by MICHAEL J. OPPERMAN The Minnesota Opera’s production of Tosca included drama that is usually reserved for the opera itself. Only a few days before opening night, Hungarian soprano Csilla Boross backed out of the role of Tosca for “personal reasons.” Kelly Kaduce stepped in, having sung the part only once professionally (for the Houston…
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 MICHAEL J. OPPERMAN For 25 years, the Ordway has been bringing contemporary performing artists from around the world to Minnesota through the Target® World Music & Dance Series. Since the initiative began in 1991, more than 900,000 P-12 students have attended performances. Thousands more have attended public performances, participated in workshops, and experienced pre-show…
by CHRISTINE SARKES The Broadway classic and iconic A Chorus Line receives reverential treatment at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, with spot on, heavily local casting and fabulous triple-threat performances (dancing, singing, acting). It is worth the price of admission to remember the 1970s groundbreaking themes of coming out and coming of age in the…
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…
Seeing Shakespeare always makes me a little nervous. I do not fear the language or the twisty-turny plots; rather, my reaction is based on years of experience of seeing all sorts of wacky “new” twists on the Bard’s plays. I’ve seen a steampunk Macbeth and a post-apocalyptic The Tempest, a reverse-gender cast of Romeo and…
Jessica Dickey wrote and performed her one-woman show The Amish Project in response to the 2006 school shooting in the Amish community of Nickel Mines, PA. She is very careful, however, to point out that the play, although based on real events, is entirely fictional; no real people’s names are used, and she deliberately did not research…
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