The Guthrie Theater has picked what may be the world’s most perfectly constructed musical for its summer audiences. Meredith Willson’s “The Music Man†is just brilliant writing, and that’s all there is to it—a musical comedy lovers’ musical, and a…
Category: Theater
Choir Boy at the Guthrie Theater
Easily the best aspect of the Guthrie‘s incisive production of Tarell Alvin McCraney‘s Choir Boy (in the Dowling Studio, through July 5) is John-Michael Lyles‘ performance as the lead, Pharus. Lyles is overtly fey, gesticulating wildly, with a rich tenor…
Damn Yankees at the Ordway
Truth be told, Damn Yankees (the Ordway, through June 28) is not a great show. It has its charms and a handful of memorable tunes, but its plot is, well, dumb. A reframing of Faust set in the world of 1950s…
You Can’t Take It With You at the Jungle Theater
Were I a finger-wagging, dyspeptic, world-weary and jaundiced Critic, I might take George S. Kaufmann and Moss Hart, authors of You Can’t Take It With You (at the Jungle, through August 9) to task for blatantly predictable manipulation. Why can’t…
H2O by Gremlin Theatre, performing at the Minneapolis Theatre Garage
Plan on going out for drinks following Gremlin Theater’s regional premier of Jane Martin’s new play H2O, because you will need them. Not only is the show a provocative conversation starter diving headlong into weighty topics of meaning and purpose, but…
“Dido and Aeneas†and “Orpheus and Eurydice†by Garden of Song Opera at the Como Lakeside Pavilion
I was in Nashville recently and found myself bragging to musicians there about all the great legit singers, particularly women, in the Twin Cities. A new opera company, I learned last night, is out to give them more performance opportunities.…
Juno And The Paycock at the Guthrie Theater
You have to respect Joe Dowling for closing his long and celebrated tenure as the Guthrie Theater’s artistic director with Sean O’Casey‘s classic Juno and the Paycock, a show that pays homage to his most personal cultural and artistic influences…
Twelfth Night by Mu Performing Arts performing at Mixed Blood
I’ve never seen the Mixed Blood stage looking so good. The space is arranged arena style, stage painted a nice warm color, with a few tastefully placed platforms, some truly lovely Vietnamese lights, a few sit-upons. The set for Mu’s…
The Gospel Of Lovingkindness at Pillsbury House Theatre
As the father of an eighteen year old son, I readily understood, in Marcus Gardley‘s moving The Gospel Of Lovingkindness (at the Pillsbury House Theatre, through June 28), Mary Lee Black’s simple statement, “I put everything I had into that…
Camelot at the Ordway
Camelot (at the Ordway, through May 17) harkens back to a simpler age, when a sturdy chap like Lancelot could be an arrogant, egotistical, sword-twirling, overweening and preening [your carefully chosen word here], and still get the girl. Nowadays a…