Madagascar: A Musical Adventure is a stage adaptation of the popular DreamWorks animated film that came out when my kids were little. I know I saw the film, but to be honest it has completely left my memory I have some memory of penguins and lemurs but that’s about it. Luckily prior knowledge of the film is not needed to enjoy this simple tale of Zoo animals who go looking for something more. As with most children’s shows there is a positive message about friendship and this one focuses on best friends Alex the Lion and Marty the Zebra. Marty is having a midlife crisis, she is 10 years old and still doesn’t know if she’s black with white stripes or white with black stripes. When she decides to leave the zoo and see what’s out in the world her friends led by Alex go after her to bring her back. Somehow they all end up in crates on a ship in the ocean. They go overboard and wash up on the shores of Madagascar. There they’re befriended by Lemurs who hope Alex will protect them from their carnivorous enemies. Meanwhile Alex is getting hungry and while his friends are content with the lemurs vegetarian diet, Alex’s instincts began to get the better of him.
I think most kids are going to have a great time with this show. The songs are fun and lively and there’s even a more poignant lament sung by Marty that’s really kind of beautiful. The cast a mix of a few strategic adults and lots of kids who do a great job. The Costume and Make-up Designer Samantha Fromm Haddow deserves full marks for the wonderful animal costumes. I loved the hoofs and headpiece on Marty, particularly the penguins which are puppets controlled by men dressed like Jake and Elwood Blues, are really well done. There’s a nice set design too by Joe Johnson effective as the Zoo and then surprisingly lush when transformed to Madagascar. If your wee ones like animals and music, they will have an adventure with this show and the audience really gets into it clapping along and dancing in their seats, or maybe they just needed the restroom. Either way it’s a fun show for families.
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.
Cabaret closes out the Guthrie season and feels like a portent of coming events. Directed by Guthrie Artistic Director Joseph Haj, this production doesn’t shy away from the ugly underbelly of the show. But it also doesn’t skint on the skin and scintillation. The period of freedom and openness and perhaps excess that allowed conservative forces to frighten the masses into regressing to an empathetic stone age is on full display. What I assume has to be an ad lib, the Emcee played to divine perfection, both wicked and tragic, by Jo Lampert says “Love is Love” and for a throw away line it’s the one that speaks the most urgent truth to our times. Sometimes I feel like every show I see has something urgent and vital to say to audiences. Even something as absurd as a musical about Endometriosis. Cabaret was designed to speak to the rise of nazism and how it stripped the freedom we take for granted away from the people who lived on the fringes or were part of a persecuted class in Berlin in the 1930’s. Written by Joe Masteroff (book), John Kander (music), and Fred ebb (Lyrics) it debuted on Broadway in 1966. That was another time of social unrest and one can see how the authors could see parallels to their world. What would they think if they could see us now?
When you step back and take away all the politics and social commentary what you have is an unusually structured musical. Whom we assume are the main characters, Cliff and Sally really seem to divide half of the spotlight between themselves and the B couple of Fraulein Schneider and Herr Schultz. The star of the show is the Emcee, who gets the second half of that spotlight. The best numbers have nothing to do with Cliff and Sally, in fact for a show that one feels should be about her, the character of Sally could disappear from the plot and you wouldn’t really lose that much. Let me be clear, I’m not talking about the performance by Mary Kate Moore, which is very strong, I’m talking about the character and the plot. It’s like there are some concessions made to the institution of musical theater, and once they included those they went to town breaking out of the traditional mold. And I think that was a bold move in 1966 and it still works like gangbusters today. The cast is terrific led by Jo Lampert who along with the Kit Kat Klub ensemble are what you will leave the production remembering. There is one scene that was an unexpected knock out for me, it’s between Fraulein Schneider and Herr Schultz they are singing “Married” and they are joined by Monet Sabel as the Chanteuse is a beautiful voice that works in contrast to the the more risque songs that pepper the rest of the show.
Choreographer Casey Sams creates some unforgettable tableaus making each number at the Kit Kat Klub unique and memorable. Jen Caprio’s costumes, again especially with the Kit Kat Klub ensemble and the Emcee are daring and creative. There is one scene where Lampert is dressed half as a man and half as a woman that’s very well executed. Marion Williams set design is well planned with the upper level used as train cars and rooms at the Kit Kat Klub. Some of my favorite technical moments came from the lighting and sound cues by Lighting Designer Josh Epstein and Sound Designer Mikaal Sulaiman. Their work helps to bring out some of the darker emotional moments with a sudden immediacy that one feels throughout their body. Mark Hartman as Music Director has his own tricks up his sleeves which I will not spoil but there’s a moment that surprises us and lands an emotional punch we aren’t quite expecting.
I’ve seen Cabaret performed three times now and this is my favorite production so far. if you’ve never seen it, this is the production to see. If you have and love it, you will not want to miss this what Joe Haj and the Guthrie have concocted. Cabaret runs through August 24th 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/cabaret/ for more on my coverage of Cabaret be sure to tune into episode three of The Stages of MN Show on YouTube.
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.
Kathryn Cesarz & Mary Margaret Hughes Photo by Dan Norman Kathryn Cesarz & Lindsey Fry 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.
Nora Sonneborn as Aunt Flow and Abby Holstrom as Jane Photo by Aaron Mark Photo Film
Endometriosis: The Musical is simultaneously drop dead funny and deadly serious, not dramatically but thematically. It brings into the spotlight a painful and sometimes debilitating disease that affects 10% of all menstruating humans. It dares to sing about things that too many people are afraid to even whisper. The show created by childhood BFF’s Maria Bartholdi (book and lyrics) and Kristin Stowell (music and lyrics) began life as a 2022 Minnesota Fringe show, that was performed at Theatre in the Round. I awarded it the second ever The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award, it also won three other actual MN Fringe sanctioned Awards, I’m sure those are nice to have too. The powers that be at Theatre in the Round saw what everyone in the audience did that August, a show that had a life beyond Fringe. They asked Bartholdi and Stowell to continue to develop it and now three years later it has grown from a 45 minute show to over two hours. Length hasn’t dimmed it’s energy or creativity, and at nearly three times its original length it still seems to fly by in the blink of an eye. The expansion has allowed it to touch on other areas of Women’s healthcare, sharing some statistics that would be sobering if we weren’t already drunk with the potent cocktail of musical theater absurdity.
Jane played by original cast member Abby Holstrom loves “business” and has dreams of working on her employer Business, Incorporated’s “big account.” When her co-worker Brad is mauled by a bear while on his morning run (did I mention this was in the absurdist comedic vein) she gets her big chance. But as she prepares for the meeting she is stricken down by her period, which is always so painful she can barely stay standing. Throughout the play we are given glimpses of how she is dismissed by co-workers, family, and healthcare providers when she tries to make them understand how bad the pain is. Sadly this is not a fantasy, this is what really happens to women. The average sufferer will see seven providers before they are correctly diagnosed. Endometriosis: The Musical brings all of this into the light through clever songs and a hilarious script. It also adds to the cultural lexicon Pussy Porridge, a euphemism only a mother could love. Some might add a disclaimer that this show should only be seen by those over say 16, but isn’t that part of the problem? I think this show should be seen by everyone who is old enough to be entering puberty, of both sexes. We need to destigmatize (my spell check indicates I may have coined a new word there…cool!) openly talking about issues that affect around 50% of the worlds population. Maybe if we can talk about it, we can learn to finance research into finding ways to improve healthcare for every human with a uterus.
I really don’t want to leave you with the impression that this is a covert message show. The message isn’t covert, they sing about it. And while sure, you might learn a thing or two, you’ll be having too much fun to even realize it. The show is directed by one of The Stages of MN favorites Shanan Custer. Custer is the perfect fit for this material, her comedic sensibilities aline perfectly with the material. With clever and knowing winks to the audience she invites us all to let go of theatrical distance and embrace the silliness. The cast led by Holstrom is stellar including a couple folks on my must see list, such as Tara Borman and Nora Sonneborn, and a few I feel like I’m really noticing for the first time including Christopher Knutson and Jack Strub who approach their characters in very different ways, each perfect for their roles. But all of the talent isn’t on stage, there is great technical work from the production team. Sadie Ward’s Set Design includes giant tampons hanging in the ceiling. Ryan McCanna’s costumes are spectacular including an Elvis like suit with a cape adorned with a uterus. It’s hard to know sometimes which items are set design, costume, or props, but I’m giving a shout out to Prop Designer Mark Steffer as well, because I know some of the stuff that had me almost rolling on the floor must have been his. All of it is enhanced by some really nice sound and lighting cues from Sound Designer Kristin Smith and Lighting Designer Mark Webb. Last but not least Music Director Jean Orbison Van Heel gets a lot out of a three piece ensemble.
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a musical at Theatre in the round before. Likely one of you faithful readers will correct me, but if there have been, they are few and far between. It’s so great to see the cities oldest running Community Theater host a world premiere of such a fantastic musical. This is a must see and one I’m very tempted to try and see again, which is even harder now due to The Stages of MN’s expansion into the audio visual world, more on that at the bottom of this review. Endometriosis: The Musical runs through July 13th at Theatre in the Round Players in Minneapolis. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.theatreintheround.org/endometriosis-the-musical/
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.
Kelsey Angel Baehrens and Emjoy Gavino Photo by Rich Ryan
Necessity requires that going forward in order to produce a weekly YouTube show and podcast that reviews will become shorter. There are only so many hours in a day but, I have no intention of abandoning the blog version. Faithful readers, you have year after year grown The Stages of MN audience. While I hope you will become viewers or listeners as well, there will always be things here that cannot be found there. This will be the place for longer reviews, though slightly shorter than before, as well as Reviews of more shows than can be covered on the YouTube and Podcast versions. Essentially there will be some overlap, but each format will have unique content.
On to Stop Kiss which is a battle between two conflicting emotions and storylines. The play is broken into two timelines, both following two young women Callie, a long time resident of NYC and Sara, who has just moved to the city from the Midwest. One timeline follows them from their first meeting to their first kiss. The second storyline follows them in the aftermath of the kiss, but it’s not what you think. They are victims of a hate crime which leaves Sara in a coma. The two timelines alternate from scene to scene, so one moment we are watching a friendship blossom and then grow into an unexpected attraction. It is full of anticipation and joy and laughter and longing. The other is filled with tragedy, loss, and heartbreak, but also the growth and love. It’s a brilliant script by Diana Son and the duo timeline structure is anything but a gimmick. The one storyline joyfully heading towards tragedy the second revealing the extent of the damage and the repercussions of the horrible event that forms the nexus of the two timelines. What is miraculous is the way in which the telling of the story doesn’t diminish our giddiness at Callie and Sara’s growing bond in timeline one but it does inform our emotional response to timeline two.
The script does half of the work, but without such engaging and warm performances from the two leads Emjoy Gavino as Callie and Kelsey Angel Baehrens as Sara, the emotional resonance wouldn’t work. It’s that odd thing that we call chemistry, it’s why I tear up when Niles confesses his love for Daphne on Frasier (sorry if that’s a spoiler for anyone), and it’s why we are able to forget what we know is coming in Stop Kiss. We like these characters, we like the way they interact, in fact we forget they are characters. We become invested in their happiness, even though we know something horrible is coming. But to say that the success of the performances is due to some intangible thing called chemistry is not acknowledging the masterful work of Gavino and Baehrens. They are so good that they make it look easy. Make no mistake, it is their skill at crafting the roles, their understanding of what each timeline needs from them and their ability to swap between them from scene to scene that gives the play it’s heart and soul. The production is Directed by Katie Bradley who does an excellent job of staging the show, there are a million scene changes by the occur seamlessly and speedily which is key to keeping us invested.
Stop Kiss runs through June 29th at the Gremlin Theatre in St Paul and honestly I know it sounds like it could be a bit of a downer but I assure you it is ultimately a beautiful and hopeful production. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.theatermu.org/stop-kiss#gsc.tab=0
Now more than ever in the wake of the most recent election and the hailstorm of stupidity and hate it has unleashed, theater companies need you and we need them. Buy tickets to shows, go out and support work that reflects diversity and inclusiveness. Donate to your favorite theater companies, don’t wait until they are on the brink of shutting down. We all need to stand up and fight for our theaters whose funding is under attack for promoting inclusion, equality and diversity. In short, theaters are being threatened for sharing stories that reflect our countries cultural and racial diversity.
Don’t depend on a Facebook or Instagram algorithm to insure you hear about a great show. You can subscribe and have every post from The Stages of MN sent directly to your email box. It’s the best way to ensure you don’t miss out on any of the theater action. To subscribe on your computer: from the home page on the right, enter your email address and click subscribe. On your mobile device scroll to the bottom of the page and do the same. You can also follow me on Facebook, @thestagesofmn click follow and on Instagram thestagesofmn.
I’ve officially launched The Stages of MN YouTube Channel which you can view by clicking on this link. https://www.youtube.com/@TheStagesofMN. Check out the intro videos and the weekly episodes. Subscribe to the channel so you’ll always know when a new episode has dropped. Think I may have steered you wrong on a show? Well, I’m also a member of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers (TCTB), where you can read review roundups of shows by m’colleagues and I when you follow us on facebook @TwinCitiesTheaterBloggers.
The Cast of Legally Blonde: The Musical Photos by Jason Niedle
Legally Blonde: The Musical is based on the 2001 non-musical comedy film starring Reese Witherspoon. I have never seen the film or its sequels, but after seeing the musical, I’m sort of interested in checking it out. The musical clearly has a strong following based on the number of people I saw standing in the Rush line before the show and the amount of pink in the audience. You can always tell a show that has a strong fan base by what the audience is wearing, and this definitely felt like the musical version of a Star Wars convention. While not a huge fan of the trend of turning popular movies into musicals, I have to say this one, is one of the more enjoyable examples of the phenomenon. I will say that one thing we don’t need from a comedy film turned Broadway musical is an overture. Though brief, it immediately had me thinking, do the creators not know what this is? As escapist fare and a fun way to relive a favorite film, Legally Blonde: The Musical works. But an overture? This isn’t Leonard Bernstein, Puccini, or even Andrew Lloyd Webber. For the most part the songs are serviceable, light but forgettable . There are some that are quite fun like “There! Right There!” where a legal team tries to determine if a witness is gay or just European, analyzing his every move and statement.
For those unfamiliar with the film, like myself, it tells the story of Elle Woods who is dumped by her boyfriend Warner on the night she expected him to propose. He is off to Harvard Law School and doesn’t see her as serious enough to be his wife with the future he has planned for himself. Elle is crushed but after wallowing for a bit she decides that she’ll go to Harvard as well and prove to Warner that she can be serious too. After starting out on the wrong foot and being mocked by her fellow students for her appearance Elle decides that what she needs is to become a brunette like Warner’s new girlfriend, Vivienne. She goes to a nearby hair salon where she meets beautician Paulette, who convinces her not to dye her hair and in doing so becomes her friend and confidant. Elle learns with the help of the teaching assistant, Emmett, how to apply herself to the course work. When the class gets the opportunity to assist their teacher Professor Callahan on a high profile murder case, Elle impresses everyone with her unique ideas and approach to law.
The cast is good, though the songs don’t require anything too challenging for solid musical theater actors. Stand outs are Elle herself Kathryn Brunner who keeps a role that could be a complete eye roller from becoming anything other than someone we are rooting for from the start. Michael Thomas Grant is lovable as Emmett, whom we quickly see will be the person Elle should end up with. Anthea Neri-Best as Paulette is also a lot of fun. She dreams of meeting an Irishman, when she does, the fo-Riverdance routine is a highlight. But hands down my favorite performance was that of Little Ricky who plays Elle’s dog Bruiser. When he first runs on stage the whole audience “awes” and I’m not ashamed to say I was among them. Sadly he only makes three or four brief appearances but he rightly gets a featured spot in the curtain call. He doesn’t even do anything that elaborate, but what he does do he nails and frankly to be honest he so damn cute!
Fans of the movie or the musical will have a great time with Legally Blonde: The Musical, as will theatergoers like me who enjoy a pure fun musical from time to time even if they don’t know the source material. This isn’t Les Miz, Rent, Hamilton, or even The Prom, but it is better than most movie to musical adaptations and while it doesn’t amount to much but a fun night out, sometimes that’s enough. Legally Blonde: The Musical runs through June 15th at the Ordway Center for Performing Arts. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://ordway.org/events/legally-blonde/
Now more than ever in the wake of the most recent election and the hailstorm of stupidity and hate it has unleashed, theater companies need you and we need them. Buy tickets to shows, go out and support work that reflects diversity and inclusiveness. Donate to your favorite theater companies, don’t wait until they are on the brink of shutting down. We all need to stand up and fight for our theaters whose funding is under attack for promoting inclusion, equality and diversity. In short, theaters are being threatened for sharing stories that reflect our countries cultural and racial diversity.
Don’t depend on a Facebook or Instagram algorithm to insure you hear about a great show. You can subscribe and have every post from The Stages of MN sent directly to your email box. It’s the best way to ensure you don’t miss out on any of the theater action. To subscribe on your computer: from the home page on the right, enter your email address and click subscribe. On your mobile device scroll to the bottom of the page and do the same. You can also follow me on Facebook, @thestagesofmn click follow and on Instagram thestagesofmn.
Think I may have steered you wrong on a show? Well, I’m also a member of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers (TCTB), where you can read review roundups of shows by m’colleagues and I when you follow us on facebook @TwinCitiesTheaterBloggers. New things are in the work! Click here to go to The Stages of MN YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@TheStagesofMN. Right now there is just a short introductory video, but there will be much more coming this summer. For now, check out the intro video and subscribe to the channel so that when we fully launch you’ll be the first to know!
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
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