by CHRISTINE SARKES SASSEVILLE and RACHEL ADAMOVICH The dilemma in reviewing the Pulitzer Prize-winning play The Heidi Chronicles at the Guthrie Theater is to describe a transformative and near perfect theater experience without sounding clichéd. From the bravura performance of lead actress Kate Wetherhead as Heidi Holland to the equally excellent supporting cast, music, staging,…
by SOPHIE KERMAN I did Nature wrong, and I have to say that I am a little ashamed of myself. Rather than arriving early at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, I had a rushed lunch at home and then sped my way down 494 to make it to Chaska on time. This was my first time at the…
By LIZ BYRON. Frequently it seems that a play is either insightful and poorly staged, or else fluffy and well staged. Time after time do I get the impression that it’s an either..or.. deal: either you get a thought-provoking script that raises important questions, or you get a well-acted, well-directed performance. It was with delight,…
by CHRISTINE SARKES SASSEVILLE Looking for a light, campy Victorian supernatural-mystery-farce with hysterical scene-chewing acting, cross-dressing and clever staging? Then, The Mystery of Irma Vep at The Jungle Theater is just the play for you! I love physical humor and this play delivers. With two actors playing all eight characters, they move quickly through the…
by SOPHIE KERMAN There is a danger in having a formula that works as well as Mixed Precipitation‘s annual picnic operettas. We know the recipe hits all the right notes (so to speak): first, start with an operetta – guaranteed good-quality music – and add in some more contemporary songs and an anti-corporate message to reach a target audience of modern adults…
by SOPHIE KERMAN As a source text for a youth circus production, you can’t get much better than Peter Pan. Neverland is a country of eternal youth and constant adventure, and circus arts rekindle our sense of incredulity in a way that not many other forms of theatre can match. Maybe the death-defying leaps, staggering feats…
By guest reviewer Bryce Byron. The Ohman Stone is a truly Minnesotan musical telling the story of the Kensington Rune Stone and people whose lives it touched. After their deaths, the major supporters of the authenticity of the Kensington Rune Stone are still trapped in an afterlife of constant debate — until the daughter of the…
Today’s Fringe adventure was another blind guess. We showed up to the Bryant-Lake Bowl and didn’t see the name of the show until we were handing over our passes to get tickets at the box office. There was a considerable line (and the show sold out only 10-15 people behind us in line), but sometimes…
This Saturday evening, my spouse and I decided to leave our Fringe experience to chance, and chose the closest venue to where we were at at the time (which happened to be Intermedia Arts) and saw the next two shows to be performed at that venue, without even looking up the titles (never mind a description)…
Aaaaaand Fringe 2014 is on! Check back throughout the festival to see what shows we’re hitting up. First up: Shakespeare’s Histories: Ten Epic Plays at a Breakneck Pace. It’s pretty much all right there in the title for you! Timothy Mooney is a joy to watch in this one-man show, as he flies through the history…
Aisle Say - Twin Cities 