"The Sound of Music" by Frosted Glass Creative

Seeing my sentimental favorite The Sound of Music (having grown up loving the movie, later playing clarinet in the pit orchestra for my high school production, and spending four months living in Salzburg in college) outdoors by the river in Stillwater was an absolute dream. Frosted Glass Creative had to cancel the first of only three performances due to a storm, but the delayed opening night was a success. Even though it was hot and buggy, and there were some sound issues in the challenging outdoor environment, with difficult sightlines at times, I loved every second of it. It's such a joyful story about following your dreams, connecting through music, and making difficult sacrifices to stand up for what's right. The large and talented cast and gorgeous full orchestra put so much heart into the show that even people floating by on the river could feel it. Stillwater's Zephyr Theatre premiered "Broadway on the Bridge" on this spot in the pandemic days, which sadly only lasted two years (Mamma Mia! and School of Rock) before they experienced financial difficulties and had to pause activities for a year or two. Former Zephyr Artistic Director Calyssa Hall is now with Frosted Glass (and directed this show) and began their "Broadway on the St. Croix" series last year, and it's such a great idea and a perfect spot for outdoor musicals - truly the prettiest stage in Minnesota. The second and final performance of The Sound of Music is tonight, but follow Frosted Glass for more theater opportunities along the beautiful St. Croix River.

UPDATE: Monday night performance added to make up for Friday's rainout - get tickets here!

"Dial M for Murder" at Yellow Tree Theatre

Yellow Tree Theatre is opening their 17th season in a cozy strip mall in Osseo with a classic: the 1952 play Dial M for Murder, adapted into a film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and now smartly adapted by local prolific playwright Jeffrey Hatcher. The Guthrie produced this adaptation earlier this year, so I wasn't that excited when I heard Yellow Tree was doing it so soon after. But seeing the show last night, it totally won me over. It's a classic for a reason - an intricately plotted thriller with a strong female heroine who escapes death - and this new adaptation honors that but makes the story more modern with a few slight changes (the murderous husband is a failed novelist rather than former tennis celebrity, and the American writer named Max that his wife has an affair with is a woman). Yellow Tree's production on their sweet little intimate stage (as opposed to the Guthrie's expansive and lush thrust stage), with a fantastic four-person cast (one less than at the G), is definitely worth seeing, whether or not you've seen this story before. Dial M for Murder plays Wednesdays through Sundays until October 13.

"Every Christmas Story Ever Told" at Yellow Tree Theatre

Yellow Tree Theatre has a long tradition of doing silly holiday* comedies, beginning with their first season. When the rights to the show they were planning to do were pulled, co-founder Jessica Lind Peterson wrote a play about a theater whose rights to the show they were planning to do were pulled. Miracle on Christmas Lake was born, spawning a sequel and other holiday comedies in the silly but heart-warming vein. Now in their 16th season and under new leadership, the tradition continues with Every Christmas Story Ever Told, a madcap ride through, if not every, then most Christmas stories ever told. It's a clever conceit and a super fun mash-up for those of us who grew up with these stories. In the hands of three talented and very funny performers, it's an enjoyable evening for all. If you don't have time to see every Christmas show, head up to charming downtown Osseo before the end of the year to see all of them at once.

"The Rats & The Wasp's Nest" at Yellow Tree Theatre

About halfway through the first of a pair of one-act Agatha Christie mystery plays at Yellow Tree Theatre, it started to seem familiar. At intermission I checked cherryandspoon.com (which is much more reliable than my memory) and found that I had indeed seen these two plays before. They were part of a triptych of plays at Park Square Theatre in 2019 called Agatha Christie: Rule of Thumb. The director of that piece, Austene Van, has brought two of these plays to Yellow Tree Theatre, of which she is now the Artistic Director, to begin their 16th season in their warm and cozy space in a strip mall in Osseo. Each one of these plays is under 45 minutes long, and both are wonderful examples of tight and concise mystery storytelling. It's like a mini Agatha Christie repertoire festival, but it only takes you less than 90 minutes on one night to see the shows. You will be rewarded by great performances in these murder stories that are more light and funny than dark and scary. A perfect way to ease into October (continuing through October 29).

"Buddy! The Buddy Holly Story" at History Theatre

"That'll Be the Day." "Peggy Sue." "Oh, Boy." "Maybe Baby." These iconic songs by '50s rocker Buddy Holly are so much a part of our culture that everyone knows them, even those of us born long after his tragic death in a plane crash in 1959. Buddy! The Buddy Holly Story, a jukebox musical that uses Buddy Holly's music to tell his story, premiered in London in 1989 before crossing the pond to be seen on stages around the country. It's a fitting choice for the History Theatre, which brings varied and sometimes obscure pieces of Minnesota history to life on stage. What does Buddy Holly have to do with Minnesota? His doomed plane was on its way from Clear Lake, Iowa to Moorhead, Minnesota when it crashed, killing Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper. This production, which premiered at the History Theatre in 2005 and was remounted a few times, is back this year for the first time since 2015, with many returning cast members and creatives (including director Ron Peluso in his final season as Artistic Director). Buddy! is a fun celebration of the all too short life and career of this pioneering rock-and-roller, enjoyed equally by those who remember first-hand his life and death, and those who only know the legend (although the audience skews much more towards the former).* This run of Buddy! continues through the end of the month; click here for info and tickets.

"Another Miracle on Christmas Lake" at Yellow Tree Theatre

It almost took a miracle for me to see Yellow Tree Theatre's annual original holiday* comedy based in the fictional and very Minnesotan town of Christmas Lake. I arrived at the theater with a group of friends on a warm and rainy December night to find that the performance had been cancelled due to a tornado warning (in Minnesota in December?! and climate change isn't a thing). The next week everyone was busy with Christmas plans, so a subset of the group rescheduled to see one of the last performances this week. Amidst a slew of show closings on Broadway and locally, this show did indeed happen! A perfect final show of 2021, closing out a less than perfect year of theater, but one that saw growth, ingenuity, and a return to some form of normal (more on that in the coming days). There are only two performances left of Another Miracle on Christmas Lake, but you can still get yourself to Osseo to see it if you act quickly. Or make plans for their two upcoming shows in 2021 which are both brilliant and rare choices - the funny, feminist, historical, and modern play In the Next Room; Or, the Vibrator Play and the musical Passing Strange.

"Mamma Mia!" by Zephyr Theatre at Lowell Park

2021 is THE summer for fantastic outdoor* theater, and Zephyr Theatre's Mamma Mia! is high on that list. The Stillwater theater has been around for a few years, drawing top talent from #TCTheater, but this was my first experience with them. It will definitely not be my last. What's better than walking around charming riverside Stillwater, shopping, eating, and drinking, followed by outdoor theater performed on a stage with the St. Croix River and the historic lift bridge in the background?! In normal times they perform inside the Minnesota Zephyr Train Depot, but this summer they're opening their "Broadway by the Bridge" series with a show that's full of joy (as Artistic Director Calyssa Hall said before the show), Mamma Mia! Perhaps a bit of a guilty pleasure, this long-running hugely successful jukebox musical that spawned two movies (and counting) is so infectious with it's fun, familiar story-songs and heart-warming stories of female friendship and celebrating different kinds of families that you just can't help but love it. And this lovely and talented cast brings out all of the joy, fun, warmth, and humor of the piece, made extra specially poignant by the fact that it's likely the cast and audience's first return to theater after a very long extended intermission. That's a celebration in itself. The only downside of Mamma Mia! is that it runs this weekend only, and I do recommend buying tickets in advance (read: now) because it's close to selling out. Watch for the next "Broadway by the Bridge" in early August; I hear they're doing Shakespeare's As You Like It (dates and details TBA).

Park Square Theatre's Special Zoom Performance of THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK

Out of all the streaming theater performances I've watched at home in the past seven weeks, none has affected me as much as Park Square Theatre​'s special zoom performance of their annual production of THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK. This is their 21st year presenting this for student audiences, and I commend them for finding a way to get this ever more relevant and inspiring story out to students (and others) in such a uniquely moving way. It's really well done, with each actor emoting from their own separate little box, but somehow creating a cohesive story as if they were in the same room. The cast and creative team put much thought and care into their at-home costumes, lighting, and props, as well as the way actors appear and disappear from the screen. Anne and her family's horrific experience really puts our temporary isolation into perspective. I highly recommend it for your at home quarantimes (or anytime) theater viewing.

"Sub/prime" by Media Blitz at Mixed Blood Theatre

In a note in the program for his new play Sub/prime, NYC playwright Beck Lee states that local director Peter Moore told him after a reading, "You haven't found the humanity in these people yet. They are not honest, vulnerable people... they're stick figures." I shudder to think what the early version of this play was like, because these four Minnesota tourists on vacation in NYC are the most miserable horrible people I have ever seen on stage. I kept waiting for some sort of redemption, where someone learns a lesson, or gets there comeuppance, or something. But it never came. Part of me thinks this play is one big prank on Minnesotans; that the playwright hates Minnesotans and tourists and this is his big joke to show how horrible we are. Either way I was not laughing; I've rarely been so offended at the theater.

"The Royale" at Yellow Tree Theatre

I've learned more about boxing from #TCTheater this month that I ever knew before! But of course, like Illusion Theater's world premiere of Dancing with Giants (closing this weekend), Yellow Tree Theatre's regional premiere of The Royale is about much more than boxing. While Dancing with Giants explored pre-WWII international politics through the story of boxers, including African American heavyweight champion Joe Louis, The Royale takes us back a few decades earlier to explore race relations right here in America through the story of Jack Johnson, the first ever African American heavyweight champion (that's way more boxing words than I ever thought I'd write). The play is sparse in length (not much more than an hour) and words, and almost feels like a dance musical in its rhythmic dialogue and graceful movement. It's a powerful and dynamic experience that flies by in no time.

"The Diary of Anne Frank" at Park Square Theatre

Some 32,000 students a year head to Park Square Theatre's two-stage downtown St. Paul space to see theater that is just for them. Many of Park Square's regular shows have a handful of student matinees, but there are also several shows that are primarily for students, with few, if any, evening performances for us grown-ups. But because I'm not a normal grown-up, I was able to get into a student matinee of one of the two shows for students this spring, The Diary of Anne Frank (the other is a captivating 90-minute Romeo and Juliet, which I saw last year). A theater full of hundreds of teenagers creates a much different atmosphere for watching theater, and watching the kids watch the play is almost as entertaining as watching the play itself. The Diary of Anne Frank is a play that must appeal to teenagers, with a main character that is herself just a typical teenager, despite living in hiding during the Holocaust. Anne's story and spirit are brought to life in an engaging production that's a pleasure for kids and grown-ups alike.

"Buddy - The Buddy Holly Story" at the History Theatre

"That'll Be the Day." "Peggy Sue." "Oh, Boy." "Maybe Baby." These iconic songs by '50s rocker Buddy Holly are so much a part of our culture that everyone knows them, even those of us born long after his tragic death in a plane crash in 1959. Buddy - The Buddy Holly Story, a jukebox musical that uses Buddy Holly's music to tell his story, premiered in London in 1989 before crossing the pond to be seen on stages around the country. It's a fitting choice for the History Theatre, which brings varied and sometimes obscure pieces of Minnesota history to life on stage. What does Buddy Holly have to do with Minnesota? His doomed plane was on its way from Clear Lake, Iowa to Moorhead, Minnesota when it crashed, killing Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper. This production, which premiered at the History Theatre a few years ago, is back this year with much of the original cast of actor/musicians and director Ron Peluso. It's a fun celebration of the all too short life and career of this pioneering rock-and-roller, enjoyed equally by those who remember first-hand his life and death, and those who only know the legend (although the audience skews much more towards the former).

The show follows Buddy's life from his early days in Lubbock, Texas, breaking out of the country-western genre and creating something entirely new, through a failed recording contract, his unprecedented string of hit songs, a whirlwind romance and marriage, and finally, to that fateful last concert in Clear Lake, Iowa. Along the way we hear many of his best hits, along with other songs of the era, including Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper's biggest hits, "La Bamba" and "Chantilly Lace," respectively. Despite the fun music, there's a slight sense of foreboding as the audience knows how the story ends, even as Buddy and friends move towards it unaware of their fate. But we're not down for long, a brief moment of silence with a single spotlight illuminating a frozen Buddy in his final concert, and we're back to the party, with several songs continuing through and after the curtain call to leave the audience in a good mood.

Nicholas Freeman as Buddy, and the ensemble

Nicholas Freeman returns as Buddy, and fully embodies the rocker's spirit, voice, and trademark glasses (even if he does look a little more like Stephen Colbert than Buddy Holly). His experience with and dedication to this show are evident, as he brings this long ago legend to life and makes him seem like a real person. He's supported by a large and talented ensemble, many of whom are current or former students at the McNally Smith College of Music, with which the History Theatre shares a building. The students dancing on stage before the show and in the aisles during some of the numbers bring an authentic youthful energy to the show. Buddy's drummer and bass player are played with great musicianship and personality by Zac Spicer and Ryan Janssen. Lynnea Monique Doublette and Munyaradzi Tirivep embody the spirit of the legendary Apollo Theater in Harlem and rouse the crowd with "Shout!" The excellent ensemble includes Charles Fraser as several music industry people; Andrea San Miguel, charming as Buddy's sudden wife; Four Humors' Brant Miller as the Big Bopper et al.; Bryan Porter, making the most of several small roles; and Mariah Trimm, with a hilariously Midwestern version of The Star-Spangled Banner.

Refreshingly for a musical, the actors are not miked, but use retro style microphones for the big numbers. This also allows for a few lovely unplugged moments, including Buddy singing to his new wife. The stage is set up to look like a '50s stage, and the period costumes include poodle skirts, crinolines, and bow ties galore (sound by C. Andrew Mayer, set by Justin Hooper, and costumes by Lynn Farrington).

If you remember where you were on "the day the music died" and long to reminisce about the days before that loss of innocence, you'll want to catch this show before it closes on December 21 (or later, I hear it's going to be extended). If you only know of it from the song (or, for you other children of the '80s, the 1987 movie La Bamba about Ritchie Valens), this is a chance to learn a little bit more about the legend and imagine what it was like to be a bobby soxer. Either way - a good time was had by all.

The 2014 Ivey Awards at the State Theatre

Last night was the highlight of the theater year - the Ivey Awards. Celebrating its tenth anniversary, the Iveys honor a dozen or so individuals or productions from the last year. Unlike the Tonys, there are no set categories or nominees that people and shows compete in, but rather, exceptional work at any of the 68 participating theaters is honored, based on evaluations by volunteers. But in addition to the actual awards, and perhaps more importantly, the Iveys are a chance for theater artists and theater-goers to gather and celebrate all the brilliant work that has been done in the Twin Cities over the past year.

The hilarious Randy Reyes returned as co-host, along with new host, the fantastically talented Christina Baldwin (who sadly did not sing). They made for a funny, charming, and entertaining pair of hosts, with a running gag that had Randy attempting to share some of his writing, and Christina reigning him in, only to be interrupted by a crazy fight scene. Presenter pairs are typically made up of one winner from last year, along with someone from one of the Iveys' many sponsors. Speaking of which, this year's obligatory sponsor presentation was done with charm and aplomb by Ari Hoptman as a distinguished German man, speaking German with English words thrown in (my fellow study abroad students and I used to call that Germlish, a language in which I am fluent).

In addition to a special Ivey for the man who started this whole crazy wonderful thing ten years ago, Scott Mayer, and the usual Emerging Artist and Lifetime Achievement Awards, ten translucent green conical pyramids were given out honoring work in ten productions. I'm proud to say that I saw eight of these ten productions, which might be a record high percentage of Ivey winners attended for me. But it's not about me, so on to the awards (but it's still a little bit about me, so click on the titles to read my full thoughts on each show).

1. The first award of the night went to Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company's production of Rose, a one-woman show starring the divine Sally Wingert which was performed just last month in homes around the Twin Cities. I called it "inspirational, horrifying, funny, charming, disturbing, brutally honest, and utterly compelling." Ivey voters agreed.
2. Seraphina Nova was honored for her work as playwright of Candid Theater Company's Dogwood, which I called "a compelling and entertaining dark family drama."
3. Proving that the Iveys have a long memory, the next award went to a musical from last year that actually performed at last year's Ivey Awards. I absolutely loved Nautilus Music-Theater's Ordinary Days and its intimate staging and incredibly talented four-person cast, and called it "everything I want musical theater to be."
4. One of the two shows I sadly did not see is In the Heart of the Beast's Between the Worlds, for which Sandra Spieler and Julie Boada were honored for their properties design.
5. Perhaps the most surprising and exciting moment for me was this one, when my favorite theater in the 'burbs Yellow Tree Theatre received their much deserved first ever Ivey Award. Director Anne Byrd was recognized for The 39 Steps, a show I called "brilliantly choreographed and flawlessly executed."
6. A special award was given to Scott Mayer, not for his theatrical work but for his ten years of work putting on this annual fabulous event we call the Iveys (incidentally, the Ivey Awards gets its name from the Ivey Restaurant, the theater hangout of early 20th Century Minneapolis).
7. For their performances in Driving Miss Daisy at the Jungle last fall, the "perfect trio" of Wendy Lehr, James Craven, and Charles Fraser received an award, although only Wendy was there to accept it.
8. In the one sure thing of the night, an Ivey was awarded to Theater Latte Da and Hennepin Theatre Trust's "Broadway Re-imagined" production of Cabaret, aka "musical theater at its best."
9. Because one was just not enough, Yellow Tree's The 39 Steps received a second award, this one for the brilliant comic performances of Nathan Cousins and Tristan Tifft, who "stole the show."
10. Eduardo Cincago received an award for costume and set design of Cinderella at Children's Theatre Company.
11. The final award of the night went to the incomparable Sally Wingert, recognizing her four brilliant and distinct performances in four shows over the past year, two of which also received Iveys for the production, thanks in no small part to her performances. Sally played the mother of a dysfunctional family in Tribes at the Guthrie, the title character in Dark and Stormy's The Receptionist, Fraulein Schneider in the Ivey-winning Cabaret, and an 80-year-old Jewish woman who lived an incredible life in the Ivey-winning Rose. It's "a good time to be middle-aged," a good time to be Sally Wingert, and a good time to be a theater-goer who gets to witness her incredible and varied work.

Two years ago I called Tyler Michaels my favorite new artist of the 2012, and I'm thrilled that the Iveys finally caught up with me, handing him a much deserved Emerging Artist Award. Just this year he thrilled audiences and "rocked my world" as the Emcee in Cabaret, made his charming Guthrie debut as Freddie in My Fair Lady, and was featured in two shows at the Chanhassen (and can currently be seen there in Hello, Dolly!). Singing, acting, comedy, drama, aerial work, physical theater - there seems to be no end to this young man's talents.

All nine previous Lifetime Achievement Award winners were honored with creepy cool huge puppets by In the Heart of the Beast, and this year's award went to Michael Robins and Bonnie Morris for their 40 years as Illusion Theater's Executive Producing Director and Producing Director, respectively. I'm a big fan of Illusion and the work that they create there; you should definitely check them out if you haven't yet (next up: last year's Ivey Lifetime Achievement Award winner, playwright Jeffrey Hatcher, in his one-man version of Hamlet).

Because this is a theater awards show, there were of course wonderful performances, excerpts of past and upcoming shows. There's no better way to start any show than with Tyler Michaels descending from the ceiling, as he did in "Wilkommen" from the aforementioned Cabaret, accompanied by the entire fantastic cast. Other performances included a hilarious performance of Men-Struation by Brave New Workshop; a really cool song from Freshwater Theatre's Archival Revival; and Regina Marie Williams as Shug Avery singing "Push Da Button" from The Color Purple, coming to Park Square Theatre in January. To close the show, the cast of Bloomington Civic Theatre's just closed Guys and Dolls shared their energetic version of "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat," sending us out into the beautiful fall night to the fun of the after party.

And with that, another Ivey Awards show and another season of spectacular theater comes to a close. But the good news is that great theater never stops in this town. So get out and see some local theater. Stay tuned to Cherry and Spoon for suggestions and info on what's available!

Fringe Festival: "Failure: A Love Story"

Day: 4

Show: 12

Title: Failure: A Love Story

Category: Comedy

By: Campbell Productions

Written by: Philip Dawkins

Location: Illusion Theater

Summary: A love story about a family consisting of three doomed sisters, their adopted brother (who may or may not be in love with them), and the charming young man they all loved.

Highlights: It's the late '20s and the Fail sisters are going to die. That much we know, but watching it all unfold is a series of delightful and heartbreaking surprises. "Comedy" is not a big enough word to describe what this show is. Director Joshua James Campbell and this beautiful eight-person cast have created the perfect tone for the show, walking that delicate line between lighthearted quirky comedy and heartbreaking and heartwarming love story. I'm not going to divulge any plot details so as not to spoil the joy of discovery, but suffice it to say, there are talking animals, epic swims, anthropomorphized clocks, charming ukulele music, tragic untimely deaths, and unexpected love. The lovely Fail sisters are Su Yoon Ko as the practical oldest sister who runs the family clock shop, Andrea San Miguel as the spunky athletic middle sister, and Emily Madigan as the fun-loving baby. As their brother John N. who's "not good with people" and watches all of his beloved sisters die, Sean Dillon has the perfect hangdog expression hiding depths of feeling. The talented Nathan Barlow is charming as the man all of the sisters love, the great Kim Kivens and Charles Fraser embody everyone from the Fail parents to animals to clocks, and last but not least, Revay Henneman as a living gramophone provides a perfect soundtrack with period songs on the ukulele. This show is everything I want from a Fringe show, really everything I want from theater: funny, quirky, whimsical, musical, poignant, touching, surprising, moving, and utterly heartbreaking. Am I the only one who was reduced to a weepy mess at the end of this show? It just touched me so deeply in so many ways with its true and beautiful depiction of love in its many forms. "Just because something ends doesn't mean it wasn't successful." If I didn't have a few dozen other shows I need to see this week, I would go see this one again. Friends - do not miss this show.

"Driving Miss Daisy" at the Jungle Theater

Most people are familiar with the 1989 Oscar-winning hit movie Driving Miss Daisy, starring Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman. But perhaps lesser known is the fact that it began as an Off-Broadway play (also starring Morgan Freeman), and earned playwright Alfred Uhry the Pulitzer Prize. This play about the 25-year friendship between a wealthy white woman and her black chauffeur in Atlanta during the middle part of the 20th Century is a gem of a play, worthy of the acclaim. The Jungle Theater's production, playing now through December 22, is perfectly cast, and is simply a beautiful 80 minutes of theater.

I'm sure you all know the story: 72-year-old widow Daisy crashes her car in the driveway, causing her son Boolie to hire her a driver despite her protestations. Hoke shows up at Daisy's home, unwanted by her, but she eventually allows him to drive her to the Piggly Wiggly, temple, family gatherings, and even a dinner honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. Over the years Daisy comes to rely on Hoke, and he becomes more than "the back of a neck" that she stares at in the car. This is a beautiful portrait of a true and lasting friendship, and an unlikely one at that. Quite simply, Daisy and Hoke are family, despite their differences.

Miss Daisy (Wendy Lehr) and Hoke (James Craven)

Wendy Lehr* and James Craven are both excellent as they physically and emotionally embody Daisy and Hoke, and have a wonderfully prickly and affectionate chemistry between them. They age 25 years in 80 minutes before our eyes, and do it gracefully and subtly, with a little more slowness and stiffness in each scene as time progresses. Charles Fraser completes this perfect trio as Boolie, with great love for and impatience with his mother and an unwavering Southern drawl. And like the slow Southern drawl, all of the actors take their time with the piece, nothing rushed or forced, but unfolding in due time.

The Jungle's Artistic Director Bain Boehlke* directs and designed the set, once again allowing for the perfect marriage of story and setting. Four chairs and a steering wheel at the front of the stage represent the car, where much of the drama occurs. The characters mime every window opening and door closing, perfectly timed with sound effects (by Sean Healey). To the right we see Boolie's office, and to the left Daisy's living room, both specifically populated with details. In the center is a video screen showing the car or location, occasionally marking the passage of time from 1948 to 1973. All of these pieces are joined together with a theme of latticework, creating a charming Southern home.

The Jungle Theater's Driving Miss Daisy is a compact and emotionally powerful 80 minutes of theater. Completely engrossing, funny, heart-warming, and utterly charming. Warning: you might want to bring tissues.



*I had the great pleasure of being seated next to Wendy and Bain at the Patti LuPone concert at the Dakota a few months ago. It truly was one of the theatrical highlights of the year for me, to spend a little time with and chat with these two local theater legends.

"Miracle on Christmas Lake II" at Yellow Tree Theatre

"A Little Bit of Lovin' and a Christmas Tree." That's the theme song of this year's rendition of Yellow Tree Theatre's annual holiday show, Miracle on Christmas Lake II* (presented for the second year in a row after a successful three-year run of the original Miracle on Christmas Lake). The song is a pretty good description of the plot as well - the "Loving" being represented by nerdy soulmates Martha and Neil and small town theater owners Colin and Tess, and the "Christmas Tree" taking the form of a silly costume that Colin wears in the pageant thrown together at the last minute. But more than that, it's about a small community pulling together to save their beloved small town way of life. Not your average sugar-coated Christmas treat, Miracle on Christmas Lake II is silly and preposterous and hilarious and heart-warming.

In the ridiculous (in a good way) plot, the entire town of Christmas Lake comes down with the goat flu (which causes its victims to make strange bleating noises and eat garbage), and is also in danger of annexation by neighboring town Potterton. Colin and Tess must put on a successful Christmas show to impress the Hollywood producer wanting to film a movie in Christmas Lake, which will save the town. It's the pretty much the same show as last year (written by Jessica Lind Peterson and directed by Jason Peterson, founders of the theater), with a few little tweaks and mostly new cast. The one constant in the five years of Christmas Lake is Yellow Tree regular Ryan Nelson as the Little House on the Prairie-obsessed piano tuner Neil, who thinks acting means doing an impression. He grows funnier and nerdier every year, and never fails to crack me up. Debra Berger ably takes on the role of Neil's girlfriend, the Sound of Music-loving Martha with a pet lizard and a mean tater tot hotdish recipe. Neil and Martha's big romantic moment is crowned with a rendition of (what else) "Something Good" from Sound of Music (the movie, but not the original stage musical, which had a song called "An Ordinary Couple" in its place, which has just outed me as a fellow nerd - maybe that's why I love Neil and Martha so much). Josef Buchel (the charming gentleman caller) and Rachel Petrie (of Four Humors Theater) play the only normal people in town, Christmas Lake native Colin and his wife Tess, who run the local community theater and try to corral these crazies into some semblance of a theatrical production. The charismatic Andy Frye returns as the Hollywood location scout with a secret, only this time he's given a new name (Stefan Stefanjovak) and a vaguely Eastern European accent. Rounding out the cast is Charles Fraser playing several characters, each one more quirky and outrageous than the last. The entire cast plays well together. One of the best examples of this is a fabulous slow-mo fight between Neil and Stefan over Martha. Hilarious and deftly executed.

Over the last three years I've grown to love the residents of the fictional town of Christmas Lake, which will seem familiar to any Minnesotan (you can read more about last year's version of the show here, and about the original play here). I hope to return for many years to come. Jason says in this article in the StarTrib that there are plans for a third play. Until then, check out this trailer featuring scenes from the show accompanied by one of my favorite local musicians (thanks to Yellow Tree) Blake Thomas** singing "A Little Bit of Lovin' and a Christmas Tree" (I'm still waiting for it to be released as a single). In the show, the cast sings the song and it sounds quite lovely - several of these actors are hiding great voices behind their comedy.



Miracle on Christmas Lake II from Yellow Tree Theatre on Vimeo.


*I received two complementary tickets to Miracle on Christmas Lake II, and brought along nine more friends who happily purchased tickets, even though many of them had seen the show last year. It's a really fun group outing, especially when paired with dinner at Nectar Wine Bar in adorable downtown Osseo.

**Blake Thomas is writing a new original musical Stay Tuned to be presented at Yellow Tree Theatre next spring, with help from his lovely and talented wife Mary Fox and Stefan Stefanjovak himself, Andy Frye (who is also directing Yellow Tree's next show, Circle Mirror Transformation, which I called "a quiet, real, completely satisfying exploration of five intersecting lives" when I saw it at the Guthrie in 2010). More information on both shows here.