by SOPHIE KERMAN For “Prairie Home Companion” fans who wish that the shores of Lake Wobegon saw a little more action, playwright Eric Webster has the answer for you: Shade’s Brigade, a 1950’s-style radio drama that’s all about adventure. In the role of Jack Shade, Webster has assembled a team of mercenaries (Dave Gangler, Lee Adams, and Shanan Custer)…
by SOPHIE KERMAN It’s August again, and that means that Scotty Reynolds, Marya Hart and the gang at Mixed Precipitation are back with another zany adaptation of a classic opera. If you’re new to the company, this is an annual tradition worth getting on board with. Each year, the company picks an opera, tweaks it to make…
Over 60 million people worldwide have seen the powerhouse musical Les Misérables since it opened in Paris in 1980 (the first English-language production was in London’s West End five years later). Les Misérables is the kind of show for which people will buy tickets regardless of the cast, venue, or dates; they just want to…
by SOPHIE KERMAN Poor Sherlock Holmes! With the number of literary, theatrical, and cinematic re-imaginings he’s gone through since his inception in 1887, the man has a lot of baggage. His latest incarnation by Jeffrey Hatcher is “despondent”, as if the past century of crime-solving exploits has just about worn him out, but of course a new…
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…
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…
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 SOPHIE KERMAN Dreamless Land is a slippery bit of theater. Characters grow up unexpectedly, the genre shifts from “realism” to dream to science fiction to spy movie, and the viewer is never quite sure whether the actors are playing different sides of the same character or different characters altogether. A glowing cube (designed by Liz…
Aisle Say - Twin Cities 