Stone Cold Reviews

  Minneap olis Musical Theater company is showing Othello: The Remix through May 7th at the Phoenix Theater in uptown. You should check this show out; it’s a fun night of theatre.  It’s a hip hop musical retelling of Shakespeare’s Othello book and lyrics by the Q brothers with Rick Boynton. Commissioned by Shakespeare’s Globe Theater in 2012, this 90 minute version sees Othello running a hip hop crew on tour. Iago is still jealous, Cassio’s still oblivious, and Desdemona is a diva offstage in a recording booth. But four actors play the whole cast and they’re backed, live, by DJ Huh?Whatt?? while they rap and sing their way through the score. For more, you can listen to the Q Brother’s talk to Folger’s Shakespeare about it at this link. Local writer and artistic director of Threshold Theater, Denzel Belin, directs this production, and weaves narrative and design threads with a strong hand. The rhythms of build in the story are well handled, towards the climax and the final number, lend

If you want to see a passionate musical with lots of young talent, grab a ticket to see Rent , presented by Century College Theatre. Rent , written by Jonathan Larson, tells the story of a group of impoverished young artists struggling to survive and create a life in Lower Manhattan 's East Village in the thriving days of bohemian Alphabet City , under the shadow of HIV/AIDS . The cast of Century College’s Rent skews on the younger side; which can sometimes lead to a feeling that they are lacking some experience and maturity in their performances, but in this case, it also adds a lot of sincerity that this production really needs. There are many talented performers in this show, but the real star is when the whole ensemble is singing together. They have a beautiful full sound with great harmonies and energy. Some of the vocal solos from the ensemble needed a little more volume and confidence, but specifically the solos in “Seasons of Love” and “I Will” took our breath away. Mar

Content Heads Up: Plague, Coughing, Disability, Asylums, War, Death, Dark Comedy Unfortunately, this was only a two night event, but if you’d been looking for something to do on April 21 & 22, you could have done worse than make a night of chowing down at Zakia’s before heading to The Crane for the a showing of Weird in Public Production’s The Danube . It’s advertised at a 60 minute run time, but between the addition of a short one-act written by the director that starts off the event and some slow pacing, the show times out at about 80 minutes. Maria Irene Fornés’s The Danube is an avant-garde one-act play about plague, war, and pollution in which a young man from America falls in love and lives in Budapest for a time. The piece is framed throughout by language lessons that dictate not only the structure and content of conversation, but also create an absurdist arc to the growing chaos. Overall, this was a piece put together by a young company with a fresh out of school vibe. Th

If you want to support a community theater chock-full of amazing talent, get yourself a ticket to see Jesus Christ Superstar at St. Matthew Lutheran Church, presented by the St. Matthew Community Theater. Jesus Christ Superstar , music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice, is a staple in the musical theater catalog. It follows Jesus during his last days before his crucifixion. This production is, above all else, brimming with passion from the cast and crew. It is clear that there is a strong backbone as to why they chose to do this show at this time. The time and place are a bit unclear in this production, but it does attempt to weave in modern-day with a few small choices by the director, which adds a certain level of drive to this story. Vanessa M.H. Powers directs this show with a clear angle in mind. Her notes in the program really helped me understand her view, and performing this in the church really brought the story to a new level. We commend Powers' on her passio

If you have some time and space this weekend, do yourself a favor and try to show up early for the show to get on the waitlist for a standby ticket to Theater Mu’s original musical Again this weekend - closing performance is 4/16. In Again , a young filmmaker dealing with cancer makes a documentary about another cancer survivor. The show explores the things in life that are worth saving, and the things that are okay to let go of. Seeing brand-new musicals is a rarity these days - Again is a great example of why theaters should keep striving to do it. Theater Mu delivers a powerful and funny show while continuing to tell important stories by and about underrepresented groups. Melissa Li (composer) and Katie Ka Vang (playwright) have created a story that, while sometimes having predictable emotional pay-offs, is still a joy to watch. Li’s songs are by and large very good – some weren’t super memorable, and the song about constipation, (“Constipation”) while hilariously funny, seemingly

Hi Folx! Welcome to Stone Cold Reviews! We are a collective of theater professionals (trained and active) who have gathered to contribute to a robust critical culture for Twin Cities Theatre. We have a few major goals and we’d like to share them with you.  First, we’d like to help audiences decide on shows with evaluative reviews: a should you see this and why.  Second, we want to support artists with reviews that include clear evaluations of artists' work, rather than catalog mentions of people involved that you could copy out of a program. Specifically, we hope to include as many areas of the production as possible where applicable: direction, design, performers, tech, and playwriting. Third, we want to seek out, highlight, and support mid-tier, upcoming, BIPOC, Native, and Queer companies and productions. We are committed to providing clear, kind, and accurate reviews. In each review, you should find the following sections: 1-2 sentence summary and a link to further digital info