Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson – Apt. 2B the World of Sherlock Holmes Modernized & Gender Swapped

Kathryn Cesarz & Mary Margaret Hughes Photo by Dan Norman

Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson – Apt. 2B by Kate Hamill, the most produced playwright in the country for the 2024-2025 theater season, is a gender swapped modern take on Sherlock Holmes. Hamill’s works are usually adaptations of classic stories often created with an eye towards creating great roles for female identifying actors. Many of her plays center on female driven stories with her multiple Jane Austen adaptations as well as others with strong female protagonists like The Scarlet Letter and Little Women. Here she has taken one of the great characters of Western literatureand crafted it into a delightfully comedic retelling that gives women a chance to step into the iconic roles of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. (not a Dr.) Watson. I’m a huge Sherlock Holmes fan and will more or less see anything that features that character. The wonderful thing about being a Sherlockian is there has been so many books, stage, and screen adaptations that one finds it nearly impossible to be a slave to canon. In fact, the Guinness World Records lists Holmes as the most portrayed human literary character in film and television history. So a gender swapped modern retelling like this, for me, is just another fun way to explore a favorite hero. If the play had been bad, I would criticize it but not for daring to make Holmes and Watson female or for bringing the story into the 21st century. Thankfully the script is smart and fun without making fun of the characters.

The play adapts three of the classic Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle A Study in Scarlet, A Scandal in Bohemia, and The Final Problem. Along with the now female Holmes and Watson we see several other famous characters from Doyle’s stories, Irene Adler, Lestrade, and Mrs. Hudson, all of whom retain their original gender. Aside from the gender changes and modernization, the play takes place in a post pandemic London, the biggest change comes in the relationship between Holmes and Watson. As in A Study in Scarlet, the play opens with the meeting of the iconic pair as Watson looks for lodgings in London. But here, Holmes is so difficult that Watson spends most of the first half of Act 1 trying not to move into the flat while Mrs. Hudson tries to convince her to stay as she has a hard time getting anyone to room with Holmes. Holmes is played with a controlled but manic energy and air of emotional detachment by Kathryn Cesarz that allows for broad comedy while also capturing the essence of the character. Mary Margaret Hughes plays Watson who gets woozy around blood, the unknown cause of which provides Sherlock with a side mystery to try and unravel throughout the play. The cast is rounded out by Lindsey Fry and Jesse March. Fry plays an array of characters from the frazzled and put upon Mrs. Hudson to the seductive and entrancing Irene Adler, whichever role there’s no denying that see demands our attention whenever she’s on stage. March plays the Narrator, Lestrade and a few other characters, he’s very good in every role, but some of my favorite moments of his come during the Scene changes.

Traci Ledford directs the show upon David Markson’s set which is a marvel of versatility. The locations change several times throughout the show and while the scene changes do take a little while, it’s played for laughs and becomes an entertaining aspect of the play. We see actors and stage hands waiting impatiently for someone to come and left the other end of a couch. The actors smiling at the audience as they wheel the door they just walked through to another area of the stage so they can enter another room through that door. Sometimes they ham up the moving of something with a few dance steps. Ledford finds smart and funny ways to add splashes of comedy to every aspect of the production and Markson’s set contains many surprises. Jesse March does triple duty as Sound Designer and Fight Choreographer, which features some very slapstick swordplay and slaps.

Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson – Apt. 2B runs through July 6th at the Historic Auditorium of St. Croix Falls in St. Croix Falls, WI. Granted this is a little out of my jurisdiction being in WI, but I assure you the review is legal, I filed all of the appropriate paperwork for the excursion. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.festivaltheatre.org/ms-holmes–ms-watson-apt-2b.html

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.

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.

“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!

Whoa, Nellie! The Outlaw King of the Wild Middle West is a Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius Don’t Miss This World Premiere Musical at History Theatre.

The question I asked as I left the Theatre after seeing Whoa, Nellie! The Outlaw King of the Wild Middle West was not what did I like best or what were the shortcomings… It was this, was there anything about that show that wasn’t brilliant? The answer is a resounding no! It’s all brilliant. Every cast member, every song, every costume, every element of the set design, every lighting cue. Look at that photo at the top of this review, that isn’t just one moment, the entire show is filled with bold choices that create imagery and emotional imprints on the brain. This show solidifies Laura Leffler as one of the great Directors of the Twin Cities Stages. Her direction is dynamic, simultaneously intimate and epic.

(Pictured Em Adam Rosenberg Photo by Rick Spaulding)

Whoa, Nellie! The Outlaw King of the Wild Middle West is an original musical written completely, that means book, music, and lyrics by Josef Evans. I’ve seen Evan’s work before in his outdoor summer shows for Open eye Theatre, Loch Mess and Hair Ball both of which were light hearted, fun, and silly shows. I enjoyed them quite a bit, but they did not prepare me for these exquisite compositions. Even the silliest of songs seemed musically complex as is the narrative of Nellie King, whose story the show tells. The story unfolds as a vaudville show from beyond the grave. Nellie King, like so many real life legends of the late 1800’s, is obscured by mythology. What’s true? What’s fiction? So who better to help tell her story than a group of fellow long deceased legends. Some who helped create the myths like Nellie Bly and some who were mythologized like Annie Oakley. There are performers who were famous for impersonating the opposite sex, which touches on King’s tendency to dress as a man at times throughout her life. Everything is overseen by Bert Williams who acts as an emcee for the show, and if that makes you think of another musical, I don’t blame you for going there. It’s a role performed by John Jamison II and he’s magnetic to the point of stealing the show, and he would if the rest of the cast wasn’t as strong as it is.

(foreground) Em Adam Rosenberg. (background l-r) Erin Nicole Farsté, Jay Owen Eisenberg, Leslie Vincent, Therese Walth. Photo by Rick Spaulding

Em Adam Rosenberg continues their ascent as one of the most talented rising stars of the Twin Cities. Rosenberg keeps astonishing me show after show. They play the humor of Nellie’s wild and crazy antics with a slow and gradual slid towards the tragic. In the opening we see more of the legend, by the end we will see something of the truth. We begin by getting a sense of how the legend began and end with how the woman began. Every aspect of Rosenberg’s performance is as pitch perfect as their vocals which are stunning. As is Rosenberg’s apparent mission in life, they made me cry, again. This time their accomplice was Grace Hillmyer, who charmed us last year in Kinky Boots at Lyric Arts and here is hauntingly touching as the Child, a character shrouded in mystery that only Nellie occasionally sees.

This is where things get hard, as with the recent Theatre Pro Rata shows Three Sisters and No Sisters, every single person in this cast deserves a paragraph of praise. But, that would take me all night and you would stop reading so I’m going to be brief, but please understand I have to mention them all and the shortness of those mentions does not reflect the quality which is universally sublime. All of the cast with the exception of Rosenberg play multiple characters I’ll likely be mentioning just one of my favorites for each. Tod Petersen, Leslie Vincent, and Jay Owen Eisenberg have been praised in this blog many times, the reason for that is because they are versatile and gifted and they put those talents to great use in Whoa, Nellie!. Petersen’s greatest moments come at the end when he is reunited with Nellie twenty years after they first met. Vincent as Annie Oakley gets some fun insider jokes related to the show Annie Get Your Gun, and gets to put those wonderful pipes to work in the song “You Gotta Be Crazy (Not to Go Crazy)“. Eisenberg gets to do some wonderfully quirky character bits, he does this set jaw, and worried eyed expression as a man accused of steeling a horse that hit me just right, it’s such a small thing but it brought that character right to life. Erin Nicole Farsté plays Aida Walker and the music she makes with that vocal instrument of her’s might be proof that there is a God. Therese Walth plays Nellie Bly a reporter who fills in segments of the narrative with a no nonsense approach that pays tribute to the real Bly’s role in journalism history. Thomas Bevan rounds out the cast playing multiple roles but he’s especially good as Edward Loudon, one of Nellie’s multiple and likely simultaneous husbands and perhaps the one man Nellie actually loved.

Erin Nicole Farsté, Tod Petersen, Grace Hillmyer, John Jamison II, Leslie Vincent, Thomas Bevan Photo by Rick Spaulding

Alright I can feel you scanning down the screen to see how much longer this is so I’ll try and wrap up with quick mentions of the design team. Joel Sass designed the sets and I could have told you that without looking at the program. It has that Open Eye Theatre attention to detail, every brush stroke, every silhouette, every curtain, and every floorboard is precise and stunning. Sass has found a wonderful collaborator for his style in Lighting Designer Grant E. Merges, there are so many moments in which the light helps to create an image that feels iconic. Bryce Turgeon is the costume designer and creative doesn’t seem to do his work justice. So many wonderful designs but hands down my favorite was Nellie’s final costume which includes a cape made out of headlines from newspapers about her. The hats are all wonderful as well and while I didn’t notice them, because I just don’t, my wife assures me that every shoe and boot in the show was to die for. Great Sound Design work by C Andrew Mayer and Prop Designs by Rebecca Jo Malmstrom, and Choreography by Joey Miller, everyone working together creating a breathtaking experience on every level.

This is undoubtedly one of the best theatrical experiences of the year and you should not miss the opportunity to see something this bold and original. I promise you will not leave this show disappointed. I plan to see it again, which is hard with my schedule but there is no way I’m letting this one go without experiencing it at least one more time. Whoa, Nellie! The Outlaw King of the Wild Middle West runs through June 8th at History Theatre in St. Paul. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.historytheatre.com/2024-2025/whoa-nellie-outlaw-king-wild-middle-west

Triassic Parq! Minneapolis Musical Theatre’s Regional Premiere at Lush in Minneapolis

Triassic Parq! is a great idea for an outrageous musical. Jurassic Park told from the point of view of the dinosaurs. If you remember the film, the line “life finds a way” refers to how the dinosaurs manage to procreate even though they are all genetically engineered to be female. The gene sequencing of the dino DNA was incomplete and the scientists filled in the gaps with frog DNA. Some frogs can change their gender if needed and thus one of the dinosaurs becomes male. There is an interesting theme there that could be a wonderful allegory for the Transgender community. But like most nuggets of potential in this show, with book and lyrics by Marshall Pailet, Bryce Norbitz, and Steve Wargo with music by Pailet, it never amounts to much of anything. It’s a show full of potential written by people without the wit or vision to capitalize on an idea brimming with possibilities.

The show doesn’t know what it wants to be and thus doesn’t commit to anything. Does it want to be a parody of Jurassic Park following the films plot but with a perspective change and comedy? Then it needs to be funnier. Does it want to be an LGBTQ+ anthem? Then it needs to embrace those aspects much more. Does it want to be a raunchy adults only show full of risque humor? Then it needs to go a lot further. Before seeing the show I enjoyed a lovely brunch in Lush’s bar area with some fellow Twin Cities Theater Bloggers and one said he’d be surprised if there wasn’t a joke about a Triceratops and Tricerabottoms, which is far better than anything in this script. As for the songs, in general they were much too loud and bombastic for my taste. There were a couple of songs that were alright, but again nothing that proclaimed itself as particularly clever or moving. This is not a reflection on the cast or the theater company, Minneapolis Musical Theatre, the issue is completely with the material, not the execution.

As for the execution let me first say that Minneapolis Musical Theatre whose motto is “Rare Musicals, Well Done” holds a special place in my heart. They produced one of the shows, Be More Chill, that led directly to me starting The Stages of MN. They produce the kinds of musicals that don’t get produced by other theaters and that’s a valuable thing, and I’ve seen a lot of really fun and interesting shows produced by them. When that is your mission, occasionally you are gonna hit on something that just doesn’t work. For the most part, I enjoyed the cast; they were doing everything they could with the material as was director Kjer Whiting. A couple of the performers were pushing outside their vocal range but others were really strong. The band led by Musical Director and Pianosaurus Amanda Weis were excellent, again unfortunate that they didn’t have something more memorable to perform. Unfortunately it’s hard to make a lump of coal sparkle no matter how much you try.

Perhaps my expectations were too high going into this as I saw all the possibilities and felt the end result squandered the majority of them. It isn’t without its charms mainly a cast and crew that give it their all. While I can’t recommend the show very highly, I know that some I was with found it more enjoyable than I did. But whether you decide to take in Triassic Parq! or not, I encourage you to make a donation to Minneapolis Musical Theatre, the work they do in bringing us rare musicals is important and needs to be supported. Triassic Parq! runs through April 13th at LUSH Lounge & Theater, 990 Central Avenue NE in Minneapolis. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.aboutmmt.org/tickets/

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.

Tired of missing reviews from The Stages of MN? Do you find yourself left out when all your friends are talking about that great new play that you didn’t even know about? Never fear, that need never happen again. Now you too can subscribe and have every post from The Stages of MN sent directly to your email box. No more hoping the algorithm works in your favor and you actually see a post on facebook or Instagram. No relying on so-called friends to tip you to the best shows in town. 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.

But that’s not all! You can also read some of my reviews syndicated on the MN Playlist website https://minnesotaplaylist.com/ from time to time. Think I may have steered you wrong on a show? Well, I am also a member of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers (TCTB), where you can read roundups of shows by m’colleagues and I when you follow us on facebook @TwinCitiesTheaterBloggers.

The Crucible From Night Fire Theatre is a Powerful Production That Broadcasts a Warning for Today

Looking around the sanctuary at the Living Spirit Methodist Church where Night Fire Theatre has mounted its production of Arthur Miller’s classic play The Crucible, I had one thought. This play is criminally under attended. Which puts me into full The Stages of MN action. This is why I started this, to share with people great shows they might not know were running. This is a great production, this is one you need to get to. I know what you are thinking, isn’t that a slow old timey play? No, it isn’t. It is a riveting production that, though written in the 50’s as an allegory for McCarthyism, feels frighteningly relevant today. How does a play written about events that occurred in the late 1600’s to shine a light on events in the 1950’s feel like it was written for today? Because as the play itself proclaims, “we are what we always were”. There will always be those among us that will use fear to stoke hatred in order to obscure their own faults. The Crucible tells the story of a group of young women led by Abigail Williams, whom it’s interesting to note that by the views of her society is guilty of sexual misdeeds, who prey upon the superstitions of a community whose critical thinking skills have been removed through religious indoctrination, at first to distract from the rules they broke and avoid punishment, and later as revenge against anyone that displeases them. Remind you of a certain President, convicted of sexual abuse and linked to child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who stokes fear among the religious right and Fox News cult to distract from his 34 felony convictions and other crimes against Immigrants, Transgender people, and anyone who disagrees with him?

Arthur Miller’s script stands on it’s own as a masterpiece of the American theater. It is perhaps the supreme example of the allegory as a technique to comment on society. Director Penelope Parsons-Lord has staged a compelling production against Scenic Designer Keven Lock’s simplified set constructed of wooden pallets. Parsons-Lord isn’t content to let the script speak for itself and present it straightforwardly on stage she takes advantage of the space having actors enter from every possible route, even using the balcony briefly. There are Directorial flourishes that help to create an emotional understanding of what is happening in the play. Such as the use of the Janis Joplin song “Piece of My Heart” in an early scene to convey to the audience that the young girls are simply being teenagers, dancing in the woods with their friends in a small display of private rebellion against their elders. Or the black ash that falls upon Salem in the final act, it has no explanation in reality, but it’s a striking visual to convey the sense that the soul of the city has been destroyed and what remains are the ashes of a once vibrant community.

There is nothing quite as thrilling as seeing great performances in an intimate space and this play gives us that. Derek Dirlam conveys an intensity and power as John Proctor, the everyman who must battle the irrationality of the court’s reasoning and blindness. Lizzie Esposito as Reverend Hale and Aaron Ruder as Deputy Governor Danforth are both fantastic at portraying their characters logic and beliefs whether accurate or misheld, their performances keep the tension mounting, giving glimmers of hope, and pangs of frustrated hope. Patti Gage as Reverend Parris seemed to be stumbling with her lines in the opening scenes, but soon overcame that and by the end her near hysterical performance was extremely effective at conveying her characters encroaching sense of doom and damnation. Isabelle Hopewell successfully gets us to despise her conniving and malignant Abigail Williams. Penelope Parsons-Lord along with directing and designing the costumes plays John Proctor’s wife Elizabeth broadcasting fear, intelligence, and finally a quiet air of nobility and bravery in the face of madness. Stephanie Kahle plays Mary Warren, The Proctors servant girl who is initially with Abigail but repents and tries to do the right thing. Her performance in the scene where she must face the Deputy Governor, Abigail and the other girls is heartbreaking. She vividly captures the emotional rollercoaster of fear battling conscience, her final act is made sympathetic by the emotional reality of her performance.

The Crucible is a must see show! Those who took in the recent production of The Messenger at Six Points Theater will find this to be a great companion piece. Night Fire Theatre’s production of The Crucible runs through April 12th at Living Spirit United Methodist Church in South Minneapolis. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.nightfiretheatre.com/the-crucible

School Pictures Schools the Audience at Theater Latté Da in Northeast Minneapolis

Writer-performer Milo Cramer in School Pictures at Theater Latté Da. Photo credit: Dan Norman.

Milo Cramer’s solo show School Pictures Which just won a 2025 Obie Award makes its local premiere at Theater Latté Da. A low tech, low key, delightfully quirky and quick 75 minute show that makes you laugh and think. Cramer wrote the show about a five year period in his life when he tutored students in New York City. Cramer sings with a voice that won’t win him any singing contests. And yet, it’s his slightly high pitched kinda in and out of key quality that gets the audience on his side right from the start. It’s charming and relatable, as are his instrumentations which are simplistic. He’s telling us up front that he’s not a musical theater major who composes songs for full orchestras, he’s just like us, with an ability to carry a tune and learn a few cords on a ukulele. He’s just here to sing us a few silly little comedic songs about some teenage kids he tutored and their sometimes eye rolling attitudes and problems. He lulls you into a sense of comfort and humor and then, there is the big reveal!

As you can see in the photo accompanying this review there are sheets of colored paper with names on them on a bulletin board. Cramer goes through them sequentially, each is a seperate song/story about a student he taught. They are each unique and humorous as little episodes, but the cumulative effect is building to that big reveal. Which is where Cramer takes the audience to school asking us to do a few math problems and giving us facts about the inequity of the New York City school system. The conclusions are eye opening to the uninformed and audiences may find themselves grateful they don’t have kids in that school system. Well, ask an educator at an North Minneapolis Middle School I know of and you will hear stories that will make you furious at the Minneapolis School Board. After the stories I’ve heard from several educators I’m left with the conclusion that like the President they want the public education system to fail. When the students first went back after Covid, the school would repeatedly falsely report there were no covid cases when there were dozens of cases per grade. Guns in the school not being reported by the administration, teachers being told to lie about. Teachers being blamed for getting assaulted. Teachers without text books for students. I have a niece and nephew in South Minneapolis schools which are much better, and have more resources, but that could all easily go away very soon.

The education system in this country has been at a crisis point for a long time now. We need more resources directed at schools, so that we don’t lose dedicated teachers who go unsupported with no resources and no support. But the worst thing is that there is a large segment of a generation of kids that are not being given the opportunity to succeed. Why would anyone want that? Well, you might want that if you wanted a generation of people who didn’t have skills or knowledge to question things. People who haven’t been taught problem solving skills. People like that would be easy to control through fear and misinformation. And if you eliminate independent sources of information, you can control the message and the people. You can continue to keep the wealthy educated and rich, and you can keep the nonwhite and/or poor, in survival mode. These are the thoughts that Cramer’s show stirred up in my mind as I drove home from the show. So cute and funny? Yes, but also with a message of real value and substance.

School Pictures runs through March 2nd at Theater Latté Da. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.latteda.org/school-pictures

The Ostentatious Outlaws of Neehai Valley or Why I Love Theater so Damn Much

Tonight, or I suppose technically it was last night, I attended a workshop and stage reading of a new musical in the works from Keith Hovis commissioned by Trademark Theater. I haven’t attended a lot of staged readings, my schedule is usually so full with shows to allow for it. I am so grateful I attended this one. I’m not going to review the show here, this is a work in progress, though to my mind it’s ready now to be fully mounted. But I do have to write something because it’s after midnight and I’m so excited by what I just saw that I’m not going to be able to sleep until I get something out of me. Hovis, who wrote the book, music, and lyrics has created something very special here. It’s the sort of show that’s hard to categorize because it’s more than one thing. First and foremost, it’s hysterically funny. Secondly, it’s a musical without a single dud or time filling song, every single one is memorable. But it’s also social commentary, representation, raunchy as hell, and moving. In short, it’s genius. But more important than what it is, is how it made me feel. I can only describe the feeling of being in the room when this display of creativity, humor , and humanity was happening as feeling fully alive. This is the feeling a theater junkie like me is always chasing. We feel lucky if we feel a quarter of this feeling, it’s so rare to have this strong of a reaction, and this was just a reading. Wow.

The Cast in Rehearsal: Photo courtesy of Trademark Theater
(L-R) Kiko Laureano, Armando Ronconi, Neal Beckman, Hope Nordquist, Em Adam Rosenberg

There are two downsides to an evening like this, I can rave all I want about it, but if you weren’t there, you missed it. I do this because I want to share experiences like this with you, faithful readers, and until they stage it I can’t. The second problem, and there are honestly only a handful of times this ever happens, this cast is so good, that any cast other than this will never be able to measure up. I can only think of two examples of other shows that have had that effect on me. The first was one of the shows that led to The Stages of MN’s creation, and that was Hedwig and the Angry Inch featuring Trademark Theater’s Founder and Artistic Director Tyler Michaels King as Hedwig and Jay Owen Eisenberg as Yitzhak. The other was a a musical called Interstate that opened at Mixed Blood in March 2020, only to be closed early due to the Covid pandemic. I saw both of those three times each, and wished I could have seen them more. I went back, bringing new people each time because I know that live theater exists as it’s happening. Once a shows run ends, it’s over. The next production will be something different. I’m so excited by what I just saw and I’m so sad that I cannot bring you with me to see it again tomorrow night or next weekend. I have no doubt that Trademark will mount this and I’d be very surprised if we didn’t see it in their 2025-2026 season. When it comes, I’ll remind you that this is a moment that you don’t want to let slip away. My greatest hope is that this cast returns as I’m going to have a very difficult time picturing anyone else in these roles. Everyone of them is perfectly cast, they brilliantly mine every line for maximum effect, it’s rare to hear an audience laugh out loud so much. It is almost non stop laughter, but there was one particularly moving moment. Towards the end, Em Adam Rosenberg sings a song that is so eloquent so moving and so beautifully sung, that they had not only me in tears, but also some of their fellow cast members. It’s a moment I wish I could have shared with my son George, it would have connected for him. I hope I get a chance to share that moment with him in the future.