The newly renamed The Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society Workshop performances at Bryant-Lake Bowl are always a great introduction to newcomers of this unique groups talents. The latest performance is coming this sunday 11/19. The shows start at 7:00 PM, but the doors open at 6:00 PM, which is when I recommend getting there. Why? Mostly so you can order dinner, appetizers, and drinks to enjoy with the show! Bryant-Lake Bowl has some really tasting dishes including plenty of vegan and vegetarian options, and along with their full bar, they also have a nice selection of N/A beers and drinks as well as THC drinks if that’s your groove. But the other reason for going early is it’s general admission seating, I like to get the first row of the risers so I have a nice little table for my food and beverage but still feel close to the action. Speaking of action what’s on the schedule this month? Here’s the breakdown direc t from Ghoulish Delights Central:

“A Guy Like Me” from Dead Men’s Tales (live premiere): A fortune teller struggles to remember the last hour with help of his most recent client. But his memories bleed together with the voice of a strange radio host and a performance by an escape artist. This topsy-turvy tale by Tim Uren combines fate and free will, wondrous dreams and harsh reality.

“Get to the Castle, Part 3” from Grey Ghost and the Agents of Floor 10 (premiere): Eric Webster, creator of Shade’s Brigade, brings you the final installment of his brand new serial. The Agents of Floor 10 must confront a mysterious evil that lurks behind the walls of an Austrian castle!

“The Dollmaker of Death” from Jimmy Montague, Antiquarian-for-Hire (premiere): Joshua English Scrimshaw brings you a hardboiled adaptation “The Wondersmith” by Fitz James O’Brien, one of the darkest and weirdest Christmas stories ever told!

I’m quite bummed that I can’t make it to this months performance but thankfully I’m a Patreon supporter of The Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society. One of the pers is that I get emailed a link to a video recording of the BLB performances, so if I can’t make it to the show, I wont miss the latest chapter of “Get to the Castle“. To purchase tickets to the MORLS liver performances and to get information about their podcast and becoming a Patreon Supported go to https://www.ghoulishdelights.com/. And heads up, keep your ears peeled, coming soon on the Twin Cities Theater Chat podcast, an episode devoted to Shanan Custer, Joshua English Scrimshaw, Tim Uren, and Eric Webster aka The Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society.

Don’t want to miss a single review from The Stages of MN? You can subscribe and have every post sent directly to your email. To subscribe on your computer: from the home page on the right, enter your email address and click subscribe. On your mobile device scroll to the bottom of the page and do the same. You can also follow me on Facebook, @thestagesofmn click follow and on Instagram thestagesofmn. You can also read some of my reviews syndicated on the MN Playlist website https://minnesotaplaylist.com/

I am also a member of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers (TCTB), where you can read roundups of shows by my colleagues and I when you follow us on facebook @TwinCitiesTheaterBloggers. We also produce the podcast Twin Cities Theater Chat!! which you can access through this link or wherever you enjoy podcasts https://twincitiestheaterchat.buzzsprout.com/ . We post biweekly longer form episodes that will focus on interviews and discussions around theater topics. There is also shorter episodes in which we Bloggers tell you what we think you should get out and see as well as what we have on our schedules that we are most looking forward too.

Continuing the trend of checking off shocking lapses in my theatergoing, I attended the opening night of Stephen Sondheim’s Company as part of the Bank of America Broadway on Hennepin theater season. I’ve seen the D. A. Pennebaker film Original Cast Album: “Company” and the hilarious parody from the TV series Documentary Now “Original Cast Album: Co-Op”. I’ve seen the song “Being Alive” performed by Judd Hirsch on Taxi and Adam Driver in Marriage Story, but I’ve never seen the musical itself. As seems to happen with these shows I’ve always wanted to see but never got the chance, it was a revelation. I am aware of gender changes made in this revival and there are clearly some updates that have been made, smartphones were not in use when the show first opened in 1970. Without tracking down all the changes as I really have nothing to compare it to anyways, I’ll just say that it felt to me, as a new audience member, that this played as if this was how it was always meant to be. Everything from the Gender change of the main character Bobbie from male to female to the same sex marriage felt contemporary and organic.

Company features music and lyrics by the late great Stephen Sondheim with a book by George Furth, whom if you Google him you’ll recognize from such films as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Blazing Saddles. There isn’t a clear linear plot, but it focuses on a woman named Bobbie, who lives in New york, as she turns 35. We see her throughout the show interacting with her coupled friends, we see the couple about to be married, the couple about to divorce, the couples in the midst of their marriages, and the couple with the woman whose been married three times. We also see her out with boyfriends giving us not only a look into the lives of her friends romantic relationships but also her own. Each scene is like a memory or an exercise in self analysis inside Bobbie’s head. They are clearly not meant to be actual chronological events as we see characters step into scenes they would not have been a part of. We also at one point see Bobbie watching as she sees potential futures play out. We see her observing herself as the hands on the clock above her bed speed around and around. We also see three or four versions of her birthday party which reinforces the idea that this is a look inside her mind as she is reflecting on where she is on her 35th birthday.

The talented cast is led by Britney Coleman as Bobbie who aside from having an amazing singing voice is also effective at affecting the charm and charisma that makes Bobbie so popular with her friends. As this is a story of her self reflections and internal struggles the choice could have been to show her uncertainty, but that would have played to one aspect of the character and in a very simplistic way. Coleman knows that she needs to play Bobbie as the person all her friends, in some way, live vicariously through. We get the self analysis and struggle by the very structure of the show, that is what is happening not who she is. Coleman wisely plays who she is and it makes the character richer and more dynamic. Other performance highlights were James Earl Jones II and Kathryn Allison as Harry and Sarah whose jabbing at each other about their respective faults is done with a physicality and humor that makes them recognizable as we all know couples like them. Matt Rodin who is hilarious as one half of a gay couple who is getting cold feet on the day of their wedding and whose performance of “Getting Married Today” brought down the house. Judy McLane plays Joanne the older friend who has been married three times, her rendition “The Ladies Who Lunch” is another showstopper of a song and she does an impressive job with it. I also have to mention Emma Stratton who plays Jenny and who was kind enough to join M’colleagues Jill Schafer of Cherry and Spoon and Kendra Plant of Artfully Engaging on a recent episode of Twin Cities Theater Chat to talk about the show and her connections to Minnesota which you can listen to here. https://twincitiestheaterchat.buzzsprout.com/2150807/13915394

Truly one of the stars of the show comes in the form of the set design by Bunny Christie which is full of surprises and Chris Fisher who designed the illusions which go hand in hand with the set. It’s a very stylized looking production filled with modular units that are clean and crisp representing the well organized and intelligent mind of Bobbie. The lighting design by Neil Austin helps achieve the look of the show as well as creating some nice visual effects. The Tour is running through November 19th at the Orpheum Theatre in Downtown Minneapolis for more information and to purchase tickets go to https://hennepintheatretrust.org/events/company-orpheum-theatre-minneapolis-mn-2023/

Don’t want to miss a single review from The Stages of MN? You can subscribe and have every post sent directly to your email. To subscribe on your computer: from the home page on the right, enter your email address and click subscribe. On your mobile device scroll to the bottom of the page and do the same. You can also follow me on Facebook, @thestagesofmn click follow and on Instagram thestagesofmn. You can also read some of my reviews syndicated on the MN Playlist website https://minnesotaplaylist.com/

I am also a member of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers (TCTB), where you can read roundups of shows by my colleagues and I when you follow us on facebook @TwinCitiesTheaterBloggers. We also produce the podcast Twin Cities Theater Chat!! which you can access through this link or wherever you enjoy podcasts https://twincitiestheaterchat.buzzsprout.com/ . We post biweekly longer form episodes that will focus on interviews and discussions around theater topics. There is also shorter episodes in which we Bloggers tell you what we think you should get out and see as well as what we have on our schedules that we are most looking forward too.