Susan’s Live Show Reviews

On this page you’ll see my thoughts on various productions around the Twin Cities, including theater, dance, and the occasional traveling spectacular.  Reviews will usually include links to reviews by theater critics as well as feature stories on the production.

Theater Reviews

Dance Reviews

End of the Rainbow, Guthrie, 2011
Stunning performance of Judy Garland by British actress Tracie Bennett.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Guthrie, 2011
Not as hot as expected, but some worthy performances. Big Daddy was indeed in the house.

Les Miserables, Dec 2011

25th anniversary national tour. The vocal olympics are here, and we all win.

Hairspray, CDT, Fall-Spring 2011/2012
An exuberant production of a 21st century musical classic.

The Burial at Thebes, Guthrie Theater, Fall 2011
Seamus Heaney’s modern adaptation of Antigone with the Guthrie’s own powerful musical twist.

Much Ado about Nothing at the Guthrie Theater and Hamlet at Jungle Theater, Fall 2011
Two very different productions in Minneapolis, one comic, one tragic, one delightfully classic, one brashly modern.

 Coming soon – more contemporary ballet

Royal Winnipeg Ballet – Wonderland (2011-2012 Nat’l Tour)
Lavish costumes but inconsistent pacing as this show debuts in the US.

James Sewell Ballet, Fall Show (& notes on the new Cowles Center) 2011
New theater, new season, zombie apocalypse, what more could you want?

Other Theater-Related Stories at Northern Word

Susan reviews the most important facilities in any Twin Cities theater: the toilets.
A visit to The Playwright’s Center 

Misc. Traveling Shows that Defy Categorization:

Cavalia, Fall 2011
Horses, horses, more horses, charging across the stage at full gallop. What more could you want. In St. Louis Park under the circus tents.

About me: I was a theater geek in college, once playing “Bottom” in a Midsummer Night’s Dream (this resulted in a memorable conversation with an older male professor in which he said, without irony, “I have never seen a female Bottom”). But nowadays I just go and enjoy the plays.  As I’m not a professional critic, I generally go to productions that interest me from the outset, and that means I review a smaller set of shows than a critic would, and I’m more likely to actually like the shows I see. This is why I always link to critics and I recommend readers check them out as well.

I don’t receive free tickets or any other compensation for my reviews.