- Becki-Iverson
- September 24, 2012
Under-40 music fans intimidated by opera no longer have any excuse to avoid it. Tempo, the Minnesota Opera’s hip, young fan group, provides wonderful preview events to help patrons understand each opera of the season, as well as connect with fellow opera lovers and the Twin Cities arts community. Their
- Becki-Iverson
- September 24, 2012
Park Square Theatre’s “American Family” is a classic example of the difficulties of writing a play about racial issues It’s been a very bluesy spring. On the heels of the Minnesota Historical Society’s extremely popular 1968exhibit come a spate of plays focused on race and music in the mid-twentieth century American
- Becki-Iverson
- September 24, 2012
When it comes to describing the blues, Guy Davis said it best when he sang “I’m laughing just to keep from crying.” The most recent touring Broadway production at the Ordway, Memphis, exemplifies this phrase from start to finish in a Cadillac Records-meets-Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom style. Memphis follows an unconventional, uneducated young white
- Becki-Iverson
- September 24, 2012
Guttural grunts, low singing, and enthusiastic spoken word greeted attendees at the William and Nadine McGuire Theater last weekend while they walked on stage around an ingeniously layered set. As they did so, activist and spoken word artist Marc Bamuthi Joseph and his fellow cast members began to weave their story of
- Becki-Iverson
- September 24, 2012
What would you do if your brother was a ruthless killer who not only deceived you about your One True Love, but tried to kill him and marry you off to someone you hated? And what if said brother was also your only living family member? It’s a brutally feudal
- Becki-Iverson
- September 24, 2012
You probably remember the 2004 phenomenon that was Green Day’sAmerican Idiot. Exploding from popular music charts to the Grammys, the album became not only the rock opera of a generation, but also its protest album. Replete with rich storylines and characters, it was a natural choice for theatrical adaptation. Which
- Becki-Iverson
- September 24, 2012
In the world of Twin Cities drama, no one does guerilla theater better than Ten Thousand Things Theater Company. Performing in prisons, church basements, book shops and more, TTT delivers low cost (or free, if you’re quick enough to reserve tickets at select performances) and high quality theater to locations all
- Becki-Iverson
- September 24, 2012
When excellent theatrical shows run for a long time, it can be easy to forget that they’re still around. Take Phantom of the Opera, which is currently in its 25th consecutive season in New York City and recently celebrated an unprecedented ten thousandth performance. While the Chanhassen Dinner Theater’s production
- Becki-Iverson
- September 24, 2012
In the dark of night, a moonlit woman reaches out to grab a ringing phone and is caught around the neck with a knotted, silken scarf. A struggle ensues while she is pushed over a desk, gasping for breath in a struggle to stay alive. Miraculously, she finds a pair
- Becki-Iverson
- September 24, 2012
Image credit: Photo by Carol Rosegg/Guthrie Theater “It’s a terrible thing to know what you’re capable of and to never see yourself get there,” Judy Garland said in 1969. A few months later, at just 47-years-old, she died of an overdose at her London home. If anything captures the essence