When producing artistic director Natalie Novacek referred to her “stupidly talented cast” during a toast on the preview night for The Best Brothers, I smiled and raised my glass, but I’ll admit that I was thinking, ‘Sure, you’re the director, you’d have to say that, wouldn’t you?’ But as I sat in the Open Eye Figure Theater and watched the…
By ELLEN FERRY. Anyone in search of the perfect evening out this holiday season should certainly consider a stroll under the glittering lights of St. Paul’s Rice Park, followed by a visit to the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts. For a production as iconic as Rodger and Hammerstein’s “The Sound of Music,” I can…
If I could review the entire experience of seeing Between the Worlds in one word, it would be “beautiful” and if I could do it in only two words, they would be “exceptionally beautiful”. However, I feel that even those two words are insufficient. Through song, dance, puppets, storytelling, music, and movement, the show celebrates the…
by CHRISTINE SARKES SASSEVILLE Russ King’s hilarious holiday drag satire pokes fun of ethnic groups, religion, lesbians, bad sweaters and Rosemount. No group is safe from Miss Richfield 1981’s sharp-tongued, spike-heeled humor. King’s hysterically funny Miss Richfield 1981’s Christmas Cone of Silence is a holiday tradition for many repeat audience members and a break from treacly holiday fare for newcomers. King’s beauty queen alter ego,…
Much like Christmas carols, Christmas plays already exist in such numbers that creating a new one that puts a fresh new spin on things is quite the challenge. Kudos to Lyric Arts, then, for accepting that challenge by commissioning and mounting Christmas in the Airwaves by playwright John Patrick Bray. Set in 1944, Christmas in the Airwaves follows the adventures of a…
In only their second ever production, Casting Spells Productions takes on Terrence McNally‘s late-80s play, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune. It’s a bold choice, given that it’s a two-hour production with a very intimate setting and features only two characters; with a weak performance by either actor or mismatched chemistry, the whole thing would fall apart. Luckily,…
BY TAMAR NEUMANN: If you have been following Aisle Say you will know that there are a couple of current Shakespeare and Shakespeare contemporary plays being performed in the Twin Cities right now. Since it is Fall, that means two of those productions are being done by the Classical Actors Ensemble. This year they have chosen…
by CHRISTINE SARKES SASSEVILLE Guthrie Theater’s new artistic director Joseph Haj could not have chosen a more timely and relevant play to open his first season than Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, now through October 25 (recently extended) on the Wurtele Thrust Stage. As he states in the program’s introduction, “There is a timeliness to…
Becoming Dr. Ruth: In Life and Sex, You’ve Got to Finish By Rebecca Halat and Adam M. Schenck The Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company’s production of Becoming Dr. Ruth traces the story of the internationally-known sex therapist Dr. Ruth K. Westheimer from her youth in Nazi Germany to how we know her today. Youthful actress…
BY TAMAR NEUMANN: As the sun begins to set on summer in Minneapolis, there is one last outdoor show you should make time for—Mixed Precipitation’s Escape From Alcina’s Island: A Picnic Operetta. In its 7th year, Mixed Precipitation has started a wonderful tradition of bringing good, local food and opera together. The play this year is…
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