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 As a general rule, my inner skeptic is not a fan of musicals – but a killer concert, on the other hand, I can totally get on board with. American Idiot, a recent addition to a slew of one-dimensional pop-inspired musicals (Mamma Mia!, Spring Awakening, etc.), bypasses all of my cynicism by presenting…
by SOPHIE KERMAN As a critic, it’s a rare opportunity to review a show in 2012 that I also saw on Broadway when I was twelve or thirteen. In its fifteen-year run, The Lion King has become such a Broadway staple that it’s hard to remember how revolutionary it was when it opened. Viewers marveled…
by SOPHIE KERMAN In Cantus/Theater Latté Da/Hennepin Theatre Trust‘s meditative and moving production of All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914, more is happening beneath the surface than initially meets the eye. Centered around the events of Christmas 1914, in which British, German and French troops famously declared a temporary truce, All is Calm tells…
by SOPHIE KERMAN Twin Cities audiences might notice an interesting phenomenon this holiday season: two different productions of the same story. Both the Minnesota Opera‘s world premiere of Silent Night and the reprise of the Cantus/Latté Da/Hennepin Theatre Trust production of All is Calm stage the incredible Christmas Eve of 1914, when German, English and…
by Anna Rosensweig Halloween is a tricky holiday because it’s a hard one to halfheartedly celebrate. Sure you can show up at a costume party dressed in your usual clothes and some random hat. But it’s guaranteed you won’t have as much fun as your friends who go as Xena the Warrior Princess, a Keebler…
by SOPHIE KERMAN As I scanned the crowds while waiting in line for tickets at this year’s Minnesota Fringe Festival, listening in on conversations and taking mental notes on which of the 168 productions I really should not miss, it occurred to me that aside from its obvious entertainment value, going to Fringe is a…
by SOPHIE KERMAN and ANNA ROSENSWEIG The Flying Foot Forum, a percussive dance/theatre company directed by Joe Chvala, took on a very ambitious project with Heaven: to portray the complicated politics and deep suffering of 1990s Bosnia through dance, music, and drama. It was clear from the outset of this production, which played at the…
by SOPHIE KERMAN and ANNA ROSENSWEIG While navigating the winding road to the Centennial Showboat for the Frank Theatre production of Cabaret, we remarked that one of the things that makes theater-going special is the process of getting there. Unlike reading a book in your living room or going to a convenient showing at your…
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