Author: Mari Wittenbreer

Fiddler On The Roof: another barebones masterwork from TTT

When Ten Thousand Things, decides to mount Fiddler on the Roof, one of Broadway’s longest running and best loved musicals, one can’t help but wonder just how they will handle it. The answer is a singular, energetic experience. The itinerant…

Little Shop Of Horrors: Twisted Fun

Americans have an affinity for ghoulish comedies. Arsenic and Old Lace, recently revived by the Guthrie, has kept audiences laughing at two murderous old ladies for generations. Rocky Horror Picture Show is another more recent example of this peculiarly American…

FUN HOME is fun, tragic, intelligent, witty

A few years ago Lisa Kron wrote the book and lyrics for a musical based on Alison Bechdel’s graphic memoir, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic. With the aid of composer Jeanine Tesori the result was the 2015 Tony Award winning,…

105 Proof, Or, The Killing Of Mack “The Silencer” Klein by Transatlantic Love Affair, performing in the Illusion Theatre

No doubt about it, Transatlantic Love Affair knows how to spin a ripping good yarn. Their newest effort 105 Proof or, The Killing of Mack “the Silencer” Klein is testament to their storytelling skill. Eight barefooted actors with no props…

Pericles by Ten Thousand Things Theatre

Shakespeare’s Pericles is an almost perfect play for Ten Thousand Things and their target audience. TTT performs all of its plays free of charge at schools, correctional facilities, women’s shelters and other institutions before coming to Open Book in Minneapolis…

Jitney at Penumbra Theatre

August Wilson’s plays are not slice of life dramas with straight-as-a-knife plotlines. They embody broad swaths of Black history played out decade by decade. Jitney, now at Penumbra Theatre, is no exception. Set in the 1970’s, Wilson employs gossip, personal…

Camelot at Chanhassen Dinner Theatre

  The best thing about the new production of Lerner and Loewe’s Camelot (Chanhassen Dinner Theatre, through February 25, 2017) is King Arthur. Keith Rice has everything the role requires and is a delight to watch. He’s developed a complex character…