Sheena Janson plays the Baker’s Wife in the wonderful Mu Performing Arts production of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Into The Woods (Mu, performing at Park Square Theatre, through Aug 5). Ms. Janson is quite the best actor in the…
Author: John Olive
Into The Woods by Mu Performing Arts, at Park Square Theatre
Stephen Sondheim‘s Into The Woods (Mu Performing Arts performing at Park Square, through Aug 5) can be, like many late Sondheim works, difficult. The songs, it goes without saying, thrill: Into The Woods contains the moving “No One Is Alone,”…
The Sunshine Boys at the Guthrie Theater
Peter Michael Goetz dominates The Sunshine Boys (at the Guthrie, through September 2), Neil Simon‘s paean to the lost glories of Vaudeville. Goetz plays Willie Clark, one half of the famous comedy team Lewis and Clark. It’s the early 70s…
Roman Holiday at the Guthrie Theater
One can’t dismiss Roman Holiday (at the Guthrie Theater, through August 19) as a garbled and predictable musicalization of a classic 1950s film. Production values are too high. This is the great and grand Guthrie. They have spent a gazillion…
Radiate Live! at the Pillsbury House Theatre
Jomama Jones and her piquant band of accompanists have arrived at the Pillsbury House Theatre with a terrific show, Radiate Live! (through June 24). My firm advice: call the Pillsbury BO and make your rezzies. This show will take you…
Laughter On The 23rd Floor at Park Square Theatre
Neil Simon is often – unjustly, I believe – accused of being a mere jokester, a creator of le gag juste, the ka-ching king. Okay, yes, it must be admitted, Simon’s plays do brim with jokes. But the reason they…
The Origin(s) Project by Dreamland Arts
When we are born, we are, in the words of the famous University of Minnesota geneticist David Lykken, “exposed negatives.” Environment – our rearing – controls how well that negative is developed. But most of what we possess comes directly…
The Amen Corner by Penumbra Theatre Co., performing at the Guthrie
Luke staggers into his ex-wife Margaret’s Harlem flat – it’s the closest thing he has to “home” – carrying one thing: his shiny, lovingly maintained trumpet. Margaret, popular pastor of a fundamentalist church, is appalled to see him. He represents…
Pippi Longstocking at Children’s Theatre Company
Katie Adducci delivers a sweet and winning performance as the young rebel in CTC’s charming Pippi Longstocking (Children’s Theatre Company, through June 10). Whipping Pippi’s famous red braids perilously close to the other characters, leaping and prancing, cackling with laughter,…
Learn To Be Latina at Mixed Blood Theatre
In the demented, clutch-popping and mud puddle shallow Learn To Be Latina (Mixed Blood Theatre, through May 13), by Enrique Urueta, a sweet-tempered, blissfully open Lebanese-American (clear emphasis on the latter), Hanan Mashalani, is informed that although she exhibits serious…