Central

On April 14, the Orpheum Theatre was struck by Widespread Panic, inciting a completely sold out house of revelers to create absolute pandemonium. Fans of this veteran rock powerhouse are nothing if not faithful, wildly devoted to what can only be called an extreme. It must be pretty thirsty work, because when Panic hit the State Theatre across the street on Hennepin Avenue in 2011, the bars ran out of beer before the show was half underway—so, quite sensibly, things were moved to the larger venue and the venue laid in a stronger supply of brew.

In Athens, Greece, circa 450 BCE, the blind poet Homer was bigger than the Beatles. His The Iliad and The Odyssey put him on the level of John, Paul, Luke, and Matthew in terms of laying the literary foundation of a civilization’s religious beliefs. Dramatizations of Homer’s work are always a challenge in the modern day and I can only imagine a theater approaching Homer with fear and trepidation. Director Benjamin McGovern rises to this challenge in the Guthrie Theater production of An Illiad.

This week marked the 50th anniversary of the first play staged at the Guthrie Theater. On May 7, 1963, Sir Tyrone Guthrie’s bold new experiment opened its production of Hamlet, directed by the Guthrie at their brand new theater adjacent to the Walker Art Center. Whether you love Minnesota’s largest theater or hate it—or, like me, have intensely mixed feelings about it—there’s no denying the impact that the institution has had on the Twin Cities' cultural life.