MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL THEATER REVIEWS

RENT gets me every time. Seeing it for the 14th time is just as thrilling, emotional, and epic as the first time I saw it 17 years ago. I can't even put into words why it has such a strong grip on my soul. It's just such a beautiful message of love, hope, community, and life, made all the more poign...

There's a reason My Fair Lady is one of the most beloved musicals of all time. Not only does it feature a bunch of wonderful songs by Lerner and Loewe that have become classics, but it's based on the George Bernard Shaw play Pygmalion that deals with issues of class, gender, societal expectations, a...

Last weekend I saw the classic play The Heiress, about Catherine, a wealthy heiress lacking in social graces with a stern father and an unexpected suitor. I was having a hard time wrapping my head around the play until I had a sudden revelation the next morning - Catherine is Mad Men's Peggy. The He...

The great thing about the Twin Cities theater community is that not only can you see big lavish productions at the Orpheum, Ordway, or Guthrie, but you can also see small low-tech productions in odd or tiny spaces that will surprise and delight you every bit as much as those big productions, or even...

For their annual summer festival, Skylark Opera is presenting the Leonard Bernstein classic operetta Candide and the musical revue Berlin to Broadway with Kurt Weill....

Minneapolis Musical Theatre's production of BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON, a Broadway musical with sharp political satire and social commentary wrapped up in a great emo-rock score, has sparked controversy....

Yellow Tree Theatre concludes their excellent sixth season with the zany British spy thriller comedy THE 39 STEPS, in which just four actors play dozens of characters and employ many delightful theater tricks to tell a story and entertain....

The nuns of SISTER ACT are the heart and dancing sole of this musical version reset in 1970s Philadelphia....

Falling slowly into a relationship with ONCE and its quirky characters stirred memories in the hearts and minds of lost loves and fleeting past moments. Catching this show at Minneapolis' Orpheum should be done pretty quickly with the run ending April 6....

My tiny companion, Mia (she's 5-years-old) is sitting in a chair, staring intently at the stage-as she does when she's completely engaged-watching Chanhassen Dinner Theatre's regional premiere of THE LITTLE MERMAID. And just like that, I knew that no matter how I felt, Chanhassen Dinner Theatre's TH...

Before there was Peter Pan, Tinkerbell, Wendy and those two annoying little brothers--there was just a boy who didn't have a name, a few orphan friends, a 'starcatcher' named Molly and a ship named Neverland......

Intriguing 'what if' play about an imaginary meeting between Sigmund Freud and C.S. Lewis that raises important questions of our existence. Catch the final week in the Guthrie's Dowling Studio....

A new production of Evita just completed a run at Hennepin Theatre Trust's Orpheum in Minneapolis. High flying, adored: Che. Requiem for the Eva we know and loved: changes in the show both enhanced and detracted from the love of Eva Peron....

FIVE COURSE LOVE by Gregg Coffin has a fairly simple premise, five different love stories set in five themed restaurants and three actors playing all the roles. It's a fast-paced, campy, and wildly outrageous comedy that weaves together music, humor and a little dash of heart....

It's a very lively crowd for a Sunday matinee but Theatre in the Round Players have quite a loyal following, so I'm not surprised. Just before the lights fade to black, I hear it and it was that moment I should've immediately knocked on wood. 'You can't go wrong with this theatre,' says a man to ...

A collaboration by Theatre Latte Da and Hennepin Theatre Trust, as a part of the Broadway Re-Imagined series, has high production values, top local talent and a story that retains relevance more than 40 years after it first premiered....

Technical wizardry and solid singing highlighted this new production of WIZARD OF OZ, now playing at the Ordway Center for Performing Arts in Saint Paul....

I'm not one to talk numbers. I never have been nor will I ever be willing to discuss the number of conquests and how it relates to overall sexual prowess. I only mention this because it's a typically cold, Minnesota evening when I see Walking Theatre Company's production of THE SEXUAL LIFE OF SAVAGE...

It's two minutes to curtain on a Wednesday's opening night performance of the Guthrie's annual production of A CHRISTMAS CAROL and I'm running through a parking garage. Who gets invited to see A CHRISTMAS CAROL and says, no? Nobody, that's who....

Agatha Christie's SPIDER'S WEB is a regular whodunit mystery. It's smart. It's humorous. And it always keeps you guessing. Instead of the expected holiday-focused production Theatre in the Round Players is offering up a little something different this season and I am more than happy to accept....

Everyone has a love story they can pull from their memory, which is why everyone can relate this show. But this is not about my love story or your own love story, this is about Cathy and Jamie and THE LAST FIVE YEARS. This is about their love story....

It's opening night of David Goldstein's SKIING ON BROKEN GLASS at the Guthrie and as the play forms around me, it feels all too familiar-a love that makes no sense, an escort, unsupportive peers, and a constant battle of conscience. The play is just a little expected but in the end it leaves you wit...

It's a particularly wearisome Monday evening when I manage to see Theatre Pro Rata's production of GOOD WOMAN OF SETZUAN, and let's be honest—I'm in a foul mood. The lights dim, and immediately I check my phone to countdown the minutes until I can leave. Fast-forward a few hours and by the end of ...

Bloomington Civic Theatre is currently staging what could easily be their biggest production to date, Les Miserables, and the production is outstanding....