THEATER REVIEW | Illusion Theater’s “Thurgood” a civil rights’ reminder

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A hundred years after the end of legal slavery, Thurgood Marshall became the first African-American to sit on the United States Supreme Court. George Stevens, Jr.’s play Thurgood, about the life of Justice Marshall brings to light many little known facts about Marshall’s early years and some of the significant accomplishments he made as an attorney before he was elevated to the high court. Michael Robins directs James Craven in a one-man show about Marshall at Illusion Theater.George Stevens, Jr., is best known to me as the writer of the screenplay for the television movie Separate but Equal which provides a detailed history of the facts behind the landmark 1954 school desegregation case of Brown v. Board of Education. This case, as noted in the play, was the most significant decision made by the U.S. Supreme Court in the 20th century. It rendered illegal government sanctioned segregation of the races in school systems and, ultimately, it was the legal underpinning for elimination of all government laws that segregated people by race. Continue Reading

THEATER REVIEW | Maximum Verbosity’s “Tales from Wonderland”: Beware the jabberwock

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There’s one really great piece in Maximum Verbosity’s Tales from Wonderland at the new Phoenix Theater, and three others that are… not so great. One could be thankful that the really great piece, phillip andrew bennett low’s stage adaptation of Bruce Holland Rogers’ Lewis Carroll-infused short story “A Common Night,” is the piece that comes last, for they say if you end well, the audience will forgive you anything.  Well, almost anything. One could also, unfortunately, despair by intermission that Lewis Carroll would ever prove stage worthy. I, for one, fall in the grateful camp. I also wish there’d been more time to develop Tales from Wonderland in the vein of “A Common Night.” If more of the evening had been theater inspired by Carroll and less reader’s theater trying to recite Carroll, Tales from Wonderland might have been more successful.“I teach poetry.”“I’m not surprised. Continue Reading

PHOTOS | 42nd Annual Twin Cities Auto Show

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You don’t have to be in the market for a new vehicle to find value in attending the 42nd Annual Twin Cities Auto Show being held at the Minneapolis Convention Center March 7 – 15, 2015. Being it’s the largest consumer show in Minnesota, consideration has been taken to include a variety of attractions to suit more than just the typical car enthusiast seeking out this massive automobile experience. The shows excitement started even before people were admitted into the event when one of six lucky contest winners was awarded a three-year lease on a brand new Chevy Volt, their energy saving electric car.There are fun themes like Military Appreciation and Country Night, which includes a live music performance and good educational offerings such as Automotive 101 and a 60-minute course with a mission to change distracted driving behaviors. Young Disney Channel fans will have an opportunity to experience a Celebrity Appearance by the star of hit television show Emma, Peyton List. On weekends, you can take advantage of free booster seat safety checks and the Ride & Drive station is open every day offering consumers a chance to test drive new models from BMW, Mazda, Toyota and Ford. The main attraction is of course the estimated $15 Million in new vehicles that takes up 400,000 square feet of showroom and includes approximately 450 new models across 37 different makes. Continue Reading

Interview with Kevin Newbury of the Minnesota Opera’s “The Manchurian Candidate”: Paranoia, spying and politics

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The world premiere performance of the opera The Manchurian Candidate takes place this Saturday at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts’s Music Theater. This new opera by Mark Campbell and Kevin Puts was commissioned by Minnesota Opera as part of the company’s New Works Initiative, and adapts the bestselling 1959 thriller novel by Richard Condon. The Daily Planet sat down with The Manchurian Candidate’s stage director Kevin Newbury to discuss the opera.When were you first engaged to direct The Manchurian Candidate?I know Mark Campbell and Kevin Puts fairly well, so as soon as I heard about it I started angling for the job. I have a long relationship with Minnesota Opera, so I read the first draft of the libretto and called Dale [Johnson] and said, “I really would love to do this,” and everything worked out. I was involved very early on – I could attend all the workshops, be part of the writing process, and really be involved from the beginning.Is getting hooked up with productions that you hear about through the grapevine a normal process for you?It happens in many ways – sometimes companies call me up and you’re involved at the genesis of it, sometimes I come in after the piece is already written…which is not what I prefer to do. Continue Reading

THEATER REVIEW | Mixed Blood Theatre’s “Hir” an extremely queer play

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You should go see Mixed Blood’s current production of Taylor Mac’s comedy Hir, under the direction of Niegel Smith. It’s a chameleon of a play that can look different to everyone who watches it. Regardless of whether it ends up bewitching you or just weirding you out, it’s still a heck of a lot of fun to watch in action.“I want to know how far down I have to go before I can drag you back with me.”Isaac (Dustin Bronson) returns home, dishonorably discharged from the military during wartime, to find his childhood home transformed into a dump. His mother Paige (Sally Wingert) has taken over and is finally running the place the way she sees fit. His father Arnold (John Paul Gamoke) is adjusting to life after a debilitating stroke, which Paige sees as an opportunity to reform his behavior. Continue Reading

Beautiful, aurally sumptuous Concert Hall opens at the Ordway

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The Ordway Center for the Performing Arts formally inaugurated its new concert hall on Saturday with an elaborate gala celebration. The evening began with a cocktail hour and a formal dinner in the Music Theater, followed by a sumptuous concert in the new space and an afterparty that continued into the wee hours.The star of the evening was the new performing art space, the succinctly named Concert Hall. (John and Ruth Huss, whose $10 million gift underwrote a quarter of the $40 million construction costs, humbly declined naming rights.) This 1,100-seat space sits on the northeast corner of the Ordway complex, filling in the southeast corner of 5th and Washington and the old footprint of the McKnight Theatre. The Concert Hall was dressed for the occasion with 14.7 linear miles of mahogany-stained oak, a coat of 1,100 or so acoustic panels, and a cloak of glass curtain walls overlooking Rice Park. More than a thousand friends showed up for its society debut and greeted it with cheers and applause.Perhaps the biggest concern on attendees’ minds was whether or not the space’s new acoustics measured up to their advertising. Continue Reading

Great Northern Radio Show heads to the City: See radio being made live!

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As a kid, my family used to go to see Garrison Keillor and a Prairie Home Companion at the old World Theater (now called the Fitzgerald). I loved it. I loved the idea of being there and seeing the action behind the curtain while some people just listened on the radio. It was like being in on a secret. It’s part of what I love about going to see Real Phonic Radio every month. Continue Reading

MUSIC PHOTOS | Pert Near Sandstone warms up the Cedar Cultural Center

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Performing for two nights at The Cedar Cultural Center, Pert Near Sandstone brought their talent and energy to whip fans into a foot stomping, butt shaking, arm throwing, and even waltzing, frenzy Friday night. With two cloggers to keep the rhythm going and the fans dancing (Andy Lambert and Matt Cartier), Pert Near (Nate Sipe, mandolin, fiddle, vocals; Kevin Kniebel, banjo, vocals; J. Lenz, acoustic guitar, vocals; and Adam Kiesling, upright bass, vocals) is such an energizing performance to experience that they could probably turn any white-collar worker into an overall and straw-hat wearing hillbilly. Smiles and dreadlocks touting fans abound, these boys are some fine musicians and it’s no surprise they’ve been successfully twanging, fiddling, banjoing, and harmonizing their way across the country for over ten years. They’ll play again tonight at The Cedar, then head out West to tour through the Rockies and to the coast before returning to the Midwest in June to play the Blue Ox Music Festival in Eau Claire, WI, June 11. Well worth seeing, get your clogging shoes on and go support these good ol’ Minnesota boys. Coverage of issues and events that affect Central Corridor neighborhoods and communities is funded in part by a grant from Central Corridor Funders Collaborative 
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MUSIC REVIEW | Pianist Benjamin Grosvenor plays a mixed bag at the Ordway

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There comes a moment in the career of every child prodigy in music when their early promise is held up against a light of adult scrutiny. Technical virtuosity from an early age is a laudable thing, but with increased years comes a demand for artistic refinement – demands that for non-prodigies may otherwise not be expected until a much older age. There is often a rush for judgment as listeners wonder whether a young musician will remain a flash in the pan or mature into a long and continuously fruitful career. Pianist Benjamin Grosvenor’s concert on Tuesday at the Ordway offered no clear answers to this question, but tossed more fuel on the fire.Grosvenor, who won the 2004 BBC Young Musician Competition’s Keyboard Final at 11 years of age, is now all of 22 years’ old. For most professional pianists, this is around the age to graduate from a conservatory (Grosvenor did so two and a half years ago); Grosvenor was not only playing in the Schubert Club’s International Artist Series, but has many years of international soloist engagements under his belt already. Continue Reading

Mobsters, pirates, plagues, and Mongol hordes in Ordway’s 2015-16 season

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The Ordway Center for the Performing Arts announced its 2015-2016 season on Monday evening with a festive event at the Ordway’s Target Atrium. Highlights of the upcoming season include three self-produced musicals; dance performances such as Hip Hop Nutcracker, DanceBrazil, and Lulu Washington Dance Theatre; world music sensations Dengue Fever and Hanggai; and a return engagement by Pilobulus Dance Theatre.One of the highlights of the current season is the Ordway’s homebrewed production of A Christmas Story, a December hit featuring a mostly local cast, sets by Penumbra Theatre Company, and direction and choreography by the Ordway’s own James Rocco. The Ordway is following up on this success with its own native productions of The Pirates of Penzance, The Sound of Music, and A Chorus Line. The Sound of Music – one of the most-requested shows each year by Ordway season ticket holders – will occupy a similar slot as A Christmas Story, with a 3-week December 10-January 2 holiday run. The Pirates of Penzance and A Chorus Line will each run for about two weeks in August and February, respectively. Continue Reading