Misery Thrills at Lakeshore Players Theatre

I’m Stephen King’s number one fan. Although, I don’t really feel comfortable saying that after witnessing the extremes to which Annie Wilkes goes as the number one fan of writer Paul Sheldon in Misery. Misery is an adaptation by William Goldman of his screenplay adaptation of the novel by Stephen King. Misery has never been my favorite King book or film, but they are both solid works. I have to say that I think it translates very well into a play, this is my second production of Misery and I think the superior one. A play like this, when you know the story so well, comes down to not what the story is, but how they tell it. So what’s important is the performances, the direction, and the production design all of which are top notch in this production from the Lakeshore Players Theatre. For those unfamiliar with the plot there will be the added thrill of several surprising moments, for those that do know, the fun is seeing how they will accomplish certain moments and what we be left out all together. Spoiler, you don’t get to see the car crash. What is sort of amazing about this production is how into it the audience is, and how even knowing the story so well, it’s still a thrilling two hours.

The play opens with writer Paul Sheldon waking up in the home of Annie Wilkes, his self declared “number one fan”. He doesn’t know where he is or what happened to him. He learns from Annie that he had a car accident due to a snowstorm and that luckily she found him and was able to pry him out of the wreckage and get him back to her house in the woods. He has a badly dislocated shoulder and both legs were broken. Luckily for him, she’s a former nurse who was able to splint his broken legs and has a stockpile of painkillers to help him manage the pain until he can be moved to the hospital. Unfortunately, the phone lines are down because of the storm and the road to the hospital is undrivable, or so Annie says. Annie, whom at first seems to Paul like a Angel of mercy, slowly reveals herself to be more a harbinger of misery. It starts with little moments of odd behavior which become increasingly more disconcerting. Soon it becomes clear to Paul that his number one fan loves him so much, she has no intention of ever letting him go. The play becomes an exercise in suspense to see if Paul can outwit Annie and survive until help can arrive.

The three Actor cast is filled with two Twin Cities unknowns Megan Blakeley and Tim Wollman; Tom Sonnek whom audiences have seen at Lakeshore and Theatre in the Round locally. Wollman plays Buster the Sheriff who comes looking for the missing writer. It’s a very small role that is made even smaller in the play which may be adapter Goldman’s one misstep. In his screenplay, Buster has a larger role and you come to like and root for him to find Paul. Not developing that relationship between the character and the audience robs one of the big moments of much of its impact. It also leaves the actor without a lot to do other than act as a catalyst for the plot to move forward. Wollman does everything anyone could want, it’s just a thankless and underwritten role. Sonnek as Paul Sheldon does a great job of gradually showing the characters realization that his savior might actually be his damnation. We find ourselves very involved in his plight and that raises the stakes emotionally. Blakeley as Annie Wilkes, like her predecessor in the role Kathy Bates who won an Oscar for the film, steals the show. Blakeley establishes Annie as someone whose mood can turn on a dime. Sickeningly sweet and simple one minute and cruel and vindictive the next. She has some darkly comic line readings that make the audience laugh while also frightening us a little. What makes the character such an effective villain is she’s normalish most of the time but when she turns it’s unexpected and often quite brutal. Blakeley switch between the two extremes with such fluidity, that halfway through it’s hard to take anything she says without and underlying sense of dred.

Misery is also a visually effective production. I was particularly impressed with the set design which consists of three room set on a giant turntable that revolves as characters move throughout the house. It seems like an expensive set to have designed and created but it’s worth every penny from the audience’s perspective. The Scenic Designer Mark C. Koski’s work is creative an effective giving the play a dynamic visual sense akin to the surprise I felt when the train cars began to move in Murder on the Orient Express at the Guthrie a couple of years back. Also impressive was the lighting design by Tracy Joe. Early on there is a lighting cue that captured the transition of time between a character going to sleep at night and waking up in the morning better than I’ve ever seen it done. That was just one example, the entire show is expertly lit and that isn’t something I always notice. Megan K. Pence directs the show and utilizes Koski’s set to an almost cinematic effect at times. Pence builds the tension to be sure but her direction focuses more on the characters relationship and the power dynamic at play between the helpless writer and his fanatic caregiver. It’s a thriller to be sure but it’s also a fascinating character study of an obsessive fan that you wont soon forget about.

Misery runs through February 9th at the Hanifl Performing Arts Center in White Bear Lake. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.lakeshoreplayers.org/misery-season-72

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Loudly, Clearly, Beautifully Elena Glass’ Tribute to Her Father, Emotionally Touching and Song Filled.

Gene Glass (pictured) and his daughter Elena Glass Photo by M & D Media

Loudly, Clearly, Beautifully is not only the title of Elena Glass’ new show about her father and their relationship but also the advice he always gave her before she sang. She informs us this is what she tells herself before she performs. That is as simple and true an illustration of the impact of fathers that you could ask for. Years later, even after they are long gone, we hear their words coming out of our own mouths. Glass who wrote and performs the show shares the details of her relationship with her father before and after his diagnosis Multiple Sclerosis. We get glimpses into the the love and honesty with which he parented and the struggles of dealing with such a diagnosis. Yes, there are some tears spilt, but there’s also a lot of laughs, and some fantastic singing. This isn’t a show about the tragedy of a man’s life unfairly cut short by disease. It’s a celebration of that man’s life and his impact on his daughter’s life in so many ways, as a cheerleader, an information distributor (sex talk yikes!!), and as a role model.

Glass lays herself out in a performance that touches the audience with it’s vulnerability. She finds humor in the stories she relates, but what is most important is she finds truth. She doesn’t simply raise her father up on a pedestal and show herself as the courageous daughter in the face of tragedy, always there with patience and selfless sacrifice. No, she acknowledges the moments when she and her father were not at their best, she points out the realities of living day in and day out with this cruel disease. It can make people angry, and impatient, and to pretend that isn’t so would be a betrayal to everyone who has gone through it. It’s important to acknowledge those realities and it’s so amazing of Glass to share that with us. Nearly everyone in the audience for this show will at some point go through something like this, whether it’s MS or another disease, either themselves, a parent, a child, or a partner. They will reflect back on this show and not judge themselves harshly for a momentary loss of patience or a flash of anger. Glass effectively and quite emotionally reassures us that’s part of the journey, part of our humanity, and that is the gift of the artist, to communicate that truth to their audience.

Wesley Frye is the Music Director and Pianist for the show, but also interacts with Glass in welcomed moments of humor and song. Frequently that role is to disappear into the background and provide the music as if out of the ether. The choice to include Frye more directly is a choice that pays off big time. Frye has a wonderful give and take with Glass and a wonderful singing voice, it’s an added gift that we didn’t anticipate, but are grateful for. The show is Directed by The Stages of MN favorite Allison Vincent who tackled similar ground in last summer’s The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award Winning Minnesota Fringe show, Daddy Issues, about her own relationship with her father. Vincent was the perfect choice to direct this show having recently tackled her own father/daughter relationship. Also contributing to the show is Leslie Vincent and Emily Dussault whose original song “Who I’ve Always Been” is a beautiful note on which to end the show.

Loudly, Clearly, Beautifully runs at the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers 2024 Award Winner for Favorite Theater Venue, The Hive Collaborative in St Paul, for five more performances through 1/31/25. For more information at to purchase your tickets go to https://www.thehivecollaborativemn.com/events/loudly-clearly-beautifully If you haven’t been before check out all the upcoming programming at The Hive Collaborative and support this wonderful intimate venue!

On Laugh Support With Lorna Landvik at Bryant Lake Bowl Theater

Lorna Landvik is the best selling local author of over a dozen books including Patty Jane’s House of Curl and its sequel Once in a Blue Moon Lodge. I’d seen Landvik previously at a book signing for another author, but this was my first experience of her as a performer outside that of an author speaking. Taking in her show On Laugh Support With Lorna Landvik, I knew it was a comedic show but I didn’t realize that it was primarily improv. But it’s improv like I’ve never seen before because she’s the only performer. I’m used to seeing improvisational comedy with several different performers all working with each other to create something funny. This was a neat variation on that style and Landvik doesn’t need anyone else to actively play off of. And in the odd moments when she does she invites someone from the audience up to bounce things off of. Now if that’s the kind of sentence that gives you panic attacks, be assured no one is bullied onto stage, volunteers are asked for, so you can simply not put yourself forward. Of course, the more the audience participates, whether it’s volunteering or shouting out suggestions when they are requested the more fun you’ll have.

What can I tell you about the show? It’s improv and so it’s going to be different at every performance. I can tell you that Landvik is very good at creating multiple characters on the fly and that she has a gift for storytelling. I can also tell you that she is very funny. But I don’t know if that tells you very much. I guess the thing I would tell you is whether you want to get up on stage or not, at least when it’s time to shout out suggestions, don’t be shy. This really is the kind of show where the better the audience the better the show. So don’t invite along Uncle Bob who’s lost his hearing and his hearing aids. Do bring six of your most fun friends, and their dates, come early to get the best seats and enjoy dinner in the theater before and during the show. They have full menu and drink service inside the theater, doors open at 6:00 for the 7:00 PM showtimes. The food is very good and along with the usual bar drink fare, they have a lot of great N/A, from mocktails and THC drinks to the a nice variety of N/A Beers.

On Laugh Support With Lorna Landvik runs through January 31st at Bryant Lake Bowl & Theater. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.bryantlakebowl.com/theater

Alma Murder is the Best Class Reunion You’ll Ever Attend, Murder Included at The Mystery Cafe.

Faithful readers will know that this is not my first time trying to assist a bunch of actors solve a crime. But it is fair to say I’ve never successfully unmasked the killer/thief. Tonight was no exception. Yes I love a whodunnit but no, I’m not very good as a detective. Which would only matter if I was competitive, which I’m not. Just like board games or trivia nights, I don’t care if I win, I just like to play. This is my fourth Mystery Cafe adventure and it’s surprising how different they can be. This one set at an all years class reunion for Mellencamp High School, “Go Cougars!!!” differed from the others I’ve attended in that it featured less of the broad humor I’d come to expect from The Mystery Cafe. There is still humor so don’t be disappointed when you read that, but this one isn’t quite as overflowing with the kind of Dad joke, punny, and broad humor that I’ve noticed in the previous productions. That’s not a good or bad thing, just a difference. This one like all of them is possible to solve, my problem is I get hung up on motives when everyone has one. The key is to think about who had opportunity, who knew things that others didn’t, who lied about something. If you ask yourself more than just who had a motive, you can logically get there.

The cast of this production is a lot of fun. You have Adam Fielitz as Jack to Heather Meyer’s Diane. Jackie was gon’ be a football star, Diane’s debutante backseat of Jackie’s car, along with Class President, head cheerleader, Prom and Homecoming Queen. But that was years ago, now they are a middle aged married couple. Diane is still trying to run the world including organizing the Class Reunion, while her ex-jock husband who seems to have suffered a few too many concussions runs her father’s car dealership. Pete Colburn plays Principal Blake who is devastated by the fact that come Monday morning they are tearing down Mellencamp Senior High, where he has spent the last 40 years. Standing by him to wipe his nose and keep the school organized is the school secretary Ms. Belleweather played by Brittany Oberstadt, who has a secret crush. Acting as D.J. is Patina played by Jessika Wheeler who has some pretty funny music queues, but also spins some fun tunes. As Stanley, the class nerd who made it big, is Josh Carson fresh off his sold out run of the final season on A Very Die Hard Christmas. Stanley wants revenge on everyone who went to the High School. When secrets are revealed and it’s clear that he has something horrible in store for everyone of the other characters, you begin to think to yourself. He’s the baddie, he’s definitely going to get killed because everyone here has a motive to kill him. And that’s all I’m going to say about the plot of the show.

If you enjoy trying to solve mysteries, eating a nice meal while interacting at whatever your comfort level is with actors, and getting caught in the rain, you’ll enjoy any of The Mystery Cafe Shows. They have another show running through January as well called Til Death Do Us Die which I saw and enjoyed last year click here to read that review https://bit.ly/41TqaJh . For more about Alma Murder: A Killer Class Reunion and to purchase tickets go to https://www.themysterycafe.com/alma-murder. The Mystery Cafe can also be hired to perform for private functions whether it’s a family reunion or office party. The stories and humor are always PG and just good clean fun for everyone. I enjoy them immensely and have given tickets as gifts two years in a row now. Hopefully there is a new show or two next year so I can make it into a tradition.

The Heart Sellers is Surprisingly Warm and Touching at the Guthrie Theater

Juyeon Song and Jenna Agbayani Photo by Dan Norman

The Heart Sellers by Lloyd Suh tells the story of two women who are recent immigrants to the US in 1973. But what it’s about is the journey of friendship, or more pointedly the birth of friendship. My wife commented as we made our way out of the theater how universal friendship between women is. Suh tells what seems like a very specific story about two women, Jane and Luna, who are strangers in a strange land. Both friendless and yearning to connect to someone. The play opens as they arrive at Luna’s apartment after having struck up a conversation at the grocery store. Both of their husbands are doing their medical residency and since it is Thanksgiving and they are foreign, they get to work the holiday. Jane and Luna are drawn to each other, as so many of us are to new friends, by what we have in common. When they arrive their interactions betray their uncertainty, Luna talks incessantly, nervously trying to make this new acquaintance feel at home. Jane is quiet and timid at first, overwhelmed by Luna’s nervous energy. It’s the awkward dance we all know when we feel a connection but are unsure how to nurture it without smothering it. Over the course of the evening the women will open up, a couple of bottles of wine, as well as to each other.

Jenna Agbayani as Luna and Juyeon Song as Jane let the trust and connection between the characters blossom slowly and believably throughout the evening. They share information about their days alone while their husbands are at work. Looking for more links between them, they tell about their families back home, what they dream of doing. Slowly they both relax, Luna talks less and Jane more. Agbayani and Song who played the roles previously opposite each other are exquisite in their nuanced portrayal of two women for whom the common language is foreign to them. But the need to connect is as my wife put it, universal. They get pulled along through uncertainty and discomfort by a shared need to engage, to find someone to break them from their isolation. They find humor in the smallest bits of dialogue and a deeper bond in their shared fears developes. And while part of the play is certainly about their specific situations as new immigrant housewives in 1970’s America, it’s really a story of the beginning of a friendship. By the end, one imagines that if we were able to follow these characters into the future to the end of their lives they would still be sitting on a couch next to each other having been witness to each other’s lives. We feel as though we are privileged to be a part of the beginning of something beautiful. Agbayani and Song create such vivid characters that they go on in our minds long after we have left the theater. We want to spend more time with them, to feel along with them the building of the community that these two women are destined to birth.

May Adrales directs The Heart Sellers with such a light touch that everything seems completely unscripted, from every line of dialogue to every move in the blocking. The costumes by Junghyun Georgia Lee are perfect extensions of the characters, Luna, who is more outgoing is dressed like a 1970’s woman, in clothes that have a little more character to them. Jane is more reserved and her dress could have been worn by a woman in any decade, it’s conservative and reflects a simple but graceful taste. The Set Design by Wilson Chin is intricately detailed and grounds the entire productions in a way that enhances our sense that these characters are real people. I also want to mention in conjunction with the Set Design the Sound Designer/Composer Fabian Obispo and Lighting Designer Kat C. Zhou. As the play opens Obispo’s music comes up in synch with the lights in the windows of the apartment buildings that make up the backdrop of the stage, it’s a moment that echoes the birth of a new day, a very zen moment for me. Zhou also had a nice lighting queue when Luna turns on the TV and we see the old Blueish white glow that used to shine on the faces of black and white TV viewers.

The Heart Sellers runs about 90 minutes with no intermission and this is one of the few times that I wish a play was longer. I didn’t want to leave these characters, I felt as though I had been a part of a new friendship coming into existence and I didn’t want that feeling to end. The Heart Sellers runs through January 25th at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.guthrietheater.org/shows-and-tickets/2024-2025-season/the-heart-sellers/

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Unexpected Guest Keeps the Audience Guessing Right till the End at Theatre in the Round

Corinne Nobili and Sam Sweere Photo by Aaron Mark Photo Film

The Unexpected Guest is this years annual Agatha Christie play at Theatre in the Round Players in Minneapolis. Faithful readers will know that I’m a bit of an Agatha Christie devotee and as such, I always catch these productions. Usually because I am such a fan, I know the solution to the mystery either before it begins or after a few minutes it comes back to me. What I loved about this production is that because it is a play and not an adaptation of one of her novels, and a play I haven’t seen, I didn’t have the fore knowledge that I usually do. The play starts off after the murder has occured. An unexpected stranger named Michael Starkwedder who has run his car into the ditch due to the extreme fog of the night enters a house in the country in search of a telephone and discovers the body of Richard Warwick. He also discovers the victims beautiful wife Laura standing in the dark holding a gun and ready to confess to the murder. Taken in by her beauty he decides to try and help her cover up the crime and throw suspicion on another man who has a motive. But if it were that simple it would be a episode of Columbo where we know who the killer is and the suspense will be if he gets away with it or not. To be honest that’s more or less what I thought we were getting. The first Act does feel like it’s moving a little slowly. But then, not only does the other shoe drop, a whole shoe rack falls and at least half of the cast at one point or another you’re certain is the killer. When the final curtain falls you can’t even be certain you really knew whodunnit, but in a very satisfying way.

Director Dr. Mary Cutler does a nice job of staging the show, she never allows the cast to telegraph too far in advance the next twist and turn in the plot. I especially appreciated a scene between Laura played by Corinne Nobili and family friend Julian Farrar played by Mark A. McCarthy that Cutler orchestrates so that the penny drops just a few beats for the audience before the characters catch on. It’s a moment well played by Nobili and McCarthy and it changes everything for the audience and the characters, who up until that moment, think they know what has happened. There is also a great scene between Kathleen Winters as Miss Bennett who has been with the family for years and seems to care for her scene partner Pharaoh Jones’ character, Jan the younger brother of the victim, and who is not playing with a full deck. Winters conveys Miss Bennett’s bravery and fear in equal measure as she tries to calm but also draw out the excitable Jan, it’s a very tense and effective scene with Jones playing unstable very convincingly. Sam Sweere is very charming as Michael Starkwedder, that classic Christie character type, the outsider who stumbles into something that is none of his affair but feels compelled to try and help (see Murder is Easy and Ordeal by Innocence).

The Unexpected Guest isn’t as iconic as The Mouse Trap or Murder on the Orient Express, but what it has over those is that many of us don’t know the story or the solution and that is great fun and a rare thing for an Agatha Christie fan. I had a great time with it and debating the end with my fellow theatergoers afterwards. If you like a good twisty mystery this will not disappoint. The Unexpected Guest runs through December 22nd at Theatre in the Round Players. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.theatreintheround.org/the-unexpected-guest/