Tag: music

Episode 3: The Stages of MN Meets Will Sturdivant and a Game is Played. Available Now!!!

Faithful Readers and hopefully now Faithful Viewers and Listeners, the latest episode of The Stages of MN Show is up on YouTube https://bit.ly/TSOMNEpisode3 as well as in the slightly shorter Audio only Podcast version which you can listen to here https://bit.ly/TSOMNPodcastEpisode3 or search for The Stages of MN wherever you enjoy podcasts!

On this weeks episode, I chatted with Actor and Author Will Sturdivant about his path to becoming an actor, his new books, and The Great River Shakespeare Festival; where he is performing in Romeo and Juliet and The Comedy of Errors through July 27th in Winona, MN. I also try and stump Will with the shakespeare game. Where he has to identify what character spoke a line and for extra points which play it came from. Will was on fire, but I wont spoil if he was able to beat the game and in doing so, win back his car keys. You can click here for more about the Festival and to purchase tickets https://www.grsf.org/. I’ll be there for my third year in a row on July 11th to take in both shows with a few of my fellow Twin Cities Theater Bloggers Jill Schafer of Cherry and Spoon http://www.cherryandspoon.com/ and Carol and Julie Jackson of Minnesota Theater Love https://www.mntheaterlove.com/. So if you see us around, don’t be shy, say hi! Get a picture and you’ll find yourself up on the next episode of The Stages of MN!

Also on this weeks episode a look at opening night of Cabaret at the Guthrie Theater as well as a review of the show running through August 24th. Click here for more info and to purchase tickets https://www.guthrietheater.org/shows-and-tickets/2024-2025-season/cabaret/. We also have a review of Madagascar: A Musical Adventure at Stages Theatre Company running through August 3rd, Click here for tickets to that show https://www.stagestheatre.org/madagascar-a-musical-adventure/. As always we have the photo montage of who I saw out at the theater last week. We also cover some breaking news in Verona that you will not want to miss. Don’t forget to Like, Review, share and subscribe.

Don’t depend on a Facebook or Instagram algorithm to ensure you hear about a great show. You can subscribe and have every post from The Stages of MN sent directly to your email box. It’s the best way to ensure you don’t miss out on any of the theater action. To subscribe on your computer: from the home page on the right, enter your email address and click subscribe. On your mobile device scroll to the bottom of the page and do the same. You can also follow me on Facebook, @thestagesofmn click follow and on Instagram thestagesofmn.

I’ve officially launched The Stages of MN YouTube Channel which you can view by clicking on this link. https://www.youtube.com/@TheStagesofMN. Check out the intro videos and the weekly episodes. Subscribe to the channel so you’ll always know when a new episode has dropped. Think I may have steered you wrong on a show? Well, I’m also a member of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers (TCTB), where you can read review roundups of shows by m’colleagues and I when you follow us on facebook @TwinCitiesTheaterBloggers.

Madagascar: A Musical Adventure is Fun for All Ages at Stages Theatre Company

Photo by Amy Rondeau Photography

Madagascar: A Musical Adventure is a stage adaptation of the popular DreamWorks animated film that came out when my kids were little. I know I saw the film, but to be honest it has completely left my memory I have some memory of penguins and lemurs but that’s about it. Luckily prior knowledge of the film is not needed to enjoy this simple tale of Zoo animals who go looking for something more. As with most children’s shows there is a positive message about friendship and this one focuses on best friends Alex the Lion and Marty the Zebra. Marty is having a midlife crisis, she is 10 years old and still doesn’t know if she’s black with white stripes or white with black stripes. When she decides to leave the zoo and see what’s out in the world her friends led by Alex go after her to bring her back. Somehow they all end up in crates on a ship in the ocean. They go overboard and wash up on the shores of Madagascar. There they’re befriended by Lemurs who hope Alex will protect them from their carnivorous enemies. Meanwhile Alex is getting hungry and while his friends are content with the lemurs vegetarian diet, Alex’s instincts began to get the better of him.

I think most kids are going to have a great time with this show. The songs are fun and lively and there’s even a more poignant lament sung by Marty that’s really kind of beautiful. The cast a mix of a few strategic adults and lots of kids who do a great job. The Costume and Make-up Designer Samantha Fromm Haddow deserves full marks for the wonderful animal costumes. I loved the hoofs and headpiece on Marty, particularly the penguins which are puppets controlled by men dressed like Jake and Elwood Blues, are really well done. There’s a nice set design too by Joe Johnson effective as the Zoo and then surprisingly lush when transformed to Madagascar. If your wee ones like animals and music, they will have an adventure with this show and the audience really gets into it clapping along and dancing in their seats, or maybe they just needed the restroom. Either way it’s a fun show for families.

Madagascar: A Musical Adventure runs through August 3rd at Stages Theatre Company in Hopkins. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.stagestheatre.org/madagascar-a-musical-adventure/

Don’t depend on a Facebook or Instagram algorithm to ensure you hear about a great show. You can subscribe and have every post from The Stages of MN sent directly to your email box. It’s the best way to ensure you don’t miss out on any of the theater action. To subscribe on your computer: from the home page on the right, enter your email address and click subscribe. On your mobile device scroll to the bottom of the page and do the same. You can also follow me on Facebook, @thestagesofmn click follow and on Instagram thestagesofmn.

I’ve officially launched The Stages of MN YouTube Channel which you can view by clicking on this link. https://www.youtube.com/@TheStagesofMN. Check out the intro videos and the weekly episodes. Subscribe to the channel so you’ll always know when a new episode has dropped. Think I may have steered you wrong on a show? Well, I’m also a member of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers (TCTB), where you can read review roundups of shows by m’colleagues and I when you follow us on facebook @TwinCitiesTheaterBloggers.

The Stages of MN Jumps Off the Page and Into Your Eyes and Ears. The Good News is, a Short Course of Antibiotics Should Clear it Right Up.

I’m thrilled to announce that after months of hard work The Stages of MN has broken out of the confines of the blog and into new formats. The blog isn’t going away, but you might notice the reviews getting a little shorter. First off is the big one, the YouTube Show! Here is a link to the first episode https://bit.ly/TheStagesofMNEpisode1 . It clocks in at about 40 minutes but I think this first episode earns the extra time. Future episodes will be targeted at a 20 to 30 minute length, which I think is a little more digestible for the average viewer. The shows in general will feature an interview of some kind, a couple of reviews, and a montage of photos taken with people, like yourselves faithful readers, that I run into out at the theater. If you see me out at a show, or anywhere really, except standing at a urinal, don’t be shy, say hi, ask for a photo and you’ll be part of the next episode! I’m hoping this will allow me to meet more of you and connect with you in a more personal way. You love theater! I love theater! You know what I think of every show, but I want to hear what you think, I want to know what you are seeing.

I interviewed Austene Van, the Executive Artistic Director of Yellow Tree Theatre as well as an accomplished Actor, Choreographer, Director, and Writer for the first episode. You’ll see from that interview that we are having some fun with this show, but we’ll also at times talk about some really important things as well. We also have two reviews for shows closing this weekend Significant Other at Lyric Arts and Mae West and the Trial of Sex from Walking Shadow Theater Company. Along with a couple of other fun little items. I’m really proud of the show, it’s not perfect, but we’ll iron out the rough edges over time. For instance the opening sequence which was filmed in the historic Orpheum Theatre for which I’m very grateful to the folks at Hennepin Arts for allowing us to do. I think it came out great, but it is too long, you don’t want to sit through that every week. So sometime in the next few weeks I’ll get that edited down. But I wanted to share the full cut with you. And, if we have an episode that runs a little short in the future, we might pull it out and pop in from time to time.

The second new format is a podcast version of the YouTube show. You can hear the first episode by clicking here https://bit.ly/TSOMNPodcastEpisode1 or searching for The Stages of MN wherever you listen to podcasts. What’s the difference? Well the podcast version is a little shorter as some of the YouTube version is purely visual, like the opening and the photo montage, so those have been cut. My preferred version is the YouTube, but some folks don’t really want to sit and watch something on YouTube. Some would prefer to listen to a podcast, which they can do while driving, exercising, cooking, clipping their nails or shucking corn. And for those folks we have the podcast version, and to them I say happy shucking!!!

So while this exists for you to simply enjoy, you can also help do what this blog and these new versions of The Stages of MN was designed to do in the first place. Share the love of theater. You can help me spread the good words by sharing these shows on your social media pages, subscribing, liking, and reviewing them. For algorithms are a giddy thing, and this is my conclusion, the more these are viewed/listened to, the more the platforms themselves push them out to new folks. That is how we get others into the theater groove with us. They hear about a show and they check it out and then rinse and repeat! So let us rally to Austene Van’s call for us all to work together to ensure that theater does not go quietly into the night but blazes forth and comes out stronger and more vibrant and vital than ever. Theater is under attack, but we can do this.

Gratefully,

Rob Dunkelberger, Founder and Grand Poobah of The Stages of MN

Stop Kiss an Important and Beautiful Play for Pride Month From Theater Mu

Kelsey Angel Baehrens and Emjoy Gavino Photo by Rich Ryan

Necessity requires that going forward in order to produce a weekly YouTube show and podcast that reviews will become shorter. There are only so many hours in a day but, I have no intention of abandoning the blog version. Faithful readers, you have year after year grown The Stages of MN audience. While I hope you will become viewers or listeners as well, there will always be things here that cannot be found there. This will be the place for longer reviews, though slightly shorter than before, as well as Reviews of more shows than can be covered on the YouTube and Podcast versions. Essentially there will be some overlap, but each format will have unique content.

On to Stop Kiss which is a battle between two conflicting emotions and storylines. The play is broken into two timelines, both following two young women Callie, a long time resident of NYC and Sara, who has just moved to the city from the Midwest. One timeline follows them from their first meeting to their first kiss. The second storyline follows them in the aftermath of the kiss, but it’s not what you think. They are victims of a hate crime which leaves Sara in a coma. The two timelines alternate from scene to scene, so one moment we are watching a friendship blossom and then grow into an unexpected attraction. It is full of anticipation and joy and laughter and longing. The other is filled with tragedy, loss, and heartbreak, but also the growth and love. It’s a brilliant script by Diana Son and the duo timeline structure is anything but a gimmick. The one storyline joyfully heading towards tragedy the second revealing the extent of the damage and the repercussions of the horrible event that forms the nexus of the two timelines. What is miraculous is the way in which the telling of the story doesn’t diminish our giddiness at Callie and Sara’s growing bond in timeline one but it does inform our emotional response to timeline two.

The script does half of the work, but without such engaging and warm performances from the two leads Emjoy Gavino as Callie and Kelsey Angel Baehrens as Sara, the emotional resonance wouldn’t work. It’s that odd thing that we call chemistry, it’s why I tear up when Niles confesses his love for Daphne on Frasier (sorry if that’s a spoiler for anyone), and it’s why we are able to forget what we know is coming in Stop Kiss. We like these characters, we like the way they interact, in fact we forget they are characters. We become invested in their happiness, even though we know something horrible is coming. But to say that the success of the performances is due to some intangible thing called chemistry is not acknowledging the masterful work of Gavino and Baehrens. They are so good that they make it look easy. Make no mistake, it is their skill at crafting the roles, their understanding of what each timeline needs from them and their ability to swap between them from scene to scene that gives the play it’s heart and soul. The production is Directed by Katie Bradley who does an excellent job of staging the show, there are a million scene changes by the occur seamlessly and speedily which is key to keeping us invested.

Stop Kiss runs through June 29th at the Gremlin Theatre in St Paul and honestly I know it sounds like it could be a bit of a downer but I assure you it is ultimately a beautiful and hopeful production. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.theatermu.org/stop-kiss#gsc.tab=0

Now more than ever in the wake of the most recent election and the hailstorm of stupidity and hate it has unleashed, theater companies need you and we need them. Buy tickets to shows, go out and support work that reflects diversity and inclusiveness. Donate to your favorite theater companies, don’t wait until they are on the brink of shutting down. We all need to stand up and fight for our theaters whose funding is under attack for promoting inclusion, equality and diversity. In short, theaters are being threatened for sharing stories that reflect our countries cultural and racial diversity.

Don’t depend on a Facebook or Instagram algorithm to insure you hear about a great show. You can subscribe and have every post from The Stages of MN sent directly to your email box. It’s the best way to ensure you don’t miss out on any of the theater action. To subscribe on your computer: from the home page on the right, enter your email address and click subscribe. On your mobile device scroll to the bottom of the page and do the same. You can also follow me on Facebook, @thestagesofmn click follow and on Instagram thestagesofmn.

I’ve officially launched The Stages of MN YouTube Channel which you can view by clicking on this link. https://www.youtube.com/@TheStagesofMN. Check out the intro videos and the weekly episodes. Subscribe to the channel so you’ll always know when a new episode has dropped. Think I may have steered you wrong on a show? Well, I’m also a member of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers (TCTB), where you can read review roundups of shows by m’colleagues and I when you follow us on facebook @TwinCitiesTheaterBloggers.

Legally Blonde: The Musical Lightens the Stage at the Ordway Center for Permorming Arts in St. Paul

The Cast of Legally Blonde: The Musical Photos by Jason Niedle

Legally Blonde: The Musical is based on the 2001 non-musical comedy film starring Reese Witherspoon. I have never seen the film or its sequels, but after seeing the musical, I’m sort of interested in checking it out. The musical clearly has a strong following based on the number of people I saw standing in the Rush line before the show and the amount of pink in the audience. You can always tell a show that has a strong fan base by what the audience is wearing, and this definitely felt like the musical version of a Star Wars convention. While not a huge fan of the trend of turning popular movies into musicals, I have to say this one, is one of the more enjoyable examples of the phenomenon. I will say that one thing we don’t need from a comedy film turned Broadway musical is an overture. Though brief, it immediately had me thinking, do the creators not know what this is? As escapist fare and a fun way to relive a favorite film, Legally Blonde: The Musical works. But an overture? This isn’t Leonard Bernstein, Puccini, or even Andrew Lloyd Webber. For the most part the songs are serviceable, light but forgettable . There are some that are quite fun like “There! Right There!” where a legal team tries to determine if a witness is gay or just European, analyzing his every move and statement.

For those unfamiliar with the film, like myself, it tells the story of Elle Woods who is dumped by her boyfriend Warner on the night she expected him to propose. He is off to Harvard Law School and doesn’t see her as serious enough to be his wife with the future he has planned for himself. Elle is crushed but after wallowing for a bit she decides that she’ll go to Harvard as well and prove to Warner that she can be serious too. After starting out on the wrong foot and being mocked by her fellow students for her appearance Elle decides that what she needs is to become a brunette like Warner’s new girlfriend, Vivienne. She goes to a nearby hair salon where she meets beautician Paulette, who convinces her not to dye her hair and in doing so becomes her friend and confidant. Elle learns with the help of the teaching assistant, Emmett, how to apply herself to the course work. When the class gets the opportunity to assist their teacher Professor Callahan on a high profile murder case, Elle impresses everyone with her unique ideas and approach to law.

The cast is good, though the songs don’t require anything too challenging for solid musical theater actors. Stand outs are Elle herself Kathryn Brunner who keeps a role that could be a complete eye roller from becoming anything other than someone we are rooting for from the start. Michael Thomas Grant is lovable as Emmett, whom we quickly see will be the person Elle should end up with. Anthea Neri-Best as Paulette is also a lot of fun. She dreams of meeting an Irishman, when she does, the fo-Riverdance routine is a highlight. But hands down my favorite performance was that of Little Ricky who plays Elle’s dog Bruiser. When he first runs on stage the whole audience “awes” and I’m not ashamed to say I was among them. Sadly he only makes three or four brief appearances but he rightly gets a featured spot in the curtain call. He doesn’t even do anything that elaborate, but what he does do he nails and frankly to be honest he so damn cute!

Fans of the movie or the musical will have a great time with Legally Blonde: The Musical, as will theatergoers like me who enjoy a pure fun musical from time to time even if they don’t know the source material. This isn’t Les Miz, Rent, Hamilton, or even The Prom, but it is better than most movie to musical adaptations and while it doesn’t amount to much but a fun night out, sometimes that’s enough. Legally Blonde: The Musical runs through June 15th at the Ordway Center for Performing Arts. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://ordway.org/events/legally-blonde/

Now more than ever in the wake of the most recent election and the hailstorm of stupidity and hate it has unleashed, theater companies need you and we need them. Buy tickets to shows, go out and support work that reflects diversity and inclusiveness. Donate to your favorite theater companies, don’t wait until they are on the brink of shutting down. We all need to stand up and fight for our theaters whose funding is under attack for promoting inclusion, equality and diversity. In short, theaters are being threatened for sharing stories that reflect our countries cultural and racial diversity.

Don’t depend on a Facebook or Instagram algorithm to insure you hear about a great show. You can subscribe and have every post from The Stages of MN sent directly to your email box. It’s the best way to ensure you don’t miss out on any of the theater action. To subscribe on your computer: from the home page on the right, enter your email address and click subscribe. On your mobile device scroll to the bottom of the page and do the same. You can also follow me on Facebook, @thestagesofmn click follow and on Instagram thestagesofmn.

Think I may have steered you wrong on a show? Well, I’m also a member of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers (TCTB), where you can read review roundups of shows by m’colleagues and I when you follow us on facebook @TwinCitiesTheaterBloggers. New things are in the work! Click here to go to The Stages of MN YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@TheStagesofMN. Right now there is just a short introductory video, but there will be much more coming this summer. For now, check out the intro video and subscribe to the channel so that when we fully launch you’ll be the first to know!

“Passion” Comes to Theater Latté Da

Rodolfo Nieto, Bradley Greenwald, Dylan Frederick, Erin Capello, Colonel Ricci, Phinehas Bynum
Photo by Dan Norman

Passion is a musical by the late Stephen Sondheim (music & lyrics) and James Lapine (book). I’m going to be sacrilegious for a moment and say I don’t love Sondheim. Don’t get me wrong I don’t dislike him, I like him. He’s is undoubtedly a giant of the American musical theater. I know what the fault is with me, I tend to prefer musicals with songs you find yourself singing along to. Many times I find Sondheim’s work, while beautiful, to be missing a hook or a chorus. It is always beautiful and I’ve yet to see a production that didn’t feature amazing vocal performances. I’m not very musically intelligent, I know what I like, and I can tell that the music of Sondheim is more complex and difficult than most other musicals. I’ve written before of my view that Gilbert and Sullivan are like a link between opera and the musical. That’s how I feel about certain Sondheim musicals as well, including Passion. Opera will likely always be my least favorite of the musical performing arts, but I am gaining an appreciation for it. That’s how I would describe my response to Passion it’s not my favorite musical I saw this week, but I did appreciate it. And, with a running time of about 100 minutes, I never lost interest or patience with it. If you are a Sondheim devotee I have no doubt you will love this production. If you are trying to gain an appreciation for him, this will help you merrily roll along that route. If you’d rather stick a needle in your eye than sit through A Little Night Music, maybe give this a pass.

The plot of Passion is based on the film Passione d’amore which itself was based on the novel Fosca by Iginio Ugo Tarchetti, neither of which I have seen or read. The story follows a soldier named Giorgio and opens with him in bed with his lover Clara before he must leave for a new post in the country. They are every much in love and sing of how much they will miss each other. At his new post he is introduced to his commanding officer Colonel Ricci to his cousin Fosca, who is bedridden with unnamed illnesses. Fosca develops an obsession with Giorgio, who does everything he can to discourage her attentions. At one point the Doctor (the army Doctor not the Timelord), convinces Giorgio that in order to save Fosca’s life her must go and visit her in her room. Later the Doctor realizes what Fosca’s obsession is doing to Giorgio and regrets his part in enabling Fosca’s infatuation. Fosca’s behavior would be called stalking by today’s standards and it’s actually quite distressing the ways in which Fosca manipulates and tries to control Giorgio. The single wrong note in the play is Giorgio’s position at the end of the play. The message it sends is confusing and for those who identify more with Fosca in the play than with Giorgio, possibly dangerous.

The cast is great, in the lead role of Giorgio is Dylan Frederick, whom I’m not as familiar with as most of the rest of the cast. Frederick is well cast, vocally he is superb and he brings a frustrated desperation to the character as he feels himself being irrevocably mired in Fosca’s web. Fosca is played by Erin Capello, again amazing vocally, but also incredibly convincing as the tragic and selfish Fosca. She has to play it so that the characters onstage don’t necessarily fully realize the manipulations but we the audience can clearly see where every request is leading. Isa Condo-Olvera is radiant as Clara with a light and lovely demeanor that illustrates the deep contrast between Fosca and Clara. If Fosca is rain, Clara is sunshine and Condo-Olvera is well cast as sunshine. Eric Morris and Bradley Greenwald are as always exceptional as Colonel Ricci and the Doctor. The remaining cast have small roles but lend big voices to the background. When we saw that the cast included three of what my wife calls her “All is Calm Boys” Phinehas Bynum, Riley McNutt, and Rodolfo Nieto, I expected them to have larger roles. But it just goes to show when dealing with the complexity and strength of a Sondhiem musical, you need the highest quality singers even in the background.

The production is directed by Theater Latté Da’s Artistic Director Justin Lucero and the Music Director is Jason Hansen. Their work goes a long way to making this an worthwhile endeavor for those on the fence regarding Sondheim’s less mainstream musicals. The scenic and lighting design by Paul Whitaker are extremely creative with curtains used to create spaces for scenes like the fuzzy edges of memories. The lighting contributes to some very dynamic visual tableaus as can been seen in the photo above. The costumes by Amber Brown are also very evocative, particularly the use of colors in the garbs of Clara and Fosca which visually represent their roles very clearly. What says romantic eroticism quite as well as a woman in a white flowing bed dress worn off one shoulder?

Passion runs through July 13th at Theater Latté Da in North Minneapolis. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.latteda.org/passion

Now more than ever in the wake of the most recent election and the hailstorm of stupidity and hate it has unleashed, theater companies need you and we need them. Buy tickets to shows, go out and support work that reflects diversity and inclusiveness. Donate to your favorite theater companies, don’t wait until they are on the brink of shutting down. We all need to stand up and fight for our theaters whose funding is under attack for promoting inclusion, equality and diversity. In short, theaters are being threatened for sharing stories that reflect our countries cultural and racial diversity.

Don’t depend on a Facebook or Instagram algorithm to insure you hear about a great show. You can subscribe and have every post from The Stages of MN sent directly to your email box. It’s the best way to ensure you don’t miss out on any of the theater action. To subscribe on your computer: from the home page on the right, enter your email address and click subscribe. On your mobile device scroll to the bottom of the page and do the same. You can also follow me on Facebook, @thestagesofmn click follow and on Instagram thestagesofmn.

Think I may have steered you wrong on a show? Well, I’m also a member of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers (TCTB), where you can read review roundups of shows by m’colleagues and I when you follow us on facebook @TwinCitiesTheaterBloggers. New things are in the work! Click here to go to The Stages of MN YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@TheStagesofMN. Right now there is just a short introductory video, but there will be much more coming this summer. For now, check out the intro video and subscribe to the channel so that when we fully launch you’ll be the first to know!

Violet From Ten Thousand Things Is a Bus Trip Worth Taking

Annika Isbell, Tom Reed in the background Photo by Tom Wallace

Violet is another tribute to the inventiveness and creativity of the artists that gravitate to Ten Thousand Things (TTT). This is the company whose modus operandi is that their entire set, props, and costumes have to fit in a U-haul trailer. They do this so they can travel with the shows making theater available to all. They travel all over from senior living homes to recovery centers and correctional facilities. They perform in the round with all the lights up and they rely on the actors to create most of the world in which the shows take place. It takes creativity to direct and skilled actors to help paint the world of the story on the canvas of the audiences minds. While they eschew the use of lighting they do, as you may suspect, utilize music, which is very handy when performing a musical. And here is where I issue the words of caution I have shared before, but failed to heed myself this time. Don’t sit next to Music Director Sanford Moore. I’m sure he’s a lovely man, it’s not that, it’s just that being right next to the music at a show performed in the round with no mics, some of the lyrics get drowned out. It’s my own fault, I know better, I just forgot, but I encourage you to sit on the opposite side of the room for a more balanced sound.

The story follows a young woman named Violet who is taking a Greyhound bus from Spruce Pine, NC to Tulsa, OK in 1964. She is going to see a healing televangelist in hopes that he will use the power of God to remove the large scar she has on her face that was caused by an axe head. On the bus she meets two soldiers one black and one white named Flick and Monty, they are dealing indirectly with their own issues concerning race and the Vietnam war. Those are not the focus of the show, they are just part of setting the place and time of the story. She befriends the soldiers and they form bonds and find solace in each other. The story is intercut with scenes of young Violet and her father, which help to inform the 1964 scenes. Violet feels like an outsider because of the disfigurement, but one of the things I liked about the show is it doesn’t paint her as a victim. There are scenes that could have been told in a way that would make her appear that she was taken advantage of, but the musical doesn’t go there. She gets what she needs from interactions and she knows how to take care of herself.

Annika Isbell plays Violet in her TTT debut, she has a nice voice and I was particularly captivated by her song “Lay Down Your Head“, which to my mind was much to short, as it’s a very beautiful bit of music. I’m not sure if other productions create a scar on Violet and if TTT doesn’t in keeping with their lean approach, but I don’t think seeing the scar would add anything to the production. Mitchell Douglas and Ryan London Levin play flick and Monty and both get moments to take the spotlight. Douglas’s big song is “Let it Sing” and boy does he, I also liked the movement that Director Kelli Foster Warder designed for that song having Douglas up on the seats of the bus in his uniform had a classic feel to it. Levin’s character seems like he’s going to be the typical jerk just out for a good time, but a turn to sincerity, when it comes, feels very authentic. Tom Reed who plays the Preacher, brought me right back to the one of the first times I saw him on stage in what I still consider one of the best musicals I’ve ever seen Interstate: The Musical by Melissa Li and Kit Yan. He’s so good at playing Preachers, and bus drivers, and… oh who am I kidding, he’s always great in everything and this is no exception. The cast is rounded out by very talented cast playing multiple roles including the divine Lynnea Doublette fantastic as a Gospel Singer. Sophina Saggau who plays Young Violet, Kate Beahen as an older woman who befriends Violet on the bus, and Charlie Clark as violet’s father.

Violet is creatively staged by Director Kelli Foster Warder with Music Direction by Sanford Moore, whom I will remind you again not to sit next to. The costumes by Samantha Fromm Haddow have a great period feel to them and the sets and props by Sarah Bahr while simple are extremely versatile and perfect for a TTT production. Violet runs through June 1st at various locations. To learn more and to purchase tickets go to https://tenthousandthings.org/violet/

Now more than ever in the wake of the most recent election and the hailstorm of stupidity and hate it has unleashed, theater companies need you and we need them. Buy tickets to shows, go out and support work that reflects diversity and inclusiveness. Donate to your favorite theater companies, don’t wait until they are on the brink of shutting down. We all need to stand up and fight for our theaters whose funding is under attack for promoting inclusion, equality and diversity. In short, theaters are being threatened for sharing stories that reflect our countries cultural and racial diversity.

Don’t depend on a Facebook or Instagram algorithm to insure you hear about a great show. You can subscribe and have every post from The Stages of MN sent directly to your email box. It’s the best way to ensure you don’t miss out on any of the theater action. To subscribe on your computer: from the home page on the right, enter your email address and click subscribe. On your mobile device scroll to the bottom of the page and do the same. You can also follow me on Facebook, @thestagesofmn click follow and on Instagram thestagesofmn.

Think I may have steered you wrong on a show? Well, I’m also a member of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers (TCTB), where you can read review roundups of shows by m’colleagues and I when you follow us on facebook @TwinCitiesTheaterBloggers. New things are in the work! Click here to go to The Stages of MN YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@TheStagesofMN. Right now there is just a short introductory video, but there will be much more coming this summer. For now, check out the intro video and subscribe to the channel so that when we fully launch you’ll be the first to know!