When you think of mermaids, what comes to mind?   Photo by Rich Ryan Many of us immediately jump to thoughts of Disney’s Ariel a la The Little Mermaid. Others might harken to darker implications, such as the cursed mermaids of West African lore. What I recently learned is that

How much do you know about the Philippines, really?   Photo by Bruce Silcox Did you know it was colonized twice? Did you know that Filipinos share a lot of cultural heritage with Latinx peoples? Did you know that the tribal origins of Filipinos date back more than 6,000 years?

What is the real difference between a copy and a spoof?   Photo by Jeremy Daniel My chef and I had a debate about this after seeing Something Rotten, the current Broadway tour resident at the Orpheum Theater in Minneapolis. To my mind, a copy is directly lifting something –

Few things are more powerful than an idea whose time has come.   Photo by RICH RYAN PHOTOGRAPHY, 2018 It’s been a little over two years since I saw Broadway’s rendition of Newsies at the Orpheum (read original review here). It was the first opportunity I’d had to see the show

When is the last time you indulged your inner rebel?   Photo by Matthew Murphy You know the one – the one that told you not to come into work today, or to sleep in a little later, or to skip the pleasantries and really be honest about how you

The Gilbert & Sullivan Very Light Opera Company brings precision and sass to this timely piece. Photo by Stephen Hage How much do you know about Gilbert & Sullivan? If you’re a fan of musicals you’ve likely seen the Pirates of Penzance at some point in your life, but did

What is the responsibility of great art?  Photo by Dan Norman Is it to the artist? The audience? The culture it portrays? The abstract idea of art itself?  This is an impossible question to answer; every person will approach it from a different lived perspective, and every person will find

It’s good to try new things.   Photo by Evan Frost   For example: last Friday I went to the Open Eye Figure Theater for the first time. What a cozy place! The seats are extremely comfortable, the atmosphere congenial, and the staging innovative. What I went to see was

Sacred cows of the theater be warned: your days of being untouchable are careening towards a swift end.   Photo by Petronella Ytsma And what great news that is! Seriously, I’ve been advocating for years, ad nauseam (#sorrynotsorry), that we need to really feel comfortable revising things for the modern

Why should a nation as a whole have to pay the price for the madness of a few?   Photo by Dan Norman That was the question on my mind throughout the speedy 100 minute duration of Assassins, the latest to grace the stage at the Ritz Theater via Theater