"God of Carnage" at Lyric Arts

In 2009, God of Carnage won the Tony Award for best play. It closed in 2010, and the Guthrie produced it the following year, when I called it "a tightly wound, intense, darkly hilarious four-person play about what happens when our baser natures come to the surface." I still have vivid memories of it (which is noteworthy, considering I've seen over a thousand plays since them). It's a treat to revisit this smart, sharp comedy again in a well done production at Lyric Arts. The strong four-person ensemble is a great team, director Scott Ford has paced the 90-minute four-way conversation well, and the design tells us immediately where we are and who we're dealing with. To my knowledge, no #TCTheater has done this play since the Guthrie in 2011, so kudos to the little community theater in the 'burbs for tackling this prickly and sometimes unpleasant (in a good way) play and doing it so well.

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2018: "Proof! An Alien Abduction Pop Musical"

Day: 7

Show: 27

Title: Proof! An Alien Abduction Pop Musical

Category: Comedy / Musical Theater / Original Music

By: Sister Shakes

Written by: Anna Olson and Mark Schirmacher

Location: Augsburg Studio

Summary: The title says it all: it's a musical about a woman abducted by aliens.

Highlights: This show has been selling out the small studio space, and it must be because it's fun and well-done. Admittedly the 10pm timeslot didn't allow me to be as engaged as I'd like to be (note to self: don't see 10pm shows), but what I managed to catch was quite enjoyable. A talented four-person cast (playwright Anna Olson, Bill Williamson, Don Maloney, and Tynelle Marschall), fun poppy songs (by Mark Schirmacher), and an amusing plot about an alien sent to harvest a human soul who falls in love with said soul, and then they end up saving the world (or something). Just one show left on the last day of the fest, so plan accordingly if you want to catch this funny, poppy, clever show (with aliens!)

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.

"You Can't Take It With You" at Lyric Arts

You can't take it with you. Meaning money, meaning when you die. What's the point of racking up piles of money at the expense of living? It's more important to rack up experiences and time spent doing the things you love with the people you love. At least that's the moral of the story in the classic play You Can't Take It With You, now playing at Lyric Arts Main Street Stage in Anoka. This 80-year-old play may be a little dated and old-fashioned, and I don't really see the urgency of doing this play at this moment in time. And of course, it's a privileged class of people who can contemplate giving up their high-paying job to spend more time on their hobbies. That being said, this is still a charming, funny, and uplifting play, a good way to spend an evening and a good reminder to not overlook the important things in life.

"Superior Donuts" at Lyric Arts

"Loving #SuperiorDonuts @LyricArtsAnoka! Smart, funny, relevant play by #TracyLetts and great cast! And it's nice to see some diversity on the stage and in the audience. #intermissiontweets."
Twitter @cherryandspoon

Sometimes 280 characters is all you need. But I've got a few more here, so I'll expand on last night's intermission tweet. Lyric Arts' production of Tony and Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy Letts' Superior Donuts, which premiered at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theater ten years ago, is one of the best things I've seen there. I almost always enjoy my trip to Anoka to see theater at Lyric, but my biggest complaint has been the lack of diversity on the stage at this theater in the 'burbs that only recently transitioned out of being a community theater. This play is a great step in the right direction, a new-ish play by a current acclaimed American playwright. And this cast is fantastic, really bringing out the heart and humor of the piece. Friends, if you've not been to Lyric lately, now is the time to head up Highway 10 to the old movie theater on Main Street (it's not as far as you think).

"Suddenly Last Summer" at Theatre in the Round

It may be the beginning of the cold, dark, drab winter season here in Minnesota, but on stage at Theatre in the Round, it's still beautiful and lush late summer, with colorful flowers and chirping birds. But it's still pretty dark, this being Tennessee Williams' Suddenly Last Summer, a one-act play written in 1958. Like all of Williams' plays, it's beautifully tragic, or tragically beautiful. Flawed people, dysfunctional families, and a sense of despair. Oh, how I love it! Tennessee Williams is one of my favorite playwrights, but this was my first experience with this play. It was my second experience with Tennessee Williams at TRP (see also Summer and Smoke), and once again they have put on an excellent production of a sad, beautiful, disturbing Tennessee Williams play.

"A Christmas Story" at Lyric Arts

The 1983 movie A Christmas Story has become a holiday classic, thanks in part to TBS running it for 24 hours on Christmas Day every year. Full of humor, nostalgia, and heart, this story of 9-year-old Ralphie and his quest for a very special BB gun for Christmas is a charmer. Fans of the movie are sure to enjoy Lyric Arts production of the play version of the movie, written in 2000 by Philip Grecian (which is different from the musical version that the Ordway did a few years ago). While this story based on a 30-year-old movie based on memories of a time 40 years before that is a bit dated, and viewed a bit differently in today's environment, the heart of the piece is still there. At the Sunday matinee performance some of my fellow Twin Cities Theater Bloggers (from Artfully Engaging, No Filter Reviews, One Girl, Two Cities, and Twin Cities Stages) and I were greeted with a Christmas cocktail, and after the show we chatted with the adult members of the cast and toured the set, with more Christmas cocktails of course. We bloggers always welcome the opportunity to talk to artists about their work and to learn about what happens behind the scenes.* Lyric Arts is one of the top community theaters in town (along with Theatre in the Round), and it was a treat to get to know them a little better and enjoy this festive and fun holiday show.

Fringe Festival 2016: "It Always Rained in Paris"

Day: 9

Show: 40

Title: It Always Rained in Paris

Category: Drama

By: Theatre Corrobora

Written by: Hailey Colwell

Location: Phoenix Theater

Summary: A woman on the verge of divorcing her French husband invites the girl she nannied for 15 years ago in Paris to come to America to be a nanny for her children.

Highlights: Playwright Hailey Colwell was inspired to write this play after spending the last year working as a nanny in a wealthy neighborhood in Paris. I don't know how a 20-something writes so well about the feelings of nostalgia and regret that come with a few more years of life experience. This is a story tinged with nostalgia, as Ellie (Anna Olson) remembers her year in Paris, where she met her husband Nic (Bill Williamson). After realizing they love the idea of each other and the time they spent together in Paris more than the person they each have become, they're in the process of divorcing. Ellie invites the now grown-up Michele (Dani Pazurek) to America look after her children Gabriele (Louisa Schirmacher) and Bastien (Huxley Westemeier) in hopes that the connection to Paris will somehow help. In a way it does, as Ellie confronts her reasons for being so obsessed with Paris, yet never wanting to go back, and finally begins to get unstuck. The cast beautifully brings this story and these very human characters to life, and live music by John Hilsen on keyboard perfectly sets the tone of nostalgic melancholy.

"Odd Couple" at Lyric Arts

Sometimes all you need is to laugh at a good old-fashioned comedy. Neil Simon's 1965 play The Odd Couple fits the bill. Yes, it's a "first world problems" kind of play, and the depiction of women as playthings is problemantic in today's world. But there's a reason it had such long-lasting success (it was made into not just a movie, but also a TV sitcom and a recent reboot). The reason being that Simon's sharply drawn characters and fast witty dialogue are just plain funny. And yes it's been done a lot, but Lyric Arts' production makes this old chestnut worth seeing again with their perfect casting, spot-on direction, and fantastic set. So take a trip back to 1960s NYC and have a good time with "divorced, broke, and slobby" Oscar and his reluctant roommate Felix, who "wears a seat-belt at a drive-in movie."

"Fahrenheit 451" at Theatre in the Round

Books are important. Books are where we express ourselves, share ideas, record history, and dream about the future. In the age of the internet, hundreds of cable channels, and short attention spans, one has to wonder if books are in danger. Over 60 years ago, perhaps inspired by the censorship and paranoia of the McCarthy era, novelist Ray Bradbury imagined a world in which people were not allowed to read or even possess books, in fact all books were burned. He later adapted his novel Fahrenheit 451 into a play, currently being produced by Theatre in the Round. The themes of censorship, control of information, and the dangers of reality TV ring eerily true as brought to life by this large and talented cast and interesting staging. It makes for a fascinating, disturbing, and thought-provoking evening of theater.