Reviewed in Brief: Red Resurrected

"Whether she leaves or stays in the wild unknown, there's a place for her."

So closes Red Resurrected, an imaginative new play at Illusion Theater from Transatlantic Love Affair.

As happens with so many locally created shows, Red Resurrected began as a popular offering at the Fringe Festival. Weaving in plot snippets from familiar folk and fairy tale narratives such as Little Red Riding Hood or Hansel and Gretel, it tells the story of a girl compelled to live life outside of the boundaries of her small wooded town. 

Red is marked as a special girl from the beginning, and after she leaves her town to exist in the woods alone she is forever marked apart. For the sake of suspense I'll refrain from divulging exactly why she leaves the safety of the hamlet and what she encounters in said forest, but let's just say that it's a welcome re-imagining of the "witch." In ways, it's also eerily reminiscent of the narrow line women must still tread to avoid criticism and ostracization in contemporary society.

The choreography was literal and poetic, and it (as well as the set) consists entirely of the actors themselves, always clearly communicated what it was intended to symbolize. Highlights include representations of houses and fire. 

The most notable facet of Red Resurrected is the way Transatlantic Love Affairs manipulates their sound effects. Every noise heard throughout the play is produced by the players themselves, and many of them are lushly spontaneous, perfectly attuned to the show's settings. Forest noises are beautiful and at times more appealing than the standard stock sound effects heard in many productions. Music followed suit, with a heavy emphasis on a 'Sacred Harp Singers at Liberty Church' style of a capella vocals.

While Red Resurrected is by no means a masterpiece, it is a great example of how having a little imagination can entirely change the way a play is put together and how an audience receives it. Running at a clippy pace of under 90 minutes, it's a nice way to wait out the remaining snow. The production closes on March 2, so hurry to get your tickets at Illusion Theater while you can.

Two Sugars is Super Sweet; Pool and Custer are the local Fey and Poehler

There is perhaps no better location for a play about coffee than Minnesota, with its legions of Lutheran church basements filled to the brim with bulk-purchased Folgers.

Two Sugars, Room for Cream, based off of a massively popular 2009 Fringe Festival show, fits this bill perfectly. The New Century Theater’s latest show braids together short narratives depicting memorable interactions around beverages. Coffee is the obvious focus in most, but the occasional evening whiskey or wine spree punctuates the morning rituals.

The vignettes (some of which resurface in the play’s second act) are of two types: either strangers-meet-and-bond-over-coffee or familiar-friends-reconnect-while-getting-drunk plots, most of which induce the audience to loud snickers. Particular favorites included Custer’s monologue as a frustrated professor who verbalizes her insulting thoughts to her students on the first day of class; the duo as two strangers meeting in a yuppie coffee shop, where Pool is discovered as a secret Twi-hard and Custer as a cheeky and opinionated patron; and a glimpse of what happens when high school memories invade a reunion and life does not go as planned. Two Sugar’s most poignant moment goes hands-down to Pool’s monologue as a mother recording a video to her unborn daughter, a masterfully realistic depiction of a private moment so powerful that the audience feels shy participating in it.

The play is performed (as well as written by) Carolyn Pool, who has treaded the boards of many a Minneapolis theater, and Shanan Custer, the most recent host of the local Ivey Awards and a Brave New Workshop veteran. Their natural, easy chemistry is reminiscent of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler’s best Saturday Night Live (SNL) skits, and it is a pleasure to watch them feed into each other’s alternately zany or poignant moments.

As enjoyable as Two Sugars is, there are a few minor annoyances. The set is a bit clumsy, where tables, chairs, armoires and more tend to seem more in the way than useful. One hopes that this layout will be smoothed as the show continues to run.

Length is also a bit off. Like Will Ferrell’s first few movies post-SNL, the two hour run of Two Sugars can in fleeting moments feel like an overdrawn 10 minute sketch. Some slight judicious editing in a future run could turn Two Sugars into a taught, intermission-less delight.

Although Two Sugars purports to be a musical of sorts, the show’s strength certainly lies in the vignettes. Custer and Pool both have passable voices, but they would be better served leaving the singing to the classic tunes that stream during costume and set changes.

Two Sugars, Room for Cream finds a perky middle ground between heavy drama and campy farce. It is a comedy that is (gasp!) actually funny, and the kind of show that black java or triple-whip-no-fat-iced-mint-macchiato fans can equally enjoy, especially if they like a shot of bourbon in their morning joe.

Two Sugars, Room for Cream runs through November 11 at the Hennepin Theater Trust’s New Century Theater in the City Center. Tickets can be purchased and more information can be found here. You can also find information about a special three show sampler pack of tickets to shows at New Century theater here.

Once Upon a Roman Holiday

In the era of the 1%, who would give up their wealth and fame to join the uncleansed masses?

Roman Holiday is essentially the classic fairy tale in reverse. Princess Anne is a young European royal, the darling of her people and an unwilling participant in the trappings of monarchy. Her only dream is to live like a “normal” person, and at the end of a European introductory tour, she sneaks out of the embassy to join the plebeians below.

Her plan backfires as she ends up staying at the home of Joe Bradley, a composer who daylights as a journalist to earn cash. Bradley initially doesn’t recognize Anne, but once he does he’s determined to take advantage of her company to write an exclusive expose and earn his passage back to New York City where he can compose full time.

The problem with Bradley’s plan is that he and Anne come to like each other much more than they anticipated throughout their day spent on the streets of Rome. The script is interspersed with songs, dance, cameos from colorful Roman citizens and more, until Anne must return to her life as a princess.

The Guthrie smartly kept Roman Holiday to an exact copy of the 1953 cinema classic, down to crinoline-clad Audrey Hepburn doppelganger Stephanie Rothenberg, vintage Vespas and a life-size Trevi fountain. The effect is delightful even for those who haven’t seen the original Cole Porter-composed film (which you should if you haven’t) that starred Gregory Peck and nabbed Hepburn her first Oscar, launching her into celluloid stardom.

Rothenberg plays an excellent Anne, capturing much of Hepburn’s winsome portrayal. Her Disney princess innocence can at times be a tad frustrating, but most of her performance is spot-on, particularly in “Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye.”

Rothenberg is well partnered with Edward Watts, whose Joe Bradley is a bit more Howard Keel than Gregory Peck, but whose confident smile and peppy presence also strongly evoke the original film. Swing classic “Night and Day” is the best showcase for Watts’ voice.

Christina Baldwin is the show’s most winning star as the feisty Francesca, a bodacious Italian babe whose Porsche-caliber curves keep every man on his knees. Baldwin’s strut is magnificent, and her spot on accent keeps the laughs coming.

Roman Holiday’s second star has to be the decadently awesome ensemble cast, who profile some serious swing dance moves every scene or so (the sequence in “Look What I Found” is incredible). Many of them are Chanhassen Dinner Theater transplants, and their musical theater training there serves them well on the McGuire proscenium stage. The enormous ensemble utilizes the extravagant set and costumes to the utmost advantage, providing a live-in-Technicolor feast for the eyes and a beautiful approximation of Rome itself. They bring the cinema to the stage, and any attendees will love their wonderful caricatures.

Roman Holiday might be the musical to see of 2012, and it’s definitely one of the most family friendly shows to grace the Guthrie’s stages in a while. Avante-garde devotees may find its candy coating too much to swallow, but it’s a wonderful show for fans of classic Hollywood cinema, fairy tales or simply an escape from the everyday.

Xany Xanadu: Chanhassen Dinner Theater’s latest effort skates over itself

It seems in musical theater that there are the shows that can, the shows that can’t, and the shows that just don’t give up.

Xanadu, a musical farce of the 1980 movie of the same name, is one of the latter. Despite a weak script, an even weaker premise, and the least amount of flash the Chanhassen has possibly ever seen, the cast heaves this show along with every ounce they have and provide some truly enjoyable moments.

Xanadu tells the tale of an uninspired artist (Sonny), whose depression quickly turns around when he is visited by the leader of the muses (Clio, disguised as Australian Kira). With Kira’s inspiration, he decides to turn a run down theater into an all-arts-allowed space named Xanadu that also houses a roller skating disco.

The more Clio works with Sonny, the more she becomes Kira and begins to fall in love with art and with him, breaking several of the rules Zeus created to regulate each of the muses. Two of Clio’s evil sisters conspire to take over her position as their leader and banish her forever.

I’ll save the ending for curious viewers, but please note that the only thing saving this show is its inherent sarcasm, which comes in spades. The cast is so involved in parodying themselves (sometimes on multiple levels) that otherwise painful moments can be brutally funny. Nowhere is this better seen than in Kersten Rodau’s portrayal of evil sister Melpomene, melting Disney’s Hercules into Ursula the sea witch in a strangely satisfying bad guy way. Her rendition of “Evil Woman” is definitely one of the show’s highlights, and I would love to see her take a crack at Ursula should Little Mermaid ever grace a Twin Cities stage.

As Clio/Kira, Jodi Carmeli is appropriately airy and has a spot-on imitation of Oliva Newton John’s trademark Aussie voice. She works as hard as possible to make Kira relatable and heartwarming, and occasionally succeeds.

Dieter Bierbrauer makes Sonny exactly the kind of annoying, blah hipster that he is. Uptownites, beware: you might find yourself offended by the unflattering (but in ways, true) hipster identity he portrays.

Xanadu’s biggest flaw is its lack of acrobatic dance, which Chanhassen usually pulls off with aplomb (could this be because so many of their regulars are currently kicking their way through Roman Holiday?). One of the most intriguing ideas of Xanadu on stage is that roller disco, and although a few nods are made to it here and there, there is no show-stopping skating number to bring the crowd to its feet.

The costumes and set are a stark departure from past shows, full of ice cream pastels and a congregation like setup that audience members can pay an extra fee to sit in onstage as the show plays on. The mythical character montage during “Have You Never Been Mellow?” is a testament to the genius of Chanhassen’s costume department, featuring wildly inventive centaur, cyclops and Medusa costumes.

Xanadu is as light as a whipped fat-free yogurt sundae, and attendees shouldn’t expect the serious, heart-tugging melodrama of usual musical fare. For anyone with a group of pals who enjoy silly parodies or fantastical fantasies, it’s a good group way to spend a hot day inside. Anyone looking for drama, plot or a standard musical should skip it in favor of other fare.

Tune out to Noises Off!

Like an overfermented wine, Noises Off! promises all the features of a fantastic show, but leaves the audience coming away with a tinny taste in their mouth. It’s not necessarily a bad flavor, but it’s disappointing compared to what one expected.

Noises Off! is the same story retold three times from different vantage points. It opens on a British cast as they run through their dress rehearsal of a (terrible) play called Nothing On, which is essentially a ‘focus on sardines and slamming doors.’ Tensions run high as cast members stumble through set pieces, forget their lines and blocking, and reveal multiple romantic tensions.

The second act reveals the strained effect of this awful production from a behind-the-scenes vantage point, turning the meta- “play on play on play” feel up one more notch. The cast is clearly at their wits’ end, and all manner of fights and sabotage take place as we watch them attack each other backstage during their performances.

The third act finds us once again watching the play from the front as its audience. The cast clearly no longer cares to feign an interest in performing, and finally gives up on the whole shoddy interaction with an exhausted collapse.

The farce has some extremely funny moments, such as a lingerie-clad search for a lost contact, a cantankerous director bellowing from the tech booth, and Bradley Greenwald’s extraordinary facial expressions. The concept of flipping the action between performance and backstage action is also entertaining, and the context this contrasting perspective provides is helpful in enjoying the play.

Photo: Michal Daniel

But, ultimately, (and I’m going to get in trouble for this), Noises Off! is simply too long. The show’s repetitive nature and physical comedy lends itself to a lean, quickly paced script. A brisk 90 minute condensation of the current material would be more than enough to provide the audience with the same amount of humor and understanding of the plot. But instead, after two full intermissions and three dragging acts, the truly golden bits of Noises Off! become lost amidst a mountain of uninspiring pyrite.

The Jungle brought in a stellar cast of regulars for Noises Off!, and they do as much as they can with their roles. Standouts include EJ Subkoviak as surly director Lloyd Dallas, Bradley Greenwald as the simpering Frederick Fellowes, and the unabashed ballsery of Summer Hagen as resident ditz Brooke Ashton. These three manage to provide timely gutbusting pacemakers to break up the lengthy monotony of the script, particularly in the first and third acts.

Neal Skoy finally returns to the stage as Tim Allgood, and I hope he comes back in another show that allows him more stage time. Cheryl Willis (Dotty Otley), Kirby Bennett (Belinda Blair), Ryan Nelson (Garry Lejeune), Kimberly Richardson (Poppy Norton-Taylor) and Stephen D’Ambrose (Selsdon Mowbray) round out the cast, and each heaves as much humor out of their lines as possible.

Noises Off! is a classic example of Jungle programming, with a solid cast, interesting set, and clear direction. Unfortunately, the resistance to judicious editing prevents what might have been a great play with a few tweaks into an okay performance following the original to a T.

Blue Man Group Lights-up the Orpheum

[View the gallery of the Blue Man Group teaching percussion at The School of Rock in St. Paul]

 Irreverence: there could be no other take away from watching the aptly named Blue Man Group’s latest show at the Orpheum. A 21st century mime trio, Blue Man Group mixes cerulean body paint with shades of the Three Stooges, modern technology and the stunts and flash of musical groups like Daft Punk.

Their claim to fame, and the highlight of their concerts, is the extraordinary percussion pieces performed on little more than artfully sculpted PVC pipe. Vacuum tubes that look like corneal blood vessel marching drums and Tim Burton-y xylophones show that almost anything can be musical with enough creativity. Their variation in timbre and unique sound is truly inspiring.

Technological gag jokes comprised another third of the show, riffing on Apple’s extraordinary ubiquity with “Gipod” takes on touch screens, digital dress-up and sound mixing. Personally, I preferred their old-school physical comedy routine better, but the electronic teasing had the audience roaring.

The other third of the show featured Blue Man Group’s fusion of commentary on modern art and its creation. Paintings made of wet splatters from drum heads and paint filled gumballs were fun to watch and became cool souvenirs for the front rows. The best piece, however, was a “statue” made of innumerable marshmallows that one of the blue men swallowed as they were tossed at him. The corresponding price tag he used after disgorging said marshmallows onto his canvas made the best possible pantomime of many forms of abstract art (sorry Walker Art Center).

Photo: Paul Konlik

The show closed with streamers and enormous light up bouncy balls cascading over the audience, with the on-stage backup band tossing their black light skeleton duds and outrageously large hair as frequently as they scaled their instruments. It was quite a sight. Anyone sitting in the front rows should be prepared to participate at their own peril. Several audience members were called to the stage to help eat twinkies, make body paintings and more.

Blue Man Group is a great show for anyone to see once, and an excellent way to introduce kids and teens to thinking more deeply about the worlds of percussion, art and technology. It can be a bit tired for those who have experienced it before, but is definitely a performance you can only enjoy fully from a seat in the theater.

More information: 

 Tickets and information from Hennepin Theatre Trust

Fela! displays all of the qualities that a musical should be, featuring gorgeous music, riveting visuals and an explicit and carefully relayed political message to boot.

What does it take to break a person? How much violence, slander and abuse can be taken before one gives up on the goodness of life? 

In Fela Kuti’s case, it turns out that it takes quite a lot. Kuti was a Nigerian musician and social activist and the Ordway’s latest musical Fela!, which tells Kuti’s life story, is a testament to the exuberance and resilience of the human spirit.  

Fela!, mainly set in Kuti’s famous club the Afrika Shrine, displays all of the ups and downs of Kuti’s role as a renowned symbol of African protest against corrupt regimes. Weaving back and forth between Kuti’s time in America, London and his homes in Africa,Fela! clearly displays Kuti’s inspirations as he creates Afrobeat, finds bravery and purpose in the Black Power/Black Panther movement and devastation at the hands of Nigerian military aggression.  

Sahr Ngaujah’s portrayal of Fela Kuti is marvelous, and he has received well-deserved Tony and Olivier award nominations for his performance. Ngaujah shimmys, whoops and bounds across the stage, using every inch of space available to him to demonstrate Kuti’s struggles and bravery. He’s no musical slouch either, with a red velvet voice and a set of spectacular chops on the saxophone.  

As often seems to happen, Fela!’s most powerful musical moments came from cameos, this time of Kuti’s mother Funmilayo (played by Melanie Marshall). Marshall wields her voice across ungodly extremes, with an enormous, powerful range and a host of sound effects that are the vocal equivalent of kazoos. Her songs are riveting and alone worth the ticket price. 

The rest of the cast shares strong vocals as well, although focus more naturally draws to their furious dance skills. Stomping, chanting, krumping, “clocking,” tap dancing and more, they don’t let the audience’s eyes rest for a moment. A particularly fascinating highlight is their portrayal of a Yoruba religion dream sequence through dance, a flashmob-like introduction to orishas, shamans and spirituality. 

Each member of the band, which is ever-present on stage, helps set the pace for Kuti’s exuberance or despair, hitting pitch-perfect tempos and inducing the audience to their feet to dance along. It’s a shame there aren’t more spectacular instrumental groups like this in clubs these days. 

Musical highlights include the gorgeous adaptation of “Trouble Sleep,” an extraordinary tenor sax solo from Ngaujah on “Zombie” and those otherworldly tones from Marshall in “Rain.” These three tunes are some of this year’s musical standouts on stage, and the rest of the score is also delightful. 

Fela! displays all of the qualities that a musical should be, featuring gorgeous music, riveting visuals and an explicit and carefully relayed political message to boot. Many (if not most) shows that discuss racial issues could stand to learn from this deftly maneuvered play, and I’d love to see Fela!’s careful consideration spread.

Fela! is a must-see, so catch it while you can.