Minneapolis, MN
Top 10 Twin Cities theater events this fall
The Guthrie Theater reopens its Dowling Studio with the premiere of George Abud’s “The Ruins: a play through music.” It’s a meditation on the meaning of life that sounds like something from Samuel Beckett but sweetened by music. Two musicians — a cellist and an oud player — find out that they soon will be dead. Over eight movements, they play and ponder their existence. Playwright Abud stars alongside singer and cellist Sydney Shepherd. Osh Ashruf directs. (Sept. 19-Oct. 12, Guthrie Theater, Mpls.)
The Broadway production of Terrence McNally’s comedy about a swank opening night party boasted an all-star cast that included Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick and F. Murray Abraham. Director Stephen DiMenna has assembled their Minnesota equivalents, including Jim Lichtscheidl, Sally Wingert and Warren Bowles. It’s the fourth McNally play at the storied St. Paul playhouse, and this one looks to be a rollicking love letter to a life on the stage. (Sept. 24-Oct. 19, Park Square Theatre, St. Paul)
The North American premiere of this British import likely will wow audiences with its puppetry by co-directors Emily Lim and Toby Olié. But this family-friendly story of a greedy reptile being outwitted by courageous forest creatures has infectious, toe-tapping music by Ahmed Abdullahi Gallab and Tom Brady (no, not the retired NFL quarterback). (Oct. 1-Nov. 23, Children’s Theatre Co., Mpls.)
Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale “The Little Mermaid” inspired Rosa Guy to write the 1985 novel “My Love, My Love; or, The Peasant Girl,” which then was turned into a 1990 musical by playwright and lyricist Lynn Ahrens and composer Stephen Flaherty. Under the direction of Kelli Foster Warder, the show promises to be a burst of light, sounds and color. The cast includes Antonisia Collins as Ti Moune, Charla Marie Bailey as Mama Euralie and Erin Farsté as goddess of love Erzulie. (Oct. 2-26, Artistry, Bloomington)
Carlyle Brown’s play about entertainer Bert Williams has been a yearslong passion project, with a developmental reading in 2012. A Black man, Williams excelled at blackface during the vaudeville era, playing with masks and fighting to turn an ugly stereotype into something more palatable. “The identity of the American Negro was created in the theater with minstrel shows, our first national entertainment,” Brown said, adding that the show is set in a dressing room on the last day of Williams’ life. Onetime Guthrie actor Shawn Hamilton plays Williams in a cast that includes Dennis Spears and Regina Marie Williams. Victor Zupanc provides musical supervision and Brown directs. (Oct. 3-25, Illusion Theater, Mpls.)
Penumbra Theatre teams with Teatro del Pueblo for José Rivera’s absurdist play. “Marisol” centers on a copy editor who wakes up one day to find that her world has been transformed into a dystopia because her guardian angel is in a battle with a God who has become senile. Sarah Bellamy directs. (Oct. 9-Nov. 2, Penumbra Theatre, St. Paul)
To mark its 100th production, Theater Latté Da has assembled an all-star cast of actor-singers for this limited run cabaret curated by co-founder Denise Prosek and director Justin Lucero. They will guide a selection of songs from the company’s biggest hits for an evening hosted by Tod Petersen and featuring Erin Capello, Isa Condo-Olvera and Bradley Greenwald. (Oct. 8-19, Theater Latté Da at the Ritz Theatre at the Ritz Theatre, Mpls.)
Eboni Booth’s play about rediscovery and resilience centers on a 38-year-old bookstore worker who tries to find himself after being laid off. Powerhouse performers Will Sturdivant, Nubia Monks and Pearce Bunting have been cast in this regional premiere that’s being staged by Marshall Jones III. (Oct. 11–Nov. 16, Guthrie Theater, Mpls.)
Minneapolis, MN
How Is ‘Melania’ Playing in Minneapolis? Let’s Crunch the Numbers
It’s literally the last place on Earth you’d imagine movie-goers racing to see Melania, the new $75 million Brett Ratner-directed documentary about the first lady — but tickets are apparently selling fast in Minneapolis. Or at least fast-ish.
The movie, which opened better than predicted last weekend — pulling in $7.2 million in just under 1800 theaters, the best showing for a non-concert doc in a decade — is being expanded to 2,000 theaters, with many of those additional screens in blue cities like New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, and, yes, the one in Minnesota where two U.S. citizens were gunned down last month by ICE agents, sparking widespread and on-going protests.
“Look, the movie isn’t for everybody,” says Marc Beckman, Melania Trump’s longtime advisor and the lawyer who put together her $40 million licensing deal to make the film with Amazon, which also spent an additional $35 million on marketing it. “But the people who voted [for Trump], they love it. And it’s very satisfying — after all the negativity — to see that it’s playing well in blue cities as well as red.”
Exactly how well it’s playing is subject to some interpretation. An unscientific look at theater maps in Minneapolis shows that a few theaters, like AMC Southdale 16, are indeed doing some business — 15 of 80 seats for its Feb. 3 screening at 6:45 p.m. have sold so far — not terrible for a normally slow Tuesday night — while the AMC Eden Prairie Mall 18 has sold 26 seats, nearly half the theater, for its 6:15 screening. Curiously, all those 26 sold seats at Eden Prairie are contiguous, which suggest either they were purchased in a block or else movie-goers are much more friendly in Minneapolis than in the rest of the country. Also, nobody seems to be interested in going to the next showing, at 7:30, at the same theater; only two seats have been sold for that screening. Meanwhile, AMC Inver Grove 16 has sold only three tickets for its 6:45 show and Coon Rapids 16 has sold precisely zero for its at 7:30.
Of course, the film will be even more widely available when it starts streaming on Amazon Prime, alongside a two or three-episode Melania Trump doc series — made from bonus footage shot by Ratner — but that may take a while. Beckman predicts the movie won’t drop until sometime this summer.
Minneapolis, MN
Springsteen ICE protest ‘Streets of Minneapolis’ highest-selling song in US last week
Bruce Springsteen’s protest song ripping what he calls the “state terror” tactics by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is topping the music sales charts in the United States.
“Streets of Minneapolis” was last week’s highest-selling song in the United States, Billboard reported Monday.
The tune took the top spot on Billboard’s digital song sales chart in the last week of January, selling 16,000 downloads, according to data from Luminate.
Billboard noted that Springsteen’s song hit No. 1 despite only being available for two days of the tracking period.
The “Born in the USA” singer — a frequent critic of President Trump who has called his administration “corrupt” and “treasonous” — said in a social media post last week that he penned the song “in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis.”
The release followed the two separate shooting deaths last month in Minneapolis involving federal immigration authorities. In January, a federal immigration enforcement officer shot and killed a 37-year-old woman, Renee Good, during the Department of Homeland Security’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota. Less than three weeks later, Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse, was killed by a Customs and Border Patrol agent.
In his message about his new music, Springsteen said it was “dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.”
In his song, the 76-year-old performer slammed Trump and the Department of Homeland Security, singing, “King Trump’s private army from the DHS, guns belted to their coats, came to Minneapolis to enforce the law, or so their story goes.”
“Trump’s federal thugs beat up on his face and his chest, then we heard the gunshots and Alex Pretti lay in the snow, dead,” Springsteen sang in “Streets of Minneapolis.”
“Their claim was self-defense sir, just don’t believe your eyes. It’s our blood and bones, and these whistles and phones against Miller and Noem’s dirty lies,” Springsteen said in the song, in a reference to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller.
“We eagerly await Mr. Springsteen’s songs dedicated to the thousands of American citizens killed by criminal illegal aliens,” Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin previously told The Hill in response to Springsteen’s music, saying that the “brave men and women of ICE are saving lives by arresting the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens, including murderers, rapists, pedophiles, drug dealers, gang members, and terrorists.”
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Minneapolis, MN
South Minneapolis residents create roadblock, defining it as safety method against ICE
Neighbors created their own method of public safety against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as a show of resistance in south Minneapolis.
A grassroots response to immigration enforcement that residents say is hurting their communities.
In the middle of the road at 32nd Street & Cedar Ave, a makeshift roadblock turned the intersection into a roundabout.
Cars slowed as drivers noticed. Some honked, others asked questions and a man brought food for the people standing watch.
Wade Haynes has been standing outside twice a day to make sure children get on and off the bus and to keep his community safe.
Haynes said he felt safe having his neighbors keep watch for unfamiliar cars.
“I was like, ‘Wow, we got folks out there taking care of us, looking out for us.’ It’s good,” he said.
The approach to managing traffic was short-lived as the Minneapolis Public Works and police cleared debris and homemade roadblocks.
A city spokesperson said in a statement on Monday, “Given the high-traffic and high-speed block of roadways on Cedar Ave., the City cleared the streets to ensure public safety for the neighborhoods and emergency vehicles.”
Still, residents like Kelly Piatt say the roadblock was necessary. She said people who barely knew each other began to share responsibility for their neighborhood.
“We need to keep our neighbors safe. We will be doing this again,” Piatt said
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