Thursday, June 23, 2022
"Romeo and Juliet" by Zephyr Theatre at Aamodt's Apple Farm
Sunday, June 19, 2022
"Spittin' Seeds" at Penumbra Theatre
Saturday, June 18, 2022
"Pyrates" by Theatre Coup d'Etat at Historic Fire Station 24
Thursday, June 16, 2022
"In the Next Room" at Yellow Tree Theatre
Tuesday, June 14, 2022
"Twelve Angry Men" by Theater Latte Da at the Ritz Theater
Sunday, June 12, 2022
"Cambodian Rock Band" by Theater Mu and Jungle Theater
Friday, June 10, 2022
"Flight of Short Musicals" by Theatre Elision at Elision Playhouse
Tuesday, June 7, 2022
"Perfect Arrangement" at Theatre in the Round
Sunday, June 5, 2022
"The Roommate" by Prime Productions at Mixed Blood Theatre
Saturday, June 4, 2022
"Little Women" at Lyric Arts
Friday, June 3, 2022
"HAIR BALL! A Bigfoot Musical Adventure" by Open Eye Theatre at the Bakken Museum
Tuesday, May 31, 2022
"Back to Workshop; Or, Everything's Fine!" at Brave New Workshop
Saturday, May 28, 2022
"Charlie (Brown) Black" at Pillsbury House Theatre
Friday, May 27, 2022
"Moulin Rouge!" Broadway Tour at the Orpheum Theatre
Wednesday, May 25, 2022
NYC Theater Trip 2022: "The Music Man" at the Winter Garden Theatre
Title: The Music Man
Location: Winter Garden Theatre
Written By: Richard Greenberg
Summary: A big, beautiful, colorful, life-affirming, revitalizing, traditional (with a few tweaks) revival of the 1957 classic, only the second Broadway revival.
Highlights: I unabashedly love The Music Man, the story of a con man who "gets his foot caught in the door" on his way out of town, because someone saw through his slick veneer to his true self, and loved him anyway. He's not selling a band, he's selling hope, a common goal, community, and something to believe in. Marian is a woman with standards, and finally meets an intelligent man who meets them, and brings life back to her family and town. This production is a joyous celebration of all of that. And maybe it is corny and old-fashioned, but that's OK with me. This lovely, talented, diverse, and huge cast is such fun to watch, especially the young ones who are unbelievably confident and capable amongst the pros. Hugh Jackman is an absolute charmer, a spellbinder who has everyone in River City and the theater believing his every word, a twinkle in his eye that can be seen from the last row of the theater (or at least the 2nd to last where I was sitting). He has a great match in two-time Tony winner Sutton Foster, whose Marion doesn't suffer fools. She's tough and smart, and watching these two warm to each other and their easy natural chemistry is a joy. Meredith Wilson's beloved classic score sounds simply scrumptious as played by the 20+ piece orchestra tucked under the stage; I stayed to hear every last note. There are a couple of rewritten lyrics, most notably in "Shipoopi" to make it a little more palatable in the #metoo era, and a new (or old) intro to "My White Knight." The choreography (by Warren Carlye) is divine. "76 Trombones" is the highlight, absolutely stunning as each group of (mimed) instruments comes forward and takes turns, the groups of dancers weaving together and creating a beautiful symphony. The library scene is also a delight, as is the final tap number. As expected, costumes are luscious, overflowing with bustles and hats and flounces, and sets are genius, with a "curtain" made up of the red planks of a barn. It opens in various ways and rises into the ceiling, revealing two-dimensional backdrops and set pieces in the Grant Wood style (set and costumes designed by Santo Loquasto). This was my final show of the trip, and it left me on a high, marveling at the wonder and magic of theater. Everything about it is so wonderful, a balm to a world-weary soul. I had tears in my eyes throughout the show, at the beauty of the story and the storytelling, and remembering how long we had to live without it. Only one of the five shows I saw didn't have an understudy in a lead or featured role, but we're finding a way for the show to go on safely. Broadway is unquestionably back, and The Music Man represents that traditional musical that we love so much.
*Once again, I'm using an abbreviated Fringe-style summary for my NYC 2022 trip, since I am in the greatest city in the world with much more exciting things to do than write! Click here to see all of my Broadway-related blog posts.
NYC Theatre Trip 2022: "A Strange Loop" at the Lyceum Theatre
Title: A Strange Loop
Location: Lyceum Theatre
Written By: Michael R. Jackson
Summary: In the 2020 Pulitzer Prize winner for drama (just the tenth musical to do so), a queer black writer is writing a musical about a queer black writer writing a musical about a queer black writer writing a musical…
Highlights: This very meta theater play features a unique voice and a unique story that needs to be heard. Composer/lyricist/playwright Michael R. Jackson's "emotionally autobiographical" story features a self-described queer black fat boy, with an inner white girl, working as an usher at the Lion King while writing his show. As he's writing the show, he's discovering and living the hard truths he's writing about. Truths about his career (should he sell out and write a Tyler Perry gospel play, which would make his mom happy?), his family life, his love life (or lack thereof). In a clever storytelling device, his embodied thoughts help and hinder him along the way, representing those ugly little voices all of us have in our heads. It's a very specific story, with very graphic language and subject matter (my friend and I wondered what they could possibly sing on the Tony's), but with universal and relatable themes of family, identity, and finding ones place in the world. I saw an understudy in the lead role, Kyle Ramar Freeman, who did a beautiful job filling in for Tony nominated Jaquel Spivey, so endearing and sympathetic, with a great voice and stage presence. Six talented and hard-working actors play his "thoughts" and multiple other characters, dressed in chic neutral athleisure wear with added pieces to create characters. (Side note: #THTheater actor Jon-Michael Reese is an understudy for several of these roles and recently made his Broadway debut, much deserved!) The story takes place primarily on a simple set consisting of six open doors and a few set pieces, which are later removed to reveal the set of the much talked about and finally seen Tyler Perry gospel play (set design by Arnulfo Maldanado, costume design by Montana Levi Blanco). A Strange Loop may not appeal to the tourist crowd (that's OK, they have plenty of jukebox musicals and revivals to choose from), but it's an exciting and unique new musical that pushes the boundaries of what music-theater, and in particular Broadway musicals, can do and be and say.
NYC Theater Trip 2022: "Take Me Out" at Second Stage at the Hayes Theater
Title: Take Me Out
Location: Second Stage at the Hayes Theater
Written By: Richard Greenberg
Summary: In this very funny and loving tribute to the best sport in the world - baseball - a superstar player comes out as gay in the middle of the season, leading to all sorts of drama, and even tragedy.
Highlights: I loved this play so much I just bought the script. As a lifelong Twins fan, I am familiar with the joy and the heartbreak that is baseball. And this play, while covering lots of relevant social issues, is at its heart an ode to baseball. Will people who don't like baseball like this play? I couldn't say, because I could never understand a person who doesn't love a game that's so perfect, so symmetric, so democratic. Jesse Tyler Ferguson (who was on Broadway long before he became known as Mitchell Pritchett) plays a business manager who starts watching baseball when he takes on said superstar, Darren, as a client (played by Grey's Anatomy's Jesse Williams in his Broadway debut), and over the course of half a season, he falls in love with the game. He has a couple of fantastic soliloquys (the play is framed by narration directly to the audience, mostly by Darren's best friend, played by Suits' Patrick J. Adams) about the beautiful oddities of baseball, and the many reasons we love it so much (I need a t-shirt with the quote "baseball is better than democracy" but sadly there was no merch table). But back to the drama. After the superstar comes out publicly as gay (which, BTW, no active MLB player has ever done, although a couple of minor leagers and retired players have, including Billy Bean, current MLB VP and special assistant to the commissioner), a recent call-up from double-A (Michael Oberholtzer) makes a racist and homophobic statement to the press (think John Rocker, or rather don't think about him). He's suspended and suddenly Darren finds himself at the center of a movement, something he never wanted; he just wants to play ball as usual. More drama unfolds over the course of the season, some of it shocking. The season ends and so does the play, after exploring baseball as a microcosm of America, the good, the bad, and the ugly. The fantastic cast (Jesse Tyler Ferguson in particular is such a gem, so funny and natural on stage, and deserves to win his first Tony for this) on the simple but cool set comprised of a set of clubhouse lockers that turn around to form a backdrop for projections, and showers with actual running water (which yes, means they're naked, as people usually are in the shower), makes it feel like you're really in the clubhouse with these guys as they journey through this unexpectedly eventful season.
This season was tragic.What will we do until spring?!
NYC Theater Trip 2022: "Paradise Square" at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre
Title: Paradise Square
Location: Ethel Barrymore Theatre
Written By: Christina Anderson, Craig Lucas, and Larry Kirwan (book), Jason Howland (music), Nathan Tysen and Masi Asare (lyrics)
Summary: A new original musical (with ten Tony nominations) about Irish immigrants and free Black people living together in the Five Points neighborhood of NYC, until various factors including the draft riots of 1863 brought it to an end.
Highlights: This show reminded me a lot of Theater Latte Da's original musical Five Points, with similar themes, characters, setting, and dance styles. But while Latte Da's story centered around two historical dancers, Paradise Square is a fictional story about two Irish siblings married to free Black people and working together to run a pub called Paradise Square. Sister Annie (Chilina Kennedy) is married to Reverend Sam (Nathaniel Stampley), who works with the Underground Railroad to ferry escaped slaves to Canada, and brother Willie O'Brien (Matt Bogart) is married to Nelly (Tony nominated Joaquina Kalukango), who inherited the pub from her father. Things get even more complicated when Willie goes off to fight in the Civil War (easy to guess how that goes); the O'Briens' nephew Owen (Tony nominated A.J. Shively) arrives from Ireland needing work and a place to stay; the family takes in an escaped slave who takes the name Washington (Alan Wiggins beautifully filling in for the third Tony nominated actor in the cast, Sidney DuPont); politicians try to force Nellie out of her bar; and a draft is announced, causing unrest among the poor population who can't afford to pay the $300 fee to get out of it. The drama centers around a dance competition at the pub that will hopefully earn enough money to save it, with Owen and Washington competing to win the money and secure their freedom. There's a lot going on, perhaps too much, but this look into an early American multi-cultural society is interesting and inspiring, and the manipulation of the populace by businessmen and politicians once again reminds us that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Six people collaborated to write the music, book, and lyrics, pulling in many different voices to tell this story. Both the score and the choreography (by Bill T. Jones) combine the influence of Irish, African, and Black American traditions, and the dancing is truly phenomenal and thrilling, impeccably performed by the large and talented cast. How often do you see Irish step-dancing in a show that isn't Riverdance?! Lastly, the impressive set (designed by Allen Moyer) features a rotating two-story piece that represents the pub, inside and out, plus three narrow three-story pieces representing the tenement buildings. This epic and truly American story has a depressing ending, but "the door is always open to Paradise Square" provides a moment of hope.
NYC Theater Trip 2022: "The Minutes" at Studio 54
Title: The Minutes
Location: Studio 54
Written By: Tracy Letts
Summary: A small town city council meeting turns ugly when truths about the town's past are revealed, but not accepted by the people in power.
Highlights: Tracy Letts wrote and stars in this 90-minute very funny and real little play that you think is one thing, until it turns into another. The writing, direction (by Anna D. Shapiro), and performances by this fantastic cast (also including Jessie Mueller, Noah Reid of Schitt's Creek, Blair Brown, and scene stealer Austin Pendleton) are full of little details that define these specific characters and fill out the world in the town of Big Cherry, USA. Combined with a detailed and realistic set (designed by David Zinn), from the water stains on the ceiling, to the rolling snack cart, to the ambiguous mural, it feels like we're eavesdropping on a real meeting. The trouble arises when the newest council member returns from a week away, only to hear that something big happened last week resulting in one of the members being ousted from the council. The titular meeting minutes are not available, but he keeps digging until finally they're produced, revealing an argument about the annual heritage festival. The ousted member had produced the statement of an indigenous person that contradicts the local legend about the hero who saved the town from the "Sioux uprising" (which might sound familiar to those of us in Minnesotan, and really anywhere in the US). The mayor will not accept this, and goes to extreme lengths to make sure his version of history is the one that stands ("who lives, who dies, who tells your story"). What starts as an odd and funny little character study of a town and its residents (think Parks and Recreation) turns into a not so subtle statement about the true history of this country.
Wednesday, May 18, 2022
"A Raisin in the Sun" at Guthrie Theater
Tuesday, May 17, 2022
"Airness" at Park Square Theatre
Sunday, May 15, 2022
"The Labyrinth and the Minotaur: The Incarceration Play Project" by Wonderlust Productions at Mixed Blood Theatre
Saturday, May 14, 2022
"Once" at DalekoArts
Friday, May 13, 2022
"Moonlit Walk Home" at Nautilus Music-Theater
Wednesday, May 11, 2022
"Two Jews Walk Into a War..." by Six Points Theater at Highland Park Community Center
Tuesday, May 10, 2022
"Runestone! A Rock Musical" at History Theatre
Sunday, May 8, 2022
"The Bucket List of Booze Club" by Freshwater Theatre Company at the Crane Theater
Saturday, May 7, 2022
"Celebrating Sondheim, Act I" by Theatre Latte Da at Crooners Supper Club
Thursday, May 5, 2022
"Miss Woodhouse Presents" by Aethem Theatre Company at Elision Playhouse
Sunday, May 1, 2022
"Diary of a Wimpy Kid" at Children's Theatre Company
"All American Boys" by Stages Theatre Company and Capri Theater
Saturday, April 30, 2022
"Much Ado About Nothing" by Fearless Comedy at the Historic Mounds Theatre
Wednesday, April 27, 2022
"Class of '85" by Collide Theatrical Dance Company at Gremlin Theatre
Sunday, April 24, 2022
"Memphis" by Artistry at Bloomington Center for the Arts
"All rock 'n' roll is, is Negro blues sped up." This quote from the 2010 Tony-winning best musical Memphis, currently playing at Artistry in Bloomington, sums up the premise of the story - the way that White rock 'n' roll artists of the 1950s borrowed, or stole, from Black R&B artists. This cultural appropriation is something we're even more aware of in 2022 than we were 12 years ago, as noted by director Aimee K. Bryant in the program: "the show appropriates the story of the birth of rock 'n' roll, just like the music industry appropriates Black music and culture. It credits Huey Calhoun with the success of the genre, instead of crediting Felicia Farrell and her brother Delray with Huey's success." Well said, and this production is fully aware of that, and much of the spotlight is given to the Black artists and music that fueled the rock 'n' roll movement. Artistry has assembled a cast that is truly an embarrassment of riches to bring us the regional premiere of the Tony-winning musical.