I'm accustomed to well-known performers receiving entrance applause, but in Wicked, it's the characters of Glinda and Elphaba that receive the applause when they first appear.
For those who somehow missed this phenomenon, Wicked is based on Gregory Maguire's novel, which created a backstory for the witches of Oz originally created by L. Frank Baum and popularized through the perennial-favorite 1939 film.
In this retelling, the eventual witches are schoolmates at Shiz University and become friends before the events of the original book and film. We also learn the origins of other characters in the story, plus a subplot about talking animals that isn't explained well enough for theatergoers who didn't read Maguire's book. But that's a minor quibble.
The Orpheum Theatre during Wicked load-in. Photo: MN Theater Love
Claudia Bennett and Aline Mayagoitia as Glinda and Elphaba seemed quite young to me at the start of the show, but as their characters aged, I appreciated the depth they both brought to their older and wiser witches, and they have the vocal chops to really sell the songs most of us know so well. I love that the heart of the show is the relationship between these two women. The story is relatable to anyone.
The whole cast is excellent and the production is, as always, a technical masterpiece. We bloggers had the opportunity to visit the Orpheum during the show's load-in, and seeing everything that goes into the staging makes the seamlessness of the production even more impressive.
The set itself is built on the stage from the floor up, with plenty of elements coming in from the wings and flies. It takes 30 hours for the traveling crew and the local stagehands to assemble the set, while taking it down only takes five hours. As for the full touring company of 65 people, they perform 8 shows a week, 52 weeks a year, and they've got it down to a science.
We also learned that the tour travels in 13 semi trucks, including one that's just for show merchandise! After 22 years and two movies, they offer plenty of options for t-shirts, tote bags, and everything else.
Claudia Bennett as Glinda and Aline Mayagoitia as Elphaba in the North American Tour of WICKED, photo by Joan Marcus.
A brief rant/public service message: Wicked may be a show that can appeal to the whole family, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the show will consistently capture the attention of small children.
If kids can't sit still for two and a half hours without talking or being entertained by loud snacks, please stay home and watch the movie.
Unfortunately, the folks seated behind me didn't do that, and it was very distracting. Theater tickets aren't cheap, and I don't understand how people can spend that much money for their kids to squirm through a show they aren't interested in!
Rant over, if you have a group of adults and well-behaved theater kids, take them to Wicked, and everyone will have a good time. But you may want to budget extra money for the merchandise stand.
March yourself over to the Orpheum Theatre this week to see SUFFS(closing April 12)!
This brilliant musical follows the efforts of the suffragists (not suffragettes) battling to win the right of women to vote in the early 20th century. Starting with the first Women's Rights Convention in 1848, women had been organizing with the aim of amending the Constitution to give women the right to vote. More than fifty years later and no closer to an amendment, the movement got a burst of energy, and controversy, when Alice Paul (Maya Keleher) joined the fight. Paul clashed with the suffrage establishment, represented by Carrie Chapman Catt (Marya Grandy), president of the National American Women's Suffrage Association (NAWSA). Frustrated with the genteel campaigning of NAWSA, Paul organized a national march for women's suffrage right past the White House in Washington, D.C.
Maya Keleher (Alice Paul) and Marya Grandy (Carrie Chapman Catt) in the First National Touring Company of SUFFS. Photo by Joan Marcus, 2025.
The musical depicts the clashes of the younger "suffs" with the political establishment in a series of frustrating meetings with President Woodrow Wilson (Jenny Ashman) as well as their disagreements with the polite actions of NAWSA. Another contingent competing for recognition by the political establishment and the white suffrage movement includes Black suffragist Mary Church Terrell (Trisha Jeffrey) and crusading Black journalist Ida B. Wells (Danyel Fulton, a standout for her passion and gravitas), who also disagree on tactics. None of these arguments are simple or even necessarily resolvable.
This may sound heavy, and it is, but the music, book, and lyrics, all by Shaina Taub (who also played Alice Paul on Broadway), delightfully introduce us to these brilliant, dedicated, complex women. Just one example is the song, "If We Were Married," in which presidential aide Dudley Malone (Brandi Porter) lays out a romantic domestic future while Doris Stevens (Livvy Marcus) describes all the ways in which marrying would take away her rights. It's a delightful twist on the traditional musical theater romantic duet.
Monica Tulia Ramirez (Inez Milholland) and company in the
First National Touring Company of SUFFS.
Photo by Joan Marcus, 2025.
In a show full of stellar performers, Danyel Fulton as Wells stands out, conveying her frustrations with passion and gravitas. The full touring cast of all female-presenting performers is more than up to the job of showing these women (and a few men) in all of their variety.
I first saw this musical in November 2024 (after the election). The story had great resonance then, but in 2026, the Minneapolis audience was primed and ready to hear the message of SUFFS. I can't remember ever being in an audience so engaged with a theatrical performance at the Orpheum. On opening night, the League of Women Voters was represented by groups from around the state, with some arriving in suffragette white with "Votes for Women" sashes.
Library of Congress: Suffragists with Flag; between ca. 1910 and ca. 1915
Before or after the show, or just for the knowledge, check out the SUFFS website for some great information and historical photos of the real life suffs, and more resources.
And on May 8, watch the recording of the original Broadway cast on PBS's Great Performances. And carry the energy into the streets! Keep marching!
Carolee Carmello in the National Tour of Kimberly Akimbo. Photo by Joan Marcus.
We were excited to see Kimberly Akimboon tour, as we hadn't been able to see it in New York. In the original Broadway production, Kimberly, a teen with a rare genetic condition that ages her far beyond her years, was played by Victoria Clark, a wonderful performer we were lucky enough to see years ago in The Light in the Piazza.
On this tour, the role is played by the equally delightful Carolee Carmello, who we first saw on the AMC TV series Remember WENN. A theater veteran with outstanding credits including the original casts of Parade and The Addams Family plus 14 other Broadway shows, she was a definite selling point of the show and did not disappoint! Go see it at the Orpheum Theatre before it heads to its next stop. Last two shows are on July 13.
In a world of jukebox musicals and musicals based on movies, Kimberly Akimbo has one of the more unusual plotlines. It won five Tony Awards in 2023, including Best Musical, Best Book for David Lindsay-Abaire, and Best Original Score for Jeanine Tesori's music and David Lindsay-Abaire's lyrics.
Carolee Carmello and the National Touring Company of Kimberly Akimbo. Photo by Joan Marcus.
The show follows Kimberly, a teen dealing with a debilitating condition that causes her to age at four to five times the normal rate, so that at 16, she has the body, including aches and pains, of a woman in her 60s. She's at a new school, hoping to make friends, and not getting much support from her wildly dysfunctional family. In spite of the challenges the character faces, the show is funny, touching, and hopeful.
The National Touring Company of Kimberly Akimbo. Photo by Joan Marcus.
The cast, led by Carmello, is small but mighty. Jim Hogan and Laura Woyasz play Kimberly's self-absorbed parents, and Emily Koch is hilarious as her not-so-petty criminal aunt. The young actor playing her love interest, Miguel Gil, is charmingly geeky. The other outsider teens (they're in Show Choir!), played by Grace Capeless, Skye Alyssa Friedman, Darron Hayes, and Pierce Wheeler, each have their own romantic issues, which are summarily sorted out by Koch's Aunt Debra. They're also in Show! Choir! and their harmonies are TIGHT.
Jeanine Tesori's tunes are catchy, and David Lindsay-Abaire's lyrics and lines are frequently hilarious and often touching.
We just want to give a little more love to Carolee Carmello, who has the daunting task of being an adult actor who is playing a teenager who is aging to an age beyond the actor's. Still with us? She does it beautifully, with a lovely youthful voice and fabulous physicality. You'll fondly remember the tale of Kimberly and to grab life by both hands, because we all only go around once.
Extra fun fact! Like us, are you intrigued by how the cast managed to skate around at the ice skating rink? It's a cool trick. Click here to learn more.
Life of Pi was originally a Booker Prize-winning 2001 novel by Yann Martel, which was also made into a 2012 film by Ang Lee. The play, adapted by Lolita Chakrabarti, had successful runs in London's West End and then on Broadway. Now, the national tour of the play has opened at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis, playing through March 9.
Taha Mandviwala as 'Pi' and puppeteers Anna Leigh Gortner,
Shiloh Goodin and Toussaint Jeanlouis as 'Richard Parker'
Three days after Donald Trump was sworn in for his second term as President, the North American tour of Parade had its official premiere at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis. The theme of injustice in America seemed terribly fitting.
Max Chernin (center) as Leo Frank with the Company of Parade. Photo by Joan Marcus.
With a book by Alfred Uhry and music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown (who was in attendance), Parade follows the true story of a Jewish factory superintendent who in 1913 was accused of murdering a factory worker, 13-year-old Mary Phagan. The musical originally premiered on Broadway in 1998 and won Tony Awards for Best Book and Best Original Score (out of nine nominations). Despite positive reviews, the show ran only 84 performances on Broadway, followed by a U.S. tour.
Companyis a Tony-award winning 1970 musical by Stephen Sondheim and George Furth. It's a concept musical that features a series of vignettes about Bobby, a single man, and his married friends.
Britney Coleman as Bobbie in the National Tour of Company. Photo by Matthew Murphy for Murphy.Made.
The production now playing at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis is the first national tour of the 2021 revival that changes the main character to Bobbie, a single woman celebrating her 35th birthday and examining the relationships around her.
This is the way the logo is used in marketing materials. It's wrong, you see.
One of the rare non-musical touring shows to come to the Twin Cities this year is The Play That Goes Wrong.The show is an all-out slapstick comedy about a play that suffers from one mishap after another. Even before the curtain goes up, members of the crew are in the theater, trying to repair the dilapidated set.
The play we see is a standard-issue British murder mystery called The Murder at Haversham Manor, a production of the Cornley University Drama Society, which somehow ended up as a major touring production in the U.S. More on that later. The curtain rises on a not-quite-dead body, falls again, and rises on the actor still trying to get in place as the deceased. The fact that the supposedly dead man ends up moving himself around the stage elicits many of the first laughs of the evening. The set falling apart, actors forgetting or mispronouncing their lines, props going missing, and actors inappropriately playing to the crowd are some of the issues this play faces.
Hamilton is here! And yes, it is still all that. The touring show, which plays at the Orpheum Theatre through October 7, is every bit as astonishing as you've heard.
A personal story (or six) about Hamilton. Wherein we talk about having seen it YEARS ago on Broadway with the original cast. I mean, we can't NOT mention that, right?
Lin-Manuel Miranda,
In The Heights stage door. Cute.
So now you're obsessed with Hamilton! Welcome! Here's a picture of Daveed Diggs holding a puppy.
Let's feed your Hamilton obsession!
So now you've seen the show, you've listened to the Broadway Cast Recording, and you've read Ron Chernow's biography of Alexander Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda's basis for the show. Awesome. Wow. What's next?
I don't know if you HEARD, but a little show called Hamilton is coming to Minneapolis from August 29 through October 7 at the Orpheum Theatre.
If you haven't seen it, prepare to be obsessed. It IS all that. If you have seen it, be prepared to be re-obsessed. There's a lot to know and a lot to love about Hamilton. So sit on my lap like I'm Santa and listen (tm Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) to our three-part series about Hamilton in Minneapolis. Check out Part Two: So Now You're Obsessed and Part Three: A Personal Note.
The opening night of Something Rotten!, playing at the Orpheum through April 8, overcame unforeseen circumstances to thoroughly reward the audience who slogged through the latest spring snowstorm to attend the show on Tuesday night.
The touring production of School of Rock starts with a recorded announcement from the show's composer, Andrew Lloyd Webber, answering the obvious question about this show: Are the kids on stage really playing their instruments? The answer is an emphatic "Yes"!
It's easy to see why this is spelled out in the beginning. Once these young performers get to rocking out, it would be easy to believe that the sound is actually being made by adult professionals in the orchestra pit. These kids can play!
The touring production of Waitress is now playing at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis through November 26.
Based on the 2007 movie of the same name, Waitress features music and lyrics by Sara Bareilles.
Two good things: The audience was exceedingly well-behaved and attentive--which is weirdly rare for Hennepin Theatre Trust press nights--and responded incredibly effusively and positively to the show. I'm sure many positive reviews will be flooding the internets. It is a crowd pleaser, to be sure.
I went into Waitress with only a bit of knowledge about the show. I'd heard of the movie, and the tragic, horrifying murder of the film's writer/director Adrienne Shelly. The Broadway production opened in spring 2016 and is still running--it's up to 657 performances, which is no small feat. It received a few Tony nominations, including a nomination for Jessie Mueller in the lead role. This is all to say that lots of people liked this show.
That said, I'm not one of them. I have some serious issues with this show, which I will enumerate in full, exhausting detail. So get comfortable. (Or if you want to read a review by someone much less cranky, I recommend my dear friend Cherry and Spoon.)
Waitress centers on Jenna, a pie maker and waitress for a small-town diner, who is unhappily married to Earl and discovers that she is pregnant. She confides in her best friends and fellow waitresses, sassy Becky and shy, neurotic Dawn. She starts seeing a new gynecologist, Dr. Pomatter, and begins an affair with him. Meanwhile, Becky has an affair with Cal, the cook at the diner, and Dawn starts to online date and meets Ogie, who stalks her at the diner until she falls in love with him.
First, let's talk about the plot. Descriptions for this show alternately describe Jenna's marriage as 'loveless' and 'abusive.' The script itself is pretty coy about how abusive this relationship is, with intimations of offstage violence. However, parallels are drawn between Jenna and Earl's relationship and her mother and abusive father, and Jenna's behavior indicates abuse is taking place. She plans to leave him until she finds out she is pregnant, then hides money in order to enter a bake-off which has prize money she could use to leave him. Earl finds the money, which she says is to buy a crib, and the two are still together up until Jenna is delivering the baby. She has the baby and finds the strength to tell him off in a dramatic fashion from her hospital bed. He leaves, presumably never to be seen again. At this, the audience cheered supportively.
But here's the deal. That's not how this works. That's not how any of this works. Sure, she tells him to stay away from her and the baby. But she is married to him. She lives with him. She has a job that she can barely support herself on, much less a baby. Plus, now she has hospital bills. Also, lest we forget, he is her baby's father, which means he has legal rights to custody. If he is a manipulative, abusive man--as has been depicted--he will not hesitate to use his rights to that child to punish her.
I don't need to tell you the statistics about domestic violence (like 72% of all murder-suicides involve an intimate partner and 94% of the victims of these crimes are female, for example), but suffice is to say that to depict leaving an abusive relationship this easily is incredibly thoughtless and appalling. Frankly, it's infuriating.
Sidebar:
The National Center for Domestic Violence has a fantastic chart called the Power & Control Wheel that helps describe accurately what is occurring in an abusive relationship. (BTW, according to this, Earl is abusive AF.)
Ramsey County has a great collection of domestic abuse resources for anyone concerned about their or someone else's safety.
End Sidebar.
Let's move on! So Jenna and Dr. Pomatter start an affair, despite the fact that they are both married. Although we know of Jenna's situation and are sympathetic to her issues, there's no indication that Dr. Pomatter's marriage is anything less than happy, so what is his motivation for the affair?
This is where the lack of characterization in the script really shows. I challenge anyone to tell me about Jenna with words that don't involve pie. I think the show thinks of her as the calm pie-making center of the show, but there is so little there there. She came from an abusive home, but loved her mother who taught her to bake. She is supportive of her friends and makes pies with cute names. That's about all we know about her. I can't help but wonder if a lot of the show's success is due to the uniquely charismatic performance of Jessie Mueller, who originated the role on Broadway.
And the other characters? Pretty much summed up in one word. Becky? Sassy. Dawn? Neurotic. Cal the cook)? Grumpy. Earl? Angry. Dr. Pomatter? Slightly awkward.
Jenna and Dr. Pomatter appear to be together in this show because he is the first named male character she meets after becoming pregnant. How can we be invested in this relationship if we're given no reason for them to be together, and why he is jeopardizing his marriage and she her safety? It almost seems to be an excuse to show them engaging in pie-related, surprisingly
vulgar sex (on a gynecological examining table--ew), which is played for laughs. At the end, when he tries to kiss her after she meets his wife, she breaks it off with him with very little emotion on either part.
There are really serious implications to having extramarital affairs, and this show does not seem to take any of them seriously. Not only are they having an affair, but he is her doctor, and they appear to be having most of their assignations in his examining office. In case we all forgot, there are some pretty strong ethical issues with this relationship. Just ask the AMA.
Here is where I can hear the chorus of "But it's a musical! It's light and funny! It has pie! Why are you taking it so seriously?" I am taking it so seriously because the issues that the musical raises are serious. Musicals can absolutely raise and address substantial issues responsibly and entertainingly (see Next to Normal, Fun Home, In the Heights, Assassins.)
Back to the show. Not only does Jenna have an affair with her married doctor, fellow waitress Becky has an affair with diner cook Cal. She is married, but her husband is an invalid, and Cal is married, but the waitresses think his wife is probably gay so it's all fine. Also, there's an element of mockery at the spectacle of two people of size getting it on in the kitchen, which was worrying.
Had enough of adultery? Me too. Let's move on to stalking! Neurotic waitress Dawn decides to get out into the dating world and goes on a date with Ogie. He shows up at the diner and she is upset to see him, as she told him she never wanted to see him again. He sings a song entitled "Never Ever Getting Rid of Me", which includes the following lyrics:
"Oh, I'm gonna do this right
Show you I'm not moving
Wherever you go, I won't be far to follow
Oh, I'm gonna love you so
You'll learn what I already know
I love you means you're never, ever, ever getting rid of me"
Eventually, he "wins her over" and she agrees to go out with him, they discover they have lots in common and end up getting married. The messages here are that 1) stalking works and 2) Dawn doesn't know what she wants or needs, both of which are pretty appalling notions. And that's before getting into the idea that "no" might mean "yes."
However, Ogie is played completely for laughs and had the audience in his pocket. The performance by Jeremy Morse was absolutely hilarious and off-the-wall, which made it challenging to step back and see his actions objectively.
Let's talk about the baby. Throughout the entire show, Jenna is conflicted about her pregnancy and the baby. Her only plan is to save money to enter a bake-off, win the bake-off and then have money to leave her husband. That falls through, which leaves her completely without a plan. At the hospital, after telling off her husband and breaking things off with the doctor, she sings a song called "Everything Changes" which indicates that, apparently, the baby is going to solve all of her problems.
How does the show end? With a grumpy customer at the diner (who only Jenna is kind to) leaving her money to start her own diner, where she works happily with her friends and daughter Lulu. Pretty lucky, that. She really didn't have to do anything except make pies and be in the right place at the right time. That's not something that I admire in a character. I want someone who has some agency and some pluck, if I'm going to spend several hours with them.
Laying the script and content aside, I found the songs to be simplistic, repetitive, and unmemorable. Reviewing the songs with the help of Genius only underlined this for me. Speaking of incessantly memorable, there is a strange refrain of "butter...sugar...flour" sung from offstage during the show, which was annoying and reminded me of this commercial:
The direction was surprisingly static with the songs sung presentationally, in the old-style opera fashion of "park and bark" or "plant and rant," which even opera doesn't even do any more. Most of the movement took place by moving scenery around, which is disappointing. A diner should offer many opportunities for interesting movement, and I wish Waitress had used a fraction of the energy and stage movement of Mixed Blood's fantastic production How to Use a Knife.
In spite of the issues with the show, there were some bright spots. Lenne Klingaman played Dawn beautifully, creating a hilarious, vivid character in spite of the script, and as mentioned, Jeremy Morse was entertaining as Ogie, and neatly distracted the audience from his character's obvious flaws.
I've seldom been in an audience as incredibly rapt and attentive as at last night's production of Peter Brook's Battlefield at the Guthrie Theater.
In 70 minutes, four actors and one musician, on a spare set, armed only with colored robes and sticks, tell a story from The Mahabharata about the aftermath of war and the meaning of time and life.
Jared McNeill, Carole Karemera, Ery Nzaramba
Photo by Caroline Moreau
This production, part of the Guthrie Worldstage Series, is one of the reasons why we are so fortunate to have the Guthrie Theater (under its fabulous new leadership) in the Twin Cities. The opportunity to see a production by the acclaimed director Peter Brook, and to see this show, which premiered at the Young Vic in 2015, with the original cast, is a rare gift indeed.
Now, inspired by the civil war in Syria, the 91-year-old director has decided to re-explore a part of that poem — but this time he's thinking small. Brook's new play, Battlefield, starts after a catastrophic war. "We wanted to concentrate on one thing only," he says. " ... What is the position of the great leader who realizes that he has done what he set out to do? He has won."
And from Guthrie Artistic Director Joseph Haj's program note:
At its surface, Battlefield is a story of rival factions of a ruling family struggling with the enormity of their war's destructive toll. At its soul, the show is a gorgeous, subtle plea for unity and a meditation on time, destiny and the meaning of a life fully lived.
Toshi Tsuchitori
Photo by Caroline Moreau
I'm not sure I can tell you any more than that about this show. I can only say that this is an incredibly rare opportunity to see a truly great work of theater art by who is considered one of the world's best living theater directors.
Also, I will tell you that I have seldom been more enraptured by a work of theater. At times, I felt almost hypnotized by the performances and the storytelling. It's mesmerizing, and so stripped down. The musical accompaniment, by longtime Brook collaborator Toshi Tsuchitori, playing just one drum, lends the perfect tone to each scene.
And the end? Holy cats, the end was truly stunning and unlike anything I've ever seen.
The director shares one of his favorite parables, about a man in a perilous situation: "Hanging over a chasm, upside down, with a snake waiting to catch him underneath and an elephant about to trample him on the side. And in all this, suddenly, the possibility of tasting for the last time a drop of honey. A drop of honey says something to all of us: that life is worth living, because life is there and it is beyond the horrors."
Don't believe me? Check out the super raves in this trailer:
Matilda the Musical,
playing through April 2 at the Orpheum Theatre, is a delight from start
to finish. And I am so relieved! I had seen the show back in 2011 at
the Cambridge Theatre in London, and was so enchanted by it that I
wasn't sure I even wanted to see the national tour for fear that it
wouldn't live up to that original experience.
Fun Home national touring company. Photo by Joan Marcus.
I had the opportunity to see the touring production of Fun Home at the Orpheum Theatre this week. Even though it would be my third viewing, I was interested to see how the show would hold up on tour. Fellow theater bloggers Jill of Cherry and Spoon and Laura of Twin Cities Stages had also seen the show in New York, so we thought we'd try something different and chat about our experiences with the show this time around. (Carly didn't see the show this time, but saw it in NY and did some research on the shows.) The slightly edited transcript follows.
Dear theater friends, I need to tell you about an amazing performance--one that transformed the way I think about theater.
[Before I share more about this special performance, a note: If you'd like to read a review of the show itself, which runs at the Orpheum Theatre through August 7, check out Twin Cities Theater Bloggers for a Review Roundup.]
This past Saturday, July 30, Hennepin Theatre Trust presented a Sensory Friendly production of Disney's The Lion King.
Designed specifically for individuals with sensory, social and learning disabilities and their families, this performance is intended to provide families the opportunity to enjoy live theater in a welcoming and supportive environment.
This welcoming and supportive environment began even before we reached the Orpheum Theater. Theatergoers were met on the street by smiling, trained volunteers in brightly colored HELPER tee shirts, standing near the theater to direct and welcome theatergoers. This was clearly not going to be an everyday trip to the theater.
As we entered, we had a gentle security check of our bags. To the right, was a first aid station--to the left, the ever-popular merchandise stand. The concession bars were mostly closed (which helped with crowd management in the lobby) and the open ones appeared to just sell water and coffee. The women's restroom was transformed into a family restroom, and accessible restrooms were available and well-marked. And everywhere you looked, smiling volunteers in HELPER tee shirts were ready to guide and help families.
AUSM Table in lobby.
A table in the lobby from the Autism Society of Minnesota featured fidgets, noise cancelling ear muffs and a Social Narrative (picture book) called "We Are Going to the Theater" that takes participants through every element of their visit to the theater. Maps of the theater provided a floor-by-floor snapshot of all the resources--including restrooms, first aid and quiet areas--were readily available and prominently displayed. The friendly volunteers were actively and gently promoting and offering these items to families.
Activity Area (and snacks!)
An activity area in the skyway on the second floor (sponsored by Creative Kids Stuff and YOXO) had craft activities, boards where kids could write their feelings about the show, as well as snacks and juice boxes.
Thought boards at the Activity Area.
The theater also featured large screens in the lobby so that if families needed to exit the seating area, they could still see the show.
As we entered the house, we saw still more volunteers. Although there were some empty seats (which seemed to be strategically spaced out), the theater was quite full. It was a pleasure to see that the outreach efforts were successful, and the Hennepin Theatre Trust certainly reached the target audience for this performance.
The theater was abuzz with the excited voices of children and their caregivers as they settled into their seats with the assistance of the tee shirt-clad helpers. Theater staff and volunteers alike were friendly and welcoming to all patrons, answering questions, providing directions, and pointing out interesting elements like the orchestra pit. Even Conductor Rick Snyder sweetly visited with audience members before the show and during intermission. (Also, during intermission, volunteers led physical exercises for the audience. I could get behind this.)
Two of the fabulous volunteers. (Neither are Cassie.)
Cassie Okell, one of the volunteers, shared with us a little background on her experience (emphasis mine):
Despite the fact that many of us volunteers are professionals in the special education and autism spectrum field, we did in fact have a two-hour training at the beginning of July. We also had many email communications during July to make sure we were well prepared.
Two of the coolest things that were done, in my opinion, that you may not be aware of is that the Hennepin Theatre Trust hosted a "meet your seat" opportunity about a week ago so kids had the opportunity to get familiar with the space proper to the sensory rich show. And also on the webpage for this special performance was a link to a downloadable social story about the day of the show to help kids know what to expect.
To me, these things (along with the free snacks and juice boxes, noise cancelling headphones, quiet spaces and active space) really put this event above and beyond! I love how accepting and supportive and thoughtful the whole process was! I really hope we have more in the future!
The show went up a bit late, and the volunteers took their seats in the house, still at the ready to assist families. The house lights dimmed, but did not go completely dark. The show began and the audience's excitement was clearly evident. If you've seen The Lion King, you know that one of the most amazing spectacles in all of theater is the entrance of the animals in the "Circle of Life" number.
Photo from lionking.com
Personal sidebar: I was fortunate enough to see the very first World Premiere performance of Disney's The Lion King here in Minneapolis. I was in awe of all the Disney execs in suits I saw--I'm sure I saw Michael Eisner. We were seated in the back row of the main floor, and were some of the first people to see the animals entering through the house. The music, the amazing stagecraft, the beautiful voices, and the utterly thrilling originality ... I've never forgotten that moment and that feeling--not ever. And it was nineteen years ago.
On Saturday, I saw something that even eclipsed this amazing moment. Because the house lights were at half, and because we were seated in the front rows, we had a beautiful view of the audience as we turned around to see the animals enter. And what we saw was a theater filled with wonder. We saw children and people who were in awe of the spectacle, and we saw parents and grandparents and volunteers and friends who were in tears. I think about it now and it still brings me to tears. It's one of the loveliest things I've ever seen in a theater.
I'd love to know what the actors thought of this performance. It's unusual for them to perform in a half-lit theater, and they must see so much more of the audience than usual. The show has a number of scenes where the cast enters through the house, or comes down into the house, and it was wonderful to see the actors waving at children and making connections. Even Mufasa, entering through the house to yell at Simba, smiled at children with genuine warmth on his way.
Tahni, Josiah and Joe Cullen
I'm saving the best for the last here. I want to share what it's like for a parent to attend this performance.
Joe and Tahni Cullen attended with their son Josiah (see Josiah's Fire on Facebook), and Joe shared his thoughts (again, emphasis mine).
My son Josiah is 10 years old and is on the autism spectrum. We’ve been fortunate to attend many sensory-friendly plays and movies throughout the Twin Cities over the last few years. He’s been to many productions now at the Children’s Theatre as well as some high school musicals too. When I first saw that The Lion King was back in town my first thought was how much my son would love it if only they had a sensory-friendly offering of it. Within a day I saw the advertisements for such a performance and our family was so excited.
The production today certainly did not disappoint! We all enjoyed it, especially our son Josiah. He was clapping, laughing, and in awe the entire time. For us, these sensory-friendly productions are such a blessing. Josiah is usually well behaved in public but it just gives us the peace of mind that we’re in a non-judgmental environment…if he makes noise or is a little too wiggly, no one is going to mind. For instance today he seemed very fascinated with the hair on the lady’s head in front of him and tried touching it a few times. She turned and instead of a disapproving look she just smiled and said, “It’s no big deal. I totally understand.” We can just relax and enjoy the show.
And from the smiles on Josiah’s face from the beginning to the end of The Lion King today I would say he definitely enjoyed it! He cracked us up at one point too. He doesn't have many words right now but at one point when Scar was up to no good he yelled out "No!" LOL!
I had a hard time finding the right words to describe how amazing yesterday was for our family...and all the sensory friendly offerings for that matter. My wife and I met while doing plays together and college and we always imagined bringing our kids to plays one day. To have these opportunities has meant the world to us.
Disney and the Hennepin Theatre Trust worked for months with a Sensory Advisory Committee of local Minnesota educators, therapists and community experts and partners such as Fraser, the Autism Society of Minnesota, and the Minnesota Autism Center, and received financial assistance from funders such as the Minnesota State Arts Board to make this special performance happen. There is no doubt: Disney's The Lion King is a beautiful show. The cast is marvelous and sang, danced, and acted beautifully. The artistry and music is staggeringly creative and inventive.
But more than anything, every element of this special performance displayed a kindness and inclusiveness that I don't often see in the theater, and certainly not enough in our everyday lives.
The supportive, non-judgmental atmosphere at this show was astonishing--it will change the way I attend and view theater. Kudos to the Hennepin Theatre Trust, their partners, and to all of the marvelous volunteers who created such an amazing day. I hope to experience performances like this again and often, and I hope to see them at theaters that are welcoming audiences of all abilities.
A sweeping romance with a gorgeous musical score, The Bridges of Madison County had too brief a run on Broadway in 2014. It's a rather small story and an unusual musical without large production numbers, which may have made it a hard sell. Fortunately, the touring production is here for a week to show us what we missed.
Based on the 1992 best-selling novel by Robert James Waller, Bridges tells the story of Francesca Johnson, an Italian war bride who has lived with her husband and children on a farm in Winterset, Iowa, for nearly twenty years. She is a devoted homemaker and mother, but is discontented with her life.
Andrew Samonosky (Robert) and Elizabeth
Stanley (Francesca). Photo: Matthew Murphy.
When Francesca's husband Bud, and children Michael and Carolyn, load up the truck to show Carolyn's prize steer at the state fair in Indianapolis, she is left behind, looking forward to spending some time not taking care of others. A National Geographic photographer looking for directions pulls up to her house and changes her life. She takes him to the covered bridge he's seeking, and ends up cooking him dinner. Robert Kincaid is an enigmatic loner, but drawn to this woman whose rich inner life has been sublimated by her years on the farm.
The story is simple, and the original book is not universally beloved. What elevates this adaptation is the music. Jason Robert Brown has amassed a following among musical-theater aficionados as the composer of musicals including Parade, Honeymoon in Vegas, and The Last Five Years (which was made into a movie starring Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan, which I highly recommend).
Brown's music for Bridges does a wonderful job of delineating characters and story. Rather than an overture, Francesca sings of her life in "To Build a Home," which is full of unexpected turns of melody and phrase. Much simpler are the songs given to the rest of the Johnson family and their neighbors, who express themselves through songs inflected with folk and gospel. When Robert arrives, his duets with Francesca are soaring melodies that clearly show the heights of emotion that their relationship brings about.
Mary Callanan (Marge) and Elizabeth
Stanley (Francesca). Photo: Matthew Murphy.
The music is beautifully performed, particularly by Elizabeth Stanley as Francesca and Andrew Samonosky as Robert. Separately, they convey worlds of longing, and their duets feel like the completion of an unfinished chord. The supporting cast are wonderful, particularly Mary Callanan as an inquisitive but supportive neighbor, and Cullen R. Titmas as Bud, the husband who never quite understands his wife. Caitlin Houlahan and understudy Bryan Welnicki were excellent as Francesca's very American children, with their own preoccupations.
The staging is spare, with just the suggestion of bridges, farmhouses, and other scenes set against a backdrop of wide open sky, suggesting the Iowa farmland. Set pieces moved on and off the stage by the ever-present townfolk lend a fluidity to the proceedings as one scene fades into the next and settings overlap, from the Johnson's kitchen to the pay phones her family use to call home from the road. Although the scale of the show is small, I look forward to seeing even more modest productions when the rights become available to smaller companies (Theater Latte Da, perhaps?). The only extravagance necessary for this story is an excellent group of singers and musicians to do justice to the magnificent score. This production has those qualities in abundance, and should not be missed.
Francesca and Robert against the Iowa sky. Photo: Matthew Murphy.
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