MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL THEATER REVIEWS

With a last name like "Bland," you'd never pick Mary and Paul for sinister scheming. But plotting abounds in Eating Raoul, the musical adaption of the 1980's cult classic at the New Century Theater....

'Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.' This Margaret Mead quote greeted me upon exiting the theater after seeing Children's Theatre Company's SEEDFOLKS. I don't know if this quote is always in their lobby, or if it's specific to this show, but it is ...

As I left the theater yesterday afternoon, I clutched my sweater close around me to ward off the chill. Not the chill in the crisp fall air, but the chill from the play I had just seen - Walking Shadow's GABRIEL. This story about a little known facet of WWII history is so captivating, horrifying, ch...

Full disclosure: I'm a huge fan of Garrison Keillor and A Prairie Home Companion. He's the Mark Twain of our generation, and is Minnesota's best export. If A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION is one of the things that Minnesota is most known for, I am proud to be a Minnesotan. So of course, I absolutely love h...

Sometimes something or someone comes along in life that changes everything. Such is Starbuck, aka THE RAINMAKER, to the Curry family in Depression era middle America in N. Richard Nash's play 60-year-old play. Yellow Tree Theatre is mounting a lovely new production of this play with an all-star team...

Test Pilot, a world premiere dance opera co-created by Penelope Freeh and Jocelyn Hagen, opened at the O'Shaughnessy Theater in Saint Paul on September 12 as a part of the Women of Substance series at St. Catherine University....

Enda Walsh seems to be a perfect match for Frank Theatre. Their mission is 'to produce unique work that stretches the skill of the artists who create the work while simultaneously challenging the everyday perceptions of the audience.' In other words, they do weird stuff, but weird in the best possib...

I went for a walk today. The sky through the trees caught my eye. The sound of music floated in and out between the calling of the birds, and the smell of the late summer prairie was all around me. I followed Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau through their lives, studies, and friendship. I...

When it comes to differing accounts of a story, which do you believe - the logical or the mystical? "The White Snake", directed by Tony winner Mary Zimmerman, asks this question many times whenever the tale of the magical snake reaches a fork in the road where the story could be explained by the div...

Vampires, werewolves, Egyptian mummies, English moors, haunted portraits, a sophisticated Lord and Lady, an Irish maid, a Scottish stable hand, and a euphonium. Mix it all up and you have the ridiculous and hugely entertaining farce that is THE MYSTERY OF IRMA VEP. This 2010 Jungle hit is back again...

There's something cool going on in Duluth. I mean, there are lots of cool things going on in Duluth; it's one of Minnesota's top tourist destinations, with the lake and the big ships and all. But specifically on the music-theater front, which is what brings joy to my heart, there is something new an...

Who can resist a one-woman show by Sally Wingert, one of the Twin Cities best actors? Add to that an intimate in-home setting and an epic story that encompasses the entire scope of Jewish history in the 20th Century, and you have an unforgettable evening of theater. Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company'...

The Ordway is opening its fourth season of the BROADWAY SONGBOOK series with a retrospective of the first 100 years of Broadway. If you're like me, your first question is - when did Broadway begin? It's debatable, but Professor James Rocco - who presides over what feels like a college seminar on mus...

It's day 7 of the 11-day Minnesota Fringe Festival, in which 169 one-hour plays, musicals, dramas, dance performances, and comedy shows are presented at 19 venues across Minneapolis. I've seen about half of my 30-some planned shows, and one stands out above the rest - Failure: A Love Story. I love t...

In a lovely bit of symmetry, the Guthrie is closing a season that began with Chekhov's Uncle Vanya with a new play by Christopher Durang that uses Chekhovian characters and themes in a decidedly modern way - Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. Whatever Durang's inspiration was, the result is a hila...

A few weeks ago I wrote that the Guthrie's My Fair Lady is the must-see summer musical. Correction: it's one of two. Mu Performing Arts' production of Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music should also be on your must-see list; it's every bit as good as My Fair Lady. The songs might not be as 'humm...

What better way to review a Children's Theatre Company show than to have a real mom and her little boy attend and tell us about the experience? This first-hand review by a first-time reviewer will charm you into attending one of the remaining performances as the show closes this Sunday, July 27....