"The Play That Goes Wrong" Broadway Tour at the Orpheum Theatre

When something goes wrong at the theater, it can sometimes lead to a wonderful moment in which you get a peek inside the process and see how the actors react to the unexpected. When everything goes wrong, it leads to outrageous hilarity. Such is the concept of The Play That Goes Wrong, a 2012 British play (written by three playwrights from London's Mischief Theatre) that opened on Broadway in 2017, where it played for two years before moving to Off-Broadway earlier this year. Similar to Noises Off, it's a play-within-a-play that's so bad it's good. There's no subtlety in The Play, it's all super broad comedy, including pratfalls, spit takes, and falling scenery. They continue to pile it on until the whole thing collapses in glorious chaos. Broadway plays don't often go on tour, and the fact that this one is on tour points to the fact that it's a crowd-pleaser. The ridiculousness continues through Sunday only (click here for info and tickets).

Broadway Tour of "Something Rotten!" at the Orpheum Theatre

A must see magical new original musical!
A musical!
There's nothing as amazing as a musical
With song and dance and sweet romance
And happy ending happening by happenstance
And you'll see, it will be only the beginning
This glorious creation called a musical

How could anyone resist that?! Something Rotten! is the ultimate musical about musicals, which gloriously celebrates this truly American art form while hilariously poking fun at it (in a loving way). The miraculous thing is that it was written by two brothers with no previous experience in musical theater (but an obvious love for and knowledge of it). Screenwriter Karey Kirkpatrick and songwriter Wayne Kirkpatrick collaborated (with some help from John O'Farrell) to create this charming story of two brothers who wrote the world's first musical. One wonders how much of the show is art imitating life as the Bottom brothers struggle to write a hit. But whatever struggles the Kirkpatrick brothers went through, it paid off; they have succeeded in writing a "must see magical new original musical," something that's in short supply in the days of jukebox musicals and movie adaptations. If you love musicals (or love to hate them), make your way through the April snow to downtown Minneapolis to enjoy this super fun and fantastic show.