I’d never set foot in a “figure theater” before this week, though venues of this type have existed in some form in numerous cultures for hundreds, if not thousands of years. The Open Eye Figure Theater is purpose-built for performances … Continue reading
Directed by Terry Johnson – at the Guthrie through March 11, 2012. At some point in the career of a legendary artist their outward persona becomes a kind of public cultural property. They start to appear in books, plays, and … Continue reading
At the Guthrie Theater – Directed by Lisa Peterson – Runs through 26 Feb 2012 It’s been a while since I got down to the Guthrie – I’ve been distracted by the lovely Cowles Center on the other side of … Continue reading
Les MIserables – Cameron Mackintosh production – Minneapolis at the Orpheum through Dec 18 2011. I first saw Les Miserables (gasp) 25 years ago, as a birthday present from my parents when I was in junior high school. For a … Continue reading
The Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s “Wonderland” certainly promises a lot. Promotional materials feature dramatic costumes, emphasizing rich colors; the Queen is featured with a wild expression, her stiff blond hair juxtaposed with her sculptural red dress. We’re expecting these dramatic elements … Continue reading
The James Sewell Ballet has been around for a number of years, but with the opening of the new Cowles Center for Dance in the Minneapolis Theater District a lot of us are suddenly discovering dance. The Twin Cities is … Continue reading
For the last few years I’ve been making my way through the MFA program at Hamline University, and I’ll be graduating next spring. I’m primarily a fiction writer and my thesis is a novel. Other than my online home here … Continue reading
The Burial at Thebes, Guthrie Theater, directed by Marcela Lorca. Runs through Nov. 5th, 2011. I’d been waiting for the Guthrie to blow me a way for a while now. This isn’t fair, of course, but a good theater company … Continue reading
Fall, 2011 Nobody ever reviews the bathrooms at live theater venues. You hear the critics gush about the Shakespeare, wax poetic about the leading man, celebrate the sets. Won’t anyone care about the toilets? Well of course I do. At … Continue reading
I saw Cavalia this weekend, the Cirque-du-Soleil influenced horse spectacular which is currently occupying an enormous, fantastical set of circus tents next to Highway 100 west of Minneapolis. Just about anyone in the Twin Cities who drives by is going … Continue reading
These will be the first of many short theater/dance reviews on this blog for productions taking place in the Twin Cities area. I’m seeing a lot of live theater these days, and am eagerly awaiting the coming dance season at … Continue reading