The last time I saw
Twelve Angry Men, the men were singing. That was
Theater Latte Da's world premiere musical adaptation of the classic American story, which began as an episode of a TV show, before being adapted into a stage play and movie. I've actually only seen the non-singing version once, 20 years ago (and have never seen the movie, natch), so I was eager to revisit it at Lyric Arts. I knew from Latte Da's 2022 musical that, despite being written 70 years ago, this piece still has lots to say about today's world, but I was still struck by how timely and relevant this play feels now. In just 90 minutes, it explores ideas of justice, and injustice, race, class, privilege, anti-immigrant sentiment, masculinity, communication, and empathy. This is a really tight production with a fantastic 13-person cast (12 jurors + 1 bailiff), on a gorgeous 1950s jury room set.
Twelve Angry Men is a classic for a reason - thought-provoking, relevant, intellectually engaging, and even funny at times. See it on
Lyric Arts' Main Street Anoka stage now through November 1 (just be careful to avoid the Halloween celebrations in the Halloween capital of the world!).
