Compare the focused intimacy of Once (at the Orpheum, through April 6) with the over-the-top, big-bang-for-your-buck musicals recently produced in the same venue. Phantom Of The Opera, Evita, The Book Of Mormon, et al. Once contains no gee-whiz, that-musta-costa-fortune scenic…
Tag: Orpheum Theatre
Les Misérables at the Orpheum Theatre
We’re going to make the crabby and dyspeptic Critic stand in the corner for this one.  Stay. Quiet. Ahem. The venerable and vaunted Les Mis has roared into town for a disappointingly short run at the Orpheum (the show closes…
War Horse at the Orpheum Theatre
World War One, aka the Great War.  Unrelenting sordidness, a sea of blood seeping into endless mud, no-man’s-land stretching for hundreds of miles, forty plus million human beings killed or maimed, a whole generation lost. No heroes, no real villains. …
The Book Of Mormon at the Orpheum
Mormonism offers a broad-side-of-the-barn target for satirists. Just a few historical details (I can’t help myself): in the 1830s Joseph Smith dug up (on a hill in upstate NY) a set of golden plates etched with writing (“reformed Egyptian”). Using…
Mamma Mia! at the Orpheum Theatre
The pitch for the Broadway touring production of Mamma Mia! is “You already know you’re gonna love it!†Judging by the opening night audience, at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Minneapolis, I’d say that’s fairly accurate. A good portion of…
The Lion King at the Orpheum Theatre
“I don’t do children’s theater,” director Julie Taymor informed the powers-that-be at the vaunted Disney Corporation “and I don’t do cute.” To their immense credit, they hired her anyway. The inventive Ms. Taymor then proceeded to transform the animated Disney…
“West Side Story” at the Orpheum Theatre
There’s still time to make a performance of West Side Story brought to the Twin Cities by the Hennepin Theatre Trust – and you should! This recent revival keeps all the grace and beauty of the original Broadway production,…
Billy Elliot at the Orpheum Theatre
The Hennepin Theatre Trust has brought a powerhouse hit in for the holidays with the Tony Award-winning Billy Elliot. Based on the Universal Pictures/Studio Canal film, but reworked for the stage production by bookwriter and lyricist Lee Hall, and with…
Spring Awakening at The Orpheum Theatre
In Spring Awakening (Hennepin Theatre Trust performing at the Orpheum, tonight — Nov 7 – only) the musical creators have made a magical discovery: that the flowery 19th century text can be combined with 21st century rock music and the…
Rock of Ages at the Orpheum Theater
Get ready to rock, folks, Broadway is finally sharing its star-building power with music’s bad boys and their millions of fans. The national touring production of Rock of Ages, which opened at the Orpheum in downtown Minneapolis last night, is…