"Whoa, Nellie!" at the History Theatre

Just over a year after its "Raw Stages" workshop, when I declared it "my favorite of the three readings I saw," the new original historical musical Whoa, Nellie! makes its debut on the History Theatre stage, and it's even better than expected! The musical is about the life, loves, and crimes of the little-known historical figure known by many names including Nellie King, a "cowboy detective" and notorious outlaw who was the subject of many explosive headlines in the newspapers of the Midwest in the late 19th Century. Playwright/composer/lyricist Josef Evans (who created Open Eye Theatre's delightful trilogy of outdoor summer musicals at the Bakken Museum in the early post-pan years) has set Nellie's story as a Vaudeville show and incorporated other, more well-known, historical figures of the era. The result is a wild ride of a show that gallops through history and multiple states as it explores very 21st Century themes of gender identity, sexism, racism, corrupt journalism, drug addiction, and celebrity culture. So put on your cowboy boots and head to the History Theatre in downtown, where you'll need to saddle up and hold on tight to the reigns of this fun and fantastical musical (continuing through June 8).

"Crazy for You" at Artistry

Artistry is opening their 2024 with a winner - the 1992 Broadway musical Crazy For You, featuring music by George and Ira Gershwin taken from several early 20th Century musicals, including Girl Crazy. With book by Ken Ludwig (known for his comedic adaptations of classic stories) and music by the Gershwins, you really can't go wrong. Despite being only about 30 years old, it has the feel of an old-fashioned (in a good way) American musical comedy. Director Ben Bakken has staged it as a sort of concert version, with an almost unheard of 20-piece orchestra conducted by recently retired longtime #TCTheater Music Director Anita Ruth, at center stage and the focus of the show. The cast is smaller than the band, with just 12 performers (the Broadway production had more than twice that) playing all of the roles and performing in the small space in front of the orchestra with little in the way of sets and costumes. But while some elements of production are stripped down, the music, singing, dancing, and performing are full out and fabulous! The Sunday matinee on opening weekend was almost sold out, and word is only going to spread about how great this show is, so you would be wise to get your tickets now for the final two weekends.

"Mamma Mia!" at Chanhassen Dinner Theatres

I fell head over heels for the Ordway Original production of Mamma Mia! last summer, calling it "fantastically fun and surprisingly moving, performed by a mostly local and all fabulous cast." So when I heard that Chanhassen Dinner Theatres had chosen it as their summer 2019 production, I thought, so soon? why? The answer is that it's an inherently fun and feel-good show show, and while the Ordway production still holds a special place in my heart, it only ran for two weeks and the Chan reaches a much larger out-state audience. There's room for two big, beautiful, fantastically fun Mamma Mia!s in this town. What I love most about this show is that it's very female-forward. Yes there are male characters, but it's truly about the women's stories. Better yet, it's about women loving and supporting each other, not competing with each other. The true love story at the heart of this piece is the love between parent and child, the love of lifelong female friendships. I can't think of any better message to celebrate this summer.

"Grease" at the Chanhassen Dinner Theatres

Friends, I am here to tell you that in the southwest suburb of Chanhassen, Grease is most definitely the word of the summer. And yes, it may be 20 degrees with below zero wind chills and late winter snowstorms in this upside down weather world we now live in, but Grease is here to take you into spring, through summer, and even into early fall with a super high energy, gorgeously cast, supremely fun show. There's nothing subtle about this production that goes for big performances, big high notes, and big laughs. Grease is a guaranteed crowd-pleasing seat-filler, but the Chan doesn't just rest on the easy nostalgia of the piece. Instead, they've put in every effort to make this production the best it can possibly be.* It's very likely to sell well for them for the next seven months (who doesn't love Grease?), and it deserves to because it's pretty much the most fun you can have in a theater.

"110 in the Shade" by Second Fiddle Productions at Camp Bar

Second Fiddle Productions, the company that brings us one-night-only staged readings of rarely produced musicals, closed their third season with the 1963 musical 110 in the Shade. I became aware of them in the middle of their second season, and now I don't miss a show. It's great for my musical theater education - for a musical theater geek, there are a lot of old shows I don't know, especially if they're not often done. It's also a great opportunity to watch some of the Twin Cities finest music-theater talent tackle something they might not otherwise have the opportunity to. Assuming they get the grant money and donations to keep this relatively simple operation going, they'll be back in 2017 with three more musicals I've never heard of! Watch their Facebook page for details.

"Musical Mondays" at Hell's Kitchen, May 2016

If you don't already know about Musical Mondays at Hell's Kitchen, well, you're hopelessly out of the local musical theater loop. This monthly cabaret series started about three and a half years ago and is still going strong. It's the best place to catch local music-theater talent in an informal environment. The theme of the 38th Musical Mondays last night was "The Lusty Month of May" and featured a fantastic cast of six, plus the ever charming hosts Sheena Janson and Max Wojtanowicz. I once again attended with some of my fellow Twin Cities Theater Bloggers including bloggers from One Girl, Two Cities, Minnesota Theater Love, The Room Where it Happens, American Underground, and Compendium. As usual, a great time was had by all!

"Sister Act" at Chanhassen Dinner Theatres

While I was off in NYC seeing a bunch of Broadway musicals last week, Chanhassen Dinner Theatres opened a new show. I missed the Sister Act press night (the best press night in town), but they kindly let me attend last night - on my birthday! (I can now cross the Chan emcee wishing me a happy birthday off my bucket list.) Director Michael Brindisi has once again brought us a polished production, and one that's a lot of fun and also has a beautiful heart, I enjoyed it as much as anything I saw on Broadway last week. This is a relatively short run for the Chan (just four months), so make your plans now so you don't miss this wonderful and heart-warming musical. If you need more reasons to see it, I've got ten - read on.

"And the World Goes 'Round" at Jungle Theater

Legendary musical theater composing duo John Kander and Fred Ebb wrote over a dozen musicals for the American stage, from their early success Cabaret in the 1960s, through their final collaboration Scottsboro Boys, premiering after Ebb's death (with a pre-Broadway engagement at our own Guthrie Theater). And the World Goes 'Round, now playing at the Jungle Theater, is a musical revue of their songs, taking its title from the movie New York, New York. Surprisingly, I've only see four of their shows (including their two most recent ones which are not in this collection), so many of the songs were new to me. It was a delight to hear the work of this talented composing team performed by a fantastic cast of seven.

There's very little dialogue or context for the songs, just one hit after another. Director John Command notes in the playbill that he learned from Liza Minnelli (Kander and Ebb's muse) "to perform every song as if it were 'a one-act play!'" He accomplishes that here, as each song tells a story, whether funny or tragic, and makes me want to see the full musicals from which they came.

the cast of And the World Goes 'Round
(photo by Michel Daniel)

Music director extraordinaire Raymond Berg leads an onstage six-piece band that sounds impossibly smooth. The whole show has a bit of a swanky, jazzy feel, including Bain Boehlke's rich set design and the choreography that's reminiscent of the original shows. The talented cast includes Bradley Greenwald (who memorably played the Emcee in Frank Theater's gloriously seedy production of Cabaret four years ago), Tiffany Seymour, Jon Whittier, Therese Walth, William Gilness, Emily Rose Skinner, and Betti Battocletti.

Highlights include:

• The title song, which is nicely woven throughout the show and occasionally serves as transitions between songs.
• A super high energy performance of the song "Coffee in a Cardboard Cup*," a song I love but didn't know it was Kander and Ebb!
• All of the Chicago songs, including and especially "All That Jazz."
• Mournful love songs were paired together and a bit overlapped, including Bradley and Bill singing "I Don't Remember You" and "Sometimes a Day Goes By," and Jon, Therese, and Emily singing "We Can Make It," "Maybe This Time," and "Isn't This Better!"
• A rousing Act I ending number "Life Is" from Zorba, which continues "what you do when you're waiting to die, life is how the time goes by!"
• Bradley's delicious performance of the title song from Kiss of the Spider Woman (calling local musical theater companies - please stage this show and cast Bradely as the lead!).
• A very funny double duet of "The Grass is Always Greener" from Woman of the Year by Tiffany, Emily, Bill, and Bradley.
• A super jazzy version of "Cabaret" featuring the entire company, unlike I've ever heard it sung before.

And the World Goes 'Round is a cleverly staged homage to two of our greatest musical theater composers, beautifully performed by cast and band - a perfectly pleasant evening of musical theater (continuing at the Jungle through May 24).


*You can get Dunn Brothers coffee in a cardboard cup at the concession stand for only a dollar - best coffee deal in town!

"Broadway Songbook: George Gershwin" at the Ordway Center

Just last month, I learned about the Gershwin brothers, and lyricist Ira in particular, in Park Square Theatre's excellent play with music Words By... Ira Gershwin and the Great American Songbook. My education was furthered this weekend with the latest in the Ordway's always entertaining Broadway Songbook series, featuring the music of composer George Gerswhin. Ordway Artistic Director James Rocco tells the story of George's life and career, interspersed with relevant songs performed by some of the top musical theater talent in the Twin Cities. And it's a great story at that - an American success story with a tragic ending. Sons of Russian Jewish immigrants, the Gershwin brothers grew up in Brooklyn, where George was a prodigy on the piano. He soon found fame as a composer for Broadway and movies, collaborating with Ira and other lyricists. George died at the age of 38 from a brain tumor, but forever changed American music in his short but prolific career.

This Broadway Songbook features a significantly larger cast than past Songbooks. Ten singer/actors, each one of them a true talent, are accompanied by Raymond Berg on piano and Eric Solberg on upright bass (for an extra touch of class and jazz). With the likes of Christina Baldwin, Dieter Bierbrauer, Gary Briggle, Isabella Dawis, Jennifer Eckes, Joel Liestman, Ann Michels, Bryan Porter, Kersten Rodau, and Therese Walth, the cast does not simply sing the songs, they perform them and truly embody the humor and emotion in each composition. The benefit of having this large cast is the gorgeous full sound that they're able to achieve in the group numbers, but the bad news is that with such a large cast, each of them only has one or two solos, which in many cases left me wanting more. Such is the danger of having so much talent on one stage and only two hours to display it!

James has chosen a selection of Gerswhin songs from the familiar ("I Got Rhythm") to the obscure ("When You Want 'Em"), but all serve a purpose in the narrative. Surprisingly, there are no selections from the opera Porgy and Bess, but James did take the opportunity to plug the tour of the 2012 Broadway version coming to the Ordway in March (I second that - I saw it on Broadway and it's absolutely stunning). The evening includes too many wonderful moments to mention, but a few of them are: Christina and her boys (Joel, Bryan, and Dieter) singing the playfully seductive "Do It Again," the gorgeous ballads "How Long Has This Been Going On" (Kersten) and "Embraceable You" (Ann), some seriously great scatting by Jennifer in "Stiff Upper Lip," Christina's mic going out towards the end of "By Strauss" with her unamplified voice filling the theater (which makes me wish they'd do a song or two unplugged), the beautiful harmonies on "Love Walked In" (arranged by Raymond), and the comically drunk "Vodka" by Kersten.

The highlights of the show are the two group numbers. The casts presents a medley from the 1931 Pulitzer Prize winning musical Of Thee I Sing. Not only do we get to hear some of the witty songs in this political satire, but we get a glimpse of what the whole show would be like. The show closes with a unique original vocal version of Gershwin's masterpiece Rhapsody in Blue. The story of George's life and career in words (written by Albert Evans and arranged by Raymond) set to this iconic and instantly recognizable music is truly stunning.

This is another great installment in the Broadway Songbook series, which has taught me so much about the history of musical theater - my favorite thing in the world. I've attended all but one of the shows presented in the past three seasons and it's building up to be quite a nice curriculum. And if you're a musical theater fan, it really is required curriculum. Great stories and information accompanied by iconic music wonderfully performed by local favorites. Only one performance remains tonight, if you're brave enough to dare going out in the subzero Minnesota winter. Otherwise, make your plans for the final Broadway Songbook of the season, featuring the composing team Comden and Green, in June. I can't wait to see what next season will bring to further my education!

"Bye Bye Birdie" at Chanhassen Dinner Theatres

"We love you Conrad, oh yes we do,
We love you Conrad, and we'll be true,
When you're not with us, we're blue,
Oh Conrad we love you!"

That little ditty has been stuck in my head since seeing Bye Bye Birdie at the Chanhassen* last night. This is the first time this classical musical from the 1960s has played on the Chanhassen stage, and the first time I've seen it. In fact, I really only knew of it from that episode of Mad Men where Peggy imitates Ann-Margaret singing the title song of the movie, trying to live up to the early 60s ideal of womanhood (in that brilliant way Mad Men has of breaking down the social mores of the time, that aren't as different as we think from today). So the show was all new to me, and I really enjoyed it. It's a big, old-fashioned, fun musical with a huge cast and fantastic dance numbers. There's nothing deep about it, but it's highly entertaining.

the happy couple, Rose and Albert
(Ann Michels and Michael Gruber)

For those of you who, like me, are unfamiliar with the story, Bye Bye Birdie is about an Elvis-like singer named Conrad Birdie (Frank Moran with a brilliantly high pompadour and a suitable charismatic nonchalance) who is drafted into the Army. His agent, Albert (a charming Michael Gruber), and secretary/ girlfriend, Rose (Ann Michels in a feisty performance that includes a pretty spectacular dance number), come up with a publicity stunt in which Conrad kisses one lucky fan chosen at random to promote the release of the song "One Last Kiss," before shipping out overseas. That lucky fan is Kim (the sweet-voiced Jessica Fredrickson) of Sweet Apple Ohio, who was recently "pinned" by her boyfriend Hugo (my new fave Tyler Michaels, who gets to show off his unique physical style of acting in a drunken scene). Conrad and company arrive in the small town and cause a hubbub. Turns out Conrad's not the innocent all-American boy he seems to be, preferring to drink, dance, and party. Hugo is jealous of Conrad, and Rose is jealous of Albert's new secretary (Xanadu's Jodi Carmeli in a small but memorable role), so they both scheme to prevent the kiss. Which, by the way, was to take place live on The Ed Sullivan Show! Both of our couples are on the outs as the second act begins, and there's a wild night of partying at the Ice House ("what's there?"  "I don't know, ice?"). But of course, since this is a traditional musical, both couples find their way back to each other by the final curtain.

The Telephone Hour

This is a huge cast full of many Chanhassen faves and a few newcomers, all of whom are entertaining and fun to watch. Standouts, in addition to the ones mentioned above, are Seri Johnson as Albert's long-suffering martyr of a mother (or at least that's how she sees herself), Keith Rice and Michelle Barber as Kim's strict but loving parents, and Tod Petersen as the fawning mayor. The teen girl chorus is particularly fabulous (Hairspray's Therese Walth, Emily Madigan, Caroline Innerbichler, Ruthanne Heyward, and Larissa Gritti) as they swoon over Conrad, dance, and sing the aforementioned little ditty. The group dance numbers are energetic and bouncy in that 50s style, especially "The Telephone Hour," "Honestly Sincere" (in which the entire town, including the mayor's wife, ends up at Conrad's feet), and "A Lot of Livin' to Do." The score also includes a couple of familiar songs "Put on a Happy Face" and "Kids" (I don't know what's wrong with these kids today).

It's no secret that I loved the Chanhassen's summer musical Xanadu, which was a bit of a departure for them in that it's a new musical with a smaller cast and a little bit of a wicked, sarcastic tone (which is probably why I loved it). But with Bye Bye Birdie they return to their standard (which is not a bad thing) - a classic musical with a huge cast and fun musical numbers. Playing now through March 30, it'll make your winter a little warmer and brighter.

the town of Sweet Apple Ohio swoons over Conrad Birdie

*I received two complementary tickets to the Opening Night of Bye Bye Birdie.

"Hairspray" at Chanhassen Dinner Theatres

I saw the musical Hairspray at Chanhassen Dinner Theatres yesterday, and I'm still singing and dancing!  I've seen the show several times and it's one of my favorite musical theater soundtracks, so it's no surprise that I loved it.  It's a great cast of Channhassen regulars and newcomers, and a really wonderful production.  I went with my family, a group of 15 people ranging in age from 4 to 66 (including several teenagers), and a good time was had by all.  But it's more than just a good time, it's a great message - togetherness, standing up for what you believe in, and the realization that despite the fact that we might look different, we all just want to dance and have fun and be free to live our lives.  It's easy to forget that segregation wasn't really that long ago in the history of this country.  Today I saw I Wish You Love at Penumbra Theatre (more thoughts on that coming shortly), which gives a much more brutal, realistic view of segregation.  Both shows are about using music and television to enact social change, but that's where the similarities end.  In real life, segregation didn't end cleanly and easily with everyone dancing happily together.  But like Director Michael Brindisi writes in the playbill, Hairspray "is a fairy tale, but it can come true."  Humor and music and dancing is a legitimate way of dealing with an important part of our history.

A few more thoughts:

• Chanhassen newcomer Therese Walth is the star of the show.  She plays Tracy with such energy and enthusiasm it's contageous, and her voice is big and beautiful.  Her energy is matched by another Chan newcomer, Kaija Pellinen, as Tracy's best friend Penny.  She's hilarious and endearing in her awkward lankiness and gum smacking as she follows her best friend and supports her in her adventures.
• David Anthony Brinkley and Jay Albright may be the best couple I've seen on the Chanhassen stages in some time. Their chemistry is so playful, fun, sweet, and believable, it's a thing of beauty to watch. They have an ad lib section in the middle of "You're Timeless to Me" in the second act.  I'm not sure what Jay was doing because his back was to me, but David was cracking up. I don't blame him; I don't know how anyone can look at Jay Albright and keep a straight face, he's such a clown! David usually plays a tall, distinguished, silver-haired gentleman so it was fun to see him play against type as a tall, big-haired, supportive Baltimore mother, and do it so well.
• Tom Rusterholz as Link Larkin is no Matthew Morrison (who is, really?), but he puts his Richie Cunningham charm to good use as the boy Tracy falls in love with, and who eventually proves he's worthy of her.
• Nice to see some new faces in the ensemble along with old faves, including my favorite Chanhassen dancer and perennial teenager Tony Vierling. In any of the big, fabulous dance numbers (choreographed by Tamara Kangas Erickson), my eyes naturally gravitate towards him.  Two more Chanhassen faves Julianne Mundale and Janet Hayes Trow play the two less than supportive, but very funny and entertaining, mothers.
• Kasano Mwanza has the moves as Seaweed, and the voice too.  Run and tell that!
• After I saw the Elvis jukebox musical All Shook Up at the Chan last year, I wrote this: "If Aimee K. Bryant was auditioning for the role of Motormouth Maybelle in next year's Hairspray, she won it in my book!"  Apparently it wasn't only in my book, as she is playing the role and doing an amazing job!
• We had an understudy for Corny Collins, Ben Johnson, and he was excellent.  He's everything Corny should be - suave and charming with a beautiful voice (he sings with the Minnesota Opera).  Speaking of understudies, I see Kinaundrae Lee is an understudy for the Dynamites, which I would love to see!  He played Angel in a local production of RENT last year so I know he can sing and dance in heels!

Hairspray has been extended through May so you have plenty of time to make the trip out to the Southwest suburbs to see this colorful production of a super fun show.  You'll laugh and dance, and maybe even be reminded that like Tracy, sometimes you need to take a stand to make a difference.  It may not end up with everyone happily dancing together, but it might get things moving.