Twin Cities Community Theater Beat

What’s an ogre to do when a bunch of fairy tale creatures are dumped on his swamp? Earn the deed back from the megalomaniacal lord who put them there by rescuing a princess from a dragon, of course! But not without the help of a talkative donkey, and not without learning a thing or two along the way.  Shrek: The Musical  (based on the 2001 animated film)   is a mainstay of the community theater scene, and I’m sure not complaining. It’s a show with strong characters, plentiful jokes, and even some actual emotional heft. I am losing count of the number of times I’ve seen it (seven, maybe?), but I’ll keep showing up for it, because I know I'm always in for a good time with this show. I’ve been to a couple of shows at Chaska Valley Family Theatre, and I was glad to be back with them in the spacious theater at Chanhassen High School (the previous show, Bright Star , was in a smaller space with less comfortable seating).   One thing that surprised me even befor...

I’m a little too old to have been the target audience for the SpongeBob Squarepants TV show, but even in the early days it was impossible to avoid it completely. Now, after 13 seasons of the show, three feature length films, two spinoff shows, an unimaginable amount of merchandise, and some very catchy memes, it’s hard to imagine a person who hasn’t noticed SpongeBob at least a little. The premise of the show is that a sponge named SpongeBob Squarepants lives in a pineapple under the sea and works at an underwater burger joint. He has adventures with his best friend Patrick, who is a sea star, and Sandy, who is a squirrel in an astronaut suit. In The SpongeBob Musical , their whole town is threatened by an underwater volcano. Everyone else is occupied with greed, prejudice, rock music, or doomsday cults, and so it’s up to SpongeBob to make sure the day gets saved. After seeing Eagan Summer Community Theater’s production of Big Fish , I knew to expect a big production, b...