Preview: The Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society is Back Quicker Than Usual on November 6th at The Bryant-Lake Bowl Stage

Last weekend I took in my first performance by the Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society (MORLS) in their new home at Bryant-Lake Bowl Theater. It was a fantastic show featuring two adaptations of segments of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the famous deleted first chapter “Dracula’s Guest” and the climactic final battle between Van Helsing and his associates and Dracula titled “The Red Six.” Rounding out the evening was a delightful installment of the MORLS original series Jimmy Montague, Antiquarian-for-Hire by Joshua English Scrimshaw titled “Farewell, My Bloody.” For the uninitiated the MORLS is four performers: Eric Webster, Joshua English Scrimshaw, Tim Uren, and for this next show special guest Rhiannon Fiskradatz in for regular Shanan Custer. While acting out multiple voice roles, the four also create all of the sound effects and music cues live, creating a theater of the mind. I’ll frequently close my eyes for stretches and just listen and let my imagination create the visuals. These are great shows for families as it gives young people an idea of what life was like before TV and the internet and Grandma and Grandpa will love it too as it may bring back happy memories of simpler times.

The next show again seems full of adaptations by the cast and another episode of Jimmy Montague, Antiquarian-for-Hire, here’s what’s on the program:

“The Shadow Over Innsmouth” from Rip Roaring Adventures
A student’s tour through New England reveals the unspoken history of Innsmouth and the horrific secret that lurks around every street corner! Adapted by Tim Uren from the 1936 story by H.P. Lovecraft.

“Smee” from The Weird Library
An innocent party game leads to dark revelations in this spooky adaptation of A.M. Burrage’s 1931 Christmas classic.

“Runestones are a Girl’s Best Friend” from Jimmy Montague, Antiquarian for Hire
Jimmy investigates the occult activities of Boss Karswell, a gangster with a knack for summoning demons. Joshua English Scrimshaw reimagines M.R. James’ 1911 story “Casting the Runes” as a hardboiled thriller.
From the Ghoulish Delights website

One great advantage to the move to the Bryant-Lake Bowl Theater is that now you can enjoy food and beverage while taking in the program. The doors open at 6:30 with the show beginning at 7:00 PM. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.ghoulishdelights.com/. Seating is general admission. I’ll be there so if you come make sure to say hi and join us. You can also find information about their podcast at the link above and how to be become a Patreon supporter with all the honors and benefits that entails.

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Twin Cities Horror Festival Ends 10/30/22 This is My Final Review: Dead Mountain Was a Great End to This Fantastic Fright Filled Festival

Dead Mountain takes its inspiration from the true-life events of the Dyatlov Pass Incident where nine hikers mysteriously perished in 1959. The story is told in two parallel stories using the journal of one of the hikers as the link between the past and present threads. The present day story focuses on a group of American scholars and their guide who have come to collect data to prove their theory that the triggering cause of the incident was an avalanche. The show is well researched and uses actual journal entries from the original hikers. I’m so glad this was the show I ended my festival coverage on, it’s ranks among the top shows of the festival. It tells a scary story with the added creepiness of being based real events that are hard to explain, no matter what you think caused the deaths. It’s well acted and directed using the two ends of the space to allow for transitions between scenes and locations to flow quickly and for the past and present to meet. The script has some well placed humor as well as a couple of genuine shocks.

Ratings (1-5)
Language – 4
Violence – 3
Blood – 2
Warnings: Loud noises
Suggested Age: 16+

I can’t think of a better way to end my time at season XI of the TCHF, Highly recommend this show. But hurry the festival ends 10/30/22 and there is only one more performance of Dead Mountain at 6:00 PM on Sunday for more information and to purchase tickets for any of the remaining shows go to https://www.tchorrorfestival.com/

Here is the schedule for the remaining shows

Saturday, October 29
4:30pm Gillman Genesis
6:00pm Ted’s Talk
7:30pm Victor, Invictus
9:00pm Bad Egg
10:30pm Spooky & Gay

Sunday, October 30 (Closing Day!)
1:30pm Gillman Genesis
3:00pm Edgar Perry
4:30pm The Shrieking Harpies
6:00pm Dead Mountain
7:30pm All Your White Darlings
9:00pm Ted’s Talk

The League an Immersive Interactive Sherlock Holmes Themed Mystery

The Mystery takes place at an art gallery where there are two mysteries to solve. What has happened to Jabez Wilson’s art exhibit and is someone going to try and steal Mr. Merryweather’s own piece of art? The adventure begins before you even arrive at the gallery, once you buy your tickets you’ll receive emails with links to letters, VM messages, security footage and other information you’ll try and use to solve this case. You are Sherlock Holmes! as is everyone else! There are a lot of clues and red herrings to sift through and you only have an hour in which to do it. Luckily Watson is there to help you along. You are free to take an active roll or more or less sit back and watch the mystery unfold. There were some really fun elements i.e. lasers, and unexpected surprises, the end for example which I will not spoil. All in all it’s not quite as entertaining as their last show Feed Your Head but we still had a good time. I think it would be the most fun with a group of friends who really get into it. It could be improved by controlling the space better, there’s too much to look at and try and sift through, keeping the options down a bit would allow the audience a better idea of what they should be focusing on. That said the cast did a good job on engaging the audience without making you feel uncomfortable and giving we Holmes little hints and encouragements along the way. I’m definitely excited to see what they cook up next.

For more information and to get your tickets go to http://www.sparkletheatricals.org/theleague. But hurry the show ends Oct. 31st. As further encouragement here are a couple of discount codes to use at checkout, to save $10 off each ticket use SHERLOCK. Or buy 2 tickets at full price, get a 3rd for only $10 when you use the code TRIO.

Twin Cities Horror Festival XI Day Eight Review of Ted’s Talk

After Stabby Stab Stab and All Your White Darlings probably the most anticipated show of the TCHF is Ted’s Talk which takes over the studio space that Stabby Stab Stab used. Stabby Stab Stab basically sold out it’s entire run and if there is a God All Your White Darlings will too. I’m aware that I keep writing Stabby Stab Stab and All Your White Darlings but that’s because I’d much rather write about those fantastic shows then I would about Ted’s Talk. To illustrate why hopes were high and nerves on edge heading into Ted’s Talk, here are the shows ratings and warnings:

Ratings (1-5)
Language – 5
Violence – 5
Blood – 5
Suggested Age: 17+
Warnings: sudden loud noises, flashing lights, gore, profanity, bodily fluids, nudity, pregnancy, blood, and limited touch.

The most effective part of the show is the preshow where you are lead into the studio and escorted to your seat by a half nude woman in a gimp mask. She may point you to your seat or she may put you in a headlock and drag you there. Once at your seat you’ll find a vomit bag and a plastic rain poncho. The purpose of these is to make you uncomfortable. First, psychologically, because now you are really wondering what you are going to see that might require and receptacle for your regurgitated dinner. And secondly, physically, because the point of the rain poncho seems to be to ensure you get really hot and sweaty during the show. The pre-show is brilliant, unfortunately once the lights go down, slightly so does the effectiveness. Basically a series of bad, foul mouthed jokes devoid of much in the way of humor and a series of set pieces that we spend too much time with and are too well lit to be anything approaching scary. And speaking of time, the show clocks in at about 35 minutes, but in fairness it seems much much longer. The show raises expectations so high and seems like it is going to follow through on them until it actually begins. The only true disappointment I’ve experienced at this years festival, I’d be anxious to hear what others thought, maybe this one was just not my cup of pee. That’s an example of the level of humor this aspires to. You’ve been warned.

Remaining Showtimes
Friday, October 28th 10:30pm
Saturday, October 29th 6pm
Sunday, October 30th 9pm

For more information about this show and a lot of other really good ones at the festival and of course to purchase tickets go to https://www.tchorrorfestival.com/. The Twin Cities Horror Festival runs through 10/30/22, I have one more show to see to have made it to each show and I can tell you that I’d recommend every one of them that I saw before tonight.

Six Returns to Rock the Ordway in St. Paul – This is Don’t Miss Theatre!

The Ordway Center For the Performing Arts is a better venue for seeing Broadway shows than The Orpheum in Minneapolis. The acoustics are better, the seats are more comfortable and have more leg room. But for reasons besides enjoyment and comfort of the audience, most of the big Broadway tours go to the Orpheum. Six took a different route, usually the shows play on Broadway and then a touring company is mounted and four times out of five, that tour goes to the Orpheum. For the first time in the Ordway’s 36 year history, Six went from the Ordway to Broadway. So not only is Six a show about History, it’s a show that made history. Now for two weeks The Ordway gets to trump the Orpheum as it hosts the North American Touring company of Six, returning to the place the original cast last performed before heading to the big time. I saw Six in its initial run at the Ordway and was blown away by it. This is a show that has the audience cheering and clapping along from the moment the curtain rises as it has the heartbeat of a rock concert.

Six refers to the six wives of Henry VIII. The six wives tell their stories in song as a singing competition. The audience will be the judge of who had the worst time being married to Henry. It’s essentially a pop concert filled with history and the humor and joy you expect from a fun musical. The show runs about 85 minutes with no intermission. But what it lacks in intermission it makes up for in kick ass music! Each of the queens songs were modeled on a couple of different pop singers the likes of Beyonce, Avril Lavigne, Adele, Nicki Minaj, Britney Spears and Alicia Keys among them. The costumes also take their cue from the vocal inspirations. That said the songs are all original written by co-creators Toby Marlow & Lucy Moss. Frankly, any of them could be on the pop charts. Besides being great musically, they are filled with clever lyrics. From the chorus of the final song “Six” where it counts up to six but uses different meanings for the numbers and other plays on words like “Too Many Years Lost in HIStory”. Take it from me this is a cast album that rewards repeated listenings as there are numerous witticisms and double meanings that are easy to miss the first time through.

The set is simple, basically a set of steps in the background, places for the band members and a background framework that lights up in different ways. Simple, but very effective. In a scene where they are describing how Henry is picking his next wife it’s like he is using a life sized tinder app, swiping left to reject, the performer goes to the left and the frame she is in front of goes red. In another scene those boxes are lit to represent church windows with a cross lighting up in the center. There are lights and metallic confetti, it feels like a Pop concert, but one filled with history and all number one songs. I’ve been listening to the music off and on for three years now and every single song has earned a place in my heart. The cast is brilliant, what can you say, when they are all so good, singling one out seems like a slight on the others and also that’s exactly what we just spent the entire show learning we should not be doing. They each create a unique character which shines a light on these individual women who have been relegated to the six wives of Henry VIII. The Queens are portrayed by Gerianne Perez, Zan Berube, Amina Faye, Terica Marie, Aline Mayagoitia, and Sydney Parra. There are 4 band members as well on stage called The Ladies in Waiting, Katie Coleman is the conductor/keyboards, Sterlyn Termine on bass, Liz Faure plays the guitars, and Caroline Moore keeps the beat on the drums and man do they sound tight.

Besides providing us with great entertainment the show also draws attention through our modern eyes to the inequality that women lived under in those days. It attempts to reclaim these women not as a collective group but as the individuals they were. Reminding us that it’s demeaning and dismissive to reference them simply as a group. They were real people, they were more than just wife 1,2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. It points out that when we reference them in that way we are complicit in reinforcing the attitude of the patriarchal society that men mattered, and women’s value was in relationship to men. Unfortunately, this is not a completely obsolete view even in 2022. Like Hamilton, Six uses our modern perspective and music to illuminate the past, making it fresh and relevant again. This is one of highlights of the 2022 -2023 theater season in the Twin Cities. I urge you to take advantage of this opportunity to see Six now, it will probably be years before we get another chance. Aside from anyone who loves musical theater, this is a great show to take daughters too, it is very empowering and may educate them on people they have not been exposed to yet, and it is basically a kickass rock concert, who doesn’t like that?

Six runs through November 6th at the Ordway for more information and to snatch up the remaining tickets go to https://ordway.org/events/six

*Portions of this review were adapted from my previous entry in 2019.

Cats at the Orpheum is Like Catnip to Many Feline Fans

I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking what does this guy know about cats? He’s a dog person. I’m here to tell you that dog people are people too! We still like music, spectacle, and dancing and all that stuff just the same as any cat person. If you scratch me do I not scream Yeoww!!? The answer is yes, yes I do. I suspect many of you saw I was reviewing Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats and were expecting it to read like the aftermath of an especially vicious catfight. Cats the fourth longest running show in Broadway history is the original love it or hate it musical. It’s been about 30 years since I first saw a touring production in Grand Forks N.D. and probably close to that long since I’ve listened to the cast album. I don’t really remember what I thought of that production all those years ago. I am conscious that in the intervening years that I have joined the club of eye rollers whenever it comes up, and always laugh knowingly when a joke is made at its expense. But, I did have some “Memory” of the album being in regular rotation, and as is always the case, I wanted to go in with an open mind. Having revisited the show I can say while I don’t LOVE Cats, I did find it to be a purrfectly entertaining show. I’m glad I went in hoping to enjoy and not looking to claw it to shreds. Sorry to disappoint but if that’s your thing, check out my review of Fire in the New World.

Cats is the musical based on Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot. with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and the lyrics coming from Eliot’s book of poems with assists from the shows original director Trevor Nunn and Richard Stilgoe. The story such as it is occurs during one magical night when the Jellicle cats gathers for the Jellicle ball. The purpose of this yearly gathering is to decide which cat will be reborn. It’s really a thread on which to introduce different cats and sing songs about them. There’s a bit of intrigue when Old Deuteronomy, the leader of the Jellicle Cats, is kidnapped by Macavity, The Mystery Cat. Luckily, Magical Mister Mistoffelees turns up and somehow makes Old Deuteronomy reappear, making all the cats and myself, an admitted dog person, believe in magic. The plot really isn’t important though, the songs about the cats are what the show is really about. I had no memory of Gus the Theatre Cat, I suppose his song didn’t hold much interest to a 20 year old, but now we are 50 and immersed in theater and it really touched me in a surprising way.

There is a lot to be enjoyed in Cats, the music is silly at times and serious at others and for the most part they are good songs. The dancing is fantastic, there is a moment when these two crazy cats Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer are joined together and do a cartwheel across the stage. Those two cats, they’re always getting up to stuff, and their family, they don’t know which one did it, but they know it was one of them. I think those cats would be a lot of fun at parties, and that Mistoffelees Cat? Forget about it, no one would ever leave. The whole cast is great but I do want to single out a few of stand outs. First, Tayler Harris as Grizabella, when she sings her final rendition of “Memory” it got a little dusty in the theater. Second, when Cameron Schutza as Old Deuteronomy takes the stage he commands it with a rich booming voice. Ibn Snell As Mistoffelees is the most graceful magician ever. And John anker Bow, who along with playing Gus the Theatre Cat also plays Bustopher Jones the round well dressed cat in spats. All of these performers as well as the entire cast will wow you with their dancing as well. The choreography is by Andy Blankenbuehler based upon the original choreography by Gillian Lynn, and it is breathtaking, particularly I imagine for those having to perform it.

The show doesn’t coast on just some cute cat songs and fancy paw work. Visually it’s a treat for the eyes as well as the ears. I loved the Costume and Set Design by John Napier. Particularly, the backdrop of the moon with the clouds streaking diagonally across it which took on so many different looks based on the brilliant Lighting Design by Natasha Katz. There are special effects and costumes that light up and it really is rather enchanting. You have to leave your cynicism at the door. This is a musical about dancing cats, it’s a fantasy meant to charm and entertain us and it accomplishes that quite pawily.

This is a great show to take kids who are interested in cats and theater or dance aged 8 and up to. Cats runs through October 30th at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis for more information and to purchase tickets go to https://hennepintheatretrust.org/broadway/

Fire In the New Word Can’t Seem to Generate Much Heat at Park Square Theatre

As soon as I walked in and saw the set for Fire in the New World I just knew I was going to love this show. Sometimes first impressions are off. I love the feel of a Noir film, I love a mystery and I don’t mind if either of those contain a healthy amount of humor. This World Premiere production by Full Circle Theater at Park Square in St. Paul get’s one of those right – the look. In most every other aspect the production is flawed. It isn’t without any redeeming qualities (did I mention the set design?) There are a couple of performances I really liked and I learned some history as well, and learning something is always worthwhile. But I cannot recommend this show when there are so many other great shows currently playing that also have great production design and teach you some history (See instead Sally & Tom at guthrie Theater or Six at the Ordway). There’s a positive message and story being told, but it’s just not being told very well.

The main character is Sam Shikaze, a Japanese-Canadian private detective who is asked by his neighbors and friends in Vancouver’s Japantown to look into rumors that business Tycoon Roderic Alexander is trying to buy up all of their property and businesses on Powell Street. At one point in the play for a brief moment I wondered if he was somehow planning to destroy toontown. He’s also hired by Alexander to find his wife Yumiko who disappeared a couple of days ago. There’s arson and racetrack bets, an old feud between Sam and Kenji, a copper who seems to be on Alexander’s payroll. Look, the mystery all ties up at the end but, after Park Square’s ingenious Holmes and Watson script last summer by Jeffrey Hatcher, this is just too by the numbers and derivative. I had a theory that perhaps the script wasn’t the issue, it was that the director didn’t know how to get the playwrights tone across. Then I read that it’s directed by the plays author, R. A. Shiomi. There is an admirable social message and history lesson at the heart of the play, but you have to also engage the audience. This is supposed to be a mystery comedy in the noir style and it doesn’t succeed in either category, thus making the social and historical message feel like a lesson rather than subtext that enriches and informs the story.

Here are the issues. The play runs two hours 20 minutes with an intermission. This should run 85 minutes with no intermission and you could do it with minimal cuts. The script feels like it’s being played at 2/3rds speed, when what you need with a lean mean noir style play is to run it at 4/3rds speed. The pacing is way off. For example, there are a couple of flirtatious scenes between Sam and Yumiko that should be rat-a-tat-tat. Instead it’s performed as if the actors are trying to remember their lines as they say them and then the response comes not overlapping but after a long pause. Gregory Yang’s Sam has a habit of saying “eh” after every other line. I was halfway through the first act before I realized it was because he’s Canadian. This is where I thought, oh the director doesn’t know that Sam should be playing this with a canadian accent, as that might add some much needed humor to the show. But again the director is the writer, so that couldn’t have been the intention, or Yang made the choice and refused to be directed. What could work as a comedic element instead comes off as if Sam is slow witted. The performance simply does not work.

What does work? I liked the performances of Anna Hashizume as Yumiko and Alice McGlave as Rosie who runs the diner where Sam and his partner eat every meal. I also enjoyed Brian Joyce as Sam’s partner Jonathan Webster. The set design by Joe Stanley is another in a long line of impressive sets from Park Square in the last year. The design divides the stage into three locations: a city street, Sam’s office, and Rosie’s Diner. I loved the street with its brick walls and litter strewn gutters and Sam’s office looks like it popped right out of an old Philip Marlowe film. The lighting design by Karin Olson also greatly contributes to what I would call a superior looking production. Unfortunately while it looked good, it didn’t sound good. The sound design by Quinci Bachman is filled with incidental music that just seems to drone on and then cut in and out randomly. Though the combination of the sound design and lighting that is used to portray a fire starting up was very effective. The costumes by Khamphian Vang were decidedly hit and miss. I like Yumiko’s costumes and the trenchcoats were good, but Sam’s suit in particular was ill fitting and mismatched.

Fire in the New World runs through November 6th, for more information and to purchase tickets go to https://parksquaretheatre.org/box-office/shows/2022-2023/fire-in-the-new-world/