Friends and Neighbors
Arts, Life, and Musings from Greater Minnesota
Category: theatre
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As a vehicle for talented performers to cover a lot of Prince’s greatest songs, Purple Rain works. As a story about a young musician striving to define himself amongst sterility, unresolved emotional issues, and romantic pain the show is too unfocused and makes too many strange storytelling decisions to really succeed as a drama. There…
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10 November is a difficult sort of stage production to review, because it doesn’t feel like a conventional play or musical. The show (written by Steven Dietz with music by Eric Peltoniemi) is loosely structured with a series of vignettes alternated with songs, having more of the feel of a memorial service. That is appropriate,…
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With so many movies or other properties being adapted to the stage these days, it’s tough to be surprised by a new stage production. But when I saw my Alma Mater the University of Minnesota Morris was staging a musical adaptation of The Terminator, my interest was piqued, especially because the production wasn’t a fair…
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Through the League of Live Stream Theatre, the final week of Broadway performances of James Graham’s new play Punch were available to stream online, for about the price of your average ticket to the Guthrie. I decided to take advantage, and while the streaming experience itself had some hiccups, the play was a very satisfying…
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Although set in the 1990s, Primary Trust speaks directly to the “loneliness epidemic” of the modern era that so many have written and spoken about. Eboni Booth’s Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy-drama captures not only the pain of loneliness, but also how escaping it can create difficulties of its own. Kenneth (Bryce Michael Wood) is a man…
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Just in time for the start of Spooky Season, Brainerd Community Theatre has brought everybody’s favorite undead Romanian nobleman back to the stage. But this production is anything but a traditional take on the Count. This adaptation by Gordon Greemberg & Steve Rosen, directed by BCT stalwart Amy Borash, is a fast-paced farce that lampoons…
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Hello, everybody. I figured I could use a spot to do more long-form writing on the various topics that spark my interest. And as is so often the case for me, I find myself joining a trend about a decade after it stopped being trendy. So welcome to my blog! Mostly, this will serve be…
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