Over the River and Through the Woods a Great Script With Fantastic Cast Creates Pure Gold

Mark Rosenwinkle, Melinda Kordich, Julia Ennen, Armando Harlow Ronconi, Kirby Bennett and Gabriele Angieri Photo by Brian Pierce

This was my third time out to Sidekick Theatre in South West Bloomington and my second time enjoying a meal before the show. I know that for some of my colleagues it seems like a bit of a trek for a show, but I’m to the West of the cities and for me this is much closer than going to St. Paul for a show, which I do on a nearly weekly basis. But honestly the reason I’ve come back for the second and third time is not proximity, it’s because I have been thoroughly entertained and indeed impressed with Sidekick Theatre’s offerings. Over the River and Through the Woods is the best show so far and deserves to be seen by everyone. Laugh out loud funny but also touched with moments of sweetness and truth. Characters and situations that everyone can identify with. The humor flows from life not simply one liners and it works it’s way into our hearts because of it.

The script by Joe DiPietro centers on Nick, an unmarried young man who works in the City in marketing, but comes out every Sunday to Hoboken, New Jersey to have dinner with his maternal and paternal grandparents. As the play opens Nick has uncharacteristically come out on a Thursday because he has something to tell the grandparents. We must be 15 minutes into the play before Nick can get out his announcement, though he’s trying to do so from the moment he walks into the house. The announcement that he has been offered a promotion at work comes with the catch that if he accepts it he will need to move to Seattle. Why does it take so long, because none of them listen to him, his Grandma Aida tries to push food on him non stop throughout the entire run of the play, when Grandma Emma and Grandpa Nunzio arrive he informs the audience that they are the two loudest people he has ever known. Throughout the play the characters break the fourth wall and address the audience directly. Much of the humor, and of humor there is much, comes from Nick’s frustrations in dealing with his Grandparents, whether it’s trying to share news or playing Trivial Pursuit. The humor is character based, the best kind, the type that builds and provides avenues for call backs. It is also full of universal beats that ring true to the audience.

The script is well written to be sure but the cast really make it feel authentic. It’s about growing up and growing older, it’s about family that drives you crazy but that you also love dearly. It is a comedy, but a comedy about characters that you laugh at but also grow to connect and even love. And so it isn’t just about laughs, it also contains moments of sweetness and melancholy. And those only come because we have grown to love these characters and that is thanks to the amazing cast. Armando Harlow Ronconi plays Nick and his performance is built as much on his reactions to the other performers as on what he says and how. He has a gift for portraying frustration and incredulity without every overdoing it, every reaction is perfectly calibrated to find the balance between comic effect and keeping the character grounded in a reality. Kirby Bennett as Grandma Aida finds ways of pushing food on Nick constantly without it ever falling into a repetitive comedic routine. Instead, she finds a way to internalized this repeated action into the core of her character. Mark Rosenwinkel as Grandpa Frank, Gabriele Angieri as Grandpa Nunzio, and Melinda Kordich as Grandma Emma all work together so organically that you feel as if they really have lived next to each other for 50 years. They are remarkably gifted at talking over each other, creating a cacophony of voices through which Nick has to try and navigate and yet which the audience is able to follow word for word. Finally Julia Ennen plays Caitlin, the young woman the Grandparents invite to dinner without telling Nick, hoping he’ll fall in love with her and decide not to move away.

Over the River and Through the Woods runs through November 3rd at Sidekick Theatre in Bloomington for more information and to purchase tickets go to https://sidekicktheatre.com/about-the-show-over-river I highly recommend purchasing the optional meal before the show, I’ve found both the weekend brunch and the weekday lunch options to be delicious. It’s always nice when there is something extra like that to make a trip to the theater a little extra special.

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Heck is Enjoyably Funny But Less Than the Sum of its Parts at St. Croix Festival Theatre

Jesse March and Kathryn Cesarz Photo by Dan Norman

I journeyed up to St. Croix Falls for the world premiere of Heck, billed as a new musical comedy by the stars of the show and co-directors Kathryn Cesarz and Jesse March. We made a day of it, doing some hiking across the river in Taylors Falls, enjoying an old fashioned ice cream soda on main street, dinner at supper club and a little shopping. And if you are traveling from the cities to see the show, that’s what I recommend you do as well as I’m not sure the show itself justifies the two and a half plus hour round trip drive. But it is amusing enough as the capper to a days adventure. It feels less like a musical comedy and more like a comedy with a few songs as it felt like there were about five or six songs, three of which really seemed to add something to the show. To be sure, one of them was really a showstopper performed by Kathryn Cesarz and Alexandria Neyhart playing Madam Satan and Gabby (The Archangel Gabriel). What works best and ultimately swings this show into the positive column is the comedy. The individual bits and characters are very funny, though there are a too many storylines that seem poorly defined and in the end, don’t really seem to add up to anything. It isn’t that there isn’t a plot, it’s just that the show seems relatively unconcerned with it and as such, it isn’t very clearly defined. You get to the end and most of the characters are right where they were at the start, and you feel like every storyline was resolved, but you’re not really sure what they all were about anyway.

The positives are much easier to define and really do make the experience enjoyable. First off, is Jesse March’s turn as Satan’s emotional support demon Belpho. March is a truly gifted clown, interacting with the audience in an easy going manner, and always finding the perfect line reading to achieve the largest laughs possible. Cesarz’s Madam Satan, is less concerned with being funny, but she has the character’s air of cold aloofness, superiority, and a touch of the dominatrix down perfectly. Evan Grande gives voice and brings to life the puppet demon Squee, assisted by Mary Margaret Hughes, and Lindsey Fry. Squee is a very successful creation, the three performers work in collaboration in full view of the audience to bring him to life, but very quickly you stop looking at the puppeteers and only see the puppet as a character. The puppet created by Michael Pettit is really an exceptional creation. Final performance note Theater Blogger Alex Lauer of https://onefanshow.com/ gave an award worthy performance as audience member pulled on stage to have their mind read.

For more information and to purchase tickets to Heck which runs through October 27th in St. Croix Falls WI go to https://www.festivaltheatre.org/

Measure For Measure is Must See Shakespeare From the Birth Play Project at A-Mill Artists Loft

Measure for Measure is one of Shakespeare’s lesser known plays. I’ve never seen it performed before and have no recollection of skipping it if it has been performed locally in recent years. The play is usually given a pass as one of Shakespeare’s problem plays. Is it a comedy or is it a tragedy, what happens exactly at the end and as the cast performing this production acknowledges, there are some twists and convolutions that nobody understands why they are included. Based on this one exposure to Measure for Measure I think this may be Shakespeare inventing the black comedy. The great thing about Shakespeare is that all the plays are around 400 years old, they’re in the public domain baby! You can do whatever you want with them, that’s how we get a Hamlet adaptation entitled Strange Brew and Henry IV as My Own Private Idaho. You can cut, rearrange, add to, completely modernize, and even set it on a Forbidden Planet. The Birth Play Project’s adaptation by Madeline Wall & William Edson embraces that freedom and comes up with a captivating production that feels like a Ten Thousand Things Shakespeare production. That is some very nice company to be in and The Birth Play Project earns their place at the table.

The play opens with Vienna’s Duke Vincentio placing Angelo in charge when she has to leave the city. She doesn’t actually leave though but disguises herself as a nun in order to observe Angelo and the citizens without their knowledge. Angelo, mad with power, decrees that anyone having sex out of wedlock will be put to death. The first offender is Claudio and his lover Juliet, who he is in the process of marrying and is pregnant. Claudio’s sister Isabella comes to plead with Angelo for Claudio’s life. This scene is where the show really clicked for me. Isabella Dunsieth who plays Isabella and Madeline Wall who plays Angelo debate back and forth like a slightly more serious Benedict and Beatrice. Angelo falls for Isabella, who is in the process of taking her vows to become a nun. All comparisons to that “will they or won’t they” couple end abruptly when Angelo agrees to let Claudio live if Isabella will sleep with her (Did I mention there is a lot of gender swapping in this production?). Isabella relays the information to Claudio who expresses his feelings that dying is worse than losing your virginity. Isabella is assisted by a nun, really the Duke in disguise, and it is arranged that Angelo will have sex with someone else thinking it is Isabella. After having her way with Isabella’s stand in, Angelo changes her mind and orders Claudios head to be cut off immediately. Again the Duke in disguise intervenes and another prisoners head is cut off instead. Can you kind of see why this is a Problem play? The twists and turns and convolutions are right out of his comedies, except instead of pretending to be a servant and wooing a princess, they are swapping people to be beheaded. It’s absurd and also very very dark. I didn’t even mention the live birth, that you almost sort of witness.

I absolutely loved what Wall and Edson who also co-directed the play did with this adaptation. Likewise the cast is excellent and embraces the weirdness of the play and all its twists and odd turns. They do two things that are crucial in a good Shakespeare performance. The first is you need actors who can speak the language so that it makes sense to the audience, everyone does so here. Secondly they need to not only make it understood but breathe fresh air into it, which they also accomplish admirably. The big surprise for me was Isabella Dunsieth, who I feel I know primarily for her work in the Brave New Workshop shows such as No Country For Two Old which she is currently also appearing in. Here she speaks shakespeare’s language as if it were her first, which being english I guess it probably was… but you know what I mean, she’s a natural. Edson and Wall both do triple duty not only adapting and directing but also acting in the show. Wall is Angelo and the sparks that fly as Isabella and Angelo debate are electric. Edson plays Claudio and makes a good argument himself when pleading for his life. There are too many cast members to go through them all, but trust me there is no weak link in this chain of performers.

This is a great opportunity to see a little produced play from Shakespeare. One can see why it’s not often staged, because it takes a very special theater company like The Birth Play Project to make it come alive like this. I suspect I will never see a better production of Measure for Measure and as such I highly recommend you see it while you can. Measure for Measure has three more performances at various location for tickets go to https://linktr.ee/birthplayproject.

Rosette From New Arab American Theater Works Has World Premiere at Mixed Blood

Leor Benjamin and Laila Sahir Photo by Bruce Silcox

Rosette by William Nour and developed through New Arab American Works’ Inaugural Playwright Incubator Program holds its world Premiere at Mixed Blood Theater in Minneapolis. It is a play designed to remind us that we are all ultimately the same. To remind us that whether we are Christian, Jew or Muslim, Israeli, Palestinian or American we are all the same inside. I am not a very political creature but I do understand that there is a political element to this play. I’m not interested when reviewing this play about the larger current political environment I’m concerned with the characters and the story it is telling. Which is of two Palestinian families living in the city of Haifa in 1966. Rosette a teenage girl living with her parents, Yusef and Ida, who are Christians and their neighbors and best friends, Jameel and Maryam and their son Omar, who are Muslim. The two families were both exiled from the same West Bank village in 1948. The play is more character study than plot driven. There isn’t really a goal that the characters are trying to achieve, there is conflict to be sure, but it is of the everyday variety. It is really about presenting these characters, so different from mine in the details of their life. But, so similar in their emotions, hopes, and desires. Through showing us these characters with all their traits good and bad, playwright Nour shows us ourselves. Rosette reminds us that behind headlines there are people just like you and me who are not creating the headlines but living through them.

The cast is uniformly good particularly in the group scenes where the dialogue during disagreements flies fast and overlaps. Laila Sahir as Rosette and Claudia Veronica Garcia as her mother Ida are particularly effective when they battle in the ways that mothers and daughters have across races, cultures, and history. It is in these interpersonal exchanges between parents and children, between the children, between husbands and wives, and between old friends and neighbors that we see ourselves our families and friends reflected back at us. Nour’s gift is in writing these moments which all ring true. Also in finding the way to illustrate again, without being too on the nose, how each generation has to find it’s own path and how difficult that can be for the older generation who watches their way of life vanishing. In this case that fear of loss in complicated by having lost so much in their lives. Change can be good and is almost always inevitable, but it can also be hard. Even in things as small as woman wearing pants or as large as marrying outside of your own faith.

Rosette is an engaging and effective showcase of the universality of the human condition. It is well written and acted, the only criticism I have is in the scene changes. There are pieces of set design that are reconfigured and plants that are moved about the stage during way too frequent of scene changes. The show runs about 70 minutes at least five of which are scene changes. The addition of a few additional set pieces could have allowed for simply staging different scenes on different portions of the stage. Mixed Blood Theater has an unusually wide stage and this solution could easily have been utilized and allowed for a more fluid narrative. Rosette runs through October 6th at Mixed Blood Theater. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.newarabamericantheaterworks.org/upcoming-events-/rosette–by-william-nour

But that’s not all! 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. 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/ . Now you too can be in the know about all the fabulous theater happening in and around the Twin Cities.

Behind the Sun a Fascinating Story Let Down by Strangely Lifeless Production at History Theatre

Charla Marie Bailey, Darius Dotch, Scott Witebsky, and Jane Froiland Photo by Rick Spaulding

I’m not sure how to explain the monotone performances I just witnessed in History Theatre’s Behind the Sun tonight. Most of these actors I’ve seen perform many times and I assure you they are talented performers. So why does 70% of the dialogue sound like a fifth grade teacher reading from a novel to students? Is it Richard D. Thompson’s Direction? Is it the script by Stanley Kipper and Laura Drake? If it was one performance or two I’d assume it was the performer, but it’s everyone with the possible exception of Darius Dotch who does everything he can to breathe life into the production. Perhaps Thompson was making some sort of artistic statement with this performance style like Yorgos Lanthimos? If so it’s point escapes me. In another bizarre choice, he has Joshaviah Kawala who plays the main characters son Tyler, shout every line, which understandably makes it hard to put any feeling behind the lines. There are certainly script issues including a denouement that seems too pat. Maybe the scripts dialogue just defies a dramatic reading? I don’t know, because the story and the details of the it are full of drama and potential.

The show follows Obie Kipper played by Darius Dotch and his wife Mary played by Charla Marie Bailey as they deal with life as a black family in 1956 Minneapolis. Obie wants to get out of the neighborhood they live in which is becoming more and more dangerous. Their son Tyler, played by Joshaviah Kawala, attends a Catholic school where the prejudice of the nuns almost cost him his life. Obie hatches a plan with his Jewish friend Abe, played by Scott Witebsky, to buy a house in an all white neighborhood. The first act of the show is basically laying the groundwork for why the family needs to move. The second act begins with the Kippers taking possession of the house and the atrocious things they have to endure in their first days there. By this point in the play I was amazed at the courage and perseverance of the Kipper family. I was wondering if I would have been able to stay or if what they were dealing with would have forced me to move. We then cut to some unstated amount of time later, it feels like maybe a few weeks to a month, and seemingly all the harassment has stopped and everything is great. The show runs a little under two hours including the 15 minute intermission, so adding a little time to the show wouldn’t be pushing anyone’s endurance. I’d have liked to have had a few more scenes to walk us through that transition of night of terror to everything’s fine.

It’s a great story and an okay script which has been produced before, but it needs another draft. For instance, there is an incident that happens offstage, a friend of Mary’s from the bus gets abducted after work. It’s a moment that pushes the family into implementing their scheme to buy the house. But I don’t know what happened to the friend. I didn’t know that was something that did happen. I’d like that to have been better explained. One element that did work beautifully was the set design by Rick Polenek. Changes made during intermission, which I failed to even notice were happening, that convert the Kipper home from their original to the new house very effectively. Look I don’t know whether to recommend this or not. I got a lot out of the story and Dotch gives a good performance as does Bailey when she is allowed to get worked up and show some emotion. But with a story this good, the production should be much better. Still, I learned stuff, and that goes in the plus column. Behind the Sun runs through October 13th at History Theatre in St. Paul. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.historytheatre.com/2024-2025/behind-sun

Dial M for Murder Thrills at Yellow Tree Theatre

Dial M for Murder with a script adapted by local favorite Jeffrey Hatcher from the original play by Frederick Knott is making its way to the stage for the second time in a year. Last year I gave a very favorable review to the Guthrie’s production. Knott also wrote the screenplay for the Famous Alfred Hitchcock 3D film. Hatcher keeps the basics of the original work but adds several twists that make the play feel more modern though it retains the original 1950’s period setting and London locale. Normally with a thriller I’d be hesitant to give anything away, and I still intend to keep most things under wraps. But, unlike an Agatha Christie story, this isn’t really a whodunnit, it’s more like a Columbo episode. You know who the criminal is very early on, the thrills come from seeing how his plan comes off and how he adapts when things don’t go according to plan. The piece I won’t spoil is a sequence that Hatcher inserts during the commission of the crime, it doesn’t change Knotts basic plot but it adds another layer of suspicions, and it’s a ingenious little twist.

The plot revolves around Tony Wendices plan to have an old acquaintance named Lesgate murder his wife Margot after having discovered she had an affair with a writer that ended a year previous. One major change is a gender swap of the former lover from Max to Maxine. He also changes the professions of Tony and Maxine which adds another dimension to Tony’s motivations. Probably Hatchers greatest contribution is an injection of humor into the script, not so much as to feel out of place but just the perfect amount to add to the overall enjoyment of the piece. Since we know who the villain is, the thrills come from whether or not Tony will be found out. He is a perfect improvisor and when life throws him a twist, such as his wife killing Lesgate instead of the other way round, he uses it to his advantage. Inspector Hubbard makes piecing together the clues feel like effective reasoning even when it’s wrong, you can see why it seems correct to him.

Yellow Tree’s cast is a man down from the Guthrie version having actor Edwin Strout play both Lesgate and Inspector Hubbard. Strout does a great job in both roles and makes a clear case for doubling the roles in future productions. I particularly enjoyed his turn as the Inspector. Charles Fraser whose been doing a lot of fun work at Yellow Tree recently, plays Tony with slightly more desperation and less humor. It’s always interesting to see how different actors approach the same roles. Fraser’s Tony is a little less entertaining but maybe a little more realistic, which is also a valid choice that works well. Adelin Phelps plays Margot as straitlaced and trusting, making all of her decisions make sense while being exactly the opposite of what her character should do to extricate herself from danger. Finally Erika Soukup plays Maxine with a brashness that reflects her American roots, she’s the girl Friday of the show and we don’t know exactly where she stands at times, which allows one of Hatchers twists at the end to work in ways they wouldn’t if her character wasn’t so inscrutable.

Sarah Brandner’s Set Design makes good use of the Yellow Tree Theatre’s intimate space, it’s got a nice cozy British mystery feel to it. The Lighting Design by Alex Clark and the Sound Design by Jeff Bailey add some nice touches to the atmosphere as well. The costumes by Samantha Fromm Haddow, were a little hit or miss, I really got the impression that Frasers tuxedo on the night of the murder didn’t fit him very well and the outfit Margot wears in the final scene is rather ugly, but everything Maxine is put in looks absolutely fabulous. All in all, Director Brandon Raghu has mounted a very enjoyable production. It’s a little smaller in scale than the Guthrie but at about half the price, it’s just as thrilling.

Dial M for Murder runs through October 13th at Yellow Tree Theatre in Osseo. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://yellowtreetheatre.com/dial-m

The Lehman Trilogy a Saga of Epic Scope is Completely Captivating at the Guthrie Theater

William Sturdivant, Edward Gero, and Mark Nelson Photo by Dan Norman

The Lehman Trilogy the Tony Award winning play that at three and a half hours never comes close to wearing out its welcome. Originally conceived as a nine hour Italian radio play and later a novel by Stefano Massini, it was first translated and adapted to the French stage as a five hour play by Pietro Pizzuti featuring a cast of 12. The English adaptation is by Ben Powers and was conceived with theater and film Director Sam Mendes for the National Theatre with only three actors. This version which is the one the Guthrie is presenting leaves you with one question, what was cut from the five hour and 9 hour versions? I think it a wise choice commercially to have gotten it down to three and a half hours, which includes two 15 minute intermissions. But personally, if the cut material was as good as this, I could have done another hour and a half. I never once looked at my watch, and that’s not just because I don’t wear one, I honestly never had a moment where I was conscious of the length, it flew by. I write a lot about the shows that are just entertaining. I believe in the current climate of the world and given the state of theater audiences in the last few years, that it’s vital we put on shows like Back to the Future (Hennepin Arts, National Tour), Peter and the Starcatcher (Lyric Arts), and Dial M for Murder (Yellow Tree Theatre) that are more or less purely there to entertain us. I also believe in the power of theater to explore deeper issues, and important that those plays are also produced.

That is the type of play The Lehman Trilogy is. It explores the rise of a financial institution, but that’s just the tip of what it’s about. We follow three immigrant brothers who have come to America to make their fortune. As it begins, there’s a strong familial bond between the brothers, and their Jewish faith plays a central role in their endeavors. We like them, in fact to some extent I think we like all of the Lehmans we meet throughout the play. While the arc of the play shows us the growth of Lehman Brothers from a small, fabrics and suits store to a financial institution, the way in which the business grows and changes. At first the growth and evolution of Lehman Brothers is admirable and the reverence the three founding brothers Henry, Emanuel, and Mayer have for their religion and community plays a key role. Even up through the great depression when Bobby Lehman, the last Lehman to run the company, is strategizing how to save the company he is also trying to save the country. But that will change as Bobby ages, we see throughout the play that as capitalism rises, the role of religion not only recedes, but is entirely replaced by the worship of the dollar. The whole play barrels forward like a rock gaining speed as it rolls downhill. What was thoughtful and deliberate in the beginning is overcome by greed and speed. There’s a moment when Bobby hears the pitch of what will become Credit Cards, and the birth of consumerism as a way of life, when you feel the scale finally tip and what began as a family business has lost all of it’s remaining humanity. What was fascinating about the The Lehman Trilogy was the way it looks at history and the birth of financial practices in such a way that we come to understand it all from a different perspective.

The cast features two performers from out of town, which I’d complain about but they are so good that I can’t quite bring myself to, and one local actor. The local actor is Will Sturdivant, last seen at the Guthrie in last springs the History Plays. This is a year in which Sturdivant seems to be testing his stamina. Between the three performers they play over 70 characters over the course of 80 years. All three are versatile and bring intelligence and humor to the roles. Director Arin Arbus keeps the story moving, but perfectly anticipates the moments when we are so completely enthralled in what is happening and need that extra beat to process what is transpiring. Marsha Ginsberg’s set design is simple but symbolic and capable of surprising the audience right out of the gate with the appearance of the three original Lehman Brothers. The set works wonderfully in conjunction with Hannah Wasileski’s projection designs through which we get backdrops but also visual manifestations of the dreams that often dog the members of the Lehman family. In fact the entire production team Anita Yavish’s Costumes, Yi Zhao’s lighting, and Michael Costagliola sound design all work to create a cohesive look, almost a black and white or sepia tone film look.

The Lehman Trilogy runs through October 13th at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.guthrietheater.org/shows-and-tickets/2024-2025-season/the-lehman-trilogy/