Would, I wondered, Ellen McLaughlin‘s effective Ajax In Iraq (Frank Theatre, performing at the Playwrights Center, through Nov 27) work in 2011? The U.S. involvement in that country is winding down, measured now in days. For Iraqis, of course, the…
Category: Reviews
“Il Campiello” by Ten Thousand Things Theater at Open Book
Ten Thousand Things Theater continues its practice of bringing theater to people who may otherwise never see it with a new adaptation of Carlo Goldoni’s Il Campiello. Steven Epp’s adaptation is commedia-inspired fun—a little Laurel & Hardy, a little light…
The Edge Of Our Bodies at the Guthrie
As the audience enters the theater for the performance of Adam Rapp‘s taut The Edge Of Our Bodies (in the Guthrie‘s Dowling Studio, through Nov 20), actor Ali Rose Dachis sits, prim and unmoving, on the edge of a chair. …
“Oliver Twist” at Park Square Theatre
St. Paul’s Park Square Theatre has included a Victorian era piece in recent seasons and continues this season with an adaptation of Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist by Neil Barlett. Joel Sass, the Jungle Theater’s associate artistic director was coaxed across…
“La Cage Aux Folles” at the State Theatre
The Hennepin Theatre Trust has opened it’s 2011-12 season with a guaranteed winner. Forget what you know about La Cage aux Folles and start over. Yes, the daffy premise and the flamboyant drag queens are there, but this production has…
Four Destinies by Mu Performing Arts at Mixed Blood
Playwright Katie Hae Leo presents us with a pleasantly breezy and vivacious narrator in her lovely Four Destinies (Mu Performing Arts at Mixed Blood Theatre, through Oct 30). The narrator is named Katie Leo. This Katie is a playwright and…
Come Fly Away at the Ordway
Perhaps I’m beginning my review on an unacceptably mercantile note, but I believe that the under-sung heroes of the thrilling Come Fly Away (at the Ordway, through Oct 16) are the producers, and their agents and attorneys, who worked the…
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee by Theatre Latte Da performing at the Ordway
Looking for some undemanding entertainment? Something that provides talented actor/singers with a vehicle for goofy characterization, plus a slew of tuneful songs? Minus the distraction of a real story? Of course you are! Theater Latté Da has the show for…
The K Of D at Illusion Theater
Laura Schellhardt’s slice of American Gothic mines the enigmatic Midwest by weaving spooky rural tall tales in her supernatural-themed play The K of D: An Urban Legend (Illusion Theater, through October 22). This eerie coming-of-age tale features a tour-de-force performance…
Two Trains Running at Penumbra Theatre
August Wilson’s probing and evocative portrait of Black America and the African-American experience can be seen in this searing and inspired production of Two Trains Running (Penumbra Theatre, through October 30). It is the seventh play of Mr. Wilson’s 20thCentury…