The Rake: Seen in the City

The Virgins Have a Sweet but Short-Lived Impact

Tatiana Porras — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 23:42:07 -0500

As part of the Nylon's Magazine Tour, The Virgins performed at the Fine Line Music Café on Friday the 13^th. Also hitting the stage that night were She Wants Revenge, Be Your Own Pet, and Switches.

The probably-not-so Virgins, with their ‘60s vintage style, charming boy-next-door looks, and charisma, hit the stage with hits like "Rich Girls" and "Public Affair," which is now the song on my MySpace profile.

This Space for Rent

Brandon Root and Emily Stagg — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 18:23:26 -0500

After six million three hundred and seven thousand two hundred minutes, Rent's lease on life will expire in the Big Apple this fall. In the Mini Apple, aka Minneapolis/Saint Paul, it will expire in a few days. Through June 22^nd the touring company of the iconic musical will be at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts before packing up its things and leaving for good...at least until the next national tour. I'm excited to be joined by Emily Stagg who saw the show with me at the Ordway, as we dissect

A Seemingly Unlikely Marriage

Andrew Newman — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 10:03:05 -0500

The widely-discussed flamboyant personality of Irish playwright Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900) is such that many often forget that Wilde was married and fathered two sons. It is his wife, the comparatively uncovered Constance Wilde, that gets the spotlight in Thomas Kilroy's The Secret Fall of Constance Wilde, which opened June 6 at the Guthrie Theater's McGuire Proscenium Stage. Set in a turn-of-the-century

Le Petit Mort

Cristina Cordova — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 17:01:37 -0500

All the ingredients for an experimental disaster are there: six characters on a non-elevated platform of white cardboard — a sterile space carved out in the corner of a dingy art gallery — all dressed in white, speaking in seemingly disjointed sentences, hugging the wall behind them, twisting, writhing, gasping. But Socktesting, however experimental, is no disaster. Somehow, creators Mark Abel Garcia and Megan Mayer — with the help of six very able actors — have pulled it off masterfully.

Yes … She Is among Us

Tatiana Porras — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 19:07:38 -0500

I walked outside The Cedar to wait for my ride after the Wendy Rule show last Wednesday night, when a group of passing guys stopped and one said, “I ‘aint neva’ seen no ass like that on a white girl befo’.” I expected them to break out into song and dance around me like Chris Brown in his music videos, but luck wasn’t with me, as it hadn’t been earlier that night.

A Recipe for Hilarity

Christopher Kelleher — Fri, 30 May 2008 00:35:16 -0500

What do you get when you take the cult classic Monty Python and The Holy Grail, add a bit of the British comedy troupe's other great movies and music, toss in a pinch of Broadway cliché and a dash of pop culture, and throw it all into a blender?

SPAMALOT!

Who, Me? Ugly?

Hannah Simpson — Wed, 28 May 2008 12:42:21 -0500

How utterly devastating it must be to go through life as "unfortunate looking." I could live with plain, ordinary, even homely — but unfortunate? This is no way to live. It's shear impetus to go under the knife: just get surgery and look like everyone else.

Certainly, many people bank on their good looks to get them through life; but there are indeed others who actually have to earn respect through hard work. Which would you prefer? The first is easier, no doubt. I'm guessing most of us would love to avoid the latter of the two if we could.

A Minimalist, Light Approach to Shakespeare

Max Ross — Fri, 09 May 2008 11:51:38 -0500

There are two things that need to be done, I think, when adapting a Shakespeare play. First, respects must be paid to the language — the actors must own their lines, the director must choose the emphases that suit his/her interpretation best. And second, the cast must act as translators, using their bodies to re-interpret the script and make it relatable for the modern audience, so that thumb-biting, say, can actually be perceived as an offense.

Cabaret: Tits, Ass, and Monopoly Money

Ann Bauer — Sun, 04 May 2008 00:17:23 -0500

In the 1972 Bob Fosse film Cabaret, an American Sally Bowles, played by Liza Minnelli, falls in love with a rambunctious Englishman who is — as she is — having an affair with her bisexual boss. Whereas in the 1966 stage play Cabaret, it was Sally who was English, her boyfriend who was American, and there was a wholesome subtextual storyline about their elderly landlady's romance with a Jewish fruit merchant.

Gem of the Ocean

David D. Blomquist — Fri, 02 May 2008 15:38:35 -0500

Although it was one of the last plays he wrote, Gem of the Ocean falls first chronologically in August Wilson's 10 plays about the black experience in 20th century America. It's not his best — Fences and The Piano Lesson both won Pulitzers — but Penumbra Theatre puts on a solid interpretation at the Guthrie.

A Writer, a Photographer, a Life, a Town, a World

Cristina Cordova — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 11:48:36 -0500

"Where is Brad Zellar?" you might ask, as his hiatus from The Rake has created quite a void. Happily, he's been busy promoting his new book, Suburban World: The Norling Photos, from Borealis Books.

A True Cultural Ambassador

Cristina Cordova — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 21:51:58 -0500

I've spent the last year or so lauding the Dakota at every chance I get, but I have to admit that, until this week, I had never just gone there on faith, without first checking to see who was playing. The beauty of the Dakota, though, is its consistency. Go there any night, for any show, and while you might not be as fortunate as I was this past Wednesday, you won't be disappointed.

Covering the Goods and Grooving My Soles

Joshua Fischer — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 01:04:05 -0500

The billing was Ray Bonneville with Tim O'Reagan: Blues for a Good Friday or Good Blues for a Friday. Good grief, anyway you phrase it, the show covered goods and grooved my soles.

Dunking the Fishtank

Christy DeSmith — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 11:42:35 -0600

Fishtank: n. a diffuse, silent comedy ostensibly done in the spirit of Buster Keaton and Jacques Tati. I couldn't help but make comparisons to Play Time, my favorite Tati flick (I just re-watched the restaurant scene last week). This was Tati's all-out screed on modernist architecture, if you'll

Sweeney Todd: Compare and Contrast

Christy DeSmith — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 14:13:25 -0600

At last night's opening of Sweeney Todd, at the State Theatre, I couldn't help but make comparisons to the recent film version. This is what theatergoers do at revivals, right? They consider the present viewing experience in relation to all previous encounters with a favorite play or musical. And to be clear: Sweeney is, by far, one of my favorites.

Claude Wampler: What Just Happened?

Christy DeSmith — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 12:20:23 -0600

There's some interesting discussion over at the Walker blogs concerning the ~~performance~~ career ender that was staged, just this past weekend, by Claude Wampler. I saw the show on Friday but, sadly, didn't stick around for the Q&A, which sounds to have been very tense. Truth be told, my date was

Blue Door: A Door to the Future?

Kate Leibfried — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 13:23:25 -0600

I was definitely feeling something at the end of Blue Door, but it wasn't necessarily satisfaction. I was left with a lingering something: a desire to probe the questions asked by the play, but also the need to challenge some of its core ideas. Perhaps it was Tanya Barfield's intention to make her audience squirm a little, to make us slightly uncomfortable about the way we view race and race relations.

Old School Name, Brand New Sound

Kate Leibfried — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 23:48:24 -0600

When talent and friendship meet on stage, magic is

Doing Lines: When Actors Fail to Recall

Christy DeSmith — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 09:57:37 -0600

Peer Gynt: It's a fairly good Guthrie production, in my humble view--although it would've been smart, even merciful, of the director, had he condensed the meandering fourth and fifth acts. But what I'm more interested in discussing here is the review penned by Star Tribune critic Rohan Preston, in which he derides lead actor Mark Rylance for not knowing his lines.

THEATER: Particularly in the Heartland

Christy DeSmith — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 10:37:31 -0600

Judging by the size of last night's audience, there should be tickets left to see Particularly in the Heartland. And if you happen to be the type who's a little tired of our pop culture's present mood (rampant cynicism peppered with ironic snark)--in other words, if the Colbert Report doesn't entirely resonate, or if the plights of Britney Spears don't exactly inspire, in you, a sense of schadenfreude--then this show might be something you'd care to see.

The Strip Club Steak House

Cristina Cordova — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 15:08:38 -0600

^{Thanks to Rich Goldsmith for the use of his camera, and for his photos.}

The Strip Club finally opened last night in Saint Paul, and while it perhaps lacked the expected tits-and-ass show, many a mouth was watering throughout the evening.

Eyes on Mondale

Tricia Towey — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 12:00:45 -0600

On January 8^th, 2008, Walter Mondale spoke at the Phillips Eye Institute's annual dinner and review. As the daughter of an ophthalmologist for this clinic, I’m not usually invited to the dinner, which I consider a blessing after having endured 18 years of LASIK eye surgery and patient stastistics. But this was Mondale, after all; and I was curious to discover what stellar contributions he might offer the opthalmology community.

Kidjo Electrifies the Ordway

Kate Leibfried — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 14:04:09 -0600

Last night, four-time Grammy-nominee Angelique Kidjo gave a stellar performance at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts. Despite her relatively petite stature, Kidjo is a ball of energy. She brought life and vitality to the stage as she sang and danced to the rhythm of African drums and electric guitars.