by REBECCA HALAT, Guest Reviewer The Minnesota Opera’s production of Madame Butterfly left me saddened—which is exactly the goal of this story. Soprano Kelly Kaduce was impressive as Cio-Cio-San, the tragic young heroine whose life is altered by her marriage with an American lieutenant, Pinkerton (played by Arturo Chacón-Cruz). One side character of note was…
by ANNA ROSENSWEIG How do we talk to children about race? With its recent production Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy, The Children’s Theatre Company provides an answer to this question by rejecting its premise. In this new play, an adaptation of Gary Schmidt’s 2004 Newberry Award-winning children’s novel based on a true story, it…
by ANNA ROSENSWEIG There’s a ceiling fan that slowly turns throughout the entire production of Harold Pinter’s The Birthday Party, currently on stage at the Jungle Theater. The fan, one of the many subtle touches of Joel Sass’ beautifully shabby set, marks time steadily and faithfully, and this constant rhythm underscores the deceptively quotidian nature…
by SOPHIE KERMAN Despite its being a world premiere, the Illusion Theater’s latest production is strangely undersold. On its website and in press materials, What’s the Word For is presented as the story of inter-generational support between a middle-aged man and an older woman who somehow bond over crossword puzzles. This doesn’t necessarily come across as a play…
by SOPHIE KERMAN All laughter is both highly personal and intensely social. We don’t laugh much when we’re alone, but the experience of shared laughter can bring a roomful of people together. Mary à la carte, which has just opened at the New Century Theatre after previous runs at the Bryant Lake Bowl, finds this common bond in…
by SOPHIE KERMAN It’s hard to stage a play based on a story the entire audience already knows; when the story is about Jesus, this is doubly true. Very few people have neutral reactions to the story of the crucifixion, but – whether positive or negative – each person’s associations to it are highly individual.…
by SOPHIE KERMAN In 1925, when Noël Coward wrote Hay Fever, going to the theater could be thought of as the pre-TV equivalent of staying in and watching Netflix. And just like a good night of TV, the theater has the potential to offer something for everyone – suspenseful drama, for those who want to…
by SOPHIE KERMAN For those of you with Mexican heritage – or for those of you who, like me, are ashamed of knowing so little about the Twin Cities’ sizable Mexican population – the Mixed Blood Theatre has brought an expanded production of Joe Minjares‘s Minnecanos to the Parkway Theater in South Minneapolis. Minnecanos has, in fact,…
by STEPHANIE KWONG Let me start off by stating that last night was my first time at the Illusion Theater. The Illusion Theater is quite nice and is a great place to see a show. Located in the Hennepin Center for the Arts, adjacent to the new Cowles Center, the building is historic and grand on…
by SOPHIE KERMAN A short story by Jorge Luis Borges is like a strange, otherworldly onion: it looks finite and compact, as throwable as a baseball, but the moment you start to peel away the outer layers, you discover that there is more to it than you thought there was, and the flavor just gets…
