Be a Part of The Stages of MN, Write the Theme Music For The Stages of MN YouTube Channel!

The launch of The Stages of MN YouTube channel is still over a month away. But I’m hard at work in developing what I hope will be an engaging new way to celebrate live theater. I want this to be a collaborative platform where I can engage with theatergoers and makers. With that in mind I’m sending out this request to you, faithful readers, if you or someone you know has experience writing music or songs I’m looking for something original to use as the Theme music for the show. Watch my latest video on YouTube for an idea of what I’m looking for.

I love the idea of having the show open with the something created by you whether you are a professional music and theater maker or just a novice fan of theater. I’m looking for something between 20 to 60 seconds, that I can use for the opening and closing of each episode. Like I say in the video anything goes, silly or serious, instrumental or with lyrics. I’m open to anything and everything. Send your creations to robdunkelberger@thestagesofmn.com, ideally by May 11th. I’d love to get as many options as possible, if there are multiple great choices I may use some for individual segments. I’m excited for you to be a part of The Stages of MN as it expands into new territory.

Feel free to reach out via email or any of the social media channels if you have any questions. I look forward to listening to your creations.

Now more than ever in the wake of the most recent election and the hailstorm of stupidity and hate it has unleashed, theater companies need you and we need them. Buy tickets to shows, go out and support work that reflects diversity and inclusiveness. Donate to your favorite theater companies, don’t wait until they are on the brink of shutting down. We all need to stand up and fight for our theaters whose funding is under attack for promoting inclusion, equality and diversity. In short, theaters are being threatened for sharing stories that reflect our countries cultural and racial diversity.

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Think I may have steered you wrong on a show? Well, I’m also a member of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers (TCTB), where you can read review roundups of shows by m’colleagues and I when you follow us on facebook @TwinCitiesTheaterBloggers. New things are in the work! Click here to go to The Stages of MN YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@TheStagesofMN. Right now there is just a short introductory video, but there will be much more coming this summer. For now, check out the intro video and subscribe to the channel so that when we fully launch you’ll be the first to know!

Spellbound Launches World Premiere From Threshold Theater at the Phoenix Theater

Zakary Thomas Morton and Leor Benjamin Photo by Nick Mrozek

Threshold Theater, a company dedicated to telling stories by and about the LGBTQ+ community launched the world premiere of Matthew A. Everett’s new play Spellbound at the Phoenix Theater in Uptown tonight. It’s an incisive work that begins with a high concept comedic idea and then uses it to explore the issue of consent in a whole new way. Grounded by strong performances and skillfully directed by Denzel Belin, this is a new work that has a lot to say and does it in a fresh and exciting way. It addresses outmoded perspectives by coming at them via a non traditional route. Allowing us to process something we know in a new way, reinforcing our collective values and allowing us to clear our minds of any lingering traces about consent and gender. We don’t need reminding of what is right and what is wrong, but we need to fully understand that those distinctions apply in every circumstance. This play imagines something that we assume can’t really happen, but treats it seriously and explores the ramifications that this fantasy would have on real people and relationships. It also acknowledges the darkness and selfishness that exists in everyone without excusing it.

The plot sets up what could have been a funny Three’s Company episode, if there was magic in that show. Micah and Auggie are best friends. Micah is gay, Auggie is straight, married to Sarah, who is pregnant with their first child. Jeffrey is Micah’s second best friend, he is gay and grieving the loss of his Grandmother, who was a witch. Jeffrey has made a potion from his Grandmothers grimoire (spell book) which he gives to Micah to give to Auggie, that he says will make is tongue turn colors. Micah thinks it will be funny to tease Auggie about his strange colored tongue and is assured it will only last for 24 hours. It’s really a love potion that has made Auggie fall in love with Micah, laughs do occur, but I assure you hilarity does not ensue. It becomes a race against time for Jeffrey and Sarah with the help of a metaphysical supply store owner to create an antidote before anyone does something they will forever regret.

Zakary Morton plays Micah and I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say his performance affected every molecule in my body. Morton has you liking Micah from the first scene, he plays the opening with the beats of a sitcom, but if you really watch and listen to what he is saying, he genuinely is concerned over what has happened, and feels guilty for his part in it. He thought he was playing a harmless prank on his best friend, now if he stops holding Auggie’s hand for a moment, Auggie will start to cry. As the play progresses Morton, above everyone else in the cast, breathes a sense of reality into every line of dialogues. We feel his guilt, we feel his affection, we feel his fear and his pain and we believe every moment. At the end, he’s left devastated but we are given hope that everyone will heal and who knows what will happen, but the romantic in me wants to believe that Micah and Duncan, played very sweetly and with perceptive understanding by Xae Copeland, will get together. Auggie is played by Leor Benjamin who finds just the right moments to make eyes at Micah, or put a head on his shoulder for comic emphasis, but his truest moments are when he’s teaching Micah how to play a song his written for him on his guitar. And when Morton sings that song for Duncan, your heart heals a little bit. Keira Kowal Jett is good as Sarah, but she does play her a little too collected and controlled, she’s good at being the voice of reason, but I’d like her to have gone a little bigger when confronting Jeffrey, I’d like to see her lose it occasionally, then pull herself back together to accomplish what needs to be done. David Schlosser as Jeffrey is a piece of work, he perfectly captures that guy who doesn’t have many friends because he’s basically missing that part of a human being that gets it.

There are nice touches sprinkled throughout the production, in the opening scenes we have Auggie unable to not hold hands with Micah, we transition to flashback scenes of Auggie and Sarah with the transition occurring by Micah handing Auggie’s hand off to Sarah and then back again when we come back to the present. It’s a very cinematic transition and a nice detail. The set and prop designs by Jenna Mady are effective, giving us the bed that Micah and Auggie will have to share while they wait for the Supply shop to open in the morning. and the Supply shop portion of the stage is nicely detailed. The lighting design by Jack Hinz solidly assists with scene changes by shifting the focus to different areas of the stage, at times blacking out the rest while at others allowing us to see how the characters who are not the focus, here as well Morton shines in his performance.

Spellbound runs through May 3rd at the Phoenix Theater in Uptown. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.thresholdtheatermpls.com/#/

The Birds From Theatrex Will Get Into Your Ears at The Hive Collaborative in St. Paul

The Birds, a play adaptation by Conor McPherson from the story by Daphne du Maurier, which was also the source material for the famous Alfred Hitchcock film of the same name. Aside from a world turned upside down by the sudden revolt of birds against humanity, the title and source inspiration are the only things the play and the film have in common. Which was actually a nice surprise. I am a very devoted Hitchcock Fan but of his films that most people list as among his greats, The Birds is the one that I like the least. I’d downgrade it from classic to very good. In terms of the play, I would also characterize it as very good, not quite great. Which frankly, if a story about a world in which society has crumbled and being attacked by birds is just one of the life threatening challenges you are facing, along with starvation and fending off other humans for whom survival has trumped civility is your kind of story, very good is more than worth it for you. It was for me! The only real criticism I have is that it does feel a little long, at times the contemplative silences from the cast seem like they could be cut down a little bit. That said the cast is very, very strong.

The story is set in a farmhouse out in the country, narrated by Diane a novelist who was on her way to her grown daughters birthday party, when the birds began to attack. She found her way to this house along with Nat, a man she doesn’t know but is running a very high fever, and she is caring for him as best she can. Time passes and Diane’s wariness of Nat soon dissolves as they work together to survive. For some reason the birds respond to the tides, so they have 6 hour windows in which it’s safe to be outdoors to scavenger for food. At one point a young woman named Julia appears, she has been injured when attacked by a man who was trying to rape her. Her presence adds a new tension to the farmhouse and threatens the harmony that’s been established between Diane and Nat. There is also a stranger living in the house across the lake. He has been spotted on occasion but ducks out of sight when spotted, so he’s talked about but not seen until he comes along when he knows Diane is alone. A lot of the tension is built on our expectation of the worst thing that could happen, happening. McPherson’s script and Joe Hendren’s direction plays on our darkest suspicions of human nature. Giving us space to sit with situations long enough to assume we can read the thoughts of the characters.

First off, it has some of the best sound design I’ve heard especially in a theater as intimate and DIY as The Hive. Forest Godfrey who did the sound design has utilized a surround sound approach so you hear near constant bird noises but perfectly balanced so that you never miss a line of dialogue. The lighting design by Bill Larsen and the prop designs by Heather Edwards help to create a sense of claustrophobic reality. The cast is excellent beginning with Kari Elizabeth Godfrey as Diane, she does a great job of letting us read her thoughts through her performance and making some of her characters less noble choices understandable. We may not agree with what she does, but her performance has put us in this world and in these circumstances, we can see where she thinks this might be the right decision, considering what the world has become and what she needs to survive. Tim Reddy as Nat and Ankita Ashrit as Julia, both give good performances; Reddy lets linger a fog over his character from the initial fever and revelations about himself, that keep us questioning how he’s really doing. Ashrit, perfectly walks the line between seeming to be sweet while showing us her true nature. Finally in a single scene, Jon Stentz as Tierney, the man across the lake, makes a strong impression creating a mystery of a man that causes fear and pity.

The Birds runs through April 27th at The Hive Collaborative in St. Paul. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.theatrex.org/

Sister Act is a Joyous Noise at Lyric Arts in Anoka

The Sisters of Sister Act at Lyric Arts Photo by Molly Jay

Sister Act is a musical based on the popular 1992 film starring Whoopi Goldberg, which I saw in the theaters and remember enjoying but it’s been 33 years and so you’ll forgive me if the plot is a little fuzzy now. Which really is to say that you don’t have to have even seen the film to enjoy Lyric Arts new production. There are some shows that really are just amazing works of art like Les Miserables or Company, and then there are shows that are just fun like Sister Act. I love both types and I’m as surprised as anybody to say that Sister Act is at the top of the list of just fun shows that I’ve seen recently. The more musicals I’ve seen based on hit movies the more I’ve come to expect them to more or less suck for every Once, A Little Night Music, and Little Shop of Horrors there are twelve Pretty Woman‘s. So I don’t go into that type of show with high hopes, which usually helps me to enjoy in more due to lowered expectations. But I don’t think expectations had anything to do with how much I enjoyed this show. I think the cast, which is fantastic, and the crew, under Director Siddeeqah Shabazz, probably had an awful lot to do with it though. I was laughing and marveling at the vocals and choreography right up until the point I was moved to tears. I absolutely loved this cast and found the story full of humor with an unexpected touch of heart.

If you are not familiar with the film or musical a singer named Deloris witnesses her boyfriend Curtis murder a man. In order to hide her until she can be a witness at trial, a policeman named Eddie arranges to hide her in a convent. There is a fish out of water aspect to the story that provides a lot of humor, but the show really begins to sing when Deloris begins to help the nuns choir. Which, prior to her involvement, sounded much like you might imagine if you ran over a liter of kittens with a lawnmower. This is also where the show turns from broad comedy to something that begins to have a bit of heart to it. The choir becomes a hit, reversing the fortunes of the failing church. Of course the success of the choir leads to publicity which leads to Curtis and his henchmen discovering where Deloris is.

I’ve mentioned a little game I play with whoever I attend a show with where I ask, “who was your favorite?” This doesn’t happen often but this is one of those cases where there isn’t a clear favorite or two that are too hard to choose between, there are literally over 10 members of the cast that are in the running. So many of them have these moments that I thought as I was watching I have to mention that in my review! To the point where If I mention everything it will take forever to write and no one, not even my Mother… OK, especially my Mother, would ever read it all. So I’m going to mention a bunch of performers and moments, trying not to spoil anything and with the understanding this is just the tip of the iceberg. Cassie Edlund plays Deloris, full of over the top comic hamminess that feels like it’s going to be one note, and then turns into a real human character, as the show progresses she begins to layer subtlety into the character and her singing goes from solid vocally singing energetic numbers, to beautifully soulful vocally and song wise. It’s a genius way to play the character giving us a tangible way to measure the characters growth and opening up to her fellow “Sisters”. Caitlin Featherstone translating the Spanish speaking thugs threats for the other Nuns. Darius A. Gillard as Curtis, is a great villain and his rich vocals are delicious. Quintin Michael as Eddie the cop, he has a double costume change that is brilliantly conceived and executed. Sher U-F as Sister Mary Lazarus, doing a biblical rap during a choir performance is pure gold. Kaoru Shoji probably the best vocals in the cast, and the character that finally broke the dam and had the tears streaming down my face. Again, this is like half of the performers I want to mention and moments that stuck with me.

Big props to the Director Shabazz who guides this show with such a sure hand that the audience feels like they are part of the congregation. Laura Long’s musical direction is tight and perfectly balanced with the singers. I absolutely loved the choreography from Michael Terrell Brown, it’s full of comedic touches, every move serves a purpose and it’s usually to make us smile. Bradley Whitcomb’s set design is rather elaborate, with a set of stairs that can slide backwards or forwards to change the scene and to allow for more stage space as needed for the dancing. It’s one of the more elaborate sets I’ve seen at Lyric Arts and it looks like a real stone church. I also want to acknowledge the work of Costume Designer Khamphian Vang, the habits of the nuns are a given but Officer Eddie’s costume changes, the 70’s style of Curtis’s henchmen, and the glamorous costumes that Deloris sometimes wears, not to mention the blue fur coat are all very memorable.

Sister Act runs through May 11th at Lyric Arts in Anoka. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.lyricarts.org/sister-act

The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical Should Please Fans at Stages Theatre Company

The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical is an adaptation of the first book in the Percy Jackson book series by Rick Riordan. Riordan’s series inspired a generation of kids, my youngest George included, to take an interest in Greek Mythology. From what I remember of the film version, I’m afraid I never read the books myself, it felt as if the book by Joe Tracz for this musical version adheres fairly closely to the plot of the book. Young fans of the series should get a kick out of seeing their favorite characters brought to life and singing on stage. There’s a fair amount of stage magic used to create some moments of wonder but audiences shouldn’t go in expecting Harry Potter and the Cursed Child level effects. Still for the scale of a Stages show I was impressed with what they did and the scenic design by Joe Stanley, props by Marc Berg, sound design by Gretchen Katt, and costumes and make up by Samantha Fromm Haddow are all well done. The lighting design by Tony Stoeri however, seemed to leave the characters in the dark on several occasions though there were also some very effective lighting queues. The songs by Rob Rokicki unfortunately are for the most part forgettable and a lot of them do seem to be pushing many of the performers ranges, so that aspect of the production isn’t ideal.

The story follows a group of half bloods, meaning they are half human and half God, known as Demigods. The main character Percy doesn’t know that he is a half blood he just thinks his father abandoned him and his mother before he was born. When he is attacked by a Fury during a field trip his mother takes him on to a camp for half bloods and he learns who he really is. Unfortunately, they are attacked on the way by a Minotaur and Percy’s mother is presumed dead. Percy’s only friend Grover from his former school turns out to be Satyr, he has the legs of a goat, and accompanies Percy to the camp. There he meets other Demigods including Annabeth who is the child of Athena, and Luke who is the son of Hermes. When Percy is accused of stealing the lightning bolt of Zeus ha must go on a quest to the underworld with Grover and Annabeth to try and retrieve the lightning bolt and avert a war between the Gods. Percy takes on the task in hopes of also reclaiming his mother from Hades in the underworld.

The performers are all confident and handle the the fight choreography by Anna Crace well. George Wellens as Percy really belts out the songs reminding me a bit of performances I’ve seen of Roger in Rent. The role doesn’t always hit his vocal sweet spot and can sound at times slightly discordant, but when it does hit his range perfectly he’s very strong. Other favorites are Willa Breen as Annabeth, who brings the character to life as a formidable and resourceful young woman, exuding quiet strength and imbued with resilience and intelligence. Her vocals are among the best. Another favorite is Henry Halverson who plays Luke, he’s solid in the first half of the play but then disappears as we follow Percy and his friends on their odyssey. But when he comes back at the end of the play, he gets a really nice scene with a song that is just right for his voice. It was probably the best performance in the play his anger in the moment feels authentic and I wish we’d gotten more of him in the show, definitely one to watch for in future productions.

The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical runs through May 11th at Stages Theatre Company in Downtown Hopkins. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.stagestheatre.org/the-lightning-thief-the-percy-jackson-musical/

Lettice and Lovage, Long But Ultimately Saved by Great Performances From its Two Leads at Theatre in the Round

Jean Wolff and Jackie Schluter-Johnson Photo by Aaron Mark Photo Film

Lettice and Lovage is too long. You’ll leave the theater three hours and 10 minutes after the play begins. You will get two 10 minute intermissions so bladder control isn’t an issue plus you’ll have a chance purchase and slam a coffee or a soda if you need it. I did. Act one I found myself doing the head dip and jerk back up. Intermission #1 I was worried about the rest of the night. Not that Act I didn’t have some good stuff in it but I knew if things didn’t pick up, I was in for a tough night. Again, it wasn’t that Act I wasn’t important it is, it introduces us to and develops the main characters, it sets up the rest of the play. Act II, maybe it was the Diet Coke and savory snack I consumed, but the play really came alive after that first intermission. Act III starts a little slow and trades primarily in frustration to build suspense, but about a third of the way through the final act, it came alive again. The key is when you have the two leads Jean Wolff and Jackie Schluter-Johnson playing off each other. My big advice with this one is to see it, for sure, but know yourself, do you get a little drowsy after dinner or are you more of a midday napper? Know which you are and plan to see it when you will be most alert, and don’t forget to take your Adderall or drink a Celsius. The first Act is deliberate, while still providing some chuckles. Also to be clear the author of this play Peter Shaffer is a very famous writer and this isn’t Shakespeare where a theater company can feel free to cut the script down. I could actually tell you how I would shave time off of the the play, but there’s no point as it isn’t something anyone has permission to do and since Shaffer has shuffled off this mortal coil, what we have is what we have.

OK I really do want you to see this show because I think The Director Duck Washington and his cast and crew have staged something very entertaining. Everything that could be improved in this play falls squarely at the feet of Shaffer. The first 15 to 20 minutes of the play we see Lettice Douffet lead four or five separate historical tour groups in the Grand Hall of Fustian House. She tells the same story each time about the grand staircase and Queen Elizabeth. The first time everyone on the tour is bored, the second time she is clearly bored, the third time she begins making things up, and each subsequent time she embellishes the story more and more to ludicrous extremes. This is discovered by Lotte Schoen who is the person in charge of the Preservation Trust Tours. We change the scene now to Miss Schoen’s office where she ends up firing Lettice. That’s the end of Act I, in that office scene there is one other performer Simone Reno who gives a memorable though brief performance as Miss Schoen’s secretary Miss Framer. Before that, during the tours Reno and five other performers play the visitors on the tour. They have a line or two each during the various tour scenes and then with the exception of Reno and one other performer Rick Lamers who will appear in Act III but they’re never seen again until the curtain call. There are five actors who appear in Act I and then are never seen again. What was Shaffer thinking? Hey I’m gonna give you two lines in the first 15 minutes of this play and then I want you to hang around for 2 hours and 45 minutes to take a bow.

Act II We are in Lettice’s basement apartment, this is where the rest of the plays all of Act II and III will take place. Lotte has come to see Lettice, she feels bad for having sacked her and wants to see how she is doing. She has come with a job possibility with a the river tour company one of her neighbors runs. The meeting at first is very contentious but they soon warm to each other and get a bit spiffy on an aperitif of Lettice’s creation, which is an homage to a 16th century libation. From this moment on when Jean Wolff who is spectacularly kooky as Lettice and Jackie Schluter-Johnson as Lotte Schoen really start to riff with each other the play ramps up from pleasant to delightful. Wolff is tremendously gifted at playing this overly dramatic but wildly imaginative misfit. Helping to place that character slightly out of synch with the mainstream are these fantastically stylized costumes by CJ Mantel. If ever a costume helped an actor fully embrace a character it has to be these, they are terrific.Schluter-Johnson plays the more grounded character but is equally good in the role. It’s the combination of the two that is the magic key. You feel like you are watching two people actually becoming friends and bonding right before your eyes. For these moments when they are working together despite everything else, I highly recommend Lettice and Lovage. The majority of the play is the two of them interacting and it is worth a little bit of a slow start. And Honestly nothing is bad or boring, but three plus hour shows are reserved for Musicals, Shakespeare, and truly epic plays like the Lehman Trilogy. A fun little comedy about two women who form an unlikely friendship, a show that is barely more than a two hander, just doesn’t wear that runtime very well.

Lettice and Lovage runs through April 27th at Theatre in the Round Players in Minneapolis. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.theatreintheround.org/lettice-and-lovage/

Mean Girls Does Have an Important Message to Spread at the Ordway

Cast of Mean Girls national tour Photo by Jeremy Daniel

Mean Girls is the stage musical adaption of the 2004 movie, both are written by Tina Fey, with the songs for the musical being written by Nell Benjamin (Lyrics) and Jeff Richmond (Music). Nominated for 12 Tony Awards in 2018, it won none. Those expecting Les Miserables will be disappointed, but for fans of the original film, who enjoy a smart script and fun songs will surely have a great time. This is something of a review proof show, if this is your jam you are going to overlook the flaws. If it isn’t, you won’t appreciate what works. Glancing over the the ticket page at the Ordway every performance is showing limited availability so if you are a fan, I urge you to get your tickets sooner rather than later so you get the best possible seats. Get as close as you can, because one of the flaws of this production is that it’s a little difficult to make out about 1/4 of the lyrics. Again, fans who know the show will fill in from memory the parts their ears don’t hear, but newbies will want to listen closely.

In an odd way, and admittedly this is truly a stretch, but if you squint real hard, it’s another show that is an allegory for the current political and social climate of our country. The story is narrated by two students Damian and Janis, played by Joshua Morrisey and Alexys Morera, who are two of the best performers in the show. They tell the story of their friend Cady played by Katie Yeomans, who moves to their town and their high school from Africa where she lived and was home schooled by her parents. Damian and Janis befriend Cady who has little experience with other kids and show her the ropes. When the Queen Bee of the school Regina George, played by Maya Petropoulos, and her two sidekicks Gretchen and Karen, played by Kristen Amanda Smith and Maryrose Brendel, take an interest in befriending Cady. Damian and Janis convince her to go along and report back what happens. Regina is the meanest of the mean girls of the title. But, what the show ultimately tries to point out is that all the girls have been treated meanly and also been mean to another. Gretchen is kept in line by the intelligent but manipulative Regina, by constantly making her doubt herself which she expresses in one of the better songs “What’s Wrong With Me?“. Karen it is stated, is just dumb and plays into the old stereotype of the dumb blonde. So in the allegory Regina is Trump, Gretchen is probably J.D. Vance, And clearly Karen represents 40 percent of the U.S. population. The way they run the school is by fear, lies, and generally being mean to anyone who isn’t them, which is probably about one percent of the schools population. Look I said it was a stretch, but it does kind of work, even if that wasn’t the author’s intent. Fey’s message is actually more important on the human level and that woman need to lift each other up not break each other down. If you have to make someone else feel ugly so that you feel pretty, you need to take a close look at yourself.

Favorites in this production where Morrisey, Morera, Yeomans, and Smith. One performance that seemed like a total misfire was Jose Raul as Aaron, the guy that Cady likes and used to go out with Regina. He’s supposed to be fairly smart but would have been more believable as a dumb jock, there is just something in the way he plays the character that doesn’t fit what we are supposed to see in him. I had seen the show from the original North American tour in 2019, I don’t remember a lot about it, after all that was 500 plus shows ago. But one thing that has stuck with me from that tour was the extensive use of video panels in the set design. All of that is gone in the production replaced with painted drops and set pieces that are wheeled in and out and for me it’s an improvement. I enjoy a strategic use of video, whether it be projections of panels, but that first production of Mean Girls was an example of over reliance on the technology. One thing from this production that feels like it must be a downgrade are the wigs put on some of the characters by hair designer Josh Marquette. I was near the back of the orchestra and they looked like halloween costumes wigs from where I was, I can’t imagine how they looked to people in the front rows. So for me it was something of a mixed bag of a show, I think fans will enjoy it, but it isn’t going to win over any non believers.

Mean Girls runs through April 13th at the Ordway Center for Performing Arts in Downtown St. Paul. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://ordway.org/events/mean-girls/