Tuesday news and reviews
Here's a look at the arts stories making headlines...
Books
Michael Chabon named director of board of MacDowell artist colony
Hillel Italie, Associated Press
Create a More Connected Minnesota
MPR News is your trusted resource for the news you need. With your support, MPR News brings accessible, courageous journalism and authentic conversation to everyone - free of paywalls and barriers. Your gift makes a difference.
Michael Chabon, novelist, screenwriter and father of four, has a new responsibility.
Dance
Cinderella gets a Dolls makeover
- Caroline Palmer, Star Tribune
In Ballet of the Dolls' reboot of a comedy classic, a Beverly Hills mansion becomes a gilded cage.
Moscow Ballet's "Great Russian Nutcracker" lives up to its name
- Betsy Gabler, TC Daily Planet
It was a perfect event to start out a season of joy and goodwill, fantasy and legend, faith and beauty.
Music
Carols are key in two holiday songfests
- William Randall Beard, Star Tribune
VocalEssence and The Singers each present multiple concerts featuring old and new holiday songs.
Concert at the Capri: 'It's all baby steps, but it's happening'
- Michael Anthony, MinnPost.com
The Capri began presenting concerts and musical plays three years ago, invoking the venerable notion that the arts can have a positive effect on the environment -- and perhaps even stimulate some much-needed business development in the area.
Tony Ortiz's "Someday": Hear him, feel him
- Dwight Hobbes, TC Daily Planet
Ortiz's vocals, no matter what mode he's in, be it sweet ballad or you-know-what to the walls rocking, demonstrate pure, unbridled passion.
People
Motes tapped for a top role at College of St. Benedict
- Graydon Royce, Star Tribune
The former head of the Minnesota Shubert Center, she leaves Theater Latté Da for a major fund-raising job.
Theater
A witty concept and some funny moments make for laughs, but less would be more in this Christmas spoof.
- Graydon Royce, Star Tribune
- Jay Gabler, TC Daily Planet
If the premise amuses you, you'll get a kick out of the execution. If you're not so sure, you're unlikely to be convinced.
Cleverly conceived Revenge Christmas a mixed bag of Yuletide mayhem - Brad Richason, Examiner.com
A consistently witty holiday mash-up that impresses with its concept, but struggles to make an emotional connection.
Miss Richfield 1981's 'Bingo Bonanza' offers too much
- Ed Huyck, City Pages
There really can be too much of a good thing, as was made clear Friday evening at the Miss Richfield 1981 holiday show, Bingo Bonanza.
At the Old Log Theater, "Jeeves in Bloom" droops
- Elizabeth Lofgren, TC Daily Planet
Jeeves in Bloom has some of the elements of a successful farce, but inconsistency in style and energy prevent it from being the breezy romp that we hoped to enjoy.
Playwright Carson Kreitzer awarded NEA grant
- Ed Huyck, City Pages
Local playwright Carson Kreitzer has earned a National Endowment for the Arts grant to aid in developing her latest play, Behind the Eye.
"Miracle on Chrismas Lake" at Yellow Tree Theatre: Osse-awesome!
- Bev Wolfe, TC Daily Planet
A last-minute loss of rights to a different holiday play resulted in co-founder Jessica Lind writing the last-minute holiday play "Miracle on Christmas Lake," which has become a holiday staple.
The Golden Girls get into the spirit with 'A Christmas Carol' at the BLB
- Shelby Meyers, City Pages
A Christmas Carol by Dickens is indeed a timeless tradition, but the Golden Girls are just as capable of offering up some holiday magic too.
The Guthrie's new Scrooge: More cynical, less curmudgeonly
- Ed Huyck, City Pages
Daniel Gerroll has made a splash in town with his fresh interpretation of the role in the Guthrie Theater's latest production of their longstanding holiday offering.