it takes the whole show for our heroine to figure it out.)

The plot is mostly preposterous, but never mind that; this is musical comedy and nobody claims that it has to make sense. More relevant is that Elle, played by Moorehead, Minnesota native, Becky Gulsvig, is a thoroughly lovable bobblehead who never forgets to help others along the way as she fights to be taken seriously in Harvard’s heady atmosphere. Of course she saves the day and ends up with the right guy – but that’s not even something I need to tell you, right?

What you’re looking for if you are reading this is the spectacle, and you will not be disappointed. With very little dialogue and just one legitimate ballad, any blip in the plot becomes an excuse for a production number replete with set changes flying and sliding seamlessly through it, back-up singers appearing to beef up the tune (often in the form of a Greek chorus, which worked brilliantly), all landing us in another scene without so much as a string tremolo pause in the action. This is live theater for people used to video games.

It works because the writing is good. The lyrics and music, written by husband and wife team, Larry O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin, suit each other, and the book by Heather Hach keeps the story flowing smoothly, according to the premise’s doofy logic. However, I would have appreciated more dialogue as a rest from the action and a chance to think about the characters and their unfolding futures, and I longed for an entire ballad with minimal accompaniment in Act I as a break in the high energy music.

The cast’s performances were stellar, top to bottom – great dancing, singing, timing, the lot – if you like your acting way over the top. They were so good at it, and because it was justifiable given the show, it’s hard to criticize. I just don’t dig it, myself – not quite that big.

There were a couple of other things that bothered me much more. The depiction of gay men actually made me squirm, and these moments drew the biggest laughs. I’m not overly politically correct, but was it necessary to make these characters so ridiculous?

The other issue is not with this show in particular, it is with all musical theater and show singing these days (unless it is more operatic, such as “Phantom”). For some inexplicable reason, young women are being trained to sing in a pinched, nasally, shrill vocal quality that is not only annoying and difficult to listen to, it makes it hard to understand the lyrics, too. Men don’t sing like this, gratefully, and the men in this show were all easier to understand. With the breadth of frequencies narrowed, and so little rich resonance, what we hear is something like a high-pitched bagpipe. I know those talented women don’t have to sing like that; they have been coached to do it. Somebody please explain to me why, in the age of sophisticated sound equipment, this is necessary?

You’ll also have to buy into the milieu or you might get a prickly feeling about the sexism, which is rampant. Other than that, you’ll have a dandy evening of pure entertainment from the sorority girls shrieking “Oh, my God!” to Bruiser’s perfectly trained barks, to an hilarious spoof on River Dance.

“Legally Blond” runs through May 10. Wear pink.

Peter, Bjorn and John

2009-04-21T00:00:00-04:00

Peter, Bjorn and John - Photo by Jenn Barnett

Fresh off their Coachella gig, I imagine Peter, Bjorn and John were still discovering sand in odd places as they arrived in Minneapolis for their first “proper club gig” promoting their new album Living Thing. You can fully indulge in their new album on peterbjornandjohn.com (I’d also check out their a la mode performance of “Living Thing” in the back of a London cab—silly, sweet, and fabulous).

After seeing them at their last Minneapolis gig (First Ave in 2008), I quickly learned they were definitely not a one-hit wonder (“Young Folks”) but a polished trio bearing a slew of great songs; they were incredible live as well. Their latest Minneapolis appearance, despite being brief, was further proof of this. They began with new material and sprinkled it throughout the night: “Just the Past”, “It Don’t Move Me”, “Nothing to Worry About”, “Lay It Down” and the delightful title track “Living Thing”. They played a precious few tracks from their wealth of older material: “It Beats Me Every Time”, “Amsterdam”, and of course the ubiquitous head-bobber “Young Folks” during the encore.

They tossed in The Feelie’s “Fa Ce´ La” and ended with the sublime “Object of My Affection” off last year’s Writer’s Block. The trio returned for a raucous three-song encore including a lengthy, droning version of “Up Against the Wall” into which they spliced a bit of Joy Division’s “Transmisssion” (which I momentarily thought might be a promo for Jake Rudh’s Wednesday night Club Jaeger weekly of the same name.)

Clocking in at just over an hour, their set was disappointing in length but satisfying in quality. They’ve got the whole package: style (impeccably worn ascots), a growing and progressive discography (five full-lengths), and live shows that leave you excited to go home and rather obsessively listen to them for the rest of the week.

Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3 with Adam Levy (review and slideshow)

2009-04-19T00:00:00-04:00

Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3 with opener Adam Levy. Slideshow by Jenn Barnett, set to “What You Is” by Robyn Hitchcock from Good Night, Olso.

(Review by David de Young)

Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3 opened up their set at the Varsity Sunday night with a nod to one time Dinkytown resident Bob Dylan, playing a cover of Dylan’s “She Belongs to Me.” The Venus 3, Hitchcock’s latest backing band, includes Peter Buck of R.E.M. on guitar, Scott McCaughey of the Young Fresh Fellows on bass and Bill Rieflin on drums.

I haven’t missed a local Robyn Hitchcock show in maybe 20 years, and this one was up there with the best of them, a perfect mixture of old and new songs that demonstrated without a doubt this great songwriter (called the “Alternative Dylan” last week by CNN) is still writing classic songs and delivering exquisite, memorable performances treasured by fans worldwide.

I got chills and could not help but sing along to myself during “I Often Dream of Trains.” “Television” also cut straight into me, and “Madonna of The Wasps” was surely another set highlight, though Hitchcock fans each have their own favorites, and I’m sure this show was a different experience for everyone. I heard similar positive responses from both longtime Robyn fans and those who seeing him for the first time.

Hitchcock engaged in his traditional local chit chat that included asking about the Nicollet Mall and The Foshay Tower and giving the requisite shout out to Minneapolis writer Jim Walsh, who was in attendance as always. Hitchcock also gave serious props to Erik Stromstad of the Varsity Theater who was running sound on the Varsity’s new Wi-Fi enabled soundboard that can be controlled (including monitors) via laptop from anywhere in the club. Hitchcock’s lavish praise of Stromstad included a story where he said he’d arrived to find Erik sitting lotus position on the floor meditating upon a blanket of rose petals. The story was so full of details I cannot remember them all, but I hazard to guess it’s the best shout out Erik Stromstad has ever received and likely ever will.

The satisfying 16 song set (reproduced below as best I can figure it – corrections welcome!) included 3 encores and closed with the title track of Hitchock’s latest album Good Night, Olso.

Videos from this show:

(See also Robert Loerzel's review and photos of the Chicago show on Underground Bee.)
Varsity Theater Set List, Sunday, April 19^th, 2009

She Belongs to Me (Bob Dylan)
I Often Dream of Trains
What You Is
Brenda’s Iron Sledge
Out of the Picture
Saturday Groovers
Television
TLC
Vibrating
Only The Stones Remain
Hurry For The Sky
Madonna of the Wasps
Up To Our Nex
Beautiful Queen
Creeped Out
New York Doll

(I Got The Hots was also in here somewhere)

Encore:

The Lizard
Kingdom of Love
Good Night Olso

Interview: Stuart D'Rozario

2009-04-18T00:00:00-04:00

Stuart D'Rozario - Photo by Paul Erickson

Stuart D’Rozario is a local singer-songwriter who has been involved in the other side of the music business – he’s been an advertising executive for some of the largest firms in the country, and currently is partner at Barrie D’Rozario Murphy. In this interview, he talks about working in the advertising industry, his songwriting process and his show at the Guthrie Theatre on Monday, April 20^th.

How Was The Show: When did you get started playing music? Did you take lessons or are you mostly self-taught?

Stuart D’Rozario: I started when I was 12. I’m mostly self-taught, but I’ve also taken lessons. Studied some finer picking techniques and learned a bit of music theory.

HWTS: You’ve worked in the advertising business since you got out of college – how much impact did your music interest and background have on your career?

SD’R: It’s helped a lot. And vice versa. Both involve ideas, writing and production -- as well as getting a message or emotion across to people.

HWTS: You are a partner at Barrie D’Rozario Murphy, an advertising and marketing firm headquartered here in Minneapolis. Talk about a typical day at BDM.

SD’R: A normal day is a mix of being serious and having fun. You’re serious about solving business problems for clients, but you have to come up with fun, engaging and entertaining ways to do that. I spend a lot of time going through ideas that teams in our creative department come up with. I’m on planes a fair bit, to present work to clients and get closer to their business. When we are in production for a commercial, it involves being at shoots, edits, and music recording.

HWTS: You’ve lived and worked around the world -- what do you enjoy most about the Twin Cities that makes you want to live here?

SD’R: I did love it until the last winter. Now I’m on the fence. Seriously, it’s a great city, especially if you have a family, as I do. My wife and son like it here too. It’s big enough and small enough. You’re in the center of the country -- two or three hours from both coasts, which is convenient. I like that it’s culturally rich and has four seasons, including winter.

HWTS: Tell me about your songwriting and recording process -- how does a song go from idea to finished form?

SD’R: I’ve learned that it’s important to capture ideas as you have them. Whether it’s words or music, I immediately record stuff. I have a small old-fashioned tape player with a record button and I keep it handy and travel with it too. These days I also use an iPhone recorder app that I sing, hum or talk into, which syncs with iTunes.

For me, a song is mostly about capturing an emotion. If you get that right, the song works. I rewrite lyrics a lot until they feel right and look right typed out. It might sound a bit odd, but I actually feel the look of words typed on a paper is a good judge of how well it’s going to work in a song.

My recording process is pretty typical -- we get the band together and record basic tracks, then work on overdubs, vocals and harmonies in the weeks after. On American Love, Ken, Tommy and Jim all helped me produce different tracks. It’s really a team effort.

Once we’re done recording, of course, we mix. I’ve mixed both records with a great engineer, Charlie Paakkari, at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles. That’s a more reductive process, where we sometimes leave things out as we finalize mixes.

HWTS: American Love is your second CD – how has your songwriting evolved since the 2006 release of Songs About Now?

SD’R: The songs for American Love are a bit different from Songs About Now. The main difference is that I wrote them with the band in mind. The first record was more about me and a guitar.

HWTS: You’ve worked with some serious heavyweights on both of your CDs , including Tommy Barbarella (Prince), Jim Anton (Jonny Lang) and Noah Levy (Honeydogs). How did you come to work with such a high-powered group of people?

SD’R: They are a great bunch of guys and a pleasure to work with. I met them while working on the first record. We all seemed to connect and get along both musically and personally. So it’s been easy and fun. We’ve also become good friends over the past few years, which helps the music and the process.

The reason it works is because we share a common goal of creating music that we can be proud off. We set the bar high and we work hard. And most important, we have fun. At the end of the day, if you can’t have fun making music, it’s probably not worth doing.

HWTS: You have a show on Monday, April 20th at the Guthrie Theater. What are we going to see there?

SD’R: This is part of the Monday Night at the Guthrie Series. We’ll have the whole band playing and will also have a string quartet join us for a few quieter songs. Artist proceeds will be donated to a grassroots non-profit in St Paul – Lift Kids.

HWTS: Thanks for taking the time to answer all these questions. Any final comments?

SD’R: A pleasure. Thanks for doing this. Hope to see you at the show.

God's Ear

2009-04-17T00:00:00-04:00

Sara Richardson, Meg Crawford and Dylan Fresco in God's Ear - Photo by Liz Josheff

God’s Ear, Jenny Schwartz’s poetically-infused drama about a married couple trying to cope with the death of a son, was first produced in New York City in the spring of 2007. Friday night, Red Eye Theater gave the play an engaging and thought-provoking area premier as part of the Minneapolis Theater company’s 25^th season.

Directed by Steve Busa, Red Eye’s production features Sara Richardson as Mel and Dylan Fresco as Ted, a couple who have recently lost their young son to accidental drowning. As an audience we eavesdrop on the unique ways each of them mourn and watch as their marriage suffers under the strain. Their remaining child, daughter Lanie (Meg Crawford), helps them limp along the path to healing with the candid inquisitiveness of a child. Lanie asks her mother at one point, “Who’s the saddest?” as if grief were some sort of competition. In a macabre twist of coincidence, as Ted travels on business, most everyone he strikes up conversation with also just so happens to have a dead son.

Clichés and rhythmic wordplay abound in Schwartz’s script, and those clichés serve as a device that drive the dialog forward, creating an awkward distance between the words spoken and the real human emotions to which they refer. Conversations run in circles, returning to their starting point and beginning again. Repetition of questions with different answers each time hint at the complex and contradictory feelings often associated with loss (or human emotion in general.) Schwartz effectively demonstrates that when you pile enough cliché’s one on top of another, the construct eventually cracks under its own weight and you begin see what’s really going on behind the words through the fissures. Showing us real grief by using language that always falls short is how this script and production succeeds.

In another clever theatric device, mere mentions The Tooth Fairy and G.I. Joe result in those entities entering the play as supporting characters (played by Miriam Must and Stephen Pearce respectively.) These characters also help ground the others, reminding them of realities as they continually seem to flee from them. Mel and Lanie bury a G.I. Joe action figure in the sandbox. When G.I. Joe appears life-size and in the flesh moments later, Mel and Joe argue: “We buried you,” Mel says. “I escaped,” Joe replies, a clear metaphor for the pain she has tried but failed to push aside.

Richardson and Fresco are uncommonly familiar as the modern couple. Miriam Must is a real treat as The Tooth Fairy, complete with battered wings. Other roles which serve to broaden out the show are Lenora (played delightfully by Sara Truesdale ) and Guy (played with appropriate dryness by Bruce Abas.) A transvestite flight attendant (also played by Stephen Pearce) also figures in. The play features several songs by composer David Means, but is far from a musical, the songs being more incidental and at times almost arbitrary.

The hour and 45 minute show that runs straight through with no intermission left me with a somewhat uneasy feeling as it came to a close. It’s not the sort of play that’s easily discussed immediately after seeing it; rather it’s good to let it sink in for a day or so. It certainly serves as a reminder that people dealing with loss frequently do just about everything except deal with it. Though some of the quirkiness here means the show is not for everyone, God’s Ear is definitely worth catching for the quality of the performances and the cleverness of the script on their own.

God’s Ear runs through May 3^rd. Tickets and more info from http://www.redeyetheater.org

Podcast: Mad Ripple Hootenanny

2009-04-16T00:00:00-04:00

Hoot family portrait by Jenn Barnett - 4/16/09

The Mad Ripple Hootenanny recorded April 9th, 2009 at The Beat Coffeehouse in Uptown Minneapolis.

With The Mad Ripple, Jerry Lefkowitz, Graham Early, Jaspar Lepak, Shawn Gibbons, The Ultan Sisters, Jim Hanneman, Jimmy Sheehy, and cameos by Terry Walsh and Ashleigh Still.

See also, Jenn Barnett's slideshow of photos from this Hoot, set to music by Jaspar Lepak.

3 hours and 0 minutes.

Open player in new window | Download

Podcast: HowWasTheShow/Minneapoliscast CD Reviews for April 2009

2009-04-14T00:00:00-04:00