Tuesdays With Morrie at Chanhassen Dinner Theatres is Inspirational, Funny, and Thoughtful.

Gabriele Angieri and Ryan London Levin Photo by Tom Wallace Photography

Tuesdays with Morrie is a memoir published in 1997 by Mitch Albom. It had an initial run of 20,000 copies. After exposure on The Oprah Winfrey Show, it made it onto the New York Times nonfiction bestseller list, where it stayed for over four years. It has now sold over 17 million copies worldwide and been translated into dozens of languages. Albom reconnected with his favorite college professor after seeing him on Nightline and learning he had ALS. The bulk of the book and this adaptation consists of the weekly Tuesday sessions Mitch has with Morrie Schwartz before his death. The production is less sad and much funnier than I anticipated. Did I cry? Come on, faithful readers, you know damn well I did. But Albom and Hatcher avoid easy manipulation and obvious heartstring-pulling moments. They are not concerned with making you cry; they are much more interested in sharing the wisdom Morrie has gained over his lifetime and exploring the love between these two men. Schwartz was a teacher, and these Tuesday meetups are his final class. He isn’t looking for Mitch’s sympathy; he is trying to help him be the best version of himself he can be. Like Morrie, the play is less concerned with dying and more concerned with sharing how we can live our best, most fulfilling lives.

The adaptation is by Albom and Jeffrey Hatcher, who is number six on the list of most-produced playwrights in America for the 2026–27 season. Hatcher, who resides in the Twin Cities, has four additional shows running locally this season. His adaptation of Dial M for Murder opens at Theatre in the Round on November 20. His adaptation of A Tale of Two Cities runs April 3 through May 23 at the Guthrie Theater. His adaptation of Rope opens at the Park Square Theatre on July 28, and his new musical with Glensheen collaborator Chan Poling, Love on a Stick, has its world premiere next summer at the History Theatre in St. Paul. I am a fan of Hatcher’s thrillers, whether they’re his original scripts, like Holmes and Watson or the recent The Butler Did It, or his adaptations of older properties, like Dial M for Murder and The Turn of the Screw. This is the first non-thriller I’ve seen of Hatcher’s, and it solidifies my opinion that he is one of our finest working playwrights.

The production marks the directorial debut of Twin Cities actor Serena Brook, who, along with directing this show, is starring as Miss Hannigan in Annie on the Chanhassen Dinner Theatres Main Stage. She’s excellent in that role, a standout of the production. As for her directing future, based on this show, I’d say it’s as bright as her acting career. The show doesn’t have a moment of fat on it. Brook doesn’t allow the actors to pause, knowing that those are the moments in which maudlin tendencies might peek through. She keeps it real, she keeps it moving, and she keeps the characters positive. In that way, she avoids emotionally manipulating us and allows the positive and inspiring messages to be the focus. We laugh too much to be sad, at least for too long.

Ryan London Levin and Gabriele Angieri play Mitch and Morrie, and their performances are naturalistic and filled with an easy humor that makes the audience bond with them quickly. Levin’s Mitch narrates the play as if he were looking back on it from beyond the end of the play. As such, he addresses us directly more often, allowing him to share his inner thoughts as well. This makes sense since Albom was the author of the book; he had those insights to draw on. Levin uses that to build an easy rapport with the audience, and it also allows for a stronger contrast to the emotional reticence he shows throughout his actual time with Morrie.

Angieri’s Morrie is alert, intelligent, and quick with a witty response. He’s also devoid of cruelty. There is a warmheartedness that Angieri brings to the role. He shows how effective a teacher Morrie is by using humor and little conversational moments to slip in his philosophies. He never seems to be teaching; he’s just talking, and when he finishes, you realize he made you laugh and somehow also shared something profound. The two performers play off each other so beautifully that when they hugged each other after their bows, it felt genuine. The best compliment you can give a performer after a show is that, for the runtime of the show, you believed they were those people.

Mitch is the character I related to, the one in whom I saw parts of myself. I know not everyone has that favorite teacher who was more than a teacher, but I did. His name was Ted Larson. He was my film teacher, my boss the summer I worked promotions for The Straw Hat Players Summer Theater program at Moorhead State University, my mentor, and my friend. Like Mitch and Morrie, our time together when I was in college went way beyond the teacher-student connection. We had dinners together, saw movies together, and he was a guest at my first wedding. And like Mitch and Morrie, when I left college and moved to Albuquerque, Ted told me to stay in touch, and I didn’t.

When he heard my first wife and I were getting divorced, he called the bookstore I was working at in New Mexico to talk to me, to make sure I was OK. I didn’t get 14 Tuesdays with Ted. I got two more visits. One was to introduce him to my second wife and Alex, our first child. I envy Mitch Albom that he got the chance to reconnect, to let Morrie know what he meant to him. Maybe if Ted had lived 15 years instead of five, I’d have had the chance to tell him what a more mature man came to understand too late: that I loved him, and that despite the fact that I had a wonderful father, Ted had also filled that role for me. It would have been great to thank him for all he showed me and taught me. And that, I think, is the most important thing Tuesdays with Morrie is telling us: say those things now. You never know when it will be too late.

Tuesdays with Morrie is running through November 29 at Chanhassen Dinner Theatres’ Playhouse Theatre Stage. It’s a much smaller and more intimate theater, perfect for a show like this. Smaller theater, but the same great food and beverage options. For more information and to purchase tickets, go to https://chanhassendt.com/series/tuesdays-with-morrie-2026/

Don’t forget to keep an eye on the new website 79 Seconds on Stage a free and full guide to local theatre in the Twin Cities.

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Monster Month is Now in Full Swing With the Launch of the Twin Cities Horror Festival XV Opening Night Reviews: LESLIE VINCENT: A MONSTER & MAYHEM CABARET, TALES OF TERROR…FROM THE TOMB!!!, AUGMENTATION, and MANTICORE, MN.

There is a wonderful thing that happens about midway through Monster Month: a select group of Twin Cities theatergoers look forward to it like Christmas. It’s the Twin Cities Horror Festival, the longest-running horror theater festival in the country. This is like a mini Fringe Festival. Each show runs about an hour, and there are 13 shows in rotation, plus a one-night-only festival-opening jazz cabaret by Leslie Vincent, which, if you are reading this and weren’t there, you missed. The great thing about this festival, as opposed to the MN Fringe Festival, is that it is not only possible to see every show, it’s easily done if you so desire. Each of the 13 shows is performed five times over 16 days. The cost per show is $15, but while supplies last, you can purchase a five-show pass for $70. There is also a Skeleton Pass, which gets you into all 13 shows, but those are usually sold out before the festival opens, so that’s something to keep in mind for next year. Here is a link to the festival website: https://www.tchorrorfestival.com/

There isn’t a lot to say about this since you were either there or you missed it. This was the second time they opened the festival with the sultry sounds of the exquisite Leslie Vincent. If you’ve not heard Vincent perform, you don’t know what you are missing. Here is a link to her website so you can catch an upcoming show or purchase her albums: https://leslievincentmusic.com/home. It’s a real feather in the festival’s hat that they can open the festival with her, and I hope they make it an ongoing thing.

Tales of Terror…From the Tomb!!! is an improv show that includes some puppets. Like improv shows at the Fringe, it will be different every time. What matters is the cast and the format. This is long-form improv, meaning they tell one continuous story for the entire hour. It is structured like one of those horror anthology shows, such as Tales from the Crypt, with this version featuring the Tomb Teller, played by co-director Laura Berger, who introduces and narrates the tale. I’m a fan of the horror anthology format, everything from the British film Dead of Night up through The Vault of Horror and Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors, to TV shows like Thriller and Inside No. 9. So the structure was something I was predisposed to like. Was it funny? That comes down to the cast, and the answer is yes, it was. Ari Newman, Chris Rodriguez, Hannah Wydeven, Maria Bartholdi, Meghan Wolff, and Phil Schramm are the performers, with the other co-director, Will Schroeder, under a hood operating the puppets backstage. This show will delight fans of the horror anthology and improv.

Augmentation is written by, co-directed by, and stars the Executive Director of the TCHF, Duck Washington, and, as with previous years, it is one of the more accomplished shows we’ll see in the festival. Washington’s scripts are always more than just stories to scare the audience; they are thought-provoking tales. This one deals with a man who is gravely injured after rescuing people from a burning building. The doctors who get ahold of him save his life by implanting him with a ton of cybertronic parts. As he recovers, it becomes obvious that the “enhancements” that saved his life have not only replaced some of his body but also his humanity. It’s a cautionary tale about technology and whether we control it or it controls us. It’s easy to see the parallels to our current debate about AI.

A great cast features some favorites, including Kyle Dekker, Heather Meyer, Angela Fox, and Ariel Pinkerton. A special salute to CJ Mantel and Nick Glover for the costumes, makeup, and effects. The final scene has some wonderful tech, with the final blackout creating a rather terrifying image for the audience to ponder. This will surely be among the best of the festival.

Manticore, MN is written by J. Merrill Motz (rhymes with boats) and is another very strong script and well-done production. Directed by Alexander Gerchak, it features another great cast, including Thomas M. Buan, Kyra Richardson, Boo Segersin, and Lewis Youngren. In the small town of Manticore, MN, which isn’t even on the map, people have been disappearing and returning different. A special government agent, played by Segersin, comes to town to try to find out what is happening. The show keeps you on your toes; you are never sure who is good and who might be bad. There are echoes of John Carpenter’s version of The Thing, down to blood tests to try to figure out who is human and who isn’t, though without the gross body-horror elements.

It’s filled with nice touches of humor and is grounded by a commanding performance from Segersin. Buan, who plays the one-syllable-speaking logger Lars, gets a surprise scene of verbalness that reminds one of Silent Bob, but it also made me realize that, in a few years or with makeup, Buan would make a fantastic Falstaff.

If the rest of the TCHF is as good as opening night, this will be a very strong year.

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.

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.

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

Into the Burrow: A Peter Rabbit Tale Will Delight Younger Audiences Without Boring the Parents at Mixed Blood

Into the Burrow: A Peter Rabbit Tale is an odd choice for Mixed Blood, but somehow they got the word out because the theater was full, with lots of children in attendance. Which is exactly who it is aimed at. But thankfully it’s the type of show that will keep the grown-ups engaged as well.

The show takes place on Peter’s birthday, and it has been one year since Mr. McGregor got Peter’s coat and shoes and hung them up like a scarecrow, and killed Peter’s father and baked him in a pie. That is a detail true to the original Beatrix Potter stories, but it is a startling detail to include. The other odd moment is when Peter appears to be suffering from post-traumatic shock. But perhaps, in our world today, those are the things that replace Bambi’s mother being shot.

The show runs under an hour, and the set and costumes are delightful. The cast is a mix of familiar locals, including Stages of MN favorite Em Adam Rosenberg as Ptolemy the Tortoise, some not-as-familiar locals, and an out-of-towner, Juan Carlos Unzueta, who reprises the role of Peter Rabbit, which he originated in the premiere production. I knew he must be from away, as he was just too good not to have been noticed before locally.

The animals all gather for a surprise birthday party for Peter, and we, the audience, are invited along. Which freaks all the animals out, as they haven’t had good experiences with humans. But we work through that, and the animals devise a plan for getting back into the garden to get food because they don’t have enough. When they execute their plan, we see it via a video presentation of a shadow-puppet show, which is very effective.

There is a great message about working together, sharing what you have, and finding a way for everyone to thrive. The songs are good, and the band is in view of the audience and is made up of Peter’s siblings, Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail.

This isn’t a must-see for folks without kids, but if you have kids, say ages 5 to 10, I think they will be really into it. The audience I saw it with seemed to be enjoying it.

Into the Burrow: A Peter Rabbit Tale is running through October 18 at Mixed Blood. For more information and to purchase tickets, go to https://mixedblood.com/product/into-the-burrow/

On the Razzle! is a Linguistic Delight and a Very Enjoyable Farce at Park Square Theatre in St. Paul

Brendan Nelson Finn, José Sabillón, and Emil Herrera Photo by Dan Norman

On the Razzle by the late Tom Stoppard opens Park Square Theatre’s 51st season to much laughter from the appreciative audience. This farcical comedy has quite the heritage. The story began as a Viennese play in 1842 titled Einen Jux Will er Sich Machen by Johann Nestroy. It was then adapted twice by Thornton Wilder, first in 1938 as The Merchant of Yonkers and then again in 1955 as The Matchmaker, which was then the basis for the musical Hello, Dolly!. Stoppard’s version eliminates the Dolly Levi character altogether. She isn’t missed, though certain aspects of the plot of Hello, Dolly! are still present. This feels completely fresh. Nestroy’s almost 175-year-old play was clearly a fertile source of inspiration.

The plot revolves around… well, it’s kind of complicated. There is a pair of young lovers whom the guardian of the young woman is trying to keep apart. He is sending her to his sister-in-law’s to get her away from the young man. Meanwhile, he has hired a new servant who he sends to arrange for a dinner for him and Ms. Knorr, whom he plans to marry, in the city. The guardian, Zangler, happens to be the owner of a fancy grocery store. Before leaving, he promotes his head clerk to partner and the apprentice to clerk. Of course, as soon as he leaves, they close shop and head to the city as well, looking to have some fun.

From there, a lot of things you may have seen on Three’s Company happen. The humor comes at you from various directions. There are mistaken identities, multiple tartan capes, and more malaprops than you can snake a tick at. The script is very adept at finding humor in the language, but it doesn’t shirk at some good old fashioned physical humor as well.

A play like this works or doesn’t work based on the cast. Stoppard’s script is nonstop with the verbal and physical humor, and it needs a certain skill set from the performers to pull off. This cast, for the most part, makes the show succeed. In the main roles, Christopher Hayhurst and Nate Turcotte are superb as Zangler’s employees who get mixed up with two women, one of whom is Zangler’s fiancée. They are played by George Keller and Greta Oglesby. The four of them are great fun to watch. In fact, those are the most interesting characters in the show, and thankfully, we spend the most time with them.

There are a couple of scene stealers in the cast. The first is Norah Long, who plays multiple characters. The one that sticks out the most is the woman who works in the shop, Gertrude, but a close second is the sister-in-law whom the young woman is being sent to stay with, and her story about her brush with love.

The second scene stealer, and he’s a highlight of the show, is Brendan Nelson Finn. Again, he plays multiple characters, but there are two that are outstanding. The first is as a waiter, and the second, and best, is as a coachman obsessed with women. It’s a hilariously over-the-top character that elicited big laughs from the audience.

The final star of the show is the set design by Benjamin Olsen. I think we make about eight changes in location during the course of the show, and the transformations are more than wheeling a table on stage or flying in a couple of flats. Large walls and even staircases are shifted around. It’s an impressive set, and the cast and crew do a good job of making the transitions quick.

Director Stephen DiMenna assists with this by having characters at times come off of the stage into the auditorium to continue scenes as the transitions are being made on stage. It’s a very effective choice to minimize the distraction of the set change.

On the Razzle runs through October 25 at Park Square Theatre in St. Paul. For more information and to purchase tickets, go to https://www.parksquaretheatre.org/on-the-razzle

Indecent a Fascinating Story of a Play From the Early 20th Century That Has Lots to Teach Us Now at Theater Latté Da

Courtesy of Theater Latté Da – Photo by Dan Norman

Indecent tells the story of the play The God of Vengeance by Sholem Asch. The play premiered in 1907 in Berlin. It was eventually translated into English and performed on Broadway in 1923, where it was shut down and the cast arrested on obscenity charges. The play contains the first lesbian kiss on Broadway.

I’ve never seen the original play, but we are shown bits of it here and told about much of it. The beauty of the play was that it treated the relationship between two women as something beautiful. One character compares the big scene where the two women are caught in the rain to the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet.

A survey of Berlin pre-Hitler reveals a town very different from what it would become with the rise of Fascism. Many of the earliest films about homosexuality were German silent films, such as Different From Others (1919), Michael (1924), and Sex in Chains (1928). Berlin was very open and progressive in many ways. Much as it felt our country was becoming about 15 years ago. Now, as we see the rise of fascism again, we see the attempts by those in power to squash anything progressive or enlightened.

There is a lot of historical knowledge one needs to bring to a play like this in order to fully understand the world in which it takes place. If there is a flaw with this powerful play, it is that it does not provide that historical background. Whether it’s knowledge of Germany’s more tolerant social scene at the beginning of the 20th century, the rise of antisemitism, or even McCarthyism, the more knowledge you come in with, the more you are able to appreciate the play.

But I’m always thinking about that elusive new audience made up of people 20 to 35 years of age. How informed is that person of the canvas on which this play by Paula Vogel is performed? Of course, if the text provides too much historical information, it can kill the narrative drive. I didn’t feel like there was much I missed, but I’m aware that my knowledge of these things might be a little deeper than most, based on the fact I see a lot of theater, watch a lot of movies and have always been fascinated by the classhes between art, politics and social progress. I think a little more context would help in making it accessible to those without the background knowledge. There is some info in the program that I think is useful, but that fact only goes to illustrate the downside of these damn digital programs, which are impossible to view easily on your phone. But we are getting off track here.

The design of the play is steeped in old-world atmosphere. In the opening scenes, it feels as though the action is taking place in a time before electric lighting was widely available, which it is. There is a warmth combined with shadows and smoke that carries the nostalgia of the gas-and-candle age.

The lighting by Søren Olsen is tightly controlled, creating a beautifully atmospheric space. Sarah Bahr’s scenic design and costumes blend elegantly into the light and shadows created by Olsen. Pirronne Yousefzadeh’s direction is filled with well-thought-out choices: the ashes that fall from the characters’ hands at several points, the use of the ghost light at the opening and ending of the play, the contrast between the prudish and the profane, and the realization at the end of the women in the rain scene. It was just the perfect way to end the show.

The cast includes three musicians who pull double duty. This isn’t really a musical, but a play with music in it, and they all do a nice job. I appreciated the music that was there, and am always a fan of seeing it performed live on stage.

A favorite for me in the cast was August Forman as Lemml, the stage manager. He is the uncorrupted narrator of the piece, bringing humor, idealism, and integrity to the story.

Robert Dorfman plays the famous actor who plays the father and brothel owner in The God of Vengeance. He is good in that role, but his best moment is when he plays the elderly Sholem Asch at the end of the play.

I also thought the two actors playing various actresses who play the lesbians of the play, Aila Peck and Ani Tonoyan, were especially good, giving all the variations on characters they played a uniqueness that came across.

Indecent runs through October 18th at Theater Latté Da. For more information and to purchase tickets, go to https://www.latteda.org/indecent