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Make Your Own Grainbelt Commercial Viewing Party

Somehow, in 40 years, 12 of them spent as an arts critic, I have managed not to see the Guthrie's production of A Christmas Carol, which is an extraordinary and embarrassing feat. It's sort of like being a New Yorker and never seeing the Yankees play, or being from Los Angeles and never using cocaine. But A Christmas Carol is a tricky subject for an arts critic to write about, for a few reasons.

Local Gary Louris must likely get mobbed after shows in Spain, where he spends a good deal of time. I mean, the city of Bilbao gets a full Jayhawks show on September 6 - a Saturday headlining slot, closing out the Azkena Rock Festival.

_{photo courtesy Associated Press}

I could tell jokes about Tsarist Russians all day long, so I'll just leave it to the folks at the Guthrie's Wurtele Thrust Stage, where a new adaptation of Nikolai Gogol's 19th century comedy The Government Inspector runs through August 24.

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.

So it seems the kids from Fame (who, by the way, are now eligible for AARP) have gotten together with Cyndi Lauper and a couple writers from the early days of Saturday Night Live to adapt Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream for the Guthrie.

That, and I suppose Joe Dowling had a hand in it, too.

Remember Cue at the Guthrie?

The press release from the Guthrie Theater touting a January three-course prix fixe menu for $29.95 took me by surprise. This isn't just a prix-theater early bird special - it's available any time, and includes a free self-guided iPod tour of the theater and complimentary glass of wine or cup of coffee after dinner.

Patricia Olive has no children. So you’d think she’d be spared that dinnertime nightmare: This one hates vegetables, this one eats only bologna sandwiches with ketchup, this one weeps about dead animals every time you serve beef. But when the Guthrie Theater staged Six Degrees of Separation in 2003, the veteran props manager got a taste of what it’s like.