The Kennedy Center has brought its national tour of Barrio Grrrl! to the Minneapolis Children’s Theatre, offering a view of summer in the barrio through the eyes of 9-year-old Ana (Desireé Rodriguez). To alleviate the boredom of being left home…
Category: Theater
Cabaret by Frank Theatre
Frank Theatre has opened its 22nd season with a gutsy and – well, frank interpretation of the now classic Broadway musical, Cabaret. Stripped down to its both smarmy and beautiful story, and set in a near-perfect environment at the Centennial…
Hair at the Orpheum
I was an earnest schoolboy in a small southern Minnesota town when Hair (at the Orpheum, through March 6, produced by the Hennepin Theater Trust) first came out. It blew me away. I never saw the actual show, of course;…
Song Of Extinction by Theater Latté Da performing on the Guthrie’s Dowling Stage
Normally Latté Da specializes in intelligent but feel-good music theater: All Is Calm, La Bohème, The Full Monty, etc. But here they are, tackling E.M. Lewis‘s challenging straight play (such an odd term) Song Of Extinction (Theater Latté Da performing…
The Balcony by Jean Genet, a nimbus theatre production
Kicking off its 10th season, nimbus has christened a new permanent theater space at 1517 Central Avenue in Northeast Minneapolis with a spicy adaptation of Jean Genet’s controversial The Balcony (nimbus theater, February 11th through March 6th). A sign posted…
Agnes Under The Big Top at Mixed Blood Theatre
Agnes Under The Big Top (Mixed Blood Theater, through March 6) is like the New York City subway on which much of it is set: dark, scary, echoey, pulsing, with sudden flashes of bright and harsh illumination. Playwright/director Aditi Kapil…
Doubt, A Parable at Ten Thousand Things Theater
Does anyone doubt Father Flynn’s innocence? John Patrick Shanley‘s masterful Doubt, A Parable (Ten Thousand Things Theater, through March 6) is often portrayed as a mystery. Did Flynn, as Sister Aloysius so stridently claims, really commit “an indiscretion” with the…
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, a Penumbra Theatre production at the Guthrie Theater
On rare occasions in theater, all the critical elements seem to converge in one glorious experience. The script is brilliant, the actors are perfectly suited to their roles, and the director, with great respect for both, seems to simply open…
Drakul at Walking Shadow Theatre Company
Dracula burns with sexuality: the oily count, dressed in smooth leather and crisp shirts, his creepy yet compelling accent, so obsequiously polite. And of course his gleamingly sharp teeth as he wraps the swooning maidens in his cape and drinks,…
Shirley Valentine at The Jungle Theater
Cheryl Willis is blessed with an easy-going, laid-back charisma. She quickly takes and holds the stage in Willy Russell‘s solo show Shirley Valentine (at the Jungle Theater, through March 20). Willis is tall, down to earth, wiry black hair, her…