Peggy Sue Dunigan - Page 2

In the depths of Minnesota's January cold, Children's Theatre Company (CTC) presents a story based on a town in England, with a name similar to one outside of Minneapolis, Stillwater. Here, the musical adapted from the 1938 Newbury Honor Book 'Mr. Popper's Penguins.' comes to life under Director Emma Earle. While the entire musical originally premiered through Pins and Needles Productions, Bristol, UK, CTC transports its cast and crew to the Minneapolis stage though numerous charming evenings and afternoons to savor.

Lyric Arts' latest selection, Sarah Ruhl's "Dead Man's Cell Phone," prophetically speaks to the Iphone or smart phone's debut in 2007.  Steve Jobs of Apple Inc heralded the first iPhone in January, 2007, with its release to the public in June, 2007---the same year  Ruhl's premiered her surrealistic play in June, 2007. With the advent of the iPhone, the first touch screens and apps that could be automatically downloaded to your phone brought innovative technology to communications.

Who believes in flying reindeer-Dasher, Dancer and Prancer? One of the seasonal productions on stage at Anoka's Lyric Arts  Main Street Stage titled 'Prancer' had its beginnings in a 1989 Canadian American film written by Greg Taylor. Eventually, Seattle Children's Theatre and Children's Theatre Company Minneapolis commissioned the film for a play in 2016--Th dramatic and charming holiday selection speaks to what does a person, or those in the audience, believe int? Do they believe in magic, even the unseen that requires faith to believe in? 

Bright colors and jingle bell music magically appear on the Lyric Arts Main Street Stage while the time of year leaps back into December, 1968. Harper's Hardware holds their end of year Holiday Happening, or the company's seasonal party, and everyone in the audience attends!  Lyric Arts presents both the inviting entertainment for the company's happening in sync with their own December production through this charming, kitschy in the best way, girl group musical revue: 'Winter Wonderettes.' Written and created by Roger Bean in 2003, with lyrics and arrangements by Brian Baker, this 'juke box musical' features catchy tunes to hum or rock out to while smiling 'all the way' through the evening, and then 'all the way home.' 

Where will a holiday memory be made this season? Somewhere near Whoville staged at Children's Theatre Company (CTC)? The illustrious CTC opened their musical extravaganza' 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' penned by the iconic Dr. Seuss beginning in 1994, and reprises the production from last season. While Theo Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss, created the story in 1957, CTC envisioned a production to touch any young heart despite the actual chronological age. The production's book and lyrics by Timothy Mason together with music by Mel Marvin continue to delight audiences these past 20 years since the musical's inception--and all the memories the production has created in that span of time through the years.

On opening night for the Minnesota Opera (MNOP), the audience in attendance became curiously quieter and quieter, silent, when the curtain rose at the Ordway Center on the company's contemporary award winning opera 'Silent Night.' Commissioned by MNOP in 2011, the music by Kevin Putts combined with a libretto by Mark Campbell transported the opera house to Christmas, 1914, the beginning of World War I, Based on Christian Carlson's screenplay for the film 'Joyeux Noel,' the opera travels to a small, bloodied war zone in a tiny Belgium village along the French boarder, which centers the attention while profoundly affecting those in the audience.

In a spectacular evening celebrating the performing arts and jazz, Interact Center for the Visual and Performing Arts premiered their annual musical "Hot Funky Butt Jazz" in the Guthrie Theater's Dowling Studio The no intermission production carries three wishes for cultural improvisation on the magic of the show's narrator, a voodoo mama, Marie LaVeau. In the process of performing, Interact fulfilled their mission to present the capabilities of artists with disabilities, mental and physical challenges, to participate in every art form, including theater. This mission impacts the 50 plus cast members included in "Hot Funky Butt Jazz," a tribute to the dance hall where jazz originated in the mercurial city of New Orleans at the turn of the 20th century. 

For the Guthrie Theater's  final hurrah on the McGuire Proscenium Stage in 2019, the company presents a hilarious tribute to plates of sardines and humor in the farcical 'Noises Off.' English playwright' Michael Frayn's award winning 1982 play presents an alternative perspective to the theatrical process and everyone who participates in a production's success. Produced for the first time at the Guthrie, the farce features multiple doors, opening and closing, swinging axes, hurdling down steps and fanciful love triangles along with the iconic plate of sardines through this play within a play format.

The Tony Award Wining 2009 'God of Carnage,' opened at Lyric Arts this weekend. The intimate theater offers a splendid production of Yasmina Reza's comic tragedy with sophistication. The 90 minute, no intermission evening presents a plethora of philosophical issues to contemplate, especially in regard to contemporary society. This fascinating evening will uncover the darkest humor alongside frightening realities present in society.

 In a New York Times article dated October 14, 2018, 'A Mexican Man's Fatal Journey to Reclaim HIs Life,' the newspaper retells the story of Adrián Luna, a man from a small town in Idaho. His life scenario reads eerily familiar to the themes in the World Premiere Play at Children's Theatre Company (CTC) titled 'I Come From Arizona.' In another play titled, 'Augusta and Noble,' playwright Carlos Murillo depicts a related story for these character, while in 'Arizona, he relives the story of a 14 year old girl Gabi, who must negotiate attending a new college prep high school in tony North Chicago. She also needs to care for her younger brother, Jesus, while worrying if her father will remain safe while he visits his dying father in Mexico. Both stories, in the newspaper and at the theater retell the plight of immigrants in America, both documented and undocumented, and certainly other than illegal.

The incomparable 'Mary Poppins' returns to Bloomington's The Artistry Theater on the winds of her iconic character's umbrella. Penned as a collection of eight stories beginning in the 1934, Walt Disney wrangled the rights from author PL Travers for their 1964 film. One of the studios crowning glories in its film history, the movie garnered eight academy awards. The Broadway adaptation, on view at Artistry, differs from the film featuring music and lyrics by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman from a play created by Julian Fellows. Director Joel Sass and Music Director Anita Ruth along with Choreographer Joe Chavala produced a Broadway worthy musical at the Bloomington Arts Center, which the lyrics will aptly: 'Stretch your mind into the fantastic, dreams are made of strong elastic.' 

Dancing and energizing music imbue life with joy in the Midwest premiere of Children's Theater Company's Last Stop on Market Street this September. Produced as a co-commission with Chicago Children's Theatre and based on the Newbery Award Winning book written by Matt de la Peña, Last Stop on Market Street charms and delights audiences. Directed by Henry Godinez, this exuberant production recreates the adventures a seven year old boy encounters when he visits his Nana for the weekend. Nana lives in a neighborhood teeming with a wide variety of personalities and new experiences CJ is unfamiliar with and often wary of--Including the reggae music and 'laying some sugar on his Nana,'which Nana then explains means to kiss her. 

To open their 2018-2019 season, Theater Latte Da presents the multi Tony Award winning musical ONCE at the Ritz Theater in Northeast Minneapolis.  Adapted by Edna Walsh with worlds and lyrics written or composed by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, ONCE recalls the story of a guy and girl who meet through fate for six days in Dublin, Ireland. The Girl, a Czech immigrant ready to begin a new life, intersects at a train station with an Irishmen who repairs Hoovers while pondering on abandoning his musical career. Together, in an old Dublin shop where pianos are sold, Girl plays her accompaniment to Guy's lyrics. The two indeed "make beautiful music together," while Latte Da's production keeps the musical drama and their audiencenes, as a song from the musical quotes, "walking on moonbeams." 

On September 7, Anoka's Lyric Arts opened a Drama League Award Winning musical 'If/Then.' In this edgy, provocatives production, Tom Kitt's music complimented with book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey creates a musical force as they did in their Pulitzer Prize winning 'Next to Normal.' Their 2014 'IF/THEN' production opened at New York's Richard Rodgers Theater and details the life of 38 year old Elizabeth. Throughout the play of her parallel lives, she ruminates about day to day choices she makes: the what if to where a person deciders to be, including what cities to live in, which career opportunities to pursue, and which people to hold in her heart, at any given moment that creates a memorable journey for audiences. The entertaining and intriguing musical poses some philosophical questions for Elizabeth, who earns her living as a PhD in Urban Planning, and hence, the audience, too. As this musical sings, 'the next turn at the corner may change your life forever.

Summertime leads into September and the upcoming Minneapolis Children's Theatre Company's (CTC) fall 2018-2019 season. The company's first world premiere, which played this July and August, titled 'The Best Summer Ever' featured nationally renowned playwright and storyteller Kevin Kling. In this first CTC World Premiere production, Kling remembers life changing moments from his boyhood in Minnesota, which he narrates, and completely charms the audience.

Woods comma Elle descended upon the cultural scene wrapped up as Reese Witherspoon in the 2001 film "Legally Blonde." "Legally Blonde 2" followed shortly after. Bloomington's Artistry  Theater at the Bloomington Center for the Arts opened the Broadway version of the film based on the musical's New York 2007 debut, after which the musical was christened with a Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical. The music and lyrics by composed by Neil Benjamin and Laurence O'Keefe, Heather Hach delivered a clever book for the production. In the film and the musical, Elle Woods wins the audiences' hearts with her unabashed love of anything pink and plucky confidence that overflows throughout the story.

Guys and Dolls, a charming musical opening a half century ago on Broadway in 1951, reminisces New York's hidden society-gamblers, exotic dancers and 'sinners'-along with the missionaries who tried to redeem them. A story based on a series of short stories by Damon Runyon, Jo Sweeney and Abe Burrows created the book together with Frank Loesser's mesmerizing melodies and lyrics that brings the tale of two determined young women, Adelaide and Sarah, to life. The musical was eventually denied a Pulitzer Prize because one of the producers was blacklisted, and this retells another fascinating story in itself. 

On stage the past weekend, Minneapolis's Guthrie Theater opened a production of of the iconic musical West Side Story in the Wurtlele Thrust Stage. The following Tuesday, June 26, the United States Supreme Court upheld the country's travel ban for seven countries, mainly located in the Middle East, on strict rules governing their admittance to the U.S. On Thursday, another shooting happened near Annapolis, Maryland, killing five people when a gunman opened fire through a glass door at a small newspaper office. In a powerful scene during this opening of West Side Story, the character of Doc addresses one of the two rival gangs named the Jets when they host a war council in his drug store: “Why do you live like there's a war on? Why do you kill?'

Housed on Main Street in Hopkins, Minnesota, Stages Theatre Company (STC) persevered for almost 35 years by producing exceptional, professional theater for young audiences. Believing in the enchantment, images and power of theater, especially for youth, the company produces world premiere productions commissioned especially for their home stage.

Spring's rebirth in March invites magical thoughts of budding romance. A beloved multi-award winning musical rom-com, She Loves Me, sings in the sunny emotions and weather at Anoka's Lyric Arts. The playful musical first ran on Broadway in 1963, and was translated from Miklos Laszlo's 1937 play "Parfumerie." Joe Masteroff's book partnered with music composed by Jerry Bock together with lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, capture the perfect notes to a tangled romance between two store clerks, Amalia and Georg, in 1934 Budapest. The two clash on the small boutique's floor while unknowingly sending each other letters to 'Dear Friend (Yes, they used real snail mail).