by CHRISTINE SARKES I’m writing this review as an unabashed Jane Austen fan and addressing it to the likewise. Anyone else is a mystery to me and I wouldn’t know where to begin. Janeites/Austenites will love the Guthrie Theater and Kate Hamill’s reverent, yet lightly modernized adaptation of Sense and Sensibility. With spot-on lead performances, exceptional ensemble…
I’m just going to come right out and say it: I loved Le Switch. I feel a little guilty about this, mainly because it’s a pretty standard form rom-com complete with quirky characters and convenient coincidences and the overarching message that the best, most important thing you can do in life is fall in love and get…
tot is Mu Performing Arts‘ 50th World Premiere of a new play; in this case, playwright Victor Maog‘s quirky piece about a ten-year-old boy who immigrates from the Philippines to the San Francisco Bay Area to be reunited with his parents. Tot’s parents had departed from then military-ruled Philippines to seek a better life, leaving their only son…
Anatomy of Gray marks the first non-musical I have seen at Anoka’s Lyric Arts Main Street Stage, and to put it succinctly, I was glad I went. The show is a little bit drama, a little bit comedy, a little bit medical mystery, and a little bit fantasy (I mean, come on, one of the main characters…
Hope Theater Company has been around since 2013, but Recent Experiences is only their second production to date. Touted as a “mini-epic”, the play sets out to explore the political events and cultural shifts that took place through the 20th century as seen through four generations of a single family. It’s an ambitious task, particularly for a 75-minute…
By ELLEN FERRY. The quaint, intimate space at the Chanhassen Dinner Theatre can barely contain the dynamism of its latest production, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. For the first time in more than ten years, the beloved fairytale has returned to the charming west-suburban locale. The March 11th opener did not disappoint. Three-dimensional costuming and…
I don’t know much about dance, and so sometimes I shy away from reviewing dance shows, because I feel that I don’t have the expertise to critique it. When I heard about COLLIDE’s new production of Dracula, my instinct was not to go, because how could I talk about jazz dance when I couldn’t remember which…
As the curtain lowers (yes, lowers) at the beginning of Open Eye Figure Theatre‘s production of Happy Days, even those audience members who are familiar with the play are somewhat surprised. There is just no way to see a play that features a woman buried up to her waist in sand and her mostly-monosyllabic partner without feeling…
BY TAMAR NEUMANN: The latest production from In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre (HOBT), The Story of Crow Boy, is an adaptation of the children’s book by the same name. But due to the nature of theatre and the collaboration of this production, it is much more than that. It goes beyond…
By ELLEN FERRY. I took my seat before the Andy Boss Thrust Stage fearful that what I was about to witness—a 90-minute rendition of one of the finest plays ever written—would feel severely truncated. Romeo and Juliet’s star-crossed love is archetypal. The tale need not be explained, but would such a short run-time leave me…
