MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL THEATER REVIEWS

Joshua Bergasse is in town making time for master class, discovering local talent and watching homemade flying contraptions dive into the Mississippi, as well as letting us in on a little secret that may or may not happen but is pretty fun to think about. Oh, and he choreographed and directed SMOKEY...

Minnesota Nice is often something we hear about when we talk about neighbors and coworkers, but these productions really showed me how this nice attitude can carry on in the theatre. It lifted my spirits that these two companies helped and supported each other and how, in the end, we got more theatr...

Mix Mozart with 80's New Wave hits, Roman intrigue with sports rivalries, a stinky but accurate Oracle whose all-seeing eyeballs are made of ping pong rackets studded with tennis balls, and five separate courses of yummy edible treats serve to an audience that lounges on lawn chairs and picnic blank...

The immersive show at Walking Shadow combines both a typical theatre experience with puzzle room motifs and magic...

Currently playing at Open Eye Theatre is a delightful and laidback show that audiences seem to love. a?oeWhen The Shark Bitesa?? by Chronofon is a play...or a concert...it's actually a bit difficult to pin down what category this piece is in. But, nevertheless, it continues to entertain the audienc...

While many theatres in town are wrapping up their 18-19 seasons, Artistry is one step ahead by wrapping up the first show of their 19-20 season. The first show of the season is the musical adaption of the movie Footloose which has a lot of meaning to many. With a movie that was released in 1984, and...

The word tradition can mean a multitude of things to a variety of people. Some may associate it with a holiday while others may with a specific time of the year. It's a powerful word that can truly bring a multitude of emotions, both good and bad, for just about anyone. I think a majority of the tim...

Playwright Lynn Nottage matters.  Winner of a MacArthur 'genius' grant, she's also been named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time Magazine in 2019.  She's the only woman to win two Pulitzer Prizes for drama (for RUINED in 2009 and SWEAT in 2017). Nottage calls FLOYD'S her ...

Going into the new updated version of 42nd Street at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts on Friday wasn't as fresh to me as it was to othersa??because I hadn't seen the show before. That's right, another classical Broadway show was crossed off my list. Since it was announced last year, the Ord...

A rollicking adaptation of an 18th century farce provides a truly delightful night of theatre....

In an astounding feat of theatre, Melissa Maxwell tells a tale of the NYC school system through the eyes of 16 characters....

On the anniversary the film's debut (July 13, 2001) Lyric Arts at the Main Stage Theater stages a charming production of Legally Blonde: The Musical  This flirty, fun and fabulous production that debuted in 2007 gives the audience Woods, (comma) Elle, a college coed who loves pink and aspires t...

ake a trip back to the 50's on these summer nights and days at Interact Theater's beguiling Hot Dog Daze. Minneapolis's unique theater company offers 'radical inclusivity' for the 40 plus cast members alone with familiar nods to past MDA (Muscular Dystrophy Association) telethons, bomb shelters and ...

Yes, PETER AND THE STARCATCHER is a magical, funny adventure!...

The Great River Shakespeare Festival in Minnesota has taken up one of the Bard's more obscure plays as part of its Season 16 offerings. CYMBELINE is difficult to classify (one scholar called it a "comical-tragical-historical-pastoral-dramatic-romance")! But that also makes it a lot of fun....

It's not surprising to feel somewhat uneasy sitting in a theater waiting for MACBETH to begin. At the Great River Shakespeare Festival's production you're confronted when you sit down with a stage set that feels fractured, unforgiving, ominous....

With a youthful, multi-racial cast of 30, the Guthrie's current production of GUYS AND DOLLS bolsters its reputation as a theater that can mount classics with flair, fidelity, and design excellence. The lyrics crackle, as ever, the singing soars, the casting features multiple body types and skin to...

In the continuous age of adapted musicals continues, we have yet to really see one that fits a very specific demographic until this next national touring show came along. I'm always a supporter of a new musical - original or not - that attracts a group that normally would never go to live theatre. T...

To Let Go and Fall is a breathtakingly beautiful, moving play that gives its subject matter its dues. ...

Chameleon Theatre Company's production is seemingly simple and incredibly haunting...

Once in a blue moon there is a musical for the generations that speaks to people of all walks of life. It brings a tear to your eye, a smile across your face, a relatable sense of realism and purpose. The cultural phenomenon that is the musical Dear Evan Hansen burst onto the scene and quickly gaine...

How It's Gon' Be, currently playing its last weekend at Mixed Blood, is a wonderful snapshot into a young black teen's life as he grows up. There's a quote from the play that summarizes this show well: I believe it goes "You're out here looking for manhood, but manhood is gon' find you."...

Blood Knot by Athol Fugard, currently playing at The Pillsbury House Theatre is a show that was first performed in 1961 and is still just as poignant today. A 'blood knot' is explained in the show as a bond by blood that will never be undone. In this case, the knot ties two brothers together in Sou...

Poet Langston Hughes questions in 1951 through his poem "Harlem;" What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?" The legendary poem inspired Lorraine Hansbury to write the award winning drama A Raisin in the Sun eight years later. In 1959, Hansberry became the first Afr...

There's something very unique happening at The Jungle Theater. In the play Small Mouth Sounds  by Bess Wohl, barely a word is said onstage during the show. Though much is said from the characters. Sitting in (mostly) silence in the audience while watching mostly silence on stage was a really intere...