The Taming Should be the Right Play at the Right Time, But Somehow it Isn’t at Yellow Tree Theatre in Osseo

Nora Targonski-O’Brien, Jane Froiland, and Grace Litzau Photo by Alex Clark

The Taming by Lauren Gunderson, who is consistently one of the most-produced playwrights every year, would seem like a safe choice to open the theater season. Stack on top of that the fact that it’s a political play right before the midterm elections, at a time when politics are very much in the forefront of our collective minds. But for some reason, this play just doesn’t connect very strongly. It isn’t the performances. The three actors, including newcomer Grace Litzau, are all superb. I think it’s the structure of the play, specifically the middle section, that derails the production.

The play opens with brief introductions to the characters. Katherine, played by Grace Litzau, is a contestant in the Miss American competition. Patricia, played by Jane Froiland, is the aide to a U.S. senator about to propose a new bill. Nora Targonski-O’Brien plays Bianca, a left-wing social media influencer with a pet cause and dirt on the senator. After their basics are revealed and they have some slight interaction, we cut to a hotel room, where Patricia and Bianca awaken having been drugged. Katherine, it is revealed, has drugged them both in order to get them to help her rewrite the Constitution. What follows are debates and discussions on the state of politics in our country. At one point, Patricia and Bianca decide that if they work together, they can overtake Katherine and get out of their captivity, but she is a step ahead of them and sprays them with ether.

The next section is, one assumes, an ether dream, as the three are back in the 1700s as Founding Fathers working on the Constitution. Again, there are discussions of a political nature, including a possibly semi-accurate account of some of the conversations and compromises that occurred. Then we are back in the present day. There is a revelation here that is really clever and would have been a much better reveal in a play that didn’t spend a third of its runtime in a dream.

There are several things that just didn’t connect for me. There is supposedly a link to Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, but I don’t see it. I feel like the play would have worked so much better if it had stayed in the present and explored the idea of these three women coming together and actually discussing how to change the Constitution.

Maybe I’m being too harsh on the play. Faithful readers will know that this is only my second review after having undergone surgery earlier in the week. It’s possible that while my body was ready for the outing, my brain wasn’t, and I missed things. I found the ideas floating around to be engaging, and the performances were strong. There is a nice blend of humor and politics, so if that’s your cup of tea, you will definitely get something out of this.

The Taming runs through November 1 at Yellow Tree Theatre in Osseo. For more information and to purchase tickets, go to https://yellowtreetheatre.com/the-taming.

I want to alert you faithful readers to a new Website that has just started up in the Twin Cities. It’s called 79 Seconds on Stage and it is a free and full guide to local theatre in the Twin Cities.

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You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown at Artistry in Bloomington

The cast of You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown Photos by Scott Knight

Like the 1966 Batman TV series, the Peanuts gang works on different levels depending on your age. I remember spending hours as a child reading compilation books of the Peanuts comic strip from the library. I greatly enjoyed them without ever seriously grasping the dark side of that world. That came last year as I rewatched It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. The kids all go trick-or-treating, and after each house they say what they got. Charlie Brown’s revelation is that he got a rock. And that happens at every house. I don’t think in all the years I watched that special as a kid that it ever really struck me how messed up that is.

This is my second time seeing a production of You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown. The first was at Stages Theatre Company, where the cast was entirely young people and the show was geared toward kids. Artistry’s new production illustrates how casting and direction can change our perception of the show. Artistry has cast the show with well-known local actors, all over 60 years of age. This sets us up to view it not through the lens of childhood, but through those of adults. It feels different tonally, even though it is the same material.

Now, the problem with the show is not the cast or the tone. Either are valid ways of producing the show. The problem is in the material itself. The show lacks any kind of story arc. In a way, it’s appropriate, as it models the original comic strip format of short little segments. But when you transfer a show to a new medium, you need to adapt it to that medium. Think of A Charlie Brown Christmas or It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. When they created those specials around the Peanuts characters, they came up with a story into which there were certainly little bits that felt like stand-alone moments, like the individual comic strips, but it told a story. Here, there is no through line. That is what is missing, and it may be the sort of thing you pick up on more on subsequent viewings.

Several of the songs are alright, most are forgettable, but there is one that actually is really quite nice, and it’s probably the best moment in the show. When the whole cast is looking up into the sky and sings “Happiness” at the end of the show. It was a nice stand alone moment that illustrated what the show could have been.

Look, I love Peanuts and all the characters created by Charles M. Schulz, and I really love this cast. The idea of doing the show with this cast is a good one, and the execution is probably about as good as it could be. The fact remains, this is a featherweight show, and it doesn’t matter how many heavyweights you bring into it, it is never going to be anything more than it is: a collection of comic strip moments.

The cast features Jay Albright as Charlie Brown, Michelle Barber as Sally, Bradley Greenwald as Snoopy, Tod Petersen as Linus, Jen Santoro Rotty as Lucy, and Joenathan Thomas as Schroeder. They are all doing everything they can.

Costume Coordinator Britt Hilton also deserves to be acknowledged for helping to bring these characters to life.

You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown runs through October 25th at Artistry in Bloomington. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://artistrymn.org/charliebrown

Perfect Arrangement is Perfectly Fabulous and Pride Complimentary From Walking Shadow Theatre Company

Elora Riley and Rachel Postle Photo courtesy of Walking Shadow Theatre Company

I saw a previous production of Perfect Arrangement at Theatre in the Round in 2022, so I already knew the plot. The setup: two married couples, one gay and one lesbian, who marry each other as cover in 1950 Washington, D.C. They live next door in an apartment building and have even created a secret passage through a shared closet. When someone “comes out of the closet,” it’s literally just a stage entrance. The kicker? The husband of one couple and the wife of the other work for the State Department, rooting out Communists, and anyone else deemed vulnerable to blackmail, including alcoholics and those with so-called “deviant” secrets, like homosexuals.

What I had forgotten over the years was the play’s style. It opens with the two couples hosting the State Department boss and his wife Kitty for dinner, staged like a perfect 1950s sitcom complete with dialogue that feels like product placement. The moment the guests leave, the sitcom drops away and the characters become real people. I absolutely love that juxtaposition between their polished public lives and their private reality. Director John Heimbuch and his cast know just the right tone to hit, and exactly the right time to turn the phony ’50s façade on and off. (That last line works better read aloud.) A lot of the humor comes from our collective pop culture memories of that era. Even the set is intentionally a recreation of the I Love Lucy set.

The core four: Theo Janke-Furman, Rachel Postle, Elora Riley, and Joe Swanson, are all terrific, and they look it thanks to Mandi Johnson’s fabulous costumes. But I especially want to shout out a couple of supporting players. Julie Ann Nevill, as Kitty, never seems to drop her dim-witted boss’s wife routine, playing it for laughs while still letting a hint of humanity peek through. And Lily Rains, making her Minnesota stage debut, is terrific as Barbara Grant, a sharp, complicated woman with many bedfellows and a target on her back. She’s got a presence and intelligence that fit this shrewd character perfectly. After this, I’ll be keeping an eye out for her future roles, I think we just got another star to add to the Twin Cities skyline.

This review is a little shorter than usual because the run is almost over, and I want you to read this and get your tickets before it closes on June 21st. Even if you saw the TRP production, you’ll want to catch this one. As good as that was, this goes to another level. Sharp, witty, and immaculately dressed, this production is basically must-see TV, just happening live on stage.

Perfect Arrangement runs through June 21st at The Crane Theater in Minneapolis. For more information and tickets, visit https://walkingshadow.org/perfect-arrangement/

Joe Turner’s Come and Gone a Powerful Work made Mesmerizing By a Great Cast at Penumbra

James Craven, Lester Purry, Vinecia Coleman, and Tonia Jackson Photo by Caroline Yang Photography

Joe Turner’s Come and Gone by celebrated playwright August Wilson. Strangely, this is the first stage production of August Wilson’s work I’ve seen. I have seen two film adaptations of his plays, Fences and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. I sure hope I get the opportunity to see more of his works produced. The Production runs nearly three hours, including the intermission, but it sure doesn’t feel like it. The audience sits mesmerized by the brilliant cast, unencumbered by any sense of the passage of time. And what a cast, one forgets that Nubia Monks is mentioned in the program until she appears for the final scene, of which I can only say it was worth the wait. It also says something about what a powerful and talented cast this show contains when you can afford to have Nubia Monks held back for what is almost a cameo appearance.

Joe Turner’s Come and Gone is set in the boarding house run by Seth Holly and his wife Bertha. As the play opens, we are introduced to the Hollys and one of their current residents, Bynum, a man whose activities include some strange spiritual practices. We also meet Selig, a white man, a peddler, who sells the pots and pans that Seth makes out of sheet metal. Selig, who travels all over, is known as a people finder, and Bynum has what he calls the power to bind people with his song. The only other tenant in the house as the play opens is Jeremy, a young man who works on the building of a new road outside of town. He is the character through whom we experience the systemic racism that pervades society at the time of the play, 1911.

Appearing mysteriously is a man in black, Herald Loomis, who is traveling with his young daughter Zonia in search of his wife, whom he hires Selig to find. Selig’s powers are easy to explain: he travels and keeps track of the people he meets and where they are. Bynum’s are another story. Act 1 ends with a very dramatic scene in which we must face the fact that there is definitely a spiritual element at work. The play, up until that scene, is for the most part a gentle show about people just getting by, filled with rich veins of humor and nuggets of wisdom. For the most part, the men provide the humor, and the women in the play, especially Bertha, provide the wisdom.

It is a post-slavery world that still deals with the repercussions of that appalling practice, including the barely disguised version practiced by the Joe Turner of the title, who used to capture Black men and enslave them. Herald Loomis, we learn, was one of Turner’s victims. The repercussions of which reverberate through the performance of La’Tevin Alexander, who plays Loomis, from the costume design, which makes him appear almost as a shadow, to his insistence that Zonia not leave the yard. There is a moment where he confesses he has forgotten how to touch a woman, that seems to drive home what has been taken from him.

There is a lot happening in this multilayered script. Each character is unique, yet shines a light on a past shared by many. It is ultimately about each person figuring out who they are and their path forward, about finding their song. Tonia Jackson, as Bertha, is wise and practical and tells it like it is. James Craven brings just the right amount of humor to the role of Seth without ever making him seem like comic relief; he just finds the humor in the pauses and the way he observes the people around him. Lester Purry, as Bynum, is calm and confident; he has found his song and now tries to guide others to theirs.

Lou Bellamy, the founder of Penumbra, directs the show with a clear understanding of the material and its characters. Everything runs so smoothly it feels not like watching characters in a play, but witnessing lives unfold.

Joe Turner’s Come and Gone runs through June 21st at Penumbra Center for Racial Healing in St. Paul. For more information and to purchase tickets, go to https://penumbratheatre.org/

The Stages of MN delivered straight to your inbox. It’s the best way to make sure you never miss out on the theater action. To subscribe on a computer, enter your email address on the home page (right-hand side) and click subscribe. On mobile, scroll to the bottom of the page to find the same option. You can also follow me on Facebook @thestagesofmn and on Instagram thestagesofmn.

A Chorus Line Dazzles at Park Square Theatre

The Cast of *A Chorus Line* Photo by Dan Norman

Faithful readers will be aware of the group of performers my wife calls her “All Is Calm Boys”, anyone who has appeared in her favorite show, All Is Calm at Theater Latté Da. Well, I’ve decided I have my own version: the “Lizzie Quartet,” the four actors who performed last fall in Lizzie: The Rock Musical, Grace Hillmyer, Lux Mortenson, Abilene Olson, and Marley Ritchie. It’s been an excellent week on that front: I saw Lux Mortenson in Terce on Sunday at Theatre Elision, and now Marley Ritchie in A Chorus Line at Park Square Theatre. Both performances reinforced my feeling that I should make an effort to see everything they’re in.

If you missed Terce, you missed out, Sunday was its final performance, which is why I didn’t write a review. Don’t make the same mistake with A Chorus Line. Get tickets early in the run: they’ve been using multiple understudies at every performance and have already had to cancel one show. I’m not sure of the exact reason, but I suspect dance-related injuries play a role. Once you see the show, you’ll understand why.

Originally conceived, directed, and choreographed by Michael Bennett on Broadway in 1975, A Chorus Line is a physically demanding piece. Park Square has brought in Eddie Gutiérrez, representing the Michael Bennett Estate, to restage the original choreography, and it is intense and absolutely jaw-dropping. At one point, 19 dancers move in perfect synchronization, and it’s truly something to behold.

If you’re hesitant because you’re “not a dance person,” don’t let that stop you. This isn’t about Dance with a capital “D”, it’s about the dancers. And much of the choreography falls squarely into the crowd-pleasing category, the kind that even your farmer uncle would watch and say “Wow! That there is some perty fancy footwork, that was real neat fer sure!”.

The show is set at an audition for the dance chorus of a new Broadway production. The Director and Choreographer, Zach, played by Stages of MN favorite Tyler Michaels King, must cut the field from 24 dancers down to eight. After an initial round, the group is reduced to 17, and Zach asks them to line up and tell him about themselves. Through these monologues and songs, we learn who they are, where they come from, what they’ve endured, and why they dance. Each story is distinct, and each adds another layer to the whole.

With 17 characters, it’s impossible to cover every performance in detail, but suffice it to say that everyone, including the five understudies performing at the show I attended, feels ideally cast. That includes Tyler Michaels King, who not only anchors the show but also joins the ensemble in song and dance at the beginning and end. We all know he is a fantastic singer and dancer. But the role also draws on his experiences as the Artistic Director of Trademark Theater and his work as a Director. I’ve seen him wearing those hats over the years and those experiences of running a room and giving notes, but also encouraging and being compassionate inform this performance.

Two performances stood out in particular. Steven Rada, as Paul, delivers a deeply moving turn. Paul is initially reluctant to open up, but when he finally does, while the others are on break, his story lands with emotional force. His eventual injury has a profound impact on the room, a stark reminder that a single moment can end a dancer’s career. It prompts Zach to ask the group what they would do if they could no longer dance, exposing a vulnerability that feels especially resonant in a time when the arts themselves are under attack. When theater’s like our beloved Jungle Theater, have to cancel productions. I’m sure for this group of performers, having just recently gone through the Covid era when theaters were shuttered, that the thought of what they would do if they couldn’t do this, feels very close to home.

That moment leads directly into the show’s emotional peak: “What I Did for Love,” performed by Marley Ritchie, one of my “Lizzie Quartet,” in the role of Diana. Her rendition is stunning. It isn’t the dancing, as she plays it almost completely still, it is her vocals and acting that are completely captivating. Interestingly, when I looked back at the only other time I’ve seen a production of A Chorus Line, in 2023 at Lyric Arts, it was also Marley Ritchie that I singled out for her performance of this song.

The show runs 2 hours and 8 minutes with no intermission, and evening performances begin at 7:00 p.m. rather than the customary 7:30, so plan accordingly. If you’ve never seen A Chorus Line, this is an excellent opportunity. If you have, I’d wager you haven’t seen it staged quite like this. Either way, don’t let it pass you by.

A Chorus Line runs through June 14 at Park Square Theatre in St. Paul. For more information and tickets go to https://www.parksquaretheatre.org/

Ada Lovelace: Bride of Science is the Most Interesting Math Lesson You’ll Ever Get

Ada Lovelace: Bride of Science

Ada Lovelace: Bride of Science is the first full-length play written by Stages of MN favorite Nissa Nordland. I’ve enjoyed Nordland’s writing in her short-form plays featured at the Twin Cities Horror Festival and Minnesota Fringe Festival. I’ve loved those shows, but anyone familiar with those festivals knows that kind of work is unique. I was excited, but also a bit anxious, to see what she would do with a full-length play. After all, I promise Minnesota honest reviews, and being a favorite doesn’t grant immunity from criticism. I’m relieved to report that I came away impressed by the discipline of the piece, which is without a doubt a polished, effective, and creative telling of the story of real-life mathematician Ada Lovelace.

Lovelace, the daughter of the poet Lord Byron, was a woman ahead of her time. Considered the first computer programmer, she died in 1852 at the age of 36. Knowing Nordland’s affinity for the dark side, I suspect the title is a play on The Bride of Frankenstein, especially given that Ada’s father, Lord Byron, figures into the origin of Mary Shelley’s famous tale. Ada does seem to share with Victor Frankenstein a single-minded obsession in her pursuit of, at a stretch, an artificial form of life.

We follow Ada’s story from her parents’ separation when she was one month old through her death. Along the way, we witness her relationship with her overbearing mother, her marriage to William King-Noel, 1st Earl of Lovelace, and her own challenging relationship with her children. But the two most important relationships are with her dead father, who emerges from a painting to converse with and encourage her, and with Charles Babbage, fellow mathematician and inventor of the Analytical Engine, which would have been the world’s first computer if it had been completed. Ada could see the potential of the Analytical Engine beyond what even Babbage could, and far beyond what the rest of the world, unable to imagine its use, could grasp.

Gabi Jones, who is relatively new to me, does a great job handling the highly technical dialogue while also conveying Ada’s “poetical science” approach to her work. Derek Lee Miller, as both Lord Byron and William King-Noel, is excellent as always. I especially loved his take on the dead Lord Byron, including a song he sings to Ada that is particularly well done. Tara Lucchino, as Ada’s mother, does not shy away from the character’s cruelty, but also allows her softer side to come through. David Tufford capably handles some truly challenging technobabble, but his best moments come in conflict with Ada toward the end, as well as in scenes with her fellow mathematician and friend Mary Somerville, played by Victoria Pyan. Pyan excels in scenes addressing what she sees as Babbage taking advantage of Ada’s intellect without giving her proper credit.

Lastly, praise must be given to scenic designer Ursula K. Bowden for a surprisingly large scale set full of inventive touches, including a computer punch card flat that scrolls to display the year as the play progresses. Director Josh Cragun also deserves recognition; his use of movement creates an almost dreamlike quality in scenes that primarily serve to deliver exposition or endnotes, transforming what could be dry information dumps into elegantly engaging interludes.

Ada Lovelace: Bride of Science runs through April 19 at the Crane Theater in Northeast Minneapolis. For more information and tickets, visit https://nimbustheatre.com/productions/ada-lovelace

Great Falls is Dark and Powerful, With Two Very Strong Performances at The Hive

Great Falls, by Minneapolis native Lee Blessing, is a heavy show about a road trip between a teenage girl and her stepfather. It opens in a way that immediately makes the audience uneasy, as it quickly becomes clear that the stepfather, whom she calls Monkey Man, is divorced from her mother. That, in itself, is fine; I firmly believe people divorce spouses, not children. But it’s also clear she does not want to be with him. We’re not entirely sure what’s happening at first, but it all feels very sketchy. The play tackles a number of difficult themes, including abuse and sexual assault.

Luckily, there are two very strong performances, by actors I don’t believe I’ve seen before, to guide us through the darkness. Andy Chambers plays Monkey Man, somehow making dialogue that could feel untethered from reality, particularly early on, seem plausible, if still a bit opaque. I think Blessing wants us to feel off-balance, unsure of what’s happening and why. Honestly, I’m not sure we ever fully understand that part. I mean, we do, but what is wrong with this man that he thinks this is an appropriate way to stay connected to Bitch (which is what she insists on being called)? He keeps insisting he’s not committing any crimes, but he absolutely, technically, is.

Reanna Madson plays Bitch, and as the stepfather of a girl who is shockingly similar (thankfully without the trauma), I can say her performance feels very genuine. Whether she’s being difficult and combative or delivering difficult information, she is never anything but truthful. The two play well off each other, with Chambers perfectly capturing the challenge of trying to start a real conversation, and Madson’s character stubbornly refusing to give him any foothold.

Directed by local actor, lighting designer, and jack-of-all-trades Ariel Pinkerton, the show benefits from her understanding of the material and its triggers. She handles the subject matter with care and clarity.

The set design by Keven Lock is both a strength and a weakness. The production gets a lot of mileage out of two platforms that cleverly transform into everything from the dashboard of a car to motel beds, a clinic, and several other locations. Clever projections by Alita Robertson, especially during the driving sequences, enhance the sense of distance and movement. The downside is a series of slightly overlong scene transitions, where we sit in darkness watching the performers reconfigure the set.

Great Falls runs through April 5th at The Hive Collaborative in St. Paul. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.thehivecollaborativemn.com/events/7b0cg7xhh7bw5zknaa144n9ti7kdkk