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/

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Midsummer Night’s Dream, Thumbs and Bottoms Up For This Production From The Modern Rep

*David Michaeli, Bryce Baxter, Richard Rigmaiden, Leo Rossmiller, and Jonathan Edwards* *Photo by Molly Jay Photography*

The Modern Rep Theatre Company’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is performed both as it would have been in Shakespeare’s day and unlike anything you would have seen in Shakespeare’s day. When the plays were first produced, all the roles on stage were played by men, as women were not allowed to act in the theater. In this way, this is a very faithful performance, as all the roles are played by men. One of the great things about Shakespeare is that 400 years on, groups can perform the plays and bend them to their will. This production is certainly bent, as the company’s website describes it, “messy, sexy, and very gay.”

I like a production that takes chances and finds interesting new ways to speak Shakespeare’s text. I also appreciate a traditional staging, and I’m grateful that my first exposure to the play on stage was The Guthrie’s wonderful production in 2024. I saw that production twice, which I think allowed me to enjoy this one more thoroughly. I had a solid understanding of the plot and the characters, so I never felt lost. A familiarity with the play also helped me to spot the departures, which can be subtle and clever, and usually rather blew (or blue, I mean).

The cast is great, and they run their Bottoms off, each playing at least three roles. They really seem to feel at home in the roles of the fairies of the forest, but are just as good as the amateur actors and the four young lovers. They are capable of doing the one thing you must do when performing Shakespeare: whether you are in Elizabethan costumes or dressed as barn animals, you have to speak the language so that the audience can understand it. I’m not talking about enunciation, I’m talking about meaning. The audience needs to understand the meaning behind what they say, even if they don’t know what every word means.

I very much enjoyed this show, but there are a few things you need to know before you go. For some reason, this theater company believes there must be an element of discomfort for the audience. In their first production, Salomé, they opened a large garage door to the outside for extended periods during a particularly cold stretch in late February. In this production, the seating is on metal bleachers with no backrests. If you have a bleacher seat (thank God we did), bring it with you. The show runs nearly two hours without an intermission, depending on your fitness level, that’s a long time to sit without back support.

There are a few other things you should know, which are actually kind of fun. When you arrive at the location, you are going to question whether you are in the right place or not. The entrance to the performance space is halfway down an alley. The cast mingles with the audience before the show, offering free tattoos, popcorn, and shots. And lastly, It is very risque, so if that isn’t your jam, skip it, but if you are OK if things get a little hard “R”, you’ll be good.

If you like your Willy a little on the queer or wild side, I think you’ll have a blast with this production. If you are new to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, read the Wikipedia plot synopsis before you go, it will help keep you from getting lost. There is nothing worse than sitting through two hours of something you can’t follow.

Midsummer Night’s Dream runs through June 20 at 901 N 3rd St in Minneapolis. For more information and to purchase tickets, go to https://www.dreammpls.com/about.

My Antonia Reveals Itself in World Premiere as a Beautiful New Musical at Theater Latté Da

Will Dusek and Sara Masterson Photo by Dan Norman

The World Premiere of the new musical My Ántonia at Theater Latté Da is one of the best new musicals I’ve seen in some time. Intimate, inviting, full of memorable songs, and featuring a knockout cast, this feels like a show that should have long legs. It opens with the audience feeling like part of the show, with cast members standing among us as they set the scene of the Nebraska prairie of the late 1800s. We hear the birds and the crickets, the sounds of nature coming alive as the cast sings the prologue.

The novel, which is told in the first person and is semi-autobiographical, translates surprisingly well to the stage. In order to maintain that first-person perspective, we have the main character, Jim, run into Willa in a bar in New York City. They reminisce about the old days, and in particular Ántonia. We then flash back to Jim, recently orphaned, on a train from the East to live with his grandparents in Nebraska. On the train is the Shimerda family, immigrants from Bohemia who will be his neighbors. Young Jim befriends their daughter Ántonia, who is a couple of years older than him. They spend their days together, and he teaches her to speak English. They have a beautiful song that deals with their introduction and the beginning of Jim teaching her the language, called “Name, What Name.” It is the first inkling that the music in this musical might be something special.

We see the characters at different stages of their lives, with Jim and Ántonia being played at different ages by three different pairs of actors. What worked extremely well was the framing device of the forty-something Jim and Willa, who pop in and out of the narrative throughout the show. It allows us the emotional connection that comes as the characters move forward from memory into the present. Who among us cannot relate to thinking back on the past, to that person who slipped away out of our lives, the one we see now that could have been the one we were destined for? We feel certain of it now, but there was usually a reason things went another way. Still, when it comes to memory, nothing is quite as emotionally potent as unrequited or unexpressed love.

This is one of those shows where the cast is so good that if you try to limit how many performers you’ll mention, you won’t even get to Sally Wingert and Bradley Greenwald, who in supporting roles do what they are so skilled at doing, punching those small moments, those little asides, just perfectly. With two of The Stages of MN favorites, Tom Reed and the limitlessly talented Em Adam Rosenberg, as the older Jim and Willa, in a genuinely funny scene beginning the tale, you realize that you’re going to have to breeze through the performers or you’ll be up all night. For the record, Reed and Rosenberg are outstanding; both bring the emotions home in the final moments of the show that, yep, had ol’ Rob in tears again. Damn you, Rosenberg. Every time, really? Honestly, is that necessary?

Right out of the gate we have Lillian Hochman and Maddox Tabalba, who play the youngest Ántonia and Jimmy. Hochman is probably older than the 14 she appears to be, but I’m fairly certain that Tabalba is in the ballpark of young Jimmy’s age, which I’d guess to be 12 to 14. These two are stunningly good. As the young adult Ántonia and Jim, we have Sara Masterson and Will Dusek, who again are just terrific. Add to that Anna Hashizume, and it’s a who’s who of my “must-see” list.

The music and lyrics are by The Kilbanes, whom I’d never heard of, but who clearly should be writing musicals. I was especially impressed by their willingness to venture outside of the period for inspiration. The prairie songs sound different from the town songs, and one song, “Saturday Night Me,” had a subtle ’50s rock ’n’ roll feel to it. It’s about the young people letting loose at the dance hall, and the style is like a shorthand to the audience to convey teenagers coming into their own. I hope this show goes on, I think it has the potential to go beyond regional theater. I, for one, would love to have a cast recording of it. There were several songs that I instantly wanted to be able to hear again.

My Ántonia runs through July 12th at Theater Latté Da in North Minneapolis. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.latteda.org/my-antonia It’s not often that you get a new musical that works this well, don’t miss your chance to see it!

The Great Gatsby Dazzles at the Orpheum Theatre

The Great Gatsby NA Tour Company Photo by Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade

The Great Gatsby, the classic American novel written by Minnesota native F. Scott Fitzgerald, gets a splashy Broadway musical adaptation. The style of the era and the excesses of the lives of its characters work in this medium, even if the subject matter seems a little dark. Those familiar with the book, which I’m surprised to discover is not as many people as I thought, will understand it doesn’t have a happily-ever-after ending. When I was a young whipper-snapper, we read books in school; apparently that isn’t the thing anymore. Or perhaps they are being assigned other books instead of what many consider to be one of the greatest novels ever written. You know, maybe they are being assigned Twilight instead. If you missed out on the novel, know that this is a fairly faithful adaptation, even incorporating some of the major imagery from the book.

Set in 1922 on Long Island, the story is told by Nick Carraway, a young war veteran who rents a small cottage next to the estate of Jay Gatsby, who throws loud, lavish parties which he himself doesn’t attend. After receiving an invite to a party, Nick meets Gatsby, who asks for his help in reuniting with the girl he fell in love with before going off to the war, Daisy. Daisy is Nick’s cousin, who is now married with a child, though not happily. Her husband Tom is an asshole who carries on affairs, which everyone, especially Daisy, is aware of. Daisy’s childhood friend Jordan Baker is also on hand as a possible love interest for Nick. The other major characters are George and Myrtle Wilson; George runs a gas station while his wife is having an affair with Tom. Trying not to spoil the plot for the vast number of you who apparently are unfamiliar with it, I’ll just say that, like the novel, the play deals with the themes of the American Dream, class, and how the two collide. Much as it is becoming more and more the case today, the dreams of the lower class are decimated by the excesses and disregard of the wealthy.

There was a lot to like about this production, and probably the top selling point is the production design. Everything from costumes by Linda Cho to the set and projection design by Paul Tate DePoo III, and lighting by Brian Ronan, works seamlessly together. The projections had a three-dimensional quality to them and were coordinated with practical set pieces, sometimes to the point where you weren’t sure which layers were real and which were projections. A favorite lighting cue that really stood out was where the eyes of a billboard at the gas station, as everything fades to black in the scene, even the billboard, except for the eyes, which continue to shine for a couple of additional seconds.

The songs varied nicely in style. Some, like “Roaring On,” had a very Jazz Age feel to them; others, like “For Her” and “My Green Light,” are beautifully touching and romantic. One song, “The Met,” really showcased Joshua Grosso, who plays Nick, and his almost physics defying movement. Grosso, along with playing the best character, was my favorite in the cast. Jake David Smith, who plays Jay Gatsby, achieves things vocally that one might expect would require surgery at a young age to achieve, the upper registers he reaches are impressive. The role requires someone with a very high upper range, which must limit the casting possibilities. Senzel Ahmady and Leanne Robinson, as Daisy and Jordan, are both strong vocally as well as great dancers. The choreography by Dominique Kelley really kicks in during the second act, which includes a very fun and energetic tap number.

The Great Gatsby won the Tony Award in 2024 for Best Costume Design, with most of its other various award nominations also recognizing its design elements. That really is the main selling point on this one. Though everything else is of solid quality, it is the design work that sticks with you.

The Great Gatsby runs through June 7th at Hennepin Arts’ Orpheum Theatre in downtown Minneapolis. For more information and to purchase tickets, go to https://hennepinarts.org/events/the-great-gatsby

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.

Fefu and Her Friends an Intimate Site Specific Play Staged by Theatre Pro Rata at the Searle Mansion Feels Like Eavesdropping

Christy Johnson, Brettina Davis, Jessica Winingham Photo by: Alex Wohlhueter

Fefu and Her Friends really feels as if you’re eavesdropping on a gathering of friends at the spacious country home of Fefu, played with breezy naturalism by Jessica Winingham. It’s set in the 1930s but written in the 1970s. The characters dress and observe the customs of the earlier era, but much of their behavior reflects the playwright’s feminist perspective. The result feels like a glimpse into how people might have actually behaved outside of literature and film, how longtime friends really spoke to one another and the emotions they allowed themselves to express.

Everything about this production, from the setting to the performances, works to be anti-theatrical, breaking down the barrier between actor and audience. Not through participation (there’s none of that), but through proximity. The audience follows the performers throughout the beautiful Searle Mansion on Lake of the Isles in Minneapolis. Without the usual dividing line between stage and house, the sense of “performance” all but disappears. The actors don’t need to project or exaggerate; we’re sitting close enough to touch them. The result feels more like film acting, subtle, intimate, and immersive.

There isn’t much of a traditional plot, and for once, that doesn’t feel like a drawback. The women have gathered to prepare for a fundraising event, but that’s largely incidental. Instead, we get fragments of conversation, glimpses of relationships, and small revelations. One of the more unusual elements is the character of Julia, whose empathy for animals takes on a surreal and tragic dimension.

The structure is as unconventional as the storytelling. The entire piece runs about 90 minutes. Act One, roughly 25 minutes, unfolds in the living room, introducing the characters. For Act Two, the audience is divided into four groups, each led to a different room in the mansion to watch a short scene. After eight or nine minutes, groups rotate to another room and another scene, until all have been seen. The audience then reconvenes in the living room for a final act of about 25 minutes.

A lot happens in that short span, and yet, in another sense, very little does. M’colleague Jill from Cherry and Spoon remarked that she’d happily watch a 10-episode Netflix series about these characters, which perfectly captures the experience. You’re drawn in not by plot, but by the people themselves. You simply want to spend more time with them. Listening to them talk is the point, and it’s consistently fascinating.

The performances are wonderfully unmannered across the board, and those that lean more theatrical feel intentionally so. Jessica Winingham is excellent as Fefu, evoking a grounded, realistic version of a 1930s screwball heroine. Equally compelling are the quiet interactions between Brettina Davis and Christy Johnson as Cindy and Christina, with Johnson earning a lovely laugh for her character’s peculiar method of drinking, placing a few drops of alcohol on an ice cube and sucking on it.

It’s also nice to see Nora Sonneborn again, though I’ll go on record saying she should be required to sing in every role going forward. As always, great to see Nissa Nordland, and I have to share this revelation I had about her. Though it has nothing to do with her performance in this role, other than the time period, costume, and her hair style. I was suddenly struck with the certainty that in 20 years time, though she’ll still be too young for the role, but with makeup could pull it off, she needs to play Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple. I think some company needs to do an annual Miss Marple play and cast her every year, it’ll be a tradition. She has the slightness of frame, the bird-like profile, that intelligent twinkle in her eye. It’s one of those things, where now that I’ve seen it I’ll never be able to unsee it.

Fefu and Her Friends has an unusual schedule:

May 11, 7:30 PM – Opening Night, Mobility Access Night
May 12, 7:30 PM – Pay What You Can
May 13, 7:30 PM

May 18, 7:30 PM – Pay What You Can, Mobility Access Night, ASL, Audio Description
May 19, 7:30 PM
May 20, 7:30 PM

May 26, 7:30 PM
May 27, 7:30 PM
May 28, 7:30 PM – Closing Performance

For more information and tickets, visit https://www.theatreprorata.org/production-history/fefu-and-her-friends

The Hobbit at Theatre in the Round, the Story You Love Told Like You’ve Never Seen it Told Before.

Issabelle Hopewell as Bilbo Baggins Photo by Richard Hudson

The Hobbit at Theatre in the Round is not what you expect it to be. Those familiar with Theatre in the Round will go in knowing there isn’t going to be a huge animatronic dragon at the end. There isn’t going to be a cast of dozens, in fact, the cast isn’t even a dozen. It’s made up of ten performers, nine of whom are listed as ensemble because they each play multiple roles. Only the main protagonist, the hobbit of the title, Bilbo Baggins of the Shire is given a single, dedicated performer: Isabelle Hopewell.

That’s right, Isabelle. You wanna make something of it?

Fans of IP properties like Tolkien’s Middle-earth can get a little precious about their expectations, so let’s get this straight right out of the gate: this production tells the story of The Hobbit faithfully, but it does so in its own way. If you relax and open yourself up to it, you’ll have a blast. If you’re going to get hung up on the fact that a female actor is playing Bilbo and another is playing Gandalf, then stay home. There aren’t enough tickets to go around as it is, so don’t rob someone else of the chance to enjoy this wildly creative take on the fantasy classic.

This version of The Hobbit begins not long, long ago, but thirty years in our future, and not in a land far, far away, but in the Seven Corners area of Minneapolis. I can already hear the “WTFs?” But trust me, faithful readers: this is a true and faithful telling of the story. It’s just a bit meta.

What we’re watching is The Hobbit performed as a makeshift play by a group filling in for a professional troupe whose caravan broke down and couldn’t make it. But don’t worry, they’ve seen the show many times. They know the story, and they even have some of the props. And while they may be short a few performers, they find inventive ways around that, some of which involve gently wrangling the audience into the action. Don’t worry, Cherry and Spoon, it’s low key group participation.

Coming off what is probably the most impressive display of stage magic I’ve ever seen in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (and yes, remember to make your donations to Transforming Families https://www.tffmn.org/ to counteract the bad works of J.K. Rowling), this was a nice reminder that theatrical magic doesn’t have to be high-tech to be effective. This show is filled with low-tech, creative solutions to the story’s fantasy elements. None of it will leave you wondering “How did they do that?” but much of it will have you cheering at how clever and funny it is. It doesn’t wow, it delights, which is just another form of theatrical joy.

Oh, and that dragon? I may have misled you. There is a dragon, and it’s more than you expect and exactly what you need it to be.

And that cast, Isabelle Hopewell absolutely Baggins the hell out of the role of Bilbo. Wini Froelich is a fine Gandalf (among several other roles). The entire cast is fully committed, you can tell they’re having a blast, and so is the audience. Several cast members also double as the band.

The band, you say?

Yep. It’s not billed as a musical, but there are several short songs included in the price of admission. Bravo to director Scott Gilbert and his technical staff and designers, they’ve created something that feels truly unique and engaging.

After the last three shows at TRP, all of which were excellent but played to half-full houses, it was a pleasure to sit in a sold out theater. The longest running community theater in the Twin Cities is doing great work, and it’s nice to see them filling seats again.

The Hobbit runs through May 31 at Theatre in the Round in Minneapolis. For more information and tickets, visit theatreintheround.org but hurry, performances are selling out.