Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived. From Tudor Queens to Pop Princesses, the SIX wives of Henry VIII take the mic to reclaim their identities out of the shadow of their infamous spouse-remixing five hundred years of historical heartbreak into an exuberant celebration of 21st century girl power. The female cast is backed by an all-female band, the 'Ladies in Waiting.' Songs from the studio album are streamed on average 400,000 times per day, making it the second highest streaming cast recording in the world.
Rita Moreno's long, legendary career continues with more work than she had as a young Oscar winner, and she's grateful for every bit of her seven plus decade career. (Read about her until the Ordway reschedules her one-woman show that's postponed due to illness.)
It's December! Voting is now underway for the 2019 BroadwayWorld Minneapolis / St. Paul Awards, brought to you by TodayTix! Now you can vote to make sure your favorite local theatres and performers are recognized. Check out the first set of stats below.
Six the musical has regretfully announced on it's official Instagram page, that due to an injury Abby Mueller will be stepping out of the show during the run in St. Paul.
The Country Music Association visited Minneapolis-St. Paul Wednesday, Nov. 20 with hit songwriters Matthew Ramsey, Trevor Rosen and Brad Tursi of reigning CMA Vocal Group of the Year Old Dominion and fellow top tunesmith Josh Osborne. While in the Twin Cities area, the group met with music students and teachers from Columbia Heights High School (CHHS) as part of U.S. Bank's Community Possible giving and engagement platform and its Places to Play partnership with the CMA Foundation, followed by a CMA Songwriters Series Presented by U.S. Bank performance at Ordway Music Theater.
The McCallum Theatre presents Rhythmic Circus and Holiday Shuffle on Monday, December 2, at 7:0pm. There's tap dancing, and then there's Rhythmic Circus, the percussive-dance phenomenon that electrifies audiences with its hard-hitting, rapid-fire tap, humor and finger-snapping tunes. Rhythmic Circus is a troupe of internationally renowned artists, home-grown hoofers from Minneapolis that hit the road with a trunk full of tap shoes, funky costumes and a big brass band, ready to burst onto the stage with their holiday spectacular Holiday Shuffle.
Perhaps as composer Gioachino Rossini believed, at certain times, life might resemble a comic opera. For opera aficionados in the Twin Cities area, MN Opera at the Ordway Center presents a beloved classic by Rossini--The Barber of Seville. In this story about a rapscallion, yet well to do barber named Figaro created by the 18th century playwright known as Beaumarchais, Rossini added a compelling score to Beaumarchais' play to complement Cesare Sterbini's libretto that brings Figaro to operatic life. The fun loving, well loved barber in Seville features into several popular operas to become some of Rossini's favorites MN Opera transforms the already comic opera into a tour de force production by combining extraordinary singing with a sublime cartoon framework in the tradition of the commedia dell'arte, where masks used by the actors often underscore the action.
'Come on down folks, it's gonna be a great time!' says George Woodard - one of the Vermont All-Star performers who are banding together on Thursday November 21 for the 6th Annual LNT-AID: a benefit concert for Lost Nation Theater.
Raven Theatre is pleased to present the world premiere of the heartwarming, family-friendly comedy COLD TOWN/HOTLINE: A Chicago Holiday Story, written and directed by Eli Newell, playing November 30 a?" December 22, 2019 on Raven's 85-seat East Stage, 6157 N. Clark St. (at Granville) in Chicago. Tickets are currently available at raventheatre.com or by calling (773) 338-2177. The press opening is Friday, December 6 at 7:30 pm.
The Minnesota Opera (MN OPERA) christened their new season at St. Paul's Ordway Center with Richard Strauss' 1909 score of ELEKTRA combined with a libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. After a century, Strauss' Elektra, a tragic Greek myth, confronts the wrath of God on men, and the revenge of families on their own parents and siblings to disastrous results. A stellar creative team, which inhabits all the MN Opera productions, provides a modern twist to the ancient myth, where the action has been forwarded to the early 1900's. At that time, Austrian filmmaker and producer, Fritz Lang (1890-1976), made history directing silent film noira?"when melodramas were a consistent source of entertainment.
U.S. Bank has announced a performance in St. Paul at the Ordway Music Theater Wednesday, Nov. 20 featuring reigning CMA Vocal Group of the Year Old Dominion's Matthew Ramsey, Trevor Rosen and Brad Tursi in addition to CMA Award-winning songwriters Shane McAnally and Josh Osborne. The series hosts an intimate round of performances with some of Country Music's top songwriters taking turns sharing the stories behind their hit songs and performing them as originally written. Tickets for the performance are $25 (plus fees) and go on sale Friday, Oct. 18 at 10:00 AM/CT through The Ordway and CMAsongwritersseries.com. $1 of each ticket sold will benefit the CMA Foundation, CMA's philanthropic arm, which is committed to investing in high quality music education programs for all students in the United States.
Kekene XIII - The Gathering 2019, a weekend-long celebration of Ivory Coast drum and dance, will have a limited engagement run from Saturday November 9 thru Sunday November 10 in NYC. The production features an evening of dance and drum spectacle at JKO High School,120 West 46th Street, NY, NY, followed by Sunday dance and drum workshops by West African instructors at the National Black Theater at 2031 Fifth Avenue, NY, NY.
Slap dancing, live singing, and South Pacific storytelling: New Zealand's Black Grace brings its powerful stylings to Northrop on Thu, Nov 7 in a debut that combines eloquent movements with elemental works. Black Grace's founder and choreographer, Neil Ieremia, fuses his New Zealand upbringing with his Samoan heritage for a unique hybrid of old and new dance styles.
Director Sarah Rasmussen marks the beginning of her fifth season at the Jungle Theater with a new work that challenges this small theater technically and is her 'teenage dream.' She answers 6 Questions and a Plug about RIDE THE CYCLONE.
Under the direction of Childsplay's Artistic Director, Dwayne Hartford, THE MIRACULOUS JOURNEY OF EDWARD TULANE is as powerful and poignant in its emotional punch as its first showing in 2014. Featuring stellar moving portrayals by Katie McFadzen, David Dickinson, Kyle Sorrell, Debra K. Stevens, and Ricky Araiza,the show is a family must-see. Runs on Saturdays and Sundays through October 13th at the Herberger Theater Center's Stage West in Phoenix.
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 JOE'S CAFE, too.
Six on Broadway has found its queens! Reprising their roles from the Chicago run of Six earlier this year are Adrianna Hicks as Catherine of Aragon, Andrea Macasaet as Anne Boleyn, Abby Mueller as Jane Seymour, Brittney Mack as Anna of Cleves, Samantha Pauly as Katherine Howard, and Anna Uzele as Catherine Parr.
The Ordway Center for the Performing Arts opens its season with the Ordway Original Smokey Joe's Cafe: The Songs of Leiber and Stoller, which begins performances on Sept. 10 and runs through Sept. 22.
