The Phantom of the Opera Returns to the Orpheum Theater in Best Production in Decades

Isaiah Bailey and Jordan Lee Gilbert Photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman

The Phantom of the Opera returns to the Twin Cities for what must be the seventh or eighth time. This tour is billed as a revitalized production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s legendary musical—based on Harold Prince’s original direction, with staging and choreography by Gillian Lynne, recreated by Chrissie Cartwright. The last time the show toured through Minneapolis, the staging was noticeably different from the version I remembered. While I enjoyed that iteration, I’m thrilled this production brings back the staging I first fell in love with.

For the uninitiated, The Phantom of the Opera tells the story of a mysterious, disfigured musical genius who lives beneath the Paris Opera House and becomes obsessed with a young soprano named Christine Daaé. As he manipulates the opera company to make her a star, Christine is torn between fear, fascination, and her love for childhood friend Raoul. The Phantom’s desperate obsession spirals into jealousy and violence, culminating in a confrontation where compassion becomes his final reckoning.

This is one of those musicals people tend to either love or loathe. I know plenty of musically sophisticated people who dismiss it entirely, but I’m not one of them. My love for this show goes back to my first encounter with it: a high school show choir trip to Los Angeles in 1990, where I saw Michael Crawford in the role he originated in the West End and on Broadway. That performance seared itself into my memory. It was probably the first massive Broadway caliber show I ever saw, and it left its mark. I played the cast recording endlessly, so much so that “All I Ask of You” ended up in my first wedding, which feels incredibly cliché now.

Like every version I’ve seen since, this production doesn’t quite reach the perfection of that first experience, but only just. If you’re a Phantom fan, this may be the strongest tour in a couple of decades.

The cast is solid overall, with a few minor quibbles. Daniel Lopez (Raoul) sings beautifully, though at times his constant smiling felt more like musical theatre autopilot than character driven choice. Jordan Lee Gilbert is a stunning Christine, her voice and emotional performance are exceptional. Isaiah Bailey (the Phantom) felt slightly tentative in Act I, but something clicked for him in Act II, and his performance deepened significantly. Of course, every Phantom I see ends up compared, perhaps unfairly, to Michael Crawford’s definitive interpretation. I also enjoyed William Thomas Evans and Carrington Vilmont as the new opera managers; they brought nuance and personality to roles that can easily become one-note.

As always, two things define Phantom: the music and the design. The score, depending on who you ask, is either lush romantic genius or overly popularist fluff. I fall firmly in the first camp. I find it sweeping, emotional, and unforgettable. Some of the most memorable melodies in musical theatre live here.

The production design is equally superb, truly lush in every sense. From the jaw-dropping moment when the chandelier transforms from dusty relic to blazing spectacle in under two seconds, to quieter scenes like the managers’ office framed by rich curtains, the visual world is breathtaking, theatrical, and immersive.

If you’re already a Phantom devotee, consider this a strong recommendation. If you’ve never seen it, now’s the time, if only so you can finally decide whether you’re a Phantom lover or Phantom leaver.

The Phantom of the Opera runs through December 7 at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis.
For more information and tickets, visit: https://hennepinarts.org/events/the-phantom-of-the-opera

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The Twin Cities Horror Festival Opening Day! Songversations: We Have Been Told the Veil is Thin, Camp Bludde the Musical, and Scrimshaw.

We’re halfway through Monster Month, which means it’s time for the Twin Cities Horror Festival (TCHF). Now in its 14th year, TCHF is the longest-running horror theatre festival in the country. To see the full lineup, schedule, and to purchase tickets, visit tchorrorfestival.com. Check back here between October 16–30 for my reviews of every show at this year’s festival.

Opening night began with Songversations: We Have Been Told the Veil is Thin, written and performed by Rihannon Fiskradatz and Shanan Custer. Unlike the other shows in the festival, this ran only once as an opening ritual. Fiskradatz and Custer will return to close the festival with another ritual, a bonfire outside the Crane Theater at 10:00 p.m. on October 30.

Camp Bludde: The Musical has a little of everything I’ve come to expect at TCHF over the years, and also things you don’t expect, which is also something you expect. It’s a story of a camp for wealthy children founded by a man who has to sacrifice a child regularly in order to appease some dark creature. Don’t worry, the rich kids aren’t the pool from which the sacrifices come. Each year, the camp offers a scholarship to one underprivileged child, and that’s who ends up on the altar. So everything is right with the world and this basically reflects our reality.

But here’s the thing that makes this show otherworldly, it’s a musical!!! I know I’ve seen TCHF shows that have had songs in them or used music effectively, but my memory isn’t coming up with any full on break into song musicals. Director Denzel Belin makes effective use of some TCHF technical staples, the flashlights under the face, and the blackouts with lights shining out toward the audience. The cast is a blast, with Will Schroeder standing out as Counselor Alex, making appropriately comical use of his trademark over the top smile. It’s a perfect TCHF kickoff, songs, blood, scares, and laughs. A little bit of everything.

Duck Washington Photo by Dan Norman Photography

Serving as a great counterbalance to Camp Bludde’s campy chaos, Duck Washington’s Scrimshaw leans literary and psychological. Set in a remote Pacific whaling village, it follows Lemrich, a whaler driven mad by what he encountered at sea. Someone arrives searching for a stolen book—one that guided Lemrich’s ship captain to awaken an ancient darkness.

Washington, who also wrote the piece, gives a compelling performance as the tormented sailor struggling to clear his mind of the madness forced upon it. His script is tightly written, and the set design transforms the small studio into a claustrophobic nightmare. The walls are covered in chalk drawings that mirror Lemrich’s unraveling mind. The strong supporting cast and detailed design make this one of the more polished TCHF productions I’ve seen. Performing in the smaller studio allows the set to remain intact for the full run, enabling a more immersive design, which Scrimshaw fully takes advantage of.

Scrimshaw runs through October 20, then hands the space over to Dolly Who’s Cursed Objects, which runs October 25–30.

Grease is the Joyous Final Word of Michael Brindisi at Chanhassen Dinner Theatres

Kasano Mwanza (Teen Angel) Katemarie Andrews (Frenchie) Ensemble Photo by Dan Norman 2025

Grease is a musical I’ve seemingly known all my life. I saw the famous film adaptation in the theater at age six, and watched it constantly on cable and VHS over the next decade. I was even in my high school production as a member of the ensemble. Grease and a healthy dose of being my father’s son contributed to my love of the sounds of the 1950’s and 60’s. Grease in the original nostalgia musical, on the surface it’s a love story between Danny and Sandy but it’s really a love story between the audience and the 1950’s. This isn’t Shakespeare in fact if I wasn’t so familiar with the plot I might be confused as to whether there really is a love story between Danny and Sandy. But you know what? That doesn’t matter, it’s all just an excuse to perform a bunch of 1950’s song pastiches. You had me at 1950’s songs. Grease is pure fun distilled into a idealized version of a simpler time. It’s the escapist entertainment that we all need right now. Do yourself a favor and take a trip to the past for a rockin’ good time.

Grease is jam packed with great songs, a couple of which are favorites that never made it to the film “Freddy My Love”, which I still find myself singing from time to time and “Mooning” which gets a great performance in this production. It also wisely imports three of the songs that were unique to the film version “Hopelessly Devoted to You“, “You’re the One That I Want“, and “Grease is the Word“. The latter is used as an encore after the cast has taken their bows and features Kasano Mwanza who plays Teen Angel. When asked who was their favorite, everyone in the theater would likely say Kasano Mwanza. His performance Of “Beauty School Dropout” is the showstopper! Mwanza holds the entire theater captive to his entrancing voice and magnetic stage presence. Always amazes me when five years in, I’m still coming across talents like this that have been around “but I never heard them singing” (The Music Man was another childhood favorite). The entire cast is solid, Sam Stoll makes a great Danny, but isn’t quite matched by Dayle Theisen’s Sandy. There are some real standouts in the Pink Ladies and the Burger Palace Boys. Anna Hashizume is spectacular in the role of Rizzo, she steals the spotlight in every scene she’s in, She plays Rizzo with a tough exterior taking no crap from anyone, making her vulnerability during “There Are Worse Things I could Do“, all the more effecting. She also has one of the best voices in the company. The last actor I want to single out is Evan Tyler Wilson, not just because he’s a magnificent singer and his performance as Roger, particularly in “Mooning” is a lot of fun. But also because my wife would kill me if I didn’t, she loooooves him!

As always the case at Chanhassen, the band sounds great under the direction of Andy Kust. Nayna Ramey’s set design feels like a 50’s inspired animation background and set the tone for this trip down memory lane. They even have a working Greased Lightning car that drives on and off stage a few times. Sue Ellen Berger’s lighting design deserves a shout out as there are several queues that help focus the audience where they need to be looking when there is a stage full of activity. Rich Hamson’s costumes perfectly represent the time period without solely relying of the standard jeans, white t-shirt, and leather jacket. His Teen Angel outfit is fantastic and works beautifully with the choruses pink outfits. Highest praise goes to Tamara Kangas Erickson’s choreography. Wow moments occur throughout, but especially during “Greased Lightnin“, “We Go Together“, and “Born to Hand-Jive“. Including a nice variation on the traditional kickline.

It wouldn’t feel right to end my review without noting the untimely loss of longtime Chanhassen Dinner Theatres Artistic Director and co-owner Michael Brindisi who passed away suddenly on February 5th. I had the honor to conduct a talkback with Michael and members of the cast after a production of The Prom in 2023. It was, and will always be a highlight of my life as a Theater Blogger. Before a production either of Jersey Boys or Beautiful, I stopped by Michaels table and we reminicesed about that event and I was touched to hear that it was a special memory for him as well. Michael has left us one final gift with his direction of Grease. It was a show that meant a lot to him, and that comes through in the pure fun and joy of this production. Michael didn’t know this would be his last show, but it seems like an appropriate bookend to his long and influental career. You’d be hard pressed to find anyone who’s been in the Twin Cities Theater Community for long who hasn’t felt the impact of Michael Brindisi. To many of us, Michael was synonymous with Chanhassen Dinner Theatres. Michael is gone, but his presence will be felt for years to come in the continued work at CDT and in the performances of the artists he directed and cheered for.

Grease runs through October fourth at Chanhassen Dinner Theatres. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://chanhassendt.com/grease/

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Beautiful: The Carole King Musical is “Some Kind of Wonderful” at Chanhassen Dinner Theatres

Shad Hanley and Monet Sabel Photo by Dan Norman

This isn’t my first production of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, I saw the touring production that came through Minneapolis about five or six years ago, but it is undoubtedly the best. The production has an intimacy and organic flow to the narrative that alluded the national touring Company. Certainly it’s filled with the same great music and I’m sure that previous cast was good, but it’s hard to imagine a better Carole King than Monet Sabel. I remember feeling as if the previous production was simply hitting bullet points on a plot outline. The Co-Directors, father and daughter team of Michael and Cat Brindisi, have wiped away all the disjointed story telling I sensed before and have staged a production that lives and breathes. The smooth and thoughtful handling of transitions and the passages of time create a sense of life moving fluidly forward and of a story unfolding like the images on a tapestry rather than simply taking us from A to B on a road map. The show hits right in my pop music sweet spot, while my friends were moshing to Pearl Jam in high school I was listening to my Buddy Holly, The Beatles, and Billboard Top Rock’n’Roll Hits for the years 1957-1961 CD’s. This music is part of my DNA so I was bound to love that aspect of the show particularly knowing the musical side of things would be handled by Chanhassen’s wonderful orchestra under the musical direction of Andy Kust. They sound suburb as always.

But the show is better than the music, it sidesteps the typical criticisms one levels at the Jukebox musical, it tells a story that features music rather than a story that has a million popular songs awkwardly shoehorned in. Sabel’s performance mirrors that sentiment, it is a natural lived in performance that incorporates singing in it’s exploration of the character. The songs work so well because King wrote about her life in her songs, even the early teen targeted songs, spoke to her life, whether she was always conscious of it or not. “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” speaks to all of us in a way but it is a specific reflection of her own insecurities, particularly in her relationship with her husband Gerry Goffin, played here by an excellent Shad Hanley. Hanley’s speaking voice sounded a little overtaxed, but thankfully his singing didn’t and his character work was solid. Other standouts in the cast were Shinah Hey and Alan Bach as Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann, fellow songwriters and Carole and Gerry’s best friends. They provided perfect little moments of humor without becoming the comic relief, they had their own arc and their relationships with each other and Carole and Gerry felt substantial. The cast members who collectively played The Drifters and The Shirelles were absolutely fantastic and really showed off some nice choreography by Tamara Kangas Erickson. The leads of both groups, John Jamison II for The Drifters and Quinn Lorez for The Shirelles, are hair on the back of the neck raisingly good.

Part of why the show flows so well is how the Directors handle the transitions. There are a lot of scene changes and in many productions it means deadstage time as set pieces are moved on and off. What the Brindisi’s do for many changes is have the lighting change the character move out of one area of the set continuing on with their scene as the set changes behind them. Eliminating the grind to a halt, blacked out stage, with nothing happening while changes are made that can suck the energy from a shows momentum. Other times the set change is as simple and swift as rotating a piano to a different angle, all of these techniques keep the show moving quickly, sweeping us along rather than leaving us waiting in the dark. One of the key things a Director, or two, needs to do to ensure their production feels fluid is to get the scene changes and transitions right and this is one of the best examples I’ve ever seen of doing just that. Part of that success surely goes to Nayna Ramey whose scenic design helped to make those transitions and changes work. I also admired the lighting design by Sue Ellen Berger, which played a role in scene transitions but also contained some fun cues like the starlights that came on over the audience during the song “Up on the Roof”, it was a magical little touch. I also absolutely adored the period costumes from Barbara Portinga including a superfast and crowd pleasing costume change done by Katemarie Andrews as Little Eva as she begins to sing “Locomotion”.

Whether you think you are a Carole King fan or not, I promise you that you are. You will not want to miss catching this show, you’ll be surprised how many songs you know from Goffin and King and their friends Mann & Weil. One of the things that makes Chanhassen unique is the “Dinner” part of the Theatre. It’s not just the famous Chanhassen Chicken, there are many wonderful options and a great selection of beverages including ice cream drinks and delicious desserts. Sometimes dinner theater means a mediocre meal, that is not the case at Chanhassen, the food is as good as the shows, which are terrific. Beautiful: The Carole King Musical runs through September 28th at Chanhassen Dinner Theatres in Chanhassen MN. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://chanhassendt.com/beautiful/ and don’t forget they also have two other stages The Fireside theatre which hosts their concert series and Stevie Ray’s Comedy Cabaret.

Don’t want to miss a single review from The Stages of MN? You can subscribe and have every post sent directly to your email. 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. You can also read some of my reviews syndicated on the MN Playlist website https://minnesotaplaylist.com/

I am also a member of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers (TCTB), where you can read roundups of shows by my colleagues and I when you follow us on facebook @TwinCitiesTheaterBloggers. We also produce the podcast Twin Cities Theater Chat!! which you can access through this link or wherever you enjoy podcasts https://twincitiestheaterchat.buzzsprout.com/ . We post biweekly longer form episodes that will focus on interviews and discussions around theater topics. There is also shorter episodes in which we Bloggers tell you what we think you should get out and see as well as what we have on our schedules that we are most looking forward too.

Honey, I’m Home a Hilarious Solo Show at Open Eye Theatre

Honey, I’m Home is Madeleine Rowe’s one house show which combines comic clowning, inspired physical theater and very clever writing. It’s part of Open Eye Theatre’s 2024 Guest Artist Series, and a remount of a successful run at The Southern Theater in 2022. I recently saw Rowe in Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some) at Yellow Tree Theatre and found her clowning most enjoyable. I expected some laughs, what I got were more laughs than you can shake a plunger at. I could explain that but like a lot of comedy shows the fun is in the unexpected, the laughs come from your spontaneous response to what his being presented. Open Eye Theatre is such a small but wonderful theater space, I’ve seen some of my favorite performances in this little theater with it’s tiny brick enclosed stage that usually feels like it’s about eight feet by eight feet. Tonight though, it felt especially spacious, possibly because it looked to have been freshly mown. Rowe plays a house for sale and it’s open house day so she’s a little bit excited. She’s very welcoming and even gives us, the audience, a pre-open house tour. That should give you the gist of the show. The entire performance is a direct address to the audience and you are expected to join in. The notoriously anti-audience participation Blogger Cherry and Spoon was able to avoid joining the show but I believe had a wonderful time with it as well. So don’t let that put you off.

Rowe is a first rate clown and performer, brave and impishly mischievous, she has the audience in stitches for 70 minutes straight, which is another wonderful aspect of the show, it’s about 70 minutes long and so no need for those annoying intermissions. Rowe could hold the audience all on her own without set and props and costumes and dummies, but the addition of those things pushed this into the realm of something really special. Roofs off to I’m Staying Home with Madeleine Rowe and Michael Torsch for their Set Design. Sound Design by Dan Dukich and Lighting by Ariel Pinkerton add the perfect touches. Whoever designed the projections and puppet work deserves a big round of applause, there’s a duet sung with the aid of those elements that is a moment where I realized this was exactly what I needed tonight. It was a hard day today and I almost stayed home to process, I’m so glad I didn’t as Madeleine Rowe and her brilliant show lifted me up when I most needed it. Honey, I’m Home runs through February 24th at Open Eye Theatre in South Minneapolis for more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.openeyetheatre.org/honey-im-home

Crazy For You’s Got Rhythm and it Certainly Has Music at Artistry in Bloomington.

Kyle Weiler (Center) and the cast of Crazy For You Photo by Sam Levine

Crazy For You features the music and Lyrics of George and Ira Gershwin and a book by Ken Ludwig, this accounts for the fantastic songs and the generous portions of humor. With such great source material, it was likely to be a good show, but Artistry in Bloomington, who is producing this production didn’t take any chances. They got Anita Ruth back as Music Director conducting a nearly unheard of for a local production, 20-piece Orchestra. With Choreography by it’s leading man Kyle Weiler and Elly Stahlke that will knock your socks off and a cast full of fabulous voices, I went crazy for this show. The story of Bobby Child who dreams of being a dancer, but his fiance Irene and his Mother Lottie have other plans for him. Sent by his mother to Deadrock Nevada to foreclose on a disused theater, Bobby falls in love with Polly whose father owns the Theater. When Polly finds out who he is and why he’s there she will have nothing to do with him, so he disguises himself as Bela Zangler the Theatrical Producer and together they plan to put on a show to raise the money to save the theater. The problem is that the theater is in a ghost town in the middle of a desert and an hours walk from the train station. Things get even more complicated when the real Bela Zangler shows up.

First off, most shows do not have an orchestra this size and the benefits are apparent in the richness of the music. There is more room for nuances and subtleties within the songs even to my untrained ear. For that alone should any fan of the Gershwins popular songs like “Someone to Watch Over Me“, “Embraceable You“, “I Got Rhythm“, “They Can’t Take That Away From Me“, and “But Not For Me” rush out an buy a ticket. Anita Ruth masterfully conducts the Orchestra which is placed in center stage throughout the show. What they spent on 20 musicians they saved on set design, it’s staged in a way I’ve never really seen a musical done before. The actors are sitting in chairs in front of the orchestra until they needed to perform in a scene, then they step out and are in character, singing and dancing and acting. It appears like it’s going to be a concert with dancing but then the actors do actually perform the roles. It’s a strange hybrid, that puts the spotlight on the musicians and dancers by keeping everything that might distract from them to a minimum. It’s a bold choice by director Ben Bakken, that I think is largely successful because of the talent in the orchestra and of the actors.

The cast is filled with talent, the leads Kyle Weiler as Bobby and Annika Isbell as Polly are truly exceptional. Weiler’s dancing is just a joy and when there are a group of seven or so of the cast up there all synchronized, it’s awesome to behold. Isbell has a wonderful voice, I was really impressed by rendition of “Someone To Watch Over Me“. There’s a lot of fun character work to from a local favorite Carl Swanson as Lank Hawkins whose trying to Polly’s father to sell him the Theater and is constantly trying to get them to stop putting on a show! France Roberts has his work cut out for him playing Polly’s father Everett and as Eugene Fodor who comes to Deadrock to write about it for his Travel Books. If I’m not mistaken he plays both men in one scene and pulls it off admirably, he’s also got a nice singing voice that he gets to show off in a fun number “Stiff Upper Lip“.

Crazy For You runs through February 11th at Artistry Theater in Bloomington for more information and to purchase tickets go to https://artistrymn.org/crazyforyou

Funny Girl Radiates at the Orpheum Theatre

Katerina McCrimmon and Stephen Mark Lucas Photo by Matthew Murphy for MurphyMade

Funny Girl? More like A Star is Born, that’s what I felt I was witnessing in Katerina McCrimmon’s performance as Fanny Brice. Let’s get this out of the way right at the top, McCrimmon’s performance is phenomenal. We see a lot of great talent come through the Twin cities on tour and hey, we’ve got some pretty amazing local talent as well, McCrimmon’s is one of the gems that raises the bar to another level. First and foremost her vocals are amazing, but she also displays a gift for the comedic and dramatic aspects of the character. I came into the show with little knowledge other than that it was one of Barbara Streisand’s early Broadway successes and that she’d made a film version and sequel. Sometimes approaching what is considered a classic can be a mixed bag. I think back on My Fair Lady which came through town twice in the last five years, still featuring some great songs and moments of humor, but very very dated, almost uncomfortably so. Would Funny Girl suffer from similar societal progressions? No need to fear, the show sidesteps anything that we cannot contextualize as period. This is due to the fact that the main character is a strong female character who succeeds based on her talent. A script about such a character is already ahead of the curve for a show that premiered on Broadway 60 years ago. Anything that is potentially problematic is winked at or acknowledged in songs like “If a Girl Isn’t Pretty” assuring us that they know, like we do, how messed up that is. These may be inherent in the material or they could be part of Harvey Fierstein’s revised book. Either way, this Funny Girl revival is an unqualified triumph.

Loosely based on the real Comedian and Broadway star Fanny Brice, it tells the story of a young girl from Brooklyn who makes it big headlining the Ziegfeld Follies. Not considered conventionally pretty, she has trouble taking the admiration of suave gambler Nick Arnstein at face value, but as we follow her career success, Nick keeps turning up. Audiences will be forgiven for suspecting a rat, we are well conditioned not only in the popular entertainments but in life to, far too often, discover people acting with ulterior motives. While Nick is indeed a hustler who doesn’t always operate on the up and up, I found it very refreshing that their love story was just that, a love story. I was only familiar with two of the songs, “People” and “Don’t Rain on My Parade” and they are the highlights of the musical numbers to be sure. Many of the other songs have a humorous bent and are performed by a very enthusiastic and talented cast. The one rather sweet duet sung by McCrimmon’s and Stephen Mark Lukas, who plays Nick, called “I Want to Be Seen With You” stood out.

Of the other performers Lukas is quite good, with a very strong voice, a charm that endears his flawed character to Fanny and the audience alike, and a shirtless scene that elicited gasps of delight from many in the audience. Of special note are Izaiah Montaque Harris as Fanny’s friend and choreographer Eddie. Harris brings the show to a stop several times with tap routines that will make you wish more shows included tap dancing as when it’s done well, as it is here, it’s quite amazing to behold. Barbara Tirrell as Fanny’s mother is genuinely supportive and brings a level of understanding and wisdom that feels truly genuine. The entire cast of dancers and singers and supporting roles is top notch and I want to acknowledge the work of the Choreographer Ellenore Scott, and Tap Choreographer Ayodele Casel as there was a lot that got me genuinely excited about dance. This is also a wonderfully designed production with high marks going to David Zinn who’s set designs seemed to keep getting better and better as new location after new location was revealed. Susan Hilferty’s costume designs were fantastic, of particular note were the various costumes used in the Follies productions.

Funny Girl runs through Sunday January 21st at Hennepin Theatre Trust’s Orpheum theatre, for more information and to purchase tickets go to https://hennepintheatretrust.org/events/funny-girl-orpheum-theatre-minneapolis-mn-2024/