Broadway tour of "& Juliet" at the Orpheum Theatre

The nine-time 2023 Tony nominated musical & Juliet arrived at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Minneapolis this week. I knew very little about the show going into it, other than it had something to do with Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, and the score was comprised of pop songs. No expectations often leads to a great experience at the theater, and that was definitely the case here. The book (written by Schitt's Creek writer David West Read) is very clever in its meta structure, includes lots of Shakespeare references and a bit of rhyme, and is modern, feminist, and very funny. The score features well-chosen pop songs by artists of the last few decades, from Britney Spears to the Backstreet Boys to Katy Perry, all of them written or co-written by prolific Swedish songwriter Max Martin. And despite the fact that I knew maybe a third of these songs (I'm a nerd, I don't know pop music from any decade), I found it to be a really fun, entertaining, feel-good show. & Juliet continues at the Orpheum Theatre through May 18 only.

Broadway tour of "Company" at the Orpheum Theatre

On my first trip back to NYC after Broadway reopened in late 2021 after an unprecedented 18-month intermission, one of my must-sees was Company. Director Marianne Elliott's reimagining of the 1970 Sondheim musical played West End in 2018-2019 to great success, but had only a handful of previews on Broadway in March 2020 before everything went dark. It finally opened in December of 2021, and this genius production of a brilliant Sondheim creation was worth the wait. Flipping the gender of the main character (which I've been calling for practically since I first saw the show), as well as other slight tweaks, brought this 50-year-old musical into the 21st century with a whole new exploration of relationships and gender roles. I loved everything about it. And now, this brilliant revival is finally here in Minneapolis, but only for one week! Sondheim fans, fans of classic musicals, fans of forward-thinking music-theater - get yourself to the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Minneapolis now! Click here for info (including info about student/educator rush tickets) and to purchase tickets.