Santa’s Surprise Party is, No Surprise, Hilariously Fun at The Hive Collaborative in St. Paul

Santa’s Surprise Party is the party to attend this holiday season. This new show from The Mechanical Division, the brainchild of Ben Thietje and Amanda White formerly of DalekoArts, continues that Theater’s tradition of holiday fun. Directed by White who plays the voice of Jessica Claus and written by Thietje who appears in the cast as an elf named Sandwich. The show takes place at an assembly of the ELFS (Midwest Chapter). While waiting for the meeting to start Mrs. Clause joins the meeting through Microsoft Teams and reminds the Chapter that it’s Santa’s 250th birthday and so far none of the other Chapters has even said happy birthday to Santa. This Chapter is going to be the last meeting and it’s up to them to wish Santa a happy birthday and raise his spirits. Before they can begin to make plans, a human discovers them inside the building without permission. They must use elf magic to keep him from leaving and with his help they plan a surprise party for Santa.

I don’t want to give away the best bits or the surprises in store so I’m going to keep things vague. First off, if you enjoy Christmas at all and love a good laugh, you’ll want to snatch up tickets for the three remaining performances. If the show I was at tonight wasn’t sold out, there couldn’t have been more than one or two seats left. I’ve written before about a game we sometimes play on the drive home from a show called who was your favorite. When you can’t name who was your favorite, it’s either one of two things, no one is any good, or everyone is perfectly cast in their roles. This is the latter. Let’s start with Ben Thietje usually cast as the romantic lead due to his matinee idol looks, completely disappears into the role of Sandwich. He’s the nerdy, not dealing with a full deck, possibly a touch psychotic elf with slicked over hair and glasses with lenses as thick as coke bottles. He’s found the character and never breaks from it whether he’s pushing to burn the human or just in the background ritually touching a Christmas light. He hasn’t the fewest lines but makes the biggest impression. Siri Hellerman plays Bing Bong, the President of the Midwest Chapter of ELFS. She runs the meeting like a pro and knows exactly how to keep control of everyone, but is particularly adept at calming Sandwich down with a sip from a juice box. Hellerman handles such absurd moments so matter of factly that they become even funnier. Nora Sonneborn who really caught my attention earlier in the year in Lyric Arts Production of 9 to 5 proves that notice was well deserved, she has comedic chops and displays once again a really strong singing voice, which I’d like to have had even more of. Bradley Beahen who serves as the Music Director also plays Sprinkles. Beahen whom I’m used to seeing mainly as a Music Director is great in the role and his rendition of “Like a Virgin” but with festive lyrics is a blast. Finally, Patrick Kozicky plays Cole, the human who reluctantly helps them plan the party. Kozicky masterfully captures the human responses to the ridiculousness of the elfs. I loved watching him process the rules to the elf party games like Tinsel and Tickle and Elf or Dare.

Santa’s Surprise Party is everything it needs to be, it has holiday spirit, a touch of darkness, a ton of super silly elf nonsense, and even some great singing. It runs a quick 70 minutes with no intermission so there’s still plenty of time in your evening to get presents wrapped and nog some eggs. It runs through 12/21 at The Hive Collaborative in St. Paul, which if you haven’t been, you’re in for a treat. It’s just about the coziest little theater there is, bring some cash so you can make a donation and enjoy some snacks and beverages. Plus whether you need it or not, visit the furthest restroom, or perhaps I should say the Batroom. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.thehivecollaborativemn.com/events/santas-surprise-party

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The Little Mermaid is a Visual Treat at The Ordway

The Little Mermaid is a musical based on the 1989 Disney animated film of the same name. When the animated film came out it ushered in a second golden age of animation for Walt Disney Studios which had been floundering for over a decade. It also introduced the the musical form to a new generation, suddenly there was an animated film that had great songs. It was like a Broadway musical, but in animated form. It’s no surprise that it would be adapted into a Broadway musical years later. The strange thing is that Universal turned Wicked into a two part movie the first part running as long as the stage musical, and it works great. Disney has taken the reverse route and turned an 83 minute film into a two and a half hour stage musical, and it’s too much. The show would be really good at 90 minutes, and would be perfect for it’s target audience. At well over two hours even without the intermission time, it’s padded with songs that just are nowhere near as good as the originals by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman. Am I saying skip it? No I’m not, I just want you to go in with the correct expectations. What works, works great. Those original songs are still great. And the production design, specifically all of the stage magic employed to create a world under the sea is fantastic. You will believe a Mermaid can fly.

The cast is game, they are doing their best to sell those new songs. Leianna Weaver as Ariel has a wonderful voice, which is a good thing given that the Prince has fallen in love with the voice. My other favorite in the cast was Dana Orange as the crab Sebastian, partly because my two favorite songs from the show are “Under the Sea” and “Kiss the Girl”, which are very Sebastian centric. Orange captures that calypso voice I loved from the film perfectly. By the way, if you don’t know the plot of The Little Mermaid by now, and need a synopsis to help you decide whether or not to go. This isn’t the show for you. If you loved the movie and those songs, you’ll have a really nice time with this. I attended with a ten year old girl and a twelve year old boy, neither of whom had seen the movie, and they both enjoyed it, the young lady more than the young man, but it still elicited a thumbs up from both. So take your kids they will be amazed at all of the visual tricks and special effects. But this doesn’t transcend and become a crossover show. This is not The Lion King. But hats off to the design team and cast for making it worth the extended run time.

The Little Mermaid runs through December 29th at The Ordway Center for Performing Arts in St. Paul. For More information and to purchase tickets go to https://ordway.org/events/disneys-little-mermaid/

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.

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