October 2007
October 31, 2007Kushner, art attacked, getting soapy
The big news this week is that Tony Kushner ("Angels in America") has been contracted to write and premiere a new play at the Guthrie, in 2009. It's bound to be provocative with a working title like "The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures." And it's hard to believe it won't be good, too--Kushner is perhaps the only star playwright these days precisely because he rarely missteps. Better than most, he seems able to keep the pull all the right strings at all the right times in all the right places, and it never feels hackneyed or cheating or phoned-in. That's rare. And his premiere here will be a rare treat, a feather in the city's cap. But let's hope he isn't cursed by us... The last major major playwright... Read more » Posted on Wednesday, October 31, 2007 in Front & Center | Permalink | Comments (0) |
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October 26, 2007Osmo, advance screenings, and more
In a few hours, Osmo Vanska will conduct something called "Future Classics" over at Orchestra Hall. I had the flyer on my desk for weeks, hoping to go. Alas, I can't, but I hope many people do--it's the signature event of the 2007 Composer Institute and it's proof that orchestral music didn't die, as many radio stations would have you believe, with Tchaikovsky. Vanska has long supported new, even avant-garde music, and this show features some of the country's most talented emerging composers. I'm certain he'd like to perform more of it here, but frankly, we need to show up. I'd guess we're more adventurous than most cities--the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra has actually done very well introducing new music. But still, the next Mahler could be composing major new works... Read more » Posted on Friday, October 26, 2007 in Front & Center | Permalink | Comments (0) |
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October 17, 2007Minnesota's best artists of the century (and a half)
First, I just want to say: They called it. In a MnMo arts feature over the summer, we described the beliefs of Warehouse District boosters that the area was primed for an artistic revival. Many laughed, but I'm starting to think they're just crazy enough to be right. And now, one more art gallery is proving them right--On October 27, Circa Gallery will hold its grand opening at 210 N. First St., Mpls. Actually, it's a return--Circa opened downtown in 1990, then fled the frat boy encroachment, and is now fleeing that space, Loring Corners, because of less-than-desirable changes there (but that's another story).
Posted on Wednesday, October 17, 2007 in Front & Center | Permalink | Comments (0) |
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October 5, 2007The Home Place at the Guthrie
Caught "The Home Place" this week at the Guthrie, the Joe Dowling-directed premiere from Ireland's most celebrated contemporary playwright. It was hard to see why in the first few minutes, when the play got off to such a slow start I wondered if this was going to be a costume drama without the drama or a drawing room play without the wit. In fact, the tension comes soon enough, and nothing you might have expected from the pre-publicity. It pushes plenty of buttons, if you've ever thought ill of colonialism, and gets nicely complicated, deeply gray. In fact, where the beginning was stilted, the rest is almost unrelenting, and you long for comic relief; when you don't get it, you may do, as some of the patrons did, and grasp onto anything--the line "I need a drink"... Read more » Posted on Friday, October 5, 2007 in Front & Center | Permalink | Comments (0) |
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Anyway, in case you've been...
