Twin Cities Community Theater Beat

The summer is drawing to an end, and with it, the series of local productions of Mamma Mia . By my count, Ashland Productions is the fourth group this summer to perform this show (though I could be under-counting). It's strangely common for the same show to pop up multiple times in short succession, but I think Mamma Mia 's got to be one of the best shows to see repeatedly. Sure, the script doesn't always hold up, but the music is ridiculously catchy, and if nothing else, you can pretend for two hours that you're with the characters on stage, partying on the sunny Mediterranean coast. I find it hard to believe any adult hasn't seen at least the film version of Mamma Mia (featuring Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan, among many other famous faces), but for the outliers: in this story, 20-year-old Sophie finds out she has three possible dads, and she secretly invites them all to her wedding. When they arrive, old feelings and new conflicts arise. Will Sophie and her fia...

Roald Dahl's Matilda tells the story of a little girl who is a genius but unappreciated by most of the people around her. Life is unfair, but she makes it a little more fair by taking matters into her own hands. Eventually, she develops the power to move things with her mind, which allows her to defeat the monstrous headmistress of her school and set things right at last. Matilda was published in 1988, and in 1966 a film version was released (directed by Danny DeVito, who also played Matilda's father in the film). The movie leaned into the fun of Matilda's magic and the terror of Miss Trunchbull, adding a(n unnecessary) suspenseful scene in which Matilda steals her teacher's childhood doll from Miss Trunchbull's home. The musical, on the other hand, downplays the magic and focuses on the sadness of Matilda's home life. This sadness is emphasized by a story Matilda tells throughout the play that gets darker and darker — and is then revealed to be the backstory of...

Newsies , based on the 1992 film starring Christian Bale, tells a somewhat fictional version of the 1899 strike of New York's newsboys. The film wasn't initially a success, but gained popularity over time; there's something about teen boys dancing (especially in old-timey outfits) that is just bound to resonate with a certain age-group of girls. It's an uplifting story, and Disney/Broadway superstar Alan Menken wrote the songs, but I do think Christian Bale's perfect 90s floppy hair had a lot to do with the film's eventual success. Anyway, back to the musical. The biggest change from the film is that Bill Pullman's journalist character became female, and a love interest for Jack Kelly, leader of the newsies. While there is a romance in the film, it's not given that much screen time or notice in general; making the relationship a big part of the musical strikes me as unnecessary and cliched. Would you believe they're from opposite sides of the tr...

When Hair  debuted on Broadway in 1968, it made quite a stir. It was something totally new, showing honest (and positive) depictions of drugs, sexuality, and race. The show had its own style and sound, and it pushed the boundaries in a way that audiences responded to. For some young people, it provided a way to connect with their parents, because Hair  expressed their feelings and experiences so effectively. Hair  isn't new anymore, and it doesn't have the same context today that it did at the time. The show, like the hippie movement, is optimistic overall, permeated with the belief that music and love have the power to change the world. Decades later, many of the problems approached in Hair haven't been solved. From the outside, it's easy to be cynical about Hair , which, for example, opens with a song proclaiming that the astrological age of Aquarius will bring with it harmony and understanding. But there's something to be said for setting cynicism aside.  Hair is...