Theatre

NDSU Opera Production: ‘HMS Pinafore’

May 11th, 2016

By Alex Huntsberger

Photo by Kensie Wallner

If there’s one question that has hounded theatregoers from wing to stall over the past century more than any other, it is most certainly the following: how would W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan have fared had they been originators of the classic 70’s sitcom, ‘The Love Boat’? And now, courtesy of NDSU Opera’s production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s classic comic opera “HMS Pinafore”, we finally have an answer: they would have done…

THEATRE: SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE

April 27th, 2016

by Alex Huntsberger

In an age when producers in theatre, television and film are all searching their couches for viable IP (Intellectual Property) to convert into new content, I suppose an Addams Family musical was inevitable—even if it wasn’t that advisable. The show was panned when it opened on Broadway in a production starring Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth, and it underwent subsequent revisions before its first national tour, many of which were actually quite well received.

While the…

‘THE SWEET NEW’ OFFERS A STORY OF TRANSFORMATION

April 15th, 2016

By Ben Haugmo

As human beings, none of us are strangers to change. From births to marriages to deaths, events occur in our lives that leave us different than we were before.

Like all of us, Raymond Rea is no stranger to change. He used the experiences of both himself and his family to inspire his upcoming play, ‘The Sweet New.’ The play follows an Italian-American family over the course of three generations and the unique changes each family member undergoes. The three main characters…

MSUM PUTTING IN THE WORK ON ‘WORKING’

April 14th, 2016

By Alex Huntsberger

It takes a lot of work to make a play. Learning lines, learning songs, learning blocking and choreography and learning how to be someone you are not. Rehearsing until you get it right and then rehearsing even more until you can’t get it wrong.

Theatre might seem a silly diversion to some, something people do because they want to be in spotlight, to be showered with applause—and sometimes it is. But it takes a lot of work to do it.

I reflected on this while I sat in…

When it comes to diversity

April 7th, 2016

By Alex Huntsberger

Like the Republican Party, theatre is a grand old American institution suffering from a severe racial diversity problem; unlike the GOP, it’s also one whose lack of racial diversity goes directly against the principles it espouses.

Cowering in fear that their old, white affluent subscriber bases will run screaming into the street if they tell stories written by, aimed at or featuring people of color—theatres across the country have displayed a conservative approach…

NEW BLU-RAYS REVISIT UNDERRATED COMEDIES

March 31st, 2016

Last month a couple of overlooked comedies from the mid-60s and early 70s made their Blu-ray debuts. Both were box office disappointments when originally released and continue to elicit mixed responses, but have gained fans over the intervening decades.

Peter Sellers and Victor Mature star in “After the Fox” (1966), Vittoria DeSica’s entertaining satire on heist films, Italian culture, and the magical power of movies themselves over the public, filmmakers, and critics. Neil Simon…

A new tradition ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ begins new future for Sheyenne High Theatre

February 11th, 2016

In its first year as its own theater department, Sheyenne High School Theatre is paving the way for the future with a classic from the past.

“Fiddler on the Roof” will open the West Fargo high school’s first solo season as its cast and crew latch onto the musical’s elements of tradition to build on for years to come.

“Last year, I’d say there was a bit of a disconnect, certainly for the students and maybe myself and our audience,” director Adam Pankow said. “This year I…

Shakespeare’s coming to town

February 4th, 2016

Month-long ShakespeareFest celebrates the Bard

In 1916 the people of Fargo-Moorhead devoted an entire week to all things Shakespeare. With the U.S. on the brink of entering global turmoil, the F-M community entered a bubble of sorts, harkening back several centuries to celebrate the English playwright’s works, which became the cornerstones of English literature, influencing the language itself as well as culture around the world. The 1916 festival included many events, including a…

Here, there, everywhere

February 3rd, 2016

Monika Browne’s self-penned, one-person show, “EnTRANSed: The Making of a Transnational Woman,” will debut at Valley City State University’s Theater 320 on Saturday, Jan. 30, at 7:30 p.m. The show is based on Browne’s transplantation from her home in Warsaw, Poland, to the U.S. and her experiences navigating a new life here in the Midwest.

“EnTRANSed” is a play on words, says Browne, an homage to the semi-autobiographical novel “Trans-Atlantyk,” written in 1953 by…

NDSU: ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’

December 9th, 2015

Jess Jung feels little to no pressure to live up to the classic “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.”

The 1958 film starring Elizabeth Taylor sees its stage adaption take shape at North Dakota State’s Walsh Studio this weekend, the second half of its two-week run. Starring six students in the round with 80 seats per show, this “super intimate” telling is set in this new era, its director said.

“I think the movie is in the style of American realism of that time, kind of high emotion and…