Kate Beahen and the Hometown Favorites at Lyric Arts

When Lyric Arts had to cancel a few weekends of their production of It's a Wonderful Life due to breakthrough COVID cases amongst the large cast, they called on Kate Beahen to help fill a few dates on the calendar, and encourage patrons to remember Lyric Arts or other local theaters in their year-end giving. A Lyric favorite and native of the Anoka area, Kate has appeared many times on the Main Street stage, as well as other stages around town, in both plays and musicals (my favorite: playing the Idina Menzel role in Lyric's regional premiere of If/Then and absolutely making it her own). She recently formed a band with her brother Bob and a few of her friends, calling themselves The Hometown Favorites and appearing at Crooners Supper Club. In the few days before Christmas, they did two holiday* shows at Lyric, and I was lucky enough to catch one of them. Kate's an incredibly talented vocalist and performer, and is also a natural at hosting a show and bantering with the band and the audience. It was a much needed fun and festive evening of holiday music and cheer.

"An Evening of Show Tunes with Tyler Michaels King and Friends" at The Belvedere at Crooners Supper Club

Back at Crooners Supper Club's new outdoor venue The Belvedere for the 5th time this year, I saw a remarkable collection of showtunes performed by a remarkable group of #TCTheater artists, and it healed my soul a little after this long theater-less time. What really stood out to me, beyond the fact that each one of these performers is a superstar, is that musical theater can truly convey the full range of human emotion. And we went through all of it last night, from laughter to tears and everything in between. It's been quite a year for all of us, and An Evening of Show Tunes with Tyler Michaels King and Friends provided a cathartic release as well as a hope that we will come out of this stronger and better, and soon. Click here for a full list of shows at Crooners (including two indoor spaces as well), and if you missed Tyler and friends this week, you have another chance to see them again on August 26.

"An Evening with Kate Beahen" at Crooners Lakeside Cafe

What good is sitting alone In your room?
Come hear the music play.
Life is a Cabaret, old chum,
Come to the Cabaret.

I don't know about you, but I've been doing more "sitting alone in my room" the last six months than any six-month period in my entire life. For someone who's used to going to the cabaret, i.e., theater, 3-5 times a week, that's quite a change. As I told someone last night, life just feels a little empty right now. But fortunately, there are still cabarets that are safely happening; one of the few places is at Crooners Supper Club, which has a couple of different options for outdoor concerts. I've been to enough of their drive-in concerts that the workers recognize me and/or my bug, but this was my first time attending a concert at their lovely Lakeside Cafe, to see the one and only Kate Beahen.

"An Evening of Show Tunes with Tyler Michaels King" at Crooners MainStage Tent

Friends, it's been nearly 5 months since I've seen live entertainment. On February 23, I attended Colleen Somerville's "Songs for Feeling Better" at Bryant Lake Bowl (which has now moved online). On February 26 I left the country to spend two weeks in paradise, aka New Zealand, returning home on March 11 to a world that was, and continues to be, very different from the one we knew. I'm approaching my 10th anniversary of blogging about #TCTheater, and of all the unexpected things that have happened, going nearly 5 months without seeing live entertainment is one I could never have imagined. I'm sure that hasn't happened in my life in 20 years. But here we are, in this pandemic/quarantine/isolation that feels endless, but hopefully one day we'll look back on as something we made it through, stronger and better. And the good news is that live entertainment is slowly beginning to return, although it looks different than it used to, and will likely continue to look different for some time. Crooners Supper Club in Fridley has started doing outdoor drive-in concerts (as well as lakeside patio concerts), complete with car-side food service. I attended my first show this week (of four planned, maybe with more to be added) - titled "An Evening of Show Tunes with Tyler Michaels King." It felt so good to be in a (appropriately distanced) group of people, listening to music and stories, laughing and clapping, almost like normal life.

"Evita" at Lyric Arts

Continuing with their season of showcasing women's stories, Lyric Arts presents the musical Evita, one of the most popular woman's story in music-theater. There hasn't been a local production of it in several years, so the time feels ripe to revisit this story. It's a big show for Lyric Arts to tackle, a sung-through musical with a large cast and complicated score, but they've proven that they're up to the task (this season began with a regional premiere of a new musical, and next season will too). They've enlisted a strong cast, which is notably one of the most diverse casts I've ever seen at the Anoka theater, plus a great design team. The result is a thrilling production of this 1980 multiple Tony-winning classic.

"She Loves Me" at Lyric Arts

The 1963 Bock and Harnick creation She Loves Me is a delicious musical that stands the test of time. Based on a 1937 Hungarian play, the basic story has been told in multiple iterations, including the 1940 Jimmy Stewart movie The Shop Around the Corner, and the 1998 Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan remake You've Got Mail. But She Loves Me tells it in musical form, which IMO is always the better way to go. I saw it 13 years ago at the Guthrie and remember being completely enamored of it. My next experience with it was the live-stream of the 2016 Broadway revival, also quite yummy. And perhaps because of the success of that revival, there are three planned #TCTheater productions of She Loves Me within the space of year. First up is Lyric Arts in Anoka, to be followed by Daleko in New Prague in May, and as part of Artistry's recently announced 2018-2019 season. I may need to see all of these versions, because I found Lyric's production to be be just dreamy and extremely well done (with just one complaint that I'll get to later). Friends, if you like classic, clever, musically delicious, timeless musicals, head to Anoka before April 15. They have a loyal fan base and tend to sell out musicals, so you might want to get your tickets sooner rather than later (more info here).

"Always... Patsy Cline" at Lyric Arts

To open their 2017-2018 (a season that I had the pleasure of announcing earlier this year), Lyric Arts is bringing back the popular tribute to the life and music of one of our greatest voices gone too soon - Always... Patsy Cline. This sweet little musical (or really, play with music) allows the audience to get to know the real Patsy through her real-life friendship with one of her fans, Louise Seger. I saw the show last year, and was happy to return to see it again this year. It's the same heart-warming and musically satisfying show, with a few changes in the cast and creative team. Just like last year, Always... Patsy Cline is perfectly cast, full of heart, and highly entertaining for anyone who's ever heard Patsy's music, and let's face it - who hasn't?*

"Shrek: The Musical" at Lyric Arts

"Fairy tales should really be updated." So sings Shrek in the 2008 musical adaptation of the smash hit 2001 movie. And that's exactly what the creators of the movie and the musical (playwright David Lindsay-Abaire, who also wrote Rabbit Hole, Good People, and Fuddy Meers, and composer Jeanine Tesori, who is also responsible for one of my favorite musicals Violet, opening soon at Yellow Tree Theatre) have done. Lyric Arts' joyful and colorful new production is my third go-round with Shrek: The Musical, for which I have much affection despite it being a blockbuster movie adaptation. The musical retains and builds on the funny, clever, irreverent tone of the movie, adding a diverse collection of songs. This updated fairy tale for the modern age is well done by Lyric Arts with a fantastic cast, bright and colorful set and costume design, and a joyfully irreverent spirit.