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. 

Broadway Tour of "SIX" at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts

It's only been three years since the six Queens of the smash hit musical SIX have been seen on the Ordway stage, but what a three years it's been! Shortly after the show's month-long run at the Ordway in December of 2019, as part of a US tour, it went to Broadway. Previews began in February of 2020, but before opening night, a global pandemic shuttered Broadway's doors for a very long and unprecedented 18 months. But these Queens are resilient; the show finally opened in October of 2021, just four years after it debuted at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, an unlikely trajectory for a Broadway musical. Nominated for eight Tony Awards and winning two (score and costume design), SIX is still playing on Broadway (and hopefully will for a long time). This year they launched a new tour, which opened at the Ordway this week and continues through November 6. Structured as a pop concert, SIX allows the six wives of Henry VIII to tell their own stories. This musical couldn't have come at a better time, when we're hungry for women's stories, for women to tell their own stories instead of being defined by men, as history has defined these six women by their marriage to a king.  This is the third time I've seen the show, and I only love it more each time. It's so smart, so clever, so modern, so feminist, and so much fun! If you love new, original, innovative music-theater, do not miss this opportunity to see SIX (visit the Ordway website for info and tickets).

"In the Heights" at the Ordway Center for Performing Arts

Before writing the brilliant Pulitzer Prize winning musical theater masterpiece that is Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote something a little closer to home. The 2008 multiple Tony winner In the Heights is basically a love letter to his family, his neighborhood, his community, his people. Specifically, a community of Latin American immigrants and the children and grandchildren of such immigrants. After seeing the Ordway's glorious production last night, I was reminded of what Oskar Eustis (artistic director of the Public Theater where Hamilton debuted) said about Miranda on the PBS documentary Hamilton's America, that he elevates the language of the common people in a way no one has done since Shakespeare. I was also reminded of playwright August Wilson. I recently saw the movie version of his play Fences, followed by a discussion led by his friend and colleague Marion McClinton, who said that Wilson's plays show that just living a life is noble. In the Heights tells a simple story about average people, in some ways the opposite of Hamilton, which tells an epic story about the founding of a new nation. But In the Heights is epic in its own way, and like August Wilson, Lin-Manuel Miranda reminds us that the common people who never get rich or famous or written about in history books still live noble lives with stories worth telling and worth listening to. And also, by the way, super fun and entertaining and moving and engrossing.