Park Square Theatre’s annual tradition of the summer mystery returns and this year it’s a corker! I’m a huge Sherlock Holmes fan, my love for the character began at an early age watching the old Basil Rathbone series of films from the 1940’s with my Dad. I’ve read everything Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote featuring the great detective, what we fans consider canon, as well as novels and stories by other writers. When I saw the title of this years mystery offering, Holmes and Watson, fantastic! Then I read the three sentence plot synopsis:

Dr. Watson receives a telegram from a mental asylum: three patients are claiming to be Sherlock Holmes. Did the world’s greatest sleuth fake his own death? Who’s the real detective and who are the imposters? 

Park Square Theatre Website

and thought, how is that supposed to work? Are we supposed to believe that Watson wouldn’t instantly recognize Holmes? Are all the lights out and he has to try and determine who is Holmes by their answers to questions? Is this going to require a herculean suspension of disbelief to enjoy? If these questions occurred to you as well, fear not. The key to the success of the script is that this is Doyle’s Watson, not the dim witted Watson portrayed so loveably by Nigel Bruce 80 years ago. This Watson is intelligent and brave and will be wary of revealing what he knows until he gets the lay of the land. And that is all I can say about the plot of this production, anything more might inadvertently give something away.

Jeffrey Hatcher’s ingenious script for Holmes and Watson is everything you could want in a stage thriller. Intricately plotted, a premise that seems unlikely, quickly becomes intriguing. Twists pile up one upon another without ever feeling forced but rather, deeply satisfying. As the pieces of the puzzle begin to fall into place the logic seems as simple as Sherlock’s deductions after he has explained them. But, just when you think you have it figured out a new twist comes and it seems as if the pieces have been scattered only to fall back into place while creating a wholly new picture. Twisty turny to be sure yet straightforward in its intricacies. The other beautiful aspect of the script is that it does not contradict canon. This play fits snugly in between “The Final Problem” and “The Adventure of the Empty House” we just have to accept that at Holmes’ request, Watson has withheld these events. Usually with mystery plays or thrillers I’ve read the book or seen the film version and as enjoyable as they may be it’s never quite the same when you know the answer to the mystery going in. That’s what made this production so enjoyable, I had no idea which was the real Sherlock Holmes, and thus was able to keep guessing up until his last bow. I’m so impressed by Hatcher’s script that I’m more excited than ever for his collaboration with Steve Hendrickson on next Summers Park Square Mystery Holmes/Poirot!

The script is brought to life by an excellent cast headed by Bruce Roach as Watson and Daniel Petzold as Dr. Evans who has summoned Watson to the Asylum located on a remote island. I don’t know where Daniel Petzold has come from, or what the story is, does Park Square have him under exclusive contract? He was fantastic in their last production Airness, and again shines here. I hope this young man is going to set down roots in the Twin Cities, based on what I’ve seen so far, he is a very talented actor. This show has a terrific Watson that’s for sure. Roach’s character may get second billing in the title, but it’s really his show. He deftly controls what he lets us the audience in on, giving us just enough to keep up with him, but never enough to get very far ahead. We also get multiple versions of Sherlock Holmes, each unique, each at different times completely plausibly the real Holmes. Each time Pearce Bunting (Holmes 2), Paul De Cordova (Holmes 1), and Peter Simmons (Holmes 3) are brought on stage I thought the true Holmes was a different one, which is a way of saying I never really guessed who the real Holmes was. The cast is rounded out by nice supporting turns from Kirby Bennett as the Matron and Peter Christian Hansen as the orderly.

Director Michael Evan Haney has the show perfectly paced, things move fast enough to keep you off balance, but never too fast so that you lose track of anything. His visual staging of the various tellings by the three Holmes’ of what really happened between himself and Professor Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls is wonderfully executed. The set design by Erik Paulson is wonderfully realized version of what you might imagine in your mind at the suggestion of a late 19th century asylum on a remote island in Scotland. Stone Walls and wooden beams bring to life this creepy location. Add in some really effective lighting design by Mary Shabatura and sound design by Montana Johnson who work together to create a thunderstorm to add perfectly to the atmosphere. This truly is a top notch production from script to finished performance. Holmes and Watson Runs through August 21st at Park Square Theatre. It’s hard to imagine anyone not having a great time with this show. From its smart intricate script and wonderfully evocative set to a wonderful cast, this production is the one to catch this summer! For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://parksquaretheatre.org/.

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Originally produced by the History Theatre in 2015, Glensheen returns this summer after touring the state. I missed Glensheen’s original run but caught up with it this weekend in the uncomfortably warm History Theatre in Downtown St. Paul, seriously wear something lightweight. It’s easy to see why the History Theatre brought the show back, it’s an incredibly fun production. I’m not a true crime fan but my wife is, so I knew this would be up her alley and I’d get the true crimer’s perspective. Turns out you don’t need to be a true crime fan to enjoy the show. It’s less about the details of a true crime as it is watching in disbelief the train wreck of humanity that is the main character, Marjorie Caldwell. The amount of suspicious things that have happened around her and the lack of punishment she recieved is mindblowing. It makes for a fascinating story but it also raises serious questions about the criminal justice system…oh wait, we already have those doubts didn’t we? What’s amazing is how enjoyable the whole thing is. A great cast brings us into the past with songs that oddly do not feel out of place in a story as weird as this.

The book for the musical is by Jeffrey Hatcher who has another play opening next week at Park Square Theatre Holmes and Watson. The songs were written by Chan Poling who was a member of the alternative rock band The Suburbs. The two have collaborated on a wonderful piece of musical theatre with Glensheen. Hatcher’s script leans into the craziness of the events without drawing us into that frame of mind. This allows us to view them through our reality thus we see them for the absurdities they are. He tells us the story of Marjorie Caldwell and her husband Roger who conspired together resulting in the murder of her mother Elizabeth Congdon and her nurse. Very quickly Roger is arrested and found guilty but Marjorie proves to be a much harder catch for the justice system. She is a master of staying one step ahead of everyone, but also seems to lose a half step with every one that she takes. Always avoiding the punishment but somehow also losing the prize. Poling’s songs are fun, often witty, sometimes quite touching. Favorites are the hilarious “Conspiracy” performed by Marjorie’s defense team. The defense they mount is so crazy it works. On a sweeter note is “Just You & Me” which is a duet between Marjorie and Roger. It’s a beautiful moment on the surface, but underneath it’s incredibly dark as it’s simply Marjorie manipulating Roger to save herself.

The cast is filled with actors familiar to theatergoers of the Twin cities, most of the performers play multiple rolls. My favorite was Wendy Lehr who plays Elisabeth Congdon and Marjorie’s defense attorney among others. Her over the top defense attorney was a big reason that the song “Conspiracy” was a crowd favorite. Dancing like a man half her age, she was as believable as the elderly matriarch as she was unbelievably outrageous as the Attorney for the defense. Gary Briggle, whom I first encountered as Falstaff in the Rogue Prince several years ago, is another jewel in this ensemble bringing something new and different to each of the multitude of characters he portrays. Suzie Juul, who opens the show as the tour guide at Glensheen, then proceeds to play a plethora of characters with a wonderful quality that endears the audience to her immediately. I’ve seen her in about half a dozen shows now and I think she has what it takes to carve out a nice long career for herself. Dane Stauffer is perfect as the out of his depth, easily manipulated, Roger. Jen Maren holds the whole show together as Marjorie, she perfectly straddles the line between being a smart manipulator and not quite smart enough to get what she wants.

Ron Peluso directs the show with a playfulness that lets the tone shift dramatically from scene to scene while still feeling like a cohesive whole. C Andrew Mayer’s set design is very impressive, recreating a section of the Glensheen mansion including the staircase on which the nurse was murdered. Bill Healey’s lighting design helps to emphasize the tonal changes and is cleverly used for dramatic effect, lighting flashes to create the dark and stormy night in an old mansion which basically screams for a murder. Bold flashes of red to strike a cord that syncs with Marjorie’s evil actions. David Lohman as musical director along with his orchestra are just off to the side stage right, with Lohman’s piano doubling as a bar. It all plays together wonderfully.

Glensheen runs through July 24th at the History Theatre in downtown St. Paul for more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.historytheatre.com/2021-2022/glensheen.

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Brave New Workshop returns with it’s first show since being closed down for the pandemic in 2020. This Iconic Hennepin Ave. Institution has reopened having been purchased by the Hennepin Theatre Trust to ensure its continued presence and to build upon it’s over 60 year legacy. The new show which opened in May and continues through August 6th is titled Back to the Workshop, or Everything’s Fine!. I went anticipating seeing Lauren Anderson perform, who is someone I’ve seen and admired in other productions. Unfortunately, on the night I attended her role was being filled by Artistic Director Caleb McEwen. I was sad not to see Anderson perform and wish her a speedy recovery; however, I have to say well done to McEwen! If he hadn’t informed us at the beginning that he was filling in, we would never have known it. He did a fantastic job and never for a moment seemed unsure of what he was supposed to be doing. Of course for all we know he completely departed the text and the the other performers. Denzel Belin, Doug Neithercott, and Taj Ruler are phenomenal improvers, improvrs, improv’ers… hey how the hell do your pluralize someone who improv’s?, who made it seem like whatever he said was part of the script. What’s fantastic about this show is whether it’s Anderson or McEwen, improv or scripted, it’s all pretty great.

The first two acts of the show are a series of skits dealing with various aspects of the Covid Pandemic. It’s a little scary how close to the truth some of these outrageous scenes come, but you know what they say, it’s funny cause it’s true. Whether addressing how we all had months and months of shelter in place and somehow became less productive, or navigating the awkward adjustments of going back into the office after over a year of working from home, the target of the jokes is all of us. There something in this show that everyone is laughing at that you did, and the joy of the show is it helps us laugh at ourselves, so that we don’t cry. Aside from pandemic situations the show also addresses other topics that have made the last two years unique. The performers don’t shy away political topics, from Black Lives Matter to Don’t Say Gay, they find the humor while bringing the truth. The third act is a short session of improv which in the hands of such talented performers is always a treat. I definitely recommend sticking around for the improv at the end. One piece of warning though, I’m always hot and I was cold in the theater, bring something to put on your arms and wear long pants.

It’s so good to see performers back on stage at the Brave New Workshop. This is the perfect topic to tackle, what better way to recover from these past two years than to laugh at those past two years. Clever and witty, it’s the collective laugh we all need to begin to put the pandemic behind us. Give yourself the treat of laughing into the face of the pandemic, it won’t change it but it will help you put it in perspective and it will definitely make you feel better. For more information and to purchase tickets for Back to the Workshop, or Everything’s Fine! go to https://bravenewworkshop.org/. You deserve it, we all do after the last two years.

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Ain’t Too Proud... is a jukebox musical in the vein of Jersey Boys which played The Orpheum earlier in the season. Both follow the formation and rise of a famous 1960’s, well let’s call em what they would be considered today, boy bands. That these are two of the greatest boy bands in history means that the shows will be filled with great music, but the similarities don’t end there. For each follows the age old trajectory of success leading to excess. They both even contain the tragic death of one of the members children. You also get the sense that both of these groups should have had a lot more money then they did. I suspect the reason the record companies are not raked over the coals in these shows is that they have to grant use of the music. The Temptations musical has so many songs to feature that it’s weakness is that it doesn’t have time to perform many of these classics in full. In fact, I’m not entirely sure there is ever one song that is actually performed start to finish. So less of a rock concert than a two hour medley of hits. The performance of the songs, and the songs themselves, are so good that we forgive their abbreviation.

The book for this musical does what it needs to in order to tell it’s story but if the show lacks something it’s a better understanding of where we are chronologically and how they actually got their start. We move very quickly from Otis Williams, the sole surviving member of the original Temptations and the narrator of the show, release from Juvenile Detention, to his putting together a band. He lures new members by pointing out they already have a manager and paying gigs. But how did that happen? Once the group gets connected to legendary Motown Record label founder Berry Gordy, it stops feeling like things are being omitted as much. Like the Four Season, I know the music of The Temptations but next to nothing about their personal story and lives. It makes for an interesting history lesson and also a cautionary tale. It’s amazing how familiar the broad strokes are of these tales of celebrity, the egos, the drugs, the infighting. One wonders if anyone is capable of navigating fame without self destructing. Of course there are, and Otis Williams is one of them, assuming he’s a reliable narrator, remember history is written by the victors or in this case, the survivor.

A show like this, just as with Jersey Boys, has to cast with exceptionally talented performers. They have to be able to sing in a reasonable facsimile of some very iconic and impressive voices. The cast here is all supremely gifted vocally and their dancing choreographed by Sergio Trujillo is perfectly timed and executed. Jalen Harris as Eddie Kendricks was the most impressive vocally of the Temps, one can see his casting as Michael Jackson when MJ the Musical gets ready to tour. The one character whose voice is supposed to be so good, that there are worries about replacing him when his behavior becomes to erratic is David Ruffin. At the performance I attended, he was good, but nowhere near the best voice on the stage, this may be because it was the understudy Harris Matthew in the role that night. What’s exciting is that the performers who briefly appear and sing as some other motown groups like The Cadillacs, The Supremes, and The Five Satins are just as great vocally as the Temptations. The one performer that really embodies the show with its heart and soul is Marcus Paul James as Otis Williams. Of course he’s a great singer, but it’s his acting that really draws us to him. He isn’t volatile, he’s deliberate and reasonable, like his character he’s the backbone of the ensemble. He’s trying to do the right things and move everyone forward, he’s the survivor and we can see the toll that surviving takes on him. He reminded me of a young Denzel Washington, there is a power to him that somehow comes across without being showy in the least.

If you are a fan of the music of The Temptations, Ain’t Too Proud… is going to be well worth your time. The showmanship on display is very impressive, each performance has its own unique choreography and the vocal performances of so many great songs is almost an embarrassment of riches. I had a blast with the production numbers and was captivated my the lead performance by Marcus Paul James. Ain’t Too Proud… runs through July 10th at the Hennepin Theatre Trust Orpheum Theatre. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://hennepintheatretrust.org/events/aint-too-proud-broadway-tickets-minneapolis-mn-2022/

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This isn’t my Grandmother’s Emma nor is it my Emma, that was called Clueless back in the day. This is something that bridges those two versions with a dash of Moonlighting for good measure. While it is instantly recognizable as Jane Austen’s classic tale first published over 200 years ago, it nevertheless feels fresh and modern. Kate Hamill’s new adaptation, making its world premiere at the Guthrie Theater, stays true to the plot and spirit of Emma. It’s less of what it’s about, but more as how it goes about it. Inherent in the material are questions of gender politics and class, Hamill leans into those themes in a way that it speaks to our modern world, but never at the expense of the entertainment. Besides, surely enlightened politics make for enlightened entertainment. For all the romantic comings and goings, the misunderstandings, the twists of affections, this Emma is as Emma has always been, about it’s narrator, Emma. At the center of this production is Amelia Pedlow who will from this point on be “the” Emma, by which all others are measured. The Guthrie should have a summer hit on its hands with Emma, irreverent, joyful, witty, and with a central performance that assures you no one else could possibly have been cast.

Emma is a 21 year old woman who, when the play opens, is basking in self-adulation at her powers as a matchmaker, having in her mind been the sole instrument in bringing about the successful marriage of her tutor Anne Taylor and Mr. Weston. Being an intelligent woman, if not always a wise one, Emma needs something to occupy herself with and decides she is a brilliant matchmaker and shall proceed to make other matches. Emma’s main fault is that she never doubts herself, as such she is sometimes blind to what the realities of the world and the people around her are. Her first match will be for her newly acquired friend Harriet, whom she has decided should reject the man she is currently courting and in love with and instead be paired with the Vicar Mr. Elton. Because she has decided that Mr. Elton fancies Harriet, she is oblivious to the fact that he actually has his sights set on her. The only one who calls out Emma and implores her to stop meddling in other people’s affairs is her old friend Mr. Knightley. The story is populated with various characters, Frank Churchill, Mr. Weston’s son who has long been thought of as a good match for Emma, though they have never met until now. There is Miss Bates, who never met a silence she couldn’t fill, she looks after her elderly mother Mrs. Bates and runs a boarding school for girls. Her Niece, Jane Fairfax, is Emma’s one jealousy, not because she is smarter of prettier than Emma, but because others praise her, and Emma has a bit of trouble sharing the spotlight. Intelligent girls of a comparable age growing up in such close proximity of each other, they should have been best friends, but neither has any time for the other. This is a tale of romantic entanglements populated by group of strong characters usually at cross purposes with each other.

In a show as well cast as this one, you find yourself discussing who your favorites were after the show and you realize you’ve listed everyone but one, and then you realize that’s just because you forgot about that character momentarily, but they were really good too! Honestly, Sun Mee Chomet as Miss Bates constantly shouting things over and over to her mother is truly hilarious. Ryan Colbert as the Popinjay Frank Churchill is a wonderfully charming and sexy wild card. David Kelly, whom I’m just now realizing played both Emma’s Father Mr. Woodhouse and Mr. Weston. Mr. Woodhouse is a wonderfully eccentric gruel enthusiast, but a slight man. Mr. Weston seems to be a man of normal size and a hearty disposition. I never for a moment connected the two. Well done Mr. Kelly, well done. Samantha Steinmetz is the broadly comical Harriet Smith, her performance choices help to illustrate in shorthand the difference between how Emma sees the world and how it really is. Seriously, I have to stop because there’s nothing more boring than a list of every actor and how good they are. But I have to leave some room to sing the praises of Ms. Pedlow whom would surely have stolen the show if it wasn’t already hers. It’s hard to describe what it is about Pedlow until you realize it isn’t one thing, it’s everything. She gets this character, it would be easy to play Emma one way, but she plays her as a multifaceted person. Emma on paper can be unlikeable, the power of Austen’s writing and the successful portrayals of her is that her unlikeable characteristics are those she is unaware of, it’s her niavate that’s usually responsible for her worst behavior. Austen shows us her thoughts and so we see that she isn’t being thoughtless or unfeeling just oblivious to a point of view other than her own. In a performance the actor needs to bring an immense amount of charm and charisma. We have to get caught up in Emma’s enthusiasm, we have to believe in the moment that she is as infallible as she believes she is. Pedlow has us eating out of her hands the entire show. She is equally at home speaking directly to us in the audience as she is dancing like she’s in a nightclub. Her Emma has wit, intelligence, beauty and wields them all in service of her own belief that she is the best and brightest.

Meredith McDonough directs Kate Hamill’s brilliant script with the confidence of Emma herself. The show is perfectly paced, no scenes out stay their welcome nor does it ever seem rushed, though there is a sense of exhilaration and quick give and take in many scenes. Lex Liang’s Set Design and costumes help to place this in the past and the present simultaneously. I loved the background design of the houses on the hill and the clouds in the sky giving it the feel of a storybook or a Wes Anderson film. All in all one of the less elaborate sets I’ve seen at the Guthrie but it suited the production perfectly. I loved the look and feel of it and let’s face it, when you have Pedlow in the central role, you’re probably just throwing money away on elaborate sets, no one is going to take their eyes of her for long. Paul Toben’s Lighting Design nicely complimented the set, the changes in the sky were nice little touches of beauty.

Emma runs through August 21st in the Wurtele Thrust Stage for more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.guthrietheater.org/shows-and-tickets/2021-2022-season/emma/.

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Stages Theatre Company (STC) in Hopkins continues to do the good work of engaging a new generation in Theatre. From their summer camp programs, which my Niece and Nephew just completed, to their productions like Disney’s The Little Mermaid Jr. that opened this last week. STC produces shows that are not only for young audiences, but also give young actors real experience putting on a professional level entertainment. I believe the future of theater depends on creating new audiences as much as it does on creating new performers. STC creates quality entertainments with enough creativity and spectacle to fire up the imaginations of its young audience members. Once you expose someone to a thrilling theatrical experience you’ve begun to create a future theatergoer. This production of Disney’s The Little Mermaid Jr. has what it takes to show young people the path to become lifelong audience members, and perhaps future performers as well.

This is a paired down version of the classic Disney animated film featuring many of the songs by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman with some additional lyrics by Glenn Slater. It’s been many years since I last watched the animated classic but to my memory it faithfully follows the films plot. It’s truncated to fit an hour runtime, and while at times it feels a little rushed, I think they do a nice job of condensing without losing anything important. Director Sandy Boren-Barrett keeps things flowing along nicely, knowing that if you lose a young audiences attention it will be nearly impossible to get it back. I think moving too fast is better than moving too slowly in these situations. From a technical perspective it was a showcase of what I’ve come to expect from STC, which is inventiveness and creativity. The set Design by Holly Windingstad smoothly transitioned from underwater locations, to the deck of a ship, and dry land, each well realized. With nice added touches such as banners that dropped from the ceiling to represent seaweed growing up from the ocean floor and bubble makers that helped create the illusion of being under the sea. The lighting Design by Karin Olson, helped create the environments as well, especially effective in creating a sense of darkness and danger in Ursula’s domain. Costumes and Make-Up by Christa Ludwig successfully transformed the actors into fish, crabs, and merpeople. Putting Ursula on rollerblades was an inspired choice giving her the illusion of moving like a squid.

All of the performers young and older were up to the challenge. Sophie Farrell as Ariel carried us through the story, but her singing voice was a little unusual, she looked the part of Ariel but her singing was a little deeper in register than we expect from the character. It wasn’t bad, just different. Almost as if she was just recovering from a cold or her voice had been a little overworked and was showing the strain. Jordan Kueng as Sebastian the Crab was very enjoyable and frankly gets to perform two of the best songs “Under the Sea” and “Kiss the Girl“. The standout performance though was Laura Mahler as Ursula. She was over the top in the way a Disney villain needs to be, when she was on stage all eyes were on her.

Disney’s The Little Mermaid Jr. will enchant younger audiences while also entertaining their parents. When the temperatures rises into the 90’s again, rather than turning on the TV, take the kids to Stages Theater Company in Downtown Hopkins. The show runs through August 7th for more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.stagestheatre.org/disneys-little-mermaid/

I swear, I’m not on the Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society (MORLS) payroll, I’m just a really big fan of theirs. When I started The Stages of MN it was because I wanted to share my love for the live theatrical experience. It was born specifically from two shows I attended in the spring of 2019, Minneapolis Musical Theatre’s production of Be More Chill and Theater Latte Da’s Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Both of those shows I enjoyed so much that I attended them multiple times, each time bringing other people with me. These were shows that gave me so much joy that I had to share them with others. I knew that if I didn’t bring them, they were going to miss out, if I didn’t tell them about it, they wouldn’t even know it was happening. I wanted to find a way to share with more people the joys that were to be had from actually being in person at a live show. As I thought about the idea of starting a blog I also looked around at audiences and noticed a couple of things. First, they skewed old. Second, some of the more creative things I was seeing were not well attended. Over time as the site has grown and I’ve met and interacted with my peers, I’ve been introduced to more and more theatre companies and stages and have found that some of the best shows are ones I never would have heard of as a casual theatergoer. And so, when I find a performer or Theater Company that I really connect with, it reminds me of why I started this in the first place, and I want to share them with people. I especially love finding those shows that can appeal to all audiences and that I can feel confident in encouraging parents to take their children to, so that new generations discover theater in a positive way that makes them want to continue to attend throughout their lives.

The MORLS is one of those groups that hits a lot of the buttons that align with my mission. I love these monthly appearances at Park Square Theatre. The performers for these shows are Eric Webster, Joshua English Scrimshaw, Shanan Custer, and Tim Uren. Once a month they perform live a double feature drawn from old time radio scripts. While acting out multiple voice rolls, the four also create all of the sound effects and music cues live, creating theater of the mind. I’ll frequently close my eyes for stretches and just listen and let my imagination create the visuals. These performances are always entertaining, the stories that held audiences glued to their radios in some cases more than 80 years ago, frequently still have the same effect. But besides the stories it’s also fascinating to see how these shows were produced all those years ago, it’s a view into a different time when radio was to people what TV is today. I always like to encourage parents to take their kids to these shows and talk about the experience on the way home. Whenever possible bringing the grandparents and kids, can you imagine what that car ride home would be like? The grandparents reminiscing about the old days but in a way the grandkids could relate to and have at least in the moment and interest in. My Dad introduced me this theater of the mind first through cassette tapes of Bradbury 13 a radio adaptation in the mid early 1980’s of Ray Bradbury stories. Once I was hooked, We listened to cassettes found at book stores and gas stations of shows like Suspense! and The Inner Sanctum. I, in turn introduced my kids to Bradbury 13 and others, and now through these wonderful performances by the MORLS at Park Square Theatre.

This weekend’s performance is on Sunday June 26th at 2:00 PM the title of the show is “More Best of the Worst” and the the description of the show from their website is:

The Society brings you two more frightening flops from the Golden Age of Radio; stories so delightfully absurd you have to hear them to believe them!

“Battle of the Magicians” from Lights Out (1934) – What do magicians, airplanes, and zombies have in common? Absolutely nothing. But logic is no defense against this madcap mystical mash-up from the mind of legendary radio writer Wyllis “Quiet Please” Cooper.

“The Cup of Gold” from Dark Fantasy (1942) – A sports reporter’s investigation into the death of a golf pro leads to a series of shocking revelations! Scott Bishop’s murder mystery turned Surrealist manifesto will keep you guessing (or at least scratching your head) until the bitter, inexplicable end.

https://www.ghoulishdelights.com/

If you enjoy these performances or want to have some idea of what you are getting into before you buy tickets,. the MORLS also have a podcast which you can find wherever you listen to podcasts by searching for The Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society, there are over 250 episodes with new ones being added all the time or click on their website in the quote above. Those podcasts are different from the live shows in that for the podcast they chose one old radio show episode for which there is an existing recording they play the actual broadcast recording and then they come back and discuss whether the show stands the test of time, if it’s a classic, and if it is of historical interest. They also engage in some funny banter, which is the shows secret charm and keeps you listening to episodes even if you don’t care for a given program, what they say about it will be worth the listen. Aside from this they also perform other types of shows, recently they finished a run at Open Eye Theater with a show called Rattus Rattus which was staged performances of two different stories that featured rats. I attended that and brought a group of friends along and we all enjoyed it. This was my first time seeing Webster, Scrimshaw, and Uren perform not just as voice actors and I thought they were great! Uren opened the show with his one man show called The Rats in the Walls which was a vocabulary junkies wet dream. How Uren managed to retain and recite that script, filled as it was with entomological antiquities, was a wonder to behold. The second was an adaptation of one of the all time great radio plays Three Skeleton Key.

For tickets to either attend live or stream this Sunday’s performance got to either https://www.ghoulishdelights.com/ or https://www.parksquaretheatre.org/box-office/shows/2021-2/mysterious-old-radio-listening-society/

Don’t miss a single review from The Stages of MN, 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. Also you can follow me on Facebook, search @thestagesofmn and click follow and on Instagram thestagesonmn.