"Mrs. Porter and Mr. Parker" by Stage North at Open Book

Stage North returns, nearly a year and a half since their excellent production of the play Mauritius, with a new original musical revue all about two important artists of early 20th Century America - songwriter Cole Porter and poet/writer/critic Dorothy Parker, featuring the songs of the former and the poems and witticisms of the latter. In many ways they lived parallel lives, although they didn't seem to intersect much. Stage North's Artistic Director Peter Moore has imagined a conversation between them in some sort of afterlife where great artists go when they leave this world (sounds like a great place to spend eternity). It's funny and charming and a bit bittersweet; despite their upbeat work neither one lived a life without sorrow. And it's chock full of great songs from the American songbook, performed by six singers accompanied by a three-piece band in the intimate unamplified space at Open Book. Like in the opening song "Well, Did You Evah," it was utterly delightful to forget the awful headlines of the day for a couple hours and enjoy this swanky and entertaining party (continuing through March 29).

"Cabaret" by Theatre 55 at Mixed Blood Theatre

Cabaret is one of my favorite musicals. I've seen it on stage many times, but it's been almost ten years since I saw a production of it, so it's beyond time to see it again. As usual, Theatre 55 brings a whole new perspective to the beloved and familiar piece by populating the world with people age 55 and better. These performers have lived through, if not the rise of Nazism in 1930s Berlin (that would be Theater 95), then many difficult, tumultuous, divisive times in this country and around the world. Facing another contentious and vitally important election cycle, 2024 is the perfect time to bring back Kander and Ebb's brilliant musical, that lures you in with a funny, sexy, gorgeous show, and then punches you in the gut with the ugly reality of what hate, fear, and bigotry can do. I interviewed Director Richard Hitchler and star Prudence Johnson on an episode of Twin Cities Theater Chat, and it was a pleasure to talk about the meaning of this piece, as well as Theater 55's important work of fighting agism and "enriching the lives of elders as artists, audiences, and lifelong learners." This especially poignant but still super fun Cabaret has only six performances left, several of which are sold out, so don't snooze on getting tickets, or you may be left sitting alone in your room instead of going to the cabaret, where everything is beautiful.

"Talkin' Bout My Generation" by Chronofon at Crooners MainStage Tent

My second concert at Crooners MainStage Tent, created for this pandemic summer 2020, was a show by a group I've seen several times before at Open Eye Theatre. The quartet known as Chronofon (Bradley Greenwald, Dan Chouinard, Diana Grasselli, and Prudence Johnson) creates and performs what I like to call "edutainment" - shows that are informative around a certain composer, genre, or era of music, while also entertaining with great performances of that music. This is my fourth Chronon show, and they've all been really well constructed to tell the story in a fun and interesting way. Talkin' Bout My Generation: The Summer of '66 is no exception.

"When the Shark Bites: Hauptmann & Brecht, Lenya & Weill" by Chronofon Productions at Open Eye Theatre

The team behind the musical historical revues of Leonard Bernstein and Jacques Brel, among others, now turns their talent for crafting a well-told historical story with music to the famous German music-theater team of Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht, along with their lesser known female collaborators (and sometimes romantic partners) - actor Lotte Lenya and writer Elisabeth Hauptmann. These women were not only muses, but especially in the case of Hauptmann, made important uncredited contributions to their work (see also the excellent FX series Fosse/Verdon). But thanks to Chronofon Productions (aka Bradley Greenwald, Dan Chouinard, Diana Grasselli, and Prudence Johnson), these women are now known and recognized, at least by those of us lucky enough to be in their sold-out audience over the short two-week run. The show closes today, but follow Chronofon's Facebook page for the latest on upcoming performances of these highly entertaining and informative historical musical revues.

"Dear Lenny: Bernstein's Life in Songs and Letters" by Chronofon Productions at Open Eye Figure Theatre

Leonard Bernstein. I know him mostly as the composer of one of my all-time favorite musical theater scores, West Side Story (now playing at the Guthrie for one more week), as well as other works ranging from classical to popular. But I never really knew much about the man behind the music or what his life was like. Thanks to Open Eye Figure Theatre and the team from Chronofon Productions (Bradley Greenwald, Dan Chouinard, Diana Grasselli, and Prudence Johnson), I now feel like I have an even greater appreciation for the music as well as the person who created it. Dear Lenny: Bernstein's Life in Songs and Letters is a well constructed and entertaining deep dive into the life and work of one of the best American composers of the 20th Century.

"Jacques Brel: When We Have Only Love" at Open Eye Figure Theatre

I had never heard of Belgian singer/songwriter Jacques Brel before attending Open Eye Figure Theatre's new original musical revue Jacques Brel: When We Have Only Love. But I have heard of (and been a longtime fan of) three of the four creators of the show, so this one was definitely on my must-see list. I did not recognize any of Brel's songs in the show, despite the fact that many wide-ranging singers have recorded them over the years, from John Denver to Sting. But I found the songs to be beautiful, funny, heart-breaking, and/or delightfully silly, all well-performed by this excellent cast, with an interesting and very human story tying them together.

Jacques Brel: When We Have Only Love was written, arranged, directed, and designed by talented singers Bradley Greenwald, Diana Graselli, and Prudence Johnson along with master pianist Dan Chouinard (with additional musical accompaniment by Michelle Kinney on cello and Tim Sparks on guitar). The four take turns telling the story of Jacques Brel's life, from his birth in Brussels in 1929, through the war years, through his early career singing in cabarets in Paris, through international fame and success. And of course, along the way there is music. The cast performs over two dozen of Brel's songs, either the original lyrics in Brel's native Flemish-tinged French (with English translations displayed on a screen above the stage), or in English translated by various people with various degrees of success (including a couple of new translations by Bradley Greewald - yes, all that talent and he's multilingual too!). Images and photos are also displayed on the screen, helping to set the scene and tone of wherever we are in the story. The creators have done a great job weaving together songs and story to create a portrait of a man who was not always likeable, but was passionate, expressive, funny, clever, human, and a beautiful storyteller.

Diana Grasselli, Prudence Johnson, Bradley Greenwald,
and Dan Choinard

Even though I don't speak a word of French, my favorite songs were those sung in French, because there's just something so beautiful and poetic about Brel's original lyrics and the French language. Even the best possible translation loses some of the nuances of the original language, and many of the English translations were far from best, completely changing the meaning of the song. Brel's biggest pop hit was "Seasons in the Sun," released by Terry Jacks in 1974 (which most of the audience seemed to know as it turned into a singalong). We heard both versions of the song, and trust me, the original is much different - funnier, more poignant, and less cheesy. Another favorite moment was when Bradley sang Brel's French translation of "The Impossible Dream" from Man of La Mancha, which Brel brought to Paris in 1968 and starred in.

Jacques Brel's music is romantic, playful, witty, lovely, and very Parisian. It's the sound of sitting in an outdoor cafe in Paris, sipping coffee or drinking wine, listening to music waft through the sweet warm air. Or at least that's what I imagine it to be, I've only spent about a day and a half in Paris, 20 years ago (not counting the two hours last winter that my friend and I spent trying to navigate our way through the twisted and crowded streets to the highway in a rental car without GPS or a decent map, but that's a story for another day). Listening to this music makes me want to go to Paris, or at least Jacques Brel's Paris, if such a place exists anymore.

Jacques Brel: When We Have Only Love is a wonderfully entertaining trip through the life and work of a prolific songwriter who was previously unknown to me. I'm glad I got to know him a little. The show continues through next weekend only and tickets are going fast, so act now if you, too, would like to go on this lovely little journey.

"Trail of Two Cities with Dan Chouinard and Friends" at the Minnesota History Center

I love history (especially Minnesota history), and I love music. So the recent event at the Minnesota History Center*, Trail of Two Cities with Dan Chouinard and Friends, was just my kind of thing. I became familiar with talented pianist/accordionist/storyteller Dan Chouinard years ago through the dear, departed, MPR Morning Show, and have seen him in many concerts since, including his Cafe Europa show (about his adventures bicycling around Europe with an accordion) and Steerage Song (last summer's collaboration with Theater Latte Da). In Trail of Two Cities, Dan brings his music/storytelling format to these two beautiful cities we call home, and more specifically, to how we travel between them. Dan travels by bicycle as much as possible, which I hugely admire and envy. He encouraged the audience to bring the mindfulness necessary when traveling through the city by bike to however we travel. There's a reason the roads we travel on are where they are. The show reminded me a little of The History Channel's series How the States Got their Shapes, only with local landmarks like the crosstown (a way for livestock trucks to bypass the city) and University Avenue (an old Native American trail from the falls of St. Anthony to the bend in the river).

In addition to learning lots of fascinating tidbits about local history, complete with period photos and paintings, Dan and Friends also provided music to accompany the stories. Dan's talented Friends include several members of the Guy's All-Star Shoe Band, "old-time musicians" husband and wife duo Kim and Quillan Roe, and talented vocalist Prudence Johnson. Train songs, truck songs, river songs, the music covered every mode of transportation used in the history of these Twin Cities. Modes of transportation and related songs include:

• Horse and buggy - a sing-along to "Surry with the Fringe On Top"
• Trains (a 30-45 minute trip in the late 19th century) - "The Wabash Cannonball"
• Steamboat - a song about the Lake Pepin Steamboat by the adorable Chouinard Family Barbershop Quartet (Quintet?), consisting of Dan, his dad, and three brothers
• Streetcars (which took over the train business in the early 20th century until their demise in 1956) - "Clang Clang Clang went the Trolley"
• Highways (first built in the '50s and '60s, 94 was built straight through the African American neighborhood of Rhondo) - "Drive the USA in Your Chevrolet"

It was a fascinating trip through local history that made me want to learn more. It also made me want to move from the suburbs into the city so I could make use of the growing public transportation (the streetcars return!). The show reminded me of my desire to take the train to Chicago for a theater weekend, and float down the Mississippi to New Orleans on a riverboat. I'm not sure if the latter even exists, but the former definitely does, and especially now that the Amtrak is moving back to the newly renovated historic Union Depot in St. Paul, I'll be sure to do that soon. Thanks to Dan and Friends for exploring the ideas of local travel in such an entertaining and musical way!

The Falls of St. Anthony by Albert Bierstadt

*The Minnesota History Center's auditorium is a nice venue (I'd previously seen a History Theatre production 1968 there), and it's a great museum. I've been wanting to see their current exhibit on the US-Dakota War of 1862 and was hoping to go that afternoon and make a day of it, but unfortunately they closed the center between museum time and event time. I'll have to go back another time, perhaps in conjunction with another event.