"Lumberjacks in Love" at Lyric Arts

Lyric Arts is easing into their ambitious season with the charmingly corny musical comedy Lumberjacks in Love. In the vein of Deer Camp the Musical or the Don't Hug Me series, Lumberjacks is full of local humor (northern Wisconsin, but that's pretty close to Minnesota*), dumb but amusing humor, and goofy songs. But thanks to the amiable cast you can't help but fall a little in love with these oddball characters in their search for (or running scared from) love. 

"A New Brain" at Artistry

Artistry's production of the rarely done 1998 Off-Broadway musical A New Brain is exquisitely lovely, and everything I love about musical theater. After composer/lyricist William Finn (see also Falsettos and Spelling Bee) underwent a serious heal crisis due to AVM (it's a brain thing), he wrote a musical about it. Because that's what artists do. The result is a very honest, clever, silly, funny, poignant, beautiful look at life. My previous experience with the piece was a staged reading several years ago by Second Fiddle Productions*, a company that does readings of rarely done musicals. I'm thrilled that Artistry chose this rare gem of a musical for their 2019-2020 season and are bringing us this beautiful production with the dreamiest of casts. If you're a fan of music-theater, don't miss this show!

"Mary Poppins" at Artistry

Artistry's Mary Poppins may be just the thing you need right now. That is, an escape from reality into the magical world of everyone's favorite nanny, filled with talking dogs, moving statues, high-flying kites, and fantastic dance numbers. Watching the show is, indeed, a jolly holiday as Artistry's large and talented cast brings the beloved movie to life with unstoppable energy. This is my third time seeing the 2004 stage adaptation of the 1964 classic movie and P.L. Travers' series of books, with book by Julian Fellowes (creator of Downton Abbey) and about a half dozen new songs added. I still think it's a bit long and bloated, with several scenes, songs, and characters that could be cut to make the runtime more child (and me) friendly than the current nearly 3 hours (which of course is no fault of Artistry, they have to work with the piece as written). But on the whole it's a heart-warming and smile-inducing show filled with moments of magic and delight for any age.

"Into the Woods" by Shoot the Glass Theatre at the Crane Theater

I've seen Into the Woods twice in the last six weeks, and six times in the last seven years (not counting the recent movie adaptation). And while I would love #TCTheater to diversify its choice of shows (there are quite a few duplicates and triplicates this season), I'm not going to complain about this one. Every time I see Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's exceedingly clever fairy tale mash-up that explores what happens after the "happily ever after," I love it even more. It's instantly familiar due to the fairy tale characters we grew up with, but then it lures you into a darker story. And it's a versatile piece that works just as well set in the forests of Asia as in a German beer garden. For their production, newish theater company Shoot the Glass Theater has gone with a stripped down, bare bones, unmiked approach that works beautifully. With minimal (but charming) set pieces and simple costumes, they're able to focus on the storytelling and the music, which is what it's all about.

"Follies" at Artistry

Artistry's production of Stephen Sondheim's 1971 musical Follies, the final show of their 2017-2018 season, opened two weeks ago, but the Great April Blizzard of '18 caused them to cancel several shows on their opening weekend. I finally had the opportunity to see it this weekend, and it was worth the wait! Having seen the 2011 Broadway revival, I knew what a gorgeous, but complicated, musical Follies is (does Sondheim write any other kind?). During my two-week delay in seeing the show I've been listening to the 2011 recording, so I was primed and ready for this show, and I loved every minute of it. Music Director Anita Ruth's 21-piece pit orchestra, Director Benjamin McGovern's large and talented cast (which includes three Equity actors, perhaps the most I've seen in a single show at Artistry), plus the dazzling design do justice to Sondheim and book writer James Goldman's complicated and beautiful musical. Congratulations to Artistry for tackling tricky Sondheim and pulling it off beautifully!

"Noises Off" at Artistry

For the first time that I can remember, Artistry is staging a musical in their smaller black box space, and a play in their larger traditional theater space. It makes perfect sense when the musical is the intimate two-hander The Last Five Years, better served by a smaller space and smaller elements of production, and the play is the hilarious back-stage farce Noises Off, which requires a huge rotating set. The switch pays off, with a nearly sold out run of L5Y, and a rollicking good time in Noises Off. The utterly delightful cast, directed by Artistic Director Benjamin McGovern, plays up the ridiculousness of the script to maximum effect. And all of the theater insideriness will make me wonder what's really going on backstage when a play starts late.