Month: March 2026

Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope Uplifts the Audience While Refracting a Spotlight Through the Prism of Black America

The Cast of Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope (March 2026 Penumbra Theatre) Photo Credit Caroline Yang

Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope is a historic piece of musical theater, the first Broadway show with music and lyrics by a Black woman and also the first Broadway show directed by a Black woman. That was back in 1972, the year I was born. The similarities end there.

Micki Grant’s musical revue doesn’t have a traditional narrative. There are no discernible continuing characters moving throughout the show, and no dialogue to speak of. And yet it feels as though each new number is a short story, complete with characters, a theme, and its own unique tone. Each of these short stories looks at the lives of Black Americans through a different social, political, or cultural lens.

Unlike other works that strive to examine the Black experience, this one feels like it’s looking at it from the inside rather than presenting it for an outside perspective. That allows the show to be, above all else, a celebration. This isn’t a laundry list of injustices or righteous grievances. It’s the world through a perspective shared by many in the audience and, for others like myself, perhaps a clearer sense of how that world looks.

What the show gets incredibly right is that no one is the sum of the bad things that happen to them. If that were true, all of us living under Trump would be defined either by our ignorance or by our outrage. I am more than my outrage, because outrage alone is no way to live a life. As with this show, many of the songs deal with social issues, and there are moments when the show allows that outrage to breathe. But it always reminds us that people living with outrage day in and day out still find ways to let joy in.

I want to convey as strongly as I can that this is not a work about anger and injustice. It’s a beautiful, engaging, uplifting, and ultimately joyous experience. It acknowledges reality and shows how people deal with that reality, by not letting it win, by fighting when they can, and by finding laughter, love, and yes, joy wherever they can. By refusing to be defined by what others have done to them.

The songs move through styles including gospel, jazz, funk, soul, and rock, though my personal favorite was the calypso flavor that kept popping up. One of the best songs early in the show, “Goin’ to Town This Morning,” immediately made me think of my favorite Donna Summer song, “Unconditional Love.” That number features one of my favorites, Austene Van, on lead vocals, reminding me yet again how amazing she is.

But here’s the thing: the entire cast is amazing. I could easily sit here and list every performer and tell you my favorite moment for each of them. But then I wouldn’t get to bed, and you’d probably stop reading a quarter of the way through. Suffice it to say they are all terrific, including Twin Cities Theater Blogger Favorite Emerging Artist of 2025 Antonisia Collins. This is her first role since winning the award, and it reassures us that we got that one absolutely right.

And Mrs. The Stages of MN would kill me if I didn’t also mention Aimee K. Bryant, who gave her goosebumps every time she sang. Did I know Bryant could sing? She can’t possibly be that good and I never noticed, so I must have known and simply forgotten.

Before wrapping up, I do want to acknowledge a few of the backstage artists. First, Patdro Harris, who directs the show so that each song has a distinct and clearly told story. Harris is also getting my nomination for Best Choreographer, one of the elements that makes this production truly unforgettable. Sanford Moore’s music direction, and the sound he gets from his band, is so thrilling that there wasn’t a moment in the entire runtime when I wasn’t bobbing along or clapping to the beat. The energy of some of these numbers is absolutely infectious.

I also want to mention projection designer Miko Simmons, whose work is exceptional. The projections add texture and weight where needed without overwhelming the show’s overwhelmingly positive “Good Vibrations“.

Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope runs through April 5 at Penumbra Theatre in St. Paul. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit:
https://penumbratheatre.org/event/dont-bother-me-i-cant-cope/#4

Water For Elephants All the Fun of a Trip to the Circus But With the Added Bonus of Great Music, and No Smells.

The cast of WATER FOR ELEPHANTS Photo by Matthew Murphy for MurphyMade

Water for Elephants is based on the novel by Sara Gruen, which I haven’t read, that was adapted into a film, which I haven’t seen. Really, all I knew going in was that Mrs. The Stages of MN and I saw the poster when we were in NYC in 2024 and wished we’d had time to see it.

The story is told by an old man to two circus employees after a performance, so it is a memory play. The older Jacob tells of his days in the circus as a young man who missed taking his veterinary exams when his parents were killed in a car accident. With their house taken over by the bank, he hops a train looking for… what, he doesn’t know. What he finds is a circus in need of a veterinarian who can’t afford a real one. He reluctantly agrees to stay on, and when the circus acquires Rosie, the elephant of the title, he helps train her along with the circus owner and ringmaster August’s wife, Marlena. Marlena and Jacob bond over training Rosie, whose addition to the circus reverses its fortunes, endearing Jacob to the rest of the workers and performers. Everything could be wonderful, but, August is not a good man…

The story is compelling enough, and I enjoyed the score and songs enough that I may give the cast recording a listen or two. Sorry, current audiobook, I’ll get back to you in a day or two. But what really makes this show stand out is the choreography by Jesse Robb and Shana Carroll, assuming that’s what you call the spectacular and seemingly peril-filled circus aerial acts. There are some genuinely jaw-dropping moments that you’re amazed they pull off once, let alone eight times a week. As much as I enjoyed everything else about the show, it was those circus acts, and the clowning by Walter, played by Tyler West, that delighted me most. The clowning is so funny and wonderfully slapstick. I loved it, and West was probably my favorite performer in the entire show.

This must be an exceptionally hard show to cast, and to be honest, I think they cast for the ability to do the stunts first and singing voice second. Very few in the cast are outstanding vocally, but none are terrible. Based on what I was most delighted by, I’d say that was probably the right call. The best singers were Zakeyia Lacey, who was in as the understudy for Marlena, and Javier Garcia, who plays Camel, the elderly circus worker who first befriends Jacob. The real stars, though, as I’ve said, are the people floating gracefully through the sky and free-falling headfirst down ropes, stopping themselves inches from the floor. It’s breathtaking.

Visually, in every respect, the show is a winner, from the scenic design by Takeshi Kata, which works seamlessly with Bradley King’s lighting design and David Bengali’s restrained, mood-enhancing projections to create the look of a simpler time. The animals are created via puppets by Ray Wetmore, Jr Goodman, and Camille LaBarre, and while not on the level of Life of Pi or The Lion King, they’re still effective.

Water for Elephants runs through March 8th at Hennepin Arts Orpheum Theatre through March 8th. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://hennepinarts.org/events/water-for-elephants

Connor Sullivan, Helen Krushinski, and Zachary Keller Photo by Matthew Murphy for MurphyMade

Don’t rely on Facebook or Instagram algorithms to keep you in the loop about great shows. Subscribe and have every post from The Stages of MN delivered straight to your inbox. It’s the best way to make sure you never miss out on the theater action. To subscribe on a computer, enter your email address on the home page (right-hand side) and click subscribe. On mobile, scroll to the bottom of the page to find the same option. You can also follow me on Facebook @thestagesofmn and on Instagram thestagesofmn.

The Stages of MN YouTube channel is home to the weekly Stages of MN Show. You can watch it by clicking here. Be sure to check out the latest episodes and subscribe so you’ll always know when a new one drops. Not sure you agree with one of my takes? I’m also part of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers (TCTB), where you can find review roundups from my colleagues and me. Follow us on Facebook at @TwinCitiesTheaterBloggers.

And Then There Were None Gets a Suspenseful and Atmospheric Production at Lyric Arts

Nadya Dominique Photo by Molly Jay

Agatha Christie fans who are only familiar with the 1939 novel And Then There Were None should not avoid this under the assumption that they know how it ends. When Christie adapted her novel for the stage in 1943, she made a significant change to the outcome that most adaptations in other mediums have also utilized. I’ll just say it isn’t as bleak as the novel. Those who have seen previous productions, this is my third, should know that if you’re a fan, this is the best adaptation I’ve seen so far. I attribute that to a uniformly strong cast and excellent direction by Lee Hannah Conrads. Conrads and her cast find humor in the character banter and exploit our fear of the dark with well-designed sequences when the power goes out.

I read the novel in junior high for English class, but I was a Christie fan, and an And Then There Were None fan, long before that. I don’t remember a time when I didn’t know who Christie was, and I must have been under ten when I first saw the 1945 film adaptation directed by René Clair. Somehow, a classic whodunnit always feels like it should be in black and white. All the best ones are: And Then There Were None, Green for Danger, The Thin Man. The great missed opportunity of British postwar cinema was that they didn’t make a series of Inspector Cockrill films with Alastair Sim in the 1940s after Green for Danger, one of the greatest mystery films of all time. If you haven’t seen it, seek it out. But I digress.

Christie’s plot will sound familiar to everyone, even those unfamiliar with the title. Ten strangers are brought together by an unknown host. Cut off from the rest of the world on an island, the “ten little soldiers,” as the rhyme goes, begin to find themselves murdered one by one. Each is accused of having murdered someone, and this is their host’s plan to even the scales. Is there a madman loose on the island, or is the killer one of them? It’s devilishly good fun, with a top-notch setup and payoff. Every single slasher movie ever made owes something to it, but don’t hold that against it.

The show does tip its hand a little in that there is a clear attraction between two of the ten, and you can pretty much guess they’ll make it to the final four. Beyond that, all bets are off. Nadya Dominique and Brendan Veerman play the would-be lovers Vera Claythorne and Philip Lombard. Dominique and Veerman perfectly capture the tone, sometimes serious, sometimes playful, of those classic movies I love so much. Bruce Abas gives an intelligent performance as the former judge Sir Lawrence Wargrave, methodical in his attempt to keep everyone safe and root out the true killer. David Denninger gives a very sympathetic performance, particularly in his character’s final scenes, as he seems to get lost in memories of his late wife. It’s disappointing to see Michael Quadrozzi in such a small role as Fred Narracott, who brings everyone to the island at the beginning of the play, and is never heard from again. But perhaps it makes sense, as he’s listed as an understudy, you want someone of his caliber when you need someone who can cover multiple roles. Also, a nod to understudy Sarah Furniss, who stepped in as Mrs. Rogers at the performance I attended and did a very nice job.

Justin Hooper’s set design is well constructed, with perhaps the exception of the glass doors to the patio, which looked to be made of loosely stretched cellophane. It may have been where I was sitting, off to the side of the stage, as the production photos don’t look chintzy, and they hint at a backdrop that adds interesting visuals I may have missed. What was on full display for all to see, or not, was the lighting design by Alyssa Kraft. It’s one of the more effective uses of candlelight I’ve seen in a show. Usually the designer or director is too timid to let the stage be lit solely by candles, but I’ll tell you, it is very effective. I applaud Kraft for going that route, and Conrads stages everything wonderfully, making full use of the darkness to ramp up the tension and play on our collective fear of it.

And Then There Were None at Lyric Arts is a top-notch mystery thriller for those of us who love a good whodunnit and a slap of suspense now and then. The production runs through March 22. For more information and to purchase tickets, go to https://www.lyricarts.org/then-there-were-none.

Don’t rely on Facebook or Instagram algorithms to keep you in the loop about great shows. Subscribe and have every post from The Stages of MN delivered straight to your inbox. It’s the best way to make sure you never miss out on the theater action. To subscribe on a computer, enter your email address on the home page (right-hand side) and click subscribe. On mobile, scroll to the bottom of the page to find the same option. You can also follow me on Facebook @thestagesofmn and on Instagram thestagesofmn.

The Stages of MN YouTube channel is home to the weekly Stages of MN Show. You can watch it by clicking here. Be sure to check out the latest episodes and subscribe so you’ll always know when a new one drops. Not sure you agree with one of my takes? I’m also part of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers (TCTB), where you can find review roundups from my colleagues and me. Follow us on Facebook at @TwinCitiesTheaterBloggers.