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About the Beat

The world of community theater is full of talented and hard-working people donating their time and energy to telling stories on the stage.  The shows that are created can be exciting, thought-provoking, frightening, funny--but they're all labors of love.  Community theater reviews are a way to recognize the skills that people bring to these shows and the moments that make these shows shine.

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Shrek: a Powerful Opener for Open Door

If you don’t like Shrek: the Musical , I have to wonder if you’ve even seen it.  Or maybe you have to see a community theater production to really get into it. I did see a professional version once and it wasn’t as good, but every community production I’ve been to or been in has been really enjoyable.  Maybe it’s that the show’s message is about embracing differences, but Shrek is better when it’s done by “real” people. This is not to insult professional actors or non-professional actors, but there is a difference between the performances that the audience can feel, and this time the advantage is definitely not with the professionals. Shrek , based on the animated film of the same name, is about a grumpy ogre who lives in a swamp.  When the short, title-hungry Lord Farquaad evicts all magical creatures from their homes and dumps them on Shrek’s swamp, the ogre ends up going on a quest with a talking donkey to rescue a princess in exchange for the deed to his swamp....
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"The Spitfire Grill" Shines at Cross Community Players

After serving her time in prison, Percy Talbot dreams of starting over in a new place – specifically, in a small town she found in a travel book. But when she gets there, she finds a town hit by hard times, where people don’t often open up and don’t easily trust an outsider with a troubled past. The Spitfire Grill is a show about people who have lost hope in their communities, their families, and their own lives. Percy’s belief in what the town has to offer starts to turn things around, but is it too late for the other characters to change their ways? Cross Community Players picked an interesting space for their production of The Spitfire Grill ; the room they used at St. Joseph Catholic Community was not designed as a theater and was not even totally enclosed, but it worked surprisingly well for staging this show.   As a bonus, coinciding with the run of the show, the church had on display an exhibit featuring poetry by incarcerated people.   A church member told...
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A Playful and Exuberant "Shrek" at Chaska Valley Family Theatre

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...
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