Michal Daniel News

Eloquence without the elegance is how I'd describe Michael Stuhlbarg's scruffy, hyperactive and somewhat nerdy take on the title role in director Oskar Eustis' amusing hodgepodge of a production of Hamlet. Though perfectly placid for the first several minutes of his performance, silently contemplating his father's death and his uncle's marriage to his newly widowed mother at a downstage eternal flame that perpetually flickers its symbolism throughout the evening, he's soon wildly wringing his hands with nervous excitement, flailing his arms about in range and stomping his feet to the floor like the kind of actor he'll later be warning his players not to be. In fact, it's not until the prince starts feigning madness that he begins resembling a grown-up. It's not an interpretation that will tug at your soul, but it'll damn well get your attention without taxing your brain.

The Guthrie Theatre's The Importance of Being Earnest runs from 9/17 to 11/8.

TINY KUSHNER makes West Coast premiere at Berkeley Rep, begins previews on October 16, opens October 21, and closes November 29.

The Guthrie has announced that its 35th annual production of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol will receive a new adaptation by Barbara Field, with Gary Gisselman directing the Twin Cities holiday classic for the ninth consecutive season and legendary stage and screen actorPeter Michael Goetz returning to play Ebenezer Scrooge.

The Guthrie today announced the complete cast and creative team of Tiny Kushner, an evening of short plays by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner. Berkeley Rep Artistic Director Tony Taccone directs the production, which features four previously announced Guthrie favorites - J.C. Cutler (Major Barbara), Kate Eifrig (9 Parts of Desire), Jim Lichtscheidl (The Two Gentlemen of Verona) and Valeri Mudek (A Midsummer Night's Dream) - performing multiple roles.

The title of Tony Kushner's new play is inspired by two 19th-century thinkers and their works -- George Bernard Shaw's The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Socialism and Capitalism and Mary Baker Eddy's Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.

Caroline, or Change book and lyrics by Tony Kushner by Jeanine Resori and directed by Marcela Lorca Set against the backdrop of Lake Charles, Louisiana in 1963, this award-winning musical centers on Caroline Thibodeaux (Greta Oglesby), an African American maid, and Noah Gellman (Noah Coon and Ryan Poehler), the son of the Jewish family for whom she works

Veteran Guthrie actors Sally Wingert and Richard Ooms team with director Rob Melrose for Samuel Beckett's masterful two-character drama Happy Days. The production, which serves as the Dowling Studio debut for both actors, begins previews February 14, opens February 18 and plays through March 8, 2009. Single tickets are priced from $18 to $30, with opening night priced at $34. Tickets are now on sale through the Guthrie Box Office at 612.377.2224, toll-free 877.44.STAGE, 612.225.6244 (Group Sales) and online at http://www.guthrietheater.org/. This intense and strictly concentrated two-character drama features an eternally optimistic Winnie inexplicably buried waist-deep in a mound of earth, clinging to her life of arbitrary routines and rituals. Her husband, Willie, appears from time to time and replies only occasionally to her cheerful chatter, a source of comfort as she remains ever hopeful that 'this is going to be a happy day.' With its vivid sense of the bizarre and a blend of humor and compassion, Happy Days represents one of the Nobel Prize-winning writer's finest works. The play is minimalist, concentrated to the bare elements needed to make Winnie's resilience apparent in the stream of her thoughts and emotions, allowing the Irish playwright, poet and novelist an opportunity to offer a penetrating and uncompromising exploration of the human condition. As is the case with all of Beckett's work for the stage, Happy Days is an utterly spare and precise play, with every detail carrying the exact weight and degree of importance determined by the author. Co-founder and artistic director of San Francisco's The Cutting Ball Theater, Melrose previously directed Pen (2007) in the Dowling Studio, and served as assistant director for the Guthrie's 2003 production of Othello. He leads an artistic team that includes Michael Locher (Set Designer), Christine Richardson (Costume Designer), Frank Butler (Lighting Designer), Michael Lupu (Dramaturgy), Martha Kulig (Stage Manager) and Meaghan Rosenberger (Assistant Stage Manager). About the Guthrie The Guthrie Theater, founded in 1963, is an American center for theater performance, production, education and professional training. The Guthrie is dedicated to producing the great works of dramatic literature, developing the work of contemporary playwrights and cultivating the next generation of theater artists. Led by Director Joe Dowling since 1995, the Guthrie opened a new three-theater home on the banks of the Mississippi River in Minneapolis in June 2006. The Guthrie is located at 818 South 2nd Street (at Chicago Avenue), in downtown Minneapolis. To purchase tickets or season subscriptions call the Guthrie Box Office between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. daily at 612.377.2224 or toll-free 877.44.STAGE. For more information, or to purchase tickets online, visit http://www.guthrietheater.org/.

Members from the upcoming Broadway cast of Hair were just added as special guests for Happy Ending Music and Reading Series. Affliction Night stars authors Jayne Anne Phillips and Sarah Manguso with musical guest Daniel Knox on February 4 at 7:00 PM.

A Delicate Balance is written by Edward Albee and directed by Gary Gisselman Over the course of a weekend, and with the help of numerous cocktails, Agnes and Tobias try to maintain the 'delicate balance' between self-destruction and survival, while providing refuge and a measure of comfort to family and friends in their suburban home. When their adult daughter Julia returns home after her fourth failed marriage, and two friends Harry and Edna move in unexpectedly, many well-masked feelings and opinions are finally vented. Thanks in part to a well-stocked liquor cabinet, and the permanent presence of Agnes's alcoholic sister Claire, sparks fly and the balance of their family life begins to topple.

Shakespeare's history play about a young and ambitious king is rediscovered with theatrical ingenuity as 12 actors perform more than 40 roles. Matthew Amendt as King Henry is surrounded by a company that includes alumni of our B.F.A. and Guthrie Experience actor training programs. Henry V is a rousing, fascinating story of the power of courage and the price of glory. Guthrie audiences will be the first to see this powerful production before it embarks on a national tour.

Producers for the Broadway bound revival of Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical have announced that the show will now begin previews at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre beginning February 10 (three days earlier than previously scheduled), with an opening set for March 5.

The New York Times is reporting that HAIR: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical which played this summer to sold out houses at The Delacorte Theater in Central Park will play Broadway's Al Hirschfeld Theater (currently home to A TALE OF TWO CITIES). Previews begin on February 13, 2009 with the official opening set for March 5, 2009.

The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Executive Director Mara Manus) announced a final one-week extension today for HAIR: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical which has been playing to sold out houses at The Delacorte Theater in Central Park since July 22. Directed by Diane Paulus with book and lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni and music by Galt MacDermot, this critically acclaimed revival of the classic 1967 musical has had two previous extensions but now must close on Sunday, September 14.

Confirming ongoing rumors and speculation, the Public Theater has announced that HAIR: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical which has been playing to sold out houses at The Delacorte Theater in Central Park since July 22 will indeed transfer to Broadway sometime in early 2009.

The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Executive Director Mara Manus) announced a final one-week extension today for HAIR: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical which has been playing to sold out houses at The Delacorte Theater in Central Park since July 22. Directed by Diane Paulus with book and lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni and music by Galt MacDermot, this critically acclaimed revival of the classic 1967 musical has had two previous extensions but now must close on Sunday, September 14.

The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Executive Director Mara Manus) announced today that it would extend HAIR: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical an additional week at The Delacorte Theater in Central Park this summer.

The daughter of a Vietnam vet, Megan plays one of the hippies in this summer's Shakespeare in the Park revival.

Little House on the Prairie at the Guthrie.

One of the most famous comedies ever written, The Government Inspector offers nonstop hilarity, as news of a surprise visit from an undercover government inspector sends a small provincial Russian town spiraling into a world of panic and greed.