by SOPHIE KERMAN Wholesomely all-American, with unrelenting optimism and unquestioning zeal: am I talking about musical theater, or about the Mormon Church? In The Book of Mormon, Trey Parker, Robert Lopez, and Matt Stone have found the perfect subject for a Broadway musical. Religious conviction, fear of hell-fire and idealistic missions seem to have been made for nothing if not…
by KAREN BORCHERT, guest reviewer The musical parody of the 1936 film by the same name, Reefer Madness, presented by Minneapolis Musical Theatre and Hennepin Theatre Trust, is well-timed given the sensation around marijuana legislation in recent months. The 1936 film, which warned of the evils of the “leafy green substance,” had somewhat of a cult following for its…
by SOPHIE KERMAN Priscilla, Queen of the Desert the Musical is the reason why musicals were born. Adapted by Stephan Elliott and Allan Scott from the 1994 movie starring Guy Pearce and Hugo Weaving, Priscilla the Musical takes the film’s original heart and love of glamour, and cranks up the volume, the budget, and exuberance to create a spectacle that takes you…
by SOPHIE KERMAN In the new production of Elton John and Tim Rice’s Aida, the Hennepin Theatre Trust and Theater Latté Da present us with an excellent performance of a deeply problematic musical. The show opens a new collaborative series between the HTT and Latté Da called Broadway Re-Imagined, which casts local Minnesota talent in high-profile Broadway shows under…
by CHRISTINE SARKES SASSEVILLE The Orpheum Theatre’s glitzy, new musical offering, Catch Me If You Can, tells the true-life con man “coming of age story” of Frank Abagnale, Jr., who posed as a doctor, lawyer and Pan Am pilot all before age 21. The Tony-nominated musical, set in the 1960s with a rat pack meets Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In…
by SOPHIE KERMAN I look for two things in a children’s show: first, that the kids like it, and second, that it’s got something to entertain adults, too. The Children’s Theatre Company leaves no doubt about either in its revival of the holiday favorite, Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas. It’s a book most Americans have…
by SOPHIE KERMAN Every weekend in the fall, there seems to be an endless stream of shows opening around the Twin Cities, and despite the best efforts our tireless band of volunteer reviewers, we can never manage to see everything. October feels like a record high for opening weekends this year: although Anna Rosensweig and…
by CHRISTINE SARKES SASSEVILLE and ERIKA YASMEEN SASSEVILLE The Guthrie Theater’s new musical production of Roman Holiday, based on the iconic 1953 movie and book by Paul Blake, has all the glamour, glitz and stylish corniness you would expect from a romantic comedy set to classic, toe-tapping Cole Porter tunes performed by a fabulous live pit orchestra (under…
by MIRA REINBERG How are we made aware that the uniform and prosaic image of a “production line” folds within itself elements of priceless nuance? Can the indistinguishable members of a column of dancers challenge the impression that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts? Thirty seven years and 6,137 Broadway performances…
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,…
Aisle Say - Twin Cities 