The Book of Mormon Skewers Religion Yet Spreads a Positive Message at Orpheum Theatre

Sam McLellan, Keke Nesbitt, Sam Nackman, and company in THE BOOK OF MORMON North American tour. Photo by Julieta Cervantes

The Book of Mormon is an original musical with music, lyrics, and book from the creators of South Park Trey Parker and Matt Stone and Avenue Q co-creator Robert Lopez. Winner of nine 2011 Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, and Best Original Score. The musical comedy follows a pair of polar opposite, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ missionaries, Elder Price, and Elder Cunningham sent to spread the Good Word to Ugandan Villagers. The villagers however have no interest in converting they are too busy trying to survive life under the harsh rule of the local General, who’s name I probably shouldn’t repeat here. Living with Aids, famine, and the threat of genital mutilation, their version of “Hakuna Matata” is “Hasa Diga Eebowai” which means F*** You God. If that made you gasp, this probably isn’t the show for you. This is a show that pokes fun at everything, but particularly religion and more specifically the Mormon Church. Of course for those of us not fully versed in the Mormon religion they have to explain some of the basic beliefs. Once you’ve heard some of those, the jokes just kind of write themselves, I would think. The Book of Mormon is a wildly entertaining and blasphemously funny show that has a shockingly upbeat and positive message.

The cast, particularly Diego Enrico and Sam McLellan, are very funny. Enrico plays Elder Cunningham, the sidekick pop culture obsessed follower to Sam McLellan’s Elder Price. Mclellan’s got the face and physique to play Elder Price who is clearly God’s gift to the Mormon church, he really embodies the character you imagine would sing a song like “You and Me (But Mostly Me)“. Meanwhile Enrico is full of over enthusiasm and awkward social behavior. It all works achieving big laughs. Keke Nesbitt plays Nabulungi, whose name Elder Cunningham comically mispronounces throughout the show, a young woman in the village. She is the first person Elder Cunningham ever baptises which is hilariously performed while they sing “Baptise Me” as a double entendre for losing their virginities, which they don’t. This is one of the songs that really stuck out as being alternatingly funny but also genuinely sweet, and Nesbitt showcases an incredibly sweet voice. With great ensemble work from the cast as fellow Missionaries and as the Ugandans, one thing I was expecting was how good some of the choreography from Jennifer Werner building off the original choreography of Casey Nicholaw.

I laughed a lot and had a great time with The Book of Mormon which runs through December 15th at Hennepin Arts Orpheum Theatre in Downtown Minneapolis. From more information and to purchase tickets go to https://hennepinarts.org/events/the-book-of-mormon-2024 . There is a $25 pre-show lottery before each performance of The Book of Mormon. The lottery begins two and a half hours before showtime. Cash only, up to two tickets can be purchased by each winner.

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I Am Betty Returns to the History Theatre After Last Years Delicious Debut

(l-r) Ruthie Baker, Jennifer Grimm, Liv Kemp, Stephanie Cousins, Anna Hashizume, Kiko Laureano, Lynnea Doublette, Erin Capello (Photo by Rick Spaulding)

I Am Betty the hit musical from History Theatre’s 2023 season returns for a second helping this holiday season. Steeped in Minnesota details it celebrates the countless women behind the myth of Betty Crocker. The story tracks the roles of women throughout the 20th century and we see what Betty Crocker, the marketing icon, has represented to different women at different times over the past 100 years. With book and lyrics by Cristina Luzarraga and music and lyrics by Denise Prosek, directed by Maija Garcia with Musical Direction by Sonja Thompson, and featuring a cast of nine of the Twin Cities most gifted female performers, it’s a show that practices what it preaches. The female voice, onstage and backstage, is vital to telling this story. It reminds us how far we as a society have come. I Am Betty celebrates the far too often undervalued accomplishments and contributions of woman throughout the past century. A testament to the career woman as well as the homemaker, showing us the power of diversity and choice.

Luzarraga and Proseks story focuses on two woman who made a deep impact on the world of Betty Crocker. Act I follows the creation and building of the Betty Crocker brand by Marjorie Child Husted beginning in 1921. We see how Betty Crocker went from answering letters to starring on a radio and TV programs. How innovations were created by the women who worked in the General Mills test kitchens. How they created low cost recipes during the depression and creating Bisquick to help save time in the kitchen. Husted was a driven and intelligent woman who sacrificed a personal life for many years because she saw value in the work she and the women she worked with were doing. Act II follows Barbara Jo Davis whom we are introduced to as a young black woman who dreams of growing up to be Betty Crocker and does to the extent that any one woman is Betty Crocker. As we get into the 1960’s and the women’s liberation movement builds, we get a scene where Betty Friedan and Barbara Jo debate the choice to be a homemaker, both having valid points it illustrates the importance of choice, that what seems like a sentence to unpaid labor to some, is something for which others find great pride in.

The cast is a recipe for musical gold and the songs by Prosek and Luzarraga give them all the right ingredients to whip up a musical soufflet. The songs mirror the times in which they are performed, so we get everything from the jazz age to 80’s power ballads. My favorite song was “Lo Bueno Con Lo Malo” which is performed in Spanish by the understudy Lisa Vogel as a Cuban mother singing to her college aged daughter played by Erin Capello. I loved the song, I loved that it was performed in Spanish and I loved the message of those two characters who are revisited throughout Act II. I also loved seeing Vogel nail the song, it was my favorite song last year as well where I saw it performed by Kiko Laureano. Capello also plays Marjorie Child Husted throughout Act I, it’s a great performance that lends a human face and noble aspirations to what one could argue is a marketing tool. Capello lets us see the dedication and desire to help that motivated Husted and lends legitimacy to the symbol that is, Betty Crocker. Lynnea Doublette plays Barbara Jo and really grabbed my attention with her 60’s style girl group song “I Want to Be Her” which is my kind of music. She really takes center stage in Act II and also excels at providing a solid portrait of a role model of an intelligent successful career woman who finds her life’s work in home economics helping to develop Hamburger Helper. The entire cast is great but I have to say my favorite was crowd pleaser Jennifer Grimm, who’s vocal talents are always stunning but who really surprised me with some very comical parts frequently as men. From a Bing Crosby impersonation to a Marketing Exec modeled on Chris Farley I suspect, she meets every challenge drawing both laughs and wowing us with her voice.

I Am Betty runs through December 29th at the History theatre in Downtown St. Paul. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.historytheatre.com/2024-2025/i-am-betty

This Holiday season why not start a new tradition of taking in a live theater production with family and friends? It’s a great way to create lasting memories and will give you something to look forward to every year as you experience the magic of live theater. Whether your budget is large or small, there is a show for you. Looking for gift ideas? Don’t we all have enough “stuff”? Give the gift of live theater, go to your favorite theaters website, see what shows they have coming up in the new year and give the gift of an experience over material.

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever! Is a Great Holiday Show For Families at Park Square Theatre

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever! may not be all that, but it’s pretty good, and for about three minutes towards the end it achieves greatness. Those three minutes alone are worth the time and price of admission. You’ll know when the moment is if you go because a character will tell another that someone is crying. Which is when I realized I was as well. The moment belongs to River Clementson and is so unexpected that it felt like a Christmas miracle. In what is a fairly entertaining if slightly underwritten comedy from playwright Barbara Robinson, there is a moment of clarity and beauty. I’m not sure where Miss Clementson came from but I’m excited to see where she goes from here. The story is about the staging of the annual church Christmas Pageant, only this year the woman who usually runs it is in the hospital. It’s up to Gabe Bradley, one of the fathers of the narrator of the story, young Beth Bradley, to take over the Christmas Pageant. It’s the same every year so it should be impossible to mess up and it would be, except for the Herdman kids. Six kids who have never been to church and have a reputation around town that would make Scut Farkus and Grover Dill run for cover. They get the idea that they want to be in the pageant, chaos and humor insue.

One thing that is special about this production is that of the 21 cast members there are only 3 adults. Don’t let that scare you, this isn’t like going to the Christmas Pageant at church. While yes, the acting ability is uneven, the vast majority are quite good, and no one is bad. I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a Christmas Pageant, I have, I’d almost forgotten that until I saw this show. I think I was a Shepard, but I may have just been a donkey, still I’d rather be a donkey than an elephant any day and twice on Sunday. If you’ve ever been in one or had to sit through one, you’ll know they are, more or less, the same. You’ll probably also mirror the sentiment of one of the fathers in the show who is always asking if they have to go to it. Thankfully that is a joke in the show but not the reality of this show. Typically, I try not review the performances of children, so aside from singling out River Clementson’s show stealing performance, I’ll restrict myself to the adults. Berto Borroto plays Gabe and Nathan Tylutki plays his husband Ned. While the roles are not written incredibly deep they bring to it a casual, give and take that feels genuine. Beth Gilleland plays basically all of the other adult roles, most of them Church ladies talking on the phone. She does a nice job changing voices and carrying on conversations with herself. I’m glad they went the route of just having one actor play all those roles, it added a nice sprinkling of humor.

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever! runs through December 22nd at Park Square Theatre. A great family show it runs a little under 80 minutes with no intermission. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://bit.ly/49ITRAZ

Black Nativity Creates a Joyful Noise for the Holidays at Penumbra Theatre

Penumbra Theatre has been staging Langston Hughes’ Black Nativity since 1987, it’s another annual holiday tradition that brings audiences back year after year while also drawing new audiences. This was my second time seeing the show and as I like to do when seeing a repeat I brought someone who had never seen it with me. Her reaction was that it was just like church. As one can surmise from the title it’s the story of the birth of Jesus told from a cultural perspective that reflects the Author’s experiences on the world and of this story. While heavily steeped in Christianity, take it from a lapsed atheist, around the holidays I tend to forget not to believe, that there is much joy, hope, and understanding to be found in Black Nativity. The show is Directed by Lou Bellamy who has been involved with the show in every iteration at Penumbra since they began presenting it in 1987. Bellamy states in his Directors notes that Hughes left room for a wide variety of interpretations and that Penumbra’s productions have evolved over time, much like the Guthrie’s annual A Christmas Carol offerings. This years format is the same as last years, more or less in the style of a concert with a few brief scenes of interpretive dance Choreographed by Marciano Silva dos Santos. I love the idea that if I go again in two or three years time I may see it mounted in a different way, but also knowing that the joyful noise of it will remain intact.

The cast features Jennifer Whitlock as the Narrator whose text is based in the scripture verses I have grown up with, but there are moments where it departs or where the emphasis that Whitlock brings to them casts a new light on the words, one that we can recognize as a question to the audience. Asking does this sound familiar? Does this still hold true today? Do you see the parallels? Of course the answers are sadly yes, but the show doesn’t lead us to these reflections in order to leave us mired in our reality but to then lift us up with hope and the message of love and salvation and peace. It’s a message we all need to be reminded of this time of year and above all, this year, whatever our denomination, race, or financial situation. It’s a reminder that hope can come from the lowest of places and greatness can come from one born in a manger.

The main soloists are Greta Oglesby and Dennis spears, and watch out when they come on stage, because it’s from them that much of that joyful noise comes and it will have your hands clapping and your feet stomping along with them. Oglesby is amazing in a room filled with wonderful singers she shines bright like a star above a manger in a long ago time. Spears is rich of voice but can also become playful with breathy vocals that take on a jazzy scat quality to match is occasional fits of fancy footwork. He’s clearly having a great time and feeling the joyfulness of the music. Angela Stewart as the Choir Director and a Soloist pulls the rug out from under the audience with her rendition of “O Holy Night” she starts out breathy and while it’s well done you suspect that maybe her voice isn’t as strong as the other soloists, than the other shoe drops and she kicks it into another, lower gear and you realize, that’s where the power is and she stuns you with it. The dancers I mentioned are Hassan Ingraham and MerSadies McCoy and they stand in during a couple of songs as Joseph and Mary. This was one of my favorite parts of the show, coming at just the right place to add something new visually and unlike some dance this felt like it was driven by the story of the songs and gave an illustration of the emotions within. Ingraham and McCoy move wonderfully and gracefully together and watching them was a delight. The Musical Director was Sanford Moore and his musicians really raise the roof. The main performers are accompanied by the Kingdom Life Church Choir who lend an angelic and soulful quality to the proceedings.

If you’ve never been to Black Nativity, I encourage all to add it to your calendars, it is such a joyful and celebratory show. You don’t have to believe the same things to appreciate the beauty and joy of it’s message. There something beautiful about going and watching others celebrate their beliefs. This Holiday season why not start a new tradition of taking in a live theater production with family and friends? It’s a great way to create lasting memories and will give you something to look forward to every year as you experience the magic of live theater. Whether your budget is large or small, there is a show for you. Looking for gift ideas? Don’t we all have enough “stuff”? Give the gift of live theater, go to your favorite theaters website, see what shows they have coming up in the new year and give the gift of an experience over material.

Black Nativity runs through December 22nd at Penumbra Theatre in St. Paul. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://penumbratheatre.org/event/black-nativity-6

A Cruise-mas Carol From The Mystery Cafe Would Be a Crime to Miss

The Mystery Cafe’s new show A Cruise-mas Carol is like all of their shows I’ve seen, just good plain fun. You get a nice meal, in this case it’s like the meals on all cruise ships and served buffet style. An entertaining show filled with corny jokes and in this case a magic show. But wait! That’s not all, you also get to pit your wits against the writers of the show and try and guess the solution to the mystery. This time it’s not a murder but a theft and the thief could be anyone a member of the crew or a passenger. And there are prizes awarded to the most creative solutions as well as the Super Sleuth who solves the crime. Last year I gave The Mystery Cafe as Christmas gifts and I plan to do that again this year. It really is the perfect outing to spend with family and friends, everyone has a good laugh, and trying to solve the mystery together can be a great team building exercise for those business owners looking for something unique to try with their employees.

A Cruise-mas Carol was co-written by one of my favorite local Writer/Actor/Artistic Directors Nissa along with The Mystery Cafe Founder Brian Kelly. Nissa also brings her boundless energy and enthusiasm to the role of Sandy, the Ships Activity Director and Niece of the Captain. Pulling double duty as both DJ and Roger, the ships engineer, is another favorite of The Stages of MN Sam Landman. He plays the ships engineer as a Scotsman as all ship engineers should be, with a very passable and fun accent. His work on the soundboard is as important as his character role as there is a lot of laughs that come from sound cues. Always great to see Wini Froelich in a show, she plays a retired author and amatuer slueth Julia Flender, who is introduced with one of those above mention audio jokes, see if you can guess what it might be? Everyone in the cast of these shows is having a blast and that makes it fun for the audience as well. I did also want to acknowledge Ryan Robert Nelson who plays the ship’s Captain so openly and playfully silly. A special shout out to Markus Clegg who plays Randy the Remarkable, the magician who is the ships entertainment, his portion was really fun, particularly a shadow puppet sequence.

A Cruise-mas Carol runs through January 4th 2025 at the Majestic Oaks Golf Club in Ham Lake. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.themysterycafe.com/shows/now-playing. You’ll find info about all of their current shows there as well. The Mystery Cafe is also performing another holiday themed show this season which I saw last year called I’ll Be Homicidal For Christmas. This year it is being performed at a new location, The Sheraton Bloomington along with a few cast changes. Read my review from last years production, it’s a lot of fun as well. https://bit.ly/TSOMNHomicidalXMAS

Hot pink, red and orange textured geometric squeeze wallpaper

Scrooge in Rouge Still Brings the Laughs at Open Eye Theatre

Tom Reed, Abilene Olson, and Maren Ward Photo by Bruce Silcox

*Note much of this review was adapted from my 2023 review of the show as I got it right the first time.

There are a lot of shows with Christmas themes this time of year, and several that are quite funny, but in terms of being a consistently funny, audience pleasing production, this one probably takes the fruit cake. I saw it last year and in the busy Holiday season was probably going to skip seeing it again to make room for new shows. Then I heard that there was a cast change and the new cast member happens to be on my Must See List so I booked the show again and am glad I did because it’s such a fun show. The premise is a British Music Hall production of A Christmas Carol where 17 of the 20 performers are out sick with food poisoning. So the three healthy performers play all the roles, as of course, for Queen and Country, the show must go on. Some of the humor comes from the backstage plotline of how the three will perform a script meant for 20. While much more comes from the music hall tradition of double entendres, silly word play, and wacky characters. Some of the jokes are old, but then so are many of the audience members. Old or new, obvious or out of the blue, it’s the delivery that makes the show. These are three performers who are brilliantly cast, they are completely believable as over the top music hall performers. This is the show to go to with your group of friends who love a good laugh, a great time will be had by all, respectful rowdiness is encouraged.

The cast is expertly accompanied on piano by Patrick Adkins who has the odd line as well but, declines to take the role of Tiny Tim when called upon. Will you answer the call? If you don’t want to be asked, avoid the aisle seats, you’ve been warned. Now when I say the three performers take on the roles of 20, I really mean two of them do. You see Maren Ward who plays Vesta Virile, a male impersonator mainly plays Ebenezer Scrooge, ge sund heit. She is excellent as Scrooge and as the center around which all the chaos revolves. Neal Skoy who played Charlie Schmaltz in the production is in New York City performing in Big Apple Circus. So this year the role is played by a The Stages of MN favorite Tom Reed, who in turn plays everyone from Bob Cratchit, to the Ghost of Christmas Past. My favorite roles of Reeds were that of Scrooge’s nephew Freddie and Bob Cratchit. As Freddie he plays it as a cartoon version of Whodehouse’s Bertie Wooster, and Cratchit is a lovesick softie. Abilene Olson is the the singing soubrette Lottie Obbligato, I’m not going to tell you what that means, I had to google it and so do you. Lottie makes it clear she’s happy to take in a little extra cash for extra services, wink-wink, nudge-nudge. Olson has a wonderful singing voice which serves her well, legitimately but also for comic effect. She’s the sauciest and bawdiest of the trio and gets a lot of laughs with her thinly disguised euphemisms. I’d have to say my favorite role she plays is that of Lottie herself. As opposed to Schmaltz, who is listed in the program as a “character actor” and thus tries to create a new personality and look for each role. Lottie isn’t, and thus it’s perfectly fine that Olson let’s Lottie shine through quite a bit no matter what role she’s performing in the show, within the show. If that didn’t confuse you … can you explain it to me?

The show has a book and lyrics by Ricky Graham with music by Jefferson Turner, additional bits and bobs of material were added by Jeffery Roberson and Yvette Hargis. The production is Directed by the Open Eye Theatre Producing Artistic Director Joel Sass. Sass knows his space well and makes effective use of Open Eyes small stage and all it’s nooks, crannies, and trap doors. As is always the case with Open Eye productions, the look of the show is one of the stars. Michael Sommers set design and Kathy Kohl’s costumes are gorgeousities. There really is nothing quite like the designed theatricality of an Open Eye production, merely functional is never the aim. Every wall, every sign, every prop, every effect has to do more than exist, it has to add to the atmosphere of the piece. Helping achieve the look and overall feel of the show are the expert skills of Lighting Designer Bill Healey and Sound Engineer Dan Dukich. And I think a special shout out is due to Stage Manager Brian Hirt and Assistant Stage Manager Evelyn Kelly who keep the show flowing and one assumes helping the performers do their quick costume changes.

Highly recommended Scrooge in Rouge is a hilarious take on A Christmas Carol done in the tradition of the English Music Hall. The show runs through December 29th at Open Eye Theatre in South Minneapolis. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.openeyetheatre.org/scrooge-in-rouge

Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella Features Strong Performances Amidst Chaotic Design at Theater Latté Da

Carnetha Anthony, Nambi Mwassa, Theo Janke-Furman, James Delage, Gabriella Trentacoste Photo by Dan Norman

Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella is a show I’ve obviously heard of but never actually seen. Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II had a legendary partnership that resulted in multiple famous musicals including Oklahoma!, The King and I, South Pacific, and my personal favorite The Sound of Music. For me there’s no contest the first three have some good songs, but only The Sound of Music is solid song after song and Cinderella didn’t change that. Though lacking a breakout song, in general, they were all pleasing. Not having seen the original book for the show which was written by Hammerstein I can’t say for sure, but I suspect the new book by Douglas Carter Beane has a lot to do with how enjoyable and amusing this production was. With several strong performances and a lot of fun ones including from some favorites I found that I had a very enjoyable evening at the Theater. It falls short of great through no fault of the cast, there just are no great songs in the show. There is also a chaos to the design and direction of the show that didn’t do it any favors either.

The book takes liberties with the fairytale story we all know from childhood and Walt Disney. Here there isn’t just the one Ball, but also a second gathering in the form of a Banquet. There is a love interest for one of Cinderella’s sisters and some political intrigue in the form of the Lord Chancellor Sebastian. Both of these elements I believe are new to the Beane book and are welcome additions. One of the aspects I enjoyed most were the departures from the story I know so well. I also enjoyed an added depth between Cinderella and her stepsisters and stepmother. There is a song the four perform in the second Act, “When You’re Driving Through the Moonlight” where the characters seem to forget their antagonistic relationship and even ends with the stepmother kissing Cinderella on the head before she realizes what she’s done. There are other touches like that throughout particularly between the stepsister Gabrielle and Cinderella. This step away from making the three step family members just rotten added a subtle but potent aspect of emotional reality to the work, I actually teared up a little in those moments, and this is not a show that is trying to make you tear up at all.

This was directed by the new Artistic Director of Theater Latté Da Justin Lucero and I’m going to give him credit for mining those scenes for elements of humanity. I’m gonna dock him though for the overall design of this show which utilizes these curvy forms (which you can see in the photo above) which at first I thought were going to be used creatively such as in the first scene when one becomes the princes horse, but after that they just seem to be utilized as a distraction during costume changes perhaps? They are moved around occasionally to form something specific like Cinderella’s carriage, but then they get moved around twice as often to create… nothing specific that my eye could discern. I expected more from Scenic Designer Eli Sherlock and Lucero, I was hoping for a little stage magic like we got with Scotland, PA. The costumes by Mathew J. Lefebvre were individually splendid, but when taken as a whole they lacked a cohesiveness. We have standard fairytale attire, which looked great by the way, mixed with 90’s grunge, which also looked great, but they didn’t work together. I did enjoy the choreography by Kyle Weiler unreservedly.

Speaking of unreservedly appreciated elements, I found no fault at all with the cast. The leads Nambi Mwassa as Ella (Cinderella) and Theo Janke-Furman as Prince Topher were both great in their roles. What was also a tremendous advantage to this production were all the great performers in the supporting roles. Tod Petersen plays Sebastian, the self serving politician who has the wool pulled over the Prince’s’ eyes, it’s the kind of sarcastic and devious character that a gifted actor like Petersen can have a lot of fun with. Sally Wingert as the Stepmother is right in her sweet spot, so gifted at delivering withering ridicule, she’s a blast. Evan Tyler Wilson as Lord Pinkleton had a hilarious ad lib at the show I attended, and probably had the best singing voice in the cast. Carnetha Anthony plays Marie, the crazy woman who lives in the forest and turns out to be the Fairy Godmother, is also excellent and really shines in her duet with Mwassa on the song “Impossible/It’s Possible“. Finally a quick mention of Isa Condo-Olvera and Hope Nordquist as the Stepsisters Gabrielle and Charlotte who made these stock characters funny and warmer than I’ve ever seen them played.

Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella runs through January 5th at Theater Latté Da. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.latteda.org/cinderella