Mark Benninghfen, who plays the eponymous character in Stephen Sondheim‘s giddy and brilliantly tuneful revenge fantasia, Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street (Theater Latté Da, performing at the Ritz Theater, through Oct 25) is a revelation: board stiff…
Category: Reviews
Ariadne Auf Naxos by the Minnesota Opera performing at the Ordway
We (my lovely wife Mary; my lovely HowWasTheShow.com colleague Janet Preus; Janet’s handsome SO Tim; and yours truly) attended the “Social Media Preview Night” last night of Minnesota Opera‘s upcoming production of Richard Strauss‘s intense and turgid and tuneful Ariadne…
The Iveys 2015
Replete with glitz, red carpet photographers, and television coverage (the awards will air locally Sunday, September 27, from 7-9 pm CDT on the CW), the Ivey Awards are a yearly opportunity to celebrate and revel in the immense talent and…
To Kill A Mockingbird at the Guthrie Theater
In an interview in 1964 Harper Lee, the author of the novel To Kill a Mockingbird (stage version at the Guthrie Theater, through Oct 18) said, “All I want to be is the Jane Austin of South Alabama.†Fifty years…
A Lie Of The Mind by Theatre Pro Rata, performing at Nimbus Theater
What’re you gonna do with an unwieldy – and bloodily frightening piece of stagecraft like Sam Shepard‘s A Lie Of The Mind (Theatre Pro Rata, performing at Nimbus Theater, through Sept 27)? You might just through up your arms and…
Cinderella at the Orpheum
For many of us, raised on its various television renditions, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (Hennepin Theatre Trust, performing at the Orpheum Theatre, through Sept 13) is the Cinderella. Those who grew up with this music find it impossible to hear…
Annapurna at The Jungle Theater
We are introduced to Ulysses, the hermitous center of Sharr White’s marital dramedy Annapurna (The Jungle Theater, through October 18) as he is frying rotten sausage in the dilapidated confines of his ramshackle trailer. He is clothed in nothing but…
Akeelah And The Bee at the Children’s Theatre Company
Akeelah And The Bee (Children’s Theatre Company, through Oct 11) tells a real story. The characters have substance, arcs, power. There is a plot, and it’s a plot you can get your teeth into. Akeelah Anderson, a focused and passionate…
Extremities by Dark And Stormy Productions
* * * SPOILER ALERT * * * It is impossible to write about William Mastrosimone‘s crudely effective Extremities (Dark & Stormy Productions, performing in the Grain Belt Warehouse, through Sept 19) without revealing crucial plot details. So if…
The Pirates Of Penzance at the Ordway
The first thing to say about the Ordway’s rollicking production of the William Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan classic The Pirates Of Penzance (in the cavernous Ordway, through August 16): it’s good. Excellent, in fact. Especially the music. Everyone sings the…