Theater Reviews of theater productions, both traveling and originating in Minnesota.
Reviews of theater productions, both traveling and originating in Minnesota.
Aug 15 2024
Minnesota Fringe 2024 Wraps Up with Masterful Storytelling, Amazing Improv, and Unique Opera
On August 11, the 2024 Minnesota Fringe Festival closed with a blast. The festival staged over 90 shows and nearly 500 performances across Minneapolis, featuring artists from all over the metro, state, country, and world. I saw a ton of shows, and even though you can’t see them anymore—at least for now—I…
Aug 08 2024
The 2024 Minnesota Fringe Festival Continues with AI Dreams, Captain Hook, and Some Very Adult Clowning
The 2024 Minnesota Fringe Festival is entering its final weekend, and you can still catch plenty of amazing performances before it’s over. I highly recommend reading my previous article about this year’s festival, which includes some information about how shows are chosen and my first batch…
Aug 07 2024
The Minnesota Fringe Festival Kicks Off 2024 with Beautiful Grief, Sinister Sci-Fi, and Masterful Improv
Every August in Minneapolis, a wonderful thing happens as hundreds of artists and thousands of arts patrons converge to bring the Minnesota Fringe Festival to life. This performing arts festival, one of the largest in the upper Midwest, has been running for 30 years. Artists are selected at random…
Jul 12 2024
Singing Puppets and Lovecraftian Horror Collide in Cthulhu: The Musical!
H. P. Lovecraft has frightened and fascinated audiences for over a century with tales of cosmic horror and terrifying creatures, but until recently, I never sought out his works and didn’t understand why his writing has been so long-lasting and impactful (if complicated). My interest was piqued,…
Jun 26 2024
In the Glensheen Murder Musical, the Complexity of True Crime Takes Center Stage
“Not trying to be funny. Not trying to get a laugh. I don’t want anybody to have the worst day at their job. But …”
If you’ve ever found yourself at Duluth’s historic Glensheen Mansion with a morbidly enthusiastic member in your tour group, you’ve probably encountered the guy in Tim…
Mar 15 2024
Theater Mu Nails Cinematic Horror Onstage in Hells Canyon
Stage horror can be a mixed bag. Even productions with huge budgets can struggle to escape the uncanny valley between the intimacy that gives theater its power and the artificial trickery that fuels tension and jump scares. I say this as someone who loves both—I’ve emerged from many onstage thrillers…
Feb 03 2024
The Stage Adaptation of Spirited Away Brings a Studio Ghibli Classic to Live Action
When I first arrived in Japan in July 2001, a new Studio Ghibli film called 『千と千尋の神隠し』 (Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi, or Sen and Chihiro’s Spiriting Away), had just opened. I was thrilled to be able to see a Hayao Miyazaki film in its first release. Although I had very little understanding of the…
Oct 19 2023
Life Sucks Reinterprets a Chekhov Classic with Brilliance and Charm
I will openly admit that I don’t have a ton of familiarity with Anton Chekhov’s work. I married into the theater community and am therefore woefully uneducated when it comes to the classics, beyond the perfunctory high school and college curriculum. I do know, however, that with Chekhov, if you see a…
Sep 27 2023
The (Almost) Complete and (Mostly) Accurate History of Alcohol Is a Fast-Paced Sketch Comedy Delight
Comedy Central’s Drunk History meets Saturday Night Live at the Bryant Lake Bowl in The (Almost) Complete and (Mostly) Accurate History of Alcohol, “a 90-minute sketch comedy tour-de-force that explores society’s fascination with alcohol from ancient Greece to prohibition and beyond.”…
Sep 26 2023
The Beetlejuice Musical Breathes New Life into a Cult-Classic Story
Full disclosure: this show is a blast.
Beetlejuice is haunting the country with its tour, and last week the show graced the Twin Cities with a run at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis. I’m not usually one for musicals, but this was one show I wasn’t going to miss … again. (I had a ticket to see it on…