What is there to write about Clybourne Park that has not already been written? The hype around this play can feel a bit stifling. Winner of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize, this “strong, ferociously smart play” has traveled from New York to the UK, Rhode Island, Philadelphia, and now to the Guthrie. The English teacher in…
By MIRA REINBERG France in the eighteenth century was a hothouse for philosophical investigation and scientific inquiry. But in order to cultivate the mind and reap the benefits of the explosive intellectual environment of the age of Enlightenment, one would have to be of an origin that granted a title or wealth, preferably both. Certainly…
by SOPHIE KERMAN On the opening night of URINETOWN: the Musical, Jungle Theater Artistic Director Bain Boehlke proclaimed that this was sure to be the “runaway hit of the summer.” Artistic hubris? No, Boehlke is absolutely right. With a brutally sharp message and a five-star cast that can sing and dance like Lyndale Ave is the next…
Hollywood has a reputation of creating new stars, throwing them into the spotlight, and then casting them aside. Sunset Boulevard tells the story of a faded star and her desperate attempts to claw her way back into the limelight. It’s a wonderful story full of great music, performed well by Minneapolis Musical Theatre, and yet…
by SOPHIE KERMAN The sad comedian might be a cliche, but playwright Thomas Ward has turned the stereotype into some very three-dimensional characters in his insightful short play International Falls. Directed by the Jungle Theatre’s Artistic Director Bain Boehlke, International Falls is being performed at the Bryant Lake Bowl, a much more fitting venue for a peek into a night…
by SOPHIE KERMAN It’s official: the success of the Loudmouth Collective is not a fluke. Following on her deep and funny January production of Will Eno’s “Thom Pain: Based on Nothing”, director Natalie Novacek opens the Loudmouth’s second season with another one-man show, no less well-acted or thought-provoking than “Thom Pain”. This time, we are treated to an unstoppable performance…
Rock of Ages is an 80s rock concert with a plot. What can I say? It is so much fun. If you’re looking to be well and thoroughly entertained this weekend, go see it. Just go see it, and have a good time. You might even want to think about dressing up in your best…
by MICHAEL J. OPPERMAN At the entrance to the theater hangs a sign warning that the Tesla coil to be fired during the performance is loud, but not dangerous. This caveat is a compelling prelude to an ambitious production. Assembling the peculiar narrative and bracing eccentricities of Nikola Tesla’s life into a coherent play is…
by SOPHIE KERMAN For both political and theatrical reasons, the story of gender transition is not told enough. Changing one’s gender presentation is by definition a form of theater; a dress can become a costume, and facial hair can transform a bearer of XX chromosomes into someone who is confident walking into the men’s bathroom.…
by CHRISTINE SARKES SASSEVILLE Homer’s the Iliad is among the oldest works of Western literature and its illumination of the heroism and horrors of war has resonated with listeners and readers throughout history. One of the most moving segments of An Iliad, now at the Guthrie Theater through May 26, was actor Stephen Yoakam’s minutes-long listing of every war in human history since the Trojan…
Aisle Say - Twin Cities 