"The Butler Did It" at Park Square Theatre

The Park Square Theatre summer mystery is back, and it's a good one! Summery mystery plays have been a tradition at Park Square for decades, with a few years off for various reasons. This year they're premiering a brand new mystery play by prolific local playwright and screenwriter Jeffrey Hatcher, an expert at the form. The title of the play - The Butler Did It - tells us that this play is not a whodunnit, but rather a "howcatchem," in which the fun is not in trying to solve the mystery, but rather in watching a smart detective figure out what we already know. In a note in the program, Jeffrey Hatcher explains that he had the idea for this story when writing for the 1990s reboot of the 1970s Peter Falk howcatchem TV series Colombo. He never got to write that episode, so now we get to enjoy it on the Park Square stage. This production is practically perfect in every way - direction, casting, acting, design, execution - and it's very funny, entertaining, engrossing, and still with some surprises in the details even if we do already know whodunnit. See it at Park Square Theatre in lovely downtown St. Paul now through August 16.

"Twelfth Night" by Brick by Brick Players at Bumbling Fools Mead

Last night I descended into a hot and labyrinthian basement of a building in Northeast Minneapolis (not far from The Crane Theater) to check out a new-to-me theater company. Despite the heat, I was impressed by Brick by Brick Players' mission ("to create Theatre of Joy in the Traumatized Body"), and their production of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Similar to Ten Thousand Things, they are bringing this production out into the community, performing at a juvenile detention center and elder care facilities, and they also have an outreach program called "Safely Thus: Hope and Healing through Shakespeare." This production of Twelfth Night is a great example of finding joy after trauma, set in some kind of fallout shelter, characters bloodied and dirty, with lots of references to our recent occupation by armed agents terrorizing our streets. But yet, there is much joy in the finding of love and laughter and community. Unfortunately, seating is limited in the found space inside Bumbling Fools Mead, and their entire two-weekend run is sold out. But this is a company that should be on your radar, follow them on social media for upcoming events, including a production of Every Brilliant Thing this fall, which is very much a play about finding joy after trauma.

"Tape" by Vertigo Theater at the Hive Collaborative

New theater company Vertigo Theater makes an impressive debut with the one-act three-hander Tape, playing a The Hive Collaborative for a short two-week run. Most of the artists involved are recent graduates of the Guthrie / U of MN BFA program, several of whom were part of the 2025 graduating class's fantastic production of Jez Butterworth's epic play The Ferryman. I'd never seen or heard of Tape (although it was adapted into a film in 2001 starring then-married Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman, along with Robert Sean Leanard), and it's super intense. It's basically one long scene, mostly between two characters, with the late introduction of a third. It's the kind of play that feels like an acting exercise, with really complex and very real characters, and these three actors excel at the exercise. It's a taut and gripping 60 minutes that'll leave you with more questions than answers. Tape has four more performances at the Hive; it's a great chance to see some talented young artists who you will very likely be seeing more of in the future, and take in this intense and engrossing play.

"The Prom" at Lyric Arts

Lyric Arts production of the 2019 multiple Tony nominated musical The Prom (only the second in #TCTheater) is so joyous and big-hearted, so funny and inspiring, that it deserves to sell out every performance, like their recent production of Mamma Mia! did. Despite being about the seemingly radical idea of two teenage girls in small-town America going to the prom together (inspired by a real-life event), The Prom really is a good old-fashioned musical comedy. It's hilarious, chock full of musical theater references, and full of big musical numbers. Lyric Arts has assembled a fantastic cast and creative team and put together a show that will make you laugh and make you cry, sometimes at the same time! Do your heart a favor and get a ticket to this Prom, whether you have a date or not, and experience the joy.

"The Cottage" at Gremlin Theatre

It's the summer of Noël Coward in #TCTheater, and after the long hard winter we had, we deserve some summer escapist comedies. Last month, Theatre in the Round brought us the ghostly and hilarious Blithe Spirit, about a man who is haunted by his ex-wife, much to his current wife's dismay. The Guthrie is about to open Private Lives, about exes honeymooning with their new spouses. And Gremlin Theatre is throwing their hat into the ring with a new play that, according to Wikipedia, is "described as a modern take on a Noël Coward comedy." The Cottage is a straight up farce that is definitely reminiscent of Coward's plays, but since it was written by a modern female playwright (Sandy Rustin,* one of the most produced playwrights in America last season, in part because of her adaptation of the movie Clue) it gives a bit more agency to the female characters, with an atypical ending for a romantic comedy. Gremlin's regional premiere production of The Cottage, that premiered on Broadway just a few years ago, is perfectly cast, impeccably designed, and utterly delightful from start to finish. Playing now through August 2.

Broadway tour of "Wicked" at the Orpheum Theatre

Since Wicked was last in Minneapolis in 2022, the much anticipated movie adaptation has been released, not one but two films starring Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, and a bunch of stars. I saw both movies on the big screen (a rarity for me, I'm too busy seeing live theater to go to the movie theater) and loved them both; I think it was a successful adaptation that captured the magic of the musical. But Wicked is inherently a stage experience, and the 2nd National Tour that began in 2009 is still going strong, and scheduled to continue through 2034! The release of the movies seems not to have dimmed the enthusiasm for the live production. But you may be thinking, I can see Wicked in the comfort of my own home, why go out and see it on stage? Keep reading and I'll give you 10 reasons to see this tour of Wicked before it flies away on August 9. And I will share some photos and insights from a few days ago when I had the privilege of watching the tour being loaded into the Orpheum Theatre, a massive undertaking, but one that after a couple decades of experience runs like clockwork. This is the 6th time that the Wicked tour has stopped in Minneapolis, and unlike most shows it's sticking around for five weeks. This was my 8th time seeing Wicked on stage (I've seen every tour, one of them twice, and also saw it on Broadway once), and it never ceases to thrillify. 

"In The Backroom" by Michael Torsch at the Southern Theater

The Minnesota Fringe Festival schedule was just announced, but if you want a preview of the sort of adventurous, inventive, outside-the-box art you will see in August, check out In the Backroom by Michael Torsh at the Southern Theater this weekend. A new show on a holiday weekend? That's right, and that's intentional. From the press release: "This performance considers the complicated nature of celebrating America's 250th anniversary, the effects of imperialism on the individual, and how we might eulogize all those killed during wartime. By constructing an environment to collectively meditate on our societal grief, In The Backroom is an antidote to the unrestricted hypernationalism propagated by the current administration." Since I will be off the grid at a lake this weekend, I attended the final run-through of the show before performances begin tonight, and it was all of those things and more. It's very meta and fourth-wall breaking, thoughtfully constructed to bring together many different ideas, cleverly uses recorded video and projections, and is incredibly thought-provoking without providing any easy answers. If you saw Michael's Fringe show last year, All Your Shimmering Gold, it's a similar vibe. If you're in town this weekend and feeling conflicted about America's 250th birthday and the way it's being celebrated, sold, and marketed, this is the show for you. There are 7pm performances Thurs-Sat, with a 4pm show on Sun, and it's only 70 minutes long so you can get back to your barbeques and fireworks.