'Broomstick' takes us into the the season of witch

Photo by Bruce Silcox

I like spooky things. Ghost stories. Horror movies. Misfits records. It's a way to process and come to terms with the everyday horrors of living in the modern world, while getting that rush of safe fear that comes when you know it's "only a movie."

Broomstick, now playing at Open Eye, takes us deep into the spooky. John Biguenet's one-woman show centers on a nameless witch, who has welcomed us to her home on a creepy evening to talk about old times. 

The conceit allows Biguenet to bring out bits and pieces of witch lore, while slowly deepening the main character into something unique. We move from familiar children's stories, such as a riff on Hansel and Gretel, to darker topics, including dead lovers, cursed neighbors, and suspicious townfolk who barely tolerate this solitary woman.

These deeper moments, in turn, allow Broomstick to dig into the Witch's position in her community. As a single woman, she lacks traditional power, so instead uses whatever guile she can to stay ahead. She also isn't afraid of long-simmering vengeance, such as bringing blights on men (and women) who have wronged her, even to the point of using witchy powers to sink a boat after her lover is claimed by the sea.

Cheryl Willis uses all of this to create a vivid, memorable character. The Liverpudlian offers a master class in holding the audience in rapt attention, as she moves from story to story. Her accent places the action in the British Isles, though it really could take place anywhere where differences are mistrusted.

Lighting, sound, and Joel Sass' amazing set complete the spell. Odd sounds, brilliant cues, and a set that brings a witch's hovel to life all make for an enveloping experience.

Broomstick is a perfect piece of Halloween-season theater, full of scares and chills. It also is a terrific study of a character finding her way through the world in any way possible, and a showcase for a talented performer.

Broomstick runs through Oct. 31 at Open Eye Theatre.

Also, if you are interested in more scary theater, the annual Twin Cities Horror Festival is fast approaching. This curated festival, in its lucky 13th incarnation,  has presented some amazing (and often quite bloody) work in th3e past. This year's festival is again at Strike Theater, and runs Oct. 23 to Nov. 3.

"Lincoln's Children" offers intriguing premise, somewhat unsatisfying script

Even though it is not a complete success, Lincoln's Children shows great promise, and Fortune's Fool premiere is buoyed by a number of excellent performances.

Playwright Mike McGeever puts a lot on the table, as he explores both a contemporary historian's search to authenticate her family stories, and one of those stories -- were her ancestor is an indentured servant (essentially, a slave on loan) in Lincoln's Illinois household around 1850. 

The women, both named Chloe, negotiate these worlds as best they can. The contemporary Chloe joins with a white Lincoln scholar, Montgomery Mathers, who is looking to recharge his career after some weaker than expected sales.

Chloe thinks she has it. Her family story is that her ancestor served in Lincoln's household, and may have had an intimate relationship with the future president. However, Montgomery wants proof, and the typical sources aren't going to provide that. After all, Black people in America were still property in large parts of the United States, and even in a free state like Illinois, they didn't show up in a lot of the typical records.

In the 1850 side of the story, we see the growing relationship between Lincoln and Chloe, all under the watchful eye of Mary Lincoln. In both cases, Chloe needs to negotiate a world where her skin color causes people to make automatic assumptions about her abilities, intelligence, and motivations.

All of these ideas swirl around the play, but McGeever isn't able to focus them into a fully satisfying show. Plot strands start, but are not given a full exploration. Intriguing characters come and go, but some of the secondary ones lack depth.

Still, the company does an excellent job with the material, led by Kyra Richardson as the dual Chloes, While the characters come from different worlds, Richardson highlights their connections, especially a desire to make the best of a world ready to discount them at every step.

Nicholas Nelson makes for an upright, somewhat imposing Lincoln, while Jeremy Motz has an appropriate, exhausted air as slumping academic Mathers.

Lincoln's Children runs through Sept. 22 at the Crane Theatre.

"English" explores language and communication

Photo by Liz Lauren

My memories of studying a foreign language mainly come down to struggling with dour German novels and trying to describe seeing Motorhead, in French.

As a middle class American, a second language was more about ticking a box for college than a necessity. For the characters in English, Sanaz Toossi's Pulitzer-Prize-winning play, it means so much more. Learning English could open the door to becoming a doctor, getting a green card, or moving to Canada to be near their granddaughter. 

In this heartfelt and touching production, a co-production between the Guthrie and Chicago's Goodman Theatre, we only spend about 90 minutes with the quintet of characters, but they live in the memory long after the final curtain.

English takes place in Iran in 2009. Four students have gathered in an English-immersion classroom to prepare for a language proficiency test. To foster their emerging skills, instructor Marjan has a strict "English only" rule. The moments the characters swap between their second language and Farsi are represented by shifts in accent -- heavy for when they attempt English, straightforward when they use their native tongue.

As the months unfold, relationships are built and conflicts arise, especially between Marjan and strong-willed Elham, who sees learning English as a necessary evil to getting into an Australian university. Necessary evil may not be strong enough. Elham is in a war with the English language, upset that it has been foisted as a barrier to her plans, and reluctant to give up her own culture and tongue. 

English is at turns funny and insightful, with the cast -- who all have transferred from the Goodman run earlier this year -- showcasing considerable chemistry. Toossi's script also has plenty of subtle grace notes, which aids in making the characters fully realized. It also helps to survive a late-show twist that felt out of place within the rest of the action.

English runs through Aug. 18 at the Guthrie Theater.

Little Shop offers ghoulish fun at the Guthrie

Photo by Dan Norman

It's saying something (and I think that something is good) that the most disturbing parts for a modern audience when faced with 1980s darkly comic musical Little Shop of Horrors is that shop assistant Audrey is in a clearly abusive relationship, complete with jokes about bandages and trips to the hospital.

Mind you, her abuser meets a grisly end. Then again, so does everyone in the show, apart from sentient killer plant, Audrey II, and -- if the finale is to be believed -- all of Cleveland. 

I'm getting ahead of myself (and, um, spoiler warning?). Little Shop of Horrors, now running in a delightful production at the Guthrie, takes its cues from the 1960 Roger Corman film (a weekend well spent by all involved), and was developed into an Off Broadway musical by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken in the mid 1980s.

We follow sad sack florist Seymour, who works in a failing shop owned by Mr. Mushnik, in the heart of Skid Row. Seymour is obsessed with plants, and during a total eclipse he found an unusual plant that defies classification. The plant -- dubbed Audrey II in honor of the shop assistant he pines for -- is sickly, until Seymour discovers that it likes to feed on human blood.

As this is a horror story, Seymour doesn't run screaming. Instead, he continues to feed it. The plant's need for more food, and Seymour's desire to free Audrey from her evil dentist boyfriend, Orin, moves us up the food chain, eventually leading to... yes, you know, Cleveland.

The Guthrie production has multiple layers of nostalgia. There is that for the original 1960s film and setting, brought to life by scenic designer Lex Liang and costume designer Sully Ratke. That layer is also hardwired into the show, with the Menken's music evoking the rock n roll and soul of the early 1960s at every turn.

There is also a more subtle nostalgia for the Off Broadway musicals of this ilk. Produced at a time when Broadway shows were more known for gaudy excess than dark comedy, Little Shop of Horrors is part of a whole slew of shows with an edge you wouldn't have found in the bigger theaters. That has shifted over the years -- in part due to the success of shows like this, along with society's general embrace of irony -- to where that edge is pretty much smoothed over.

Not that it can't be entertaining, and this production -- solidly directed by Marcia Milgrom Dodge -- certainly is. The company is excellent throughout, from Will Roland's lovesick Seymour to China Brickey's conflicted Audrey to Robert Dorfman's crusty Mr. Mushnik. 

Two performances stand out. As Orin, David Darrow channels James Dean by way of Dennis Hopper's character in Blue Velvet. Funny and scary at the same time, it will put the fear of the dentist back into your soul. (Darrow is also excellent in a variety of other roles, including an Andy-Warhol-like early visitor to see Audrey II).

Multiple performers bring Audrey II to life, with T. Mychael Rambo providing the booming, enticing voice of the killer plant, giving delightful weight to his proclamations of "feed me!" and "suppertime!"

Little Shop of Horrors runs through Aug. 18 at the Guthrie Theater. 

Guthrie brings humor and heartache in "Skeleton Crew"

 

Photo by Dan Norman

In a depressed Detroit, four auto workers try to keep a hold of whatever they can, even as the staff shrinks, pressure never stops, and there are persistent rumors that the plant is going to close.

Dominique Morisseau's Skeleton Crew is exactly what you want from a contemporary drama, with complex, breathing characters inhabiting a very real space. At the Guthrie, the show gets a muscular, vital production that highlights the skills of the talented cast.

As often happens, our workers are a tight-knit group. Faye (Jennifer Fouche, making her Guthrie debut) is closing in on 30 years on the line. Not only does she know the ins and outs of the whole plant, but she is the local union rep, there to keep management honest and the remaining employees working as long as possible.

For Faye, the conflict comes when middle manager Reggie (Darius Dotch, who was in the 2020 production at Yellow Tree, which was cut short by the pandemic) tells her in confidence that the plant is going to close. As the union rep, she has an obligation to her co-workers, but Reggie is also family who has bootstrapped his way from the assembly line to a job with a collar and tie.

We get two representatives of the rank and file. Shanita (Stephanie Everett, another Guthrie debut) is pregnant and working every hour she can, loving the work and hoping to build something for her child. Dez (Mikell Sapp, also in the Yellow Tree production) sees the work as a stepping stone, and dreams of opening his own repair shop.

With the plant closing, a string of burglaries giving management fits, and general distrust, the situation is rife with tension. Yet, beneath the drama there are deep connections among these characters. No one is the "bad" guy; they are just flawed people trying to do what is best for themselves and their families. Morisseau's script is also very funny, which helps to not only release the tension, but add additional, real, dimensions to the characters.

The actors are up to the demands of the script, presenting fully fleshed out characters at every turn. Fouche is especially strong as Faye, who sits at the center of the whole piece. We not only get the character's deep warmth, but also her hurts, desires, and a sense of a secret shame that haunts her.

Opening night's performance was interrupted by a medical emergency, where the audience was asked to clear the theater. After a lengthy delay, the company was able to return to the stage and complete the final few minutes of the show to a well-earned ovation.

Skeleton Crew runs through June 9 at the Guthrie Theater. 

Rasputin

Jungle's "A Jumping-Off Point" looks hard at storytelling and appropriation

Photo by Lauren B. Photography

Who gets to tell stories? Issues of cultural appropriation have bubbled up to the mainstream in recent years, and A Jumping-Off Point gives us an intriguing, complex look at the issue. You will have to move quickly to see it, as it closes this weekend at the Jungle Theater. 

This tight, three-person play centers on Leslie Wallace, a successful playwright who has just gotten her big television break with a series order from HBO. However, a figure from her playwrighting past has come to haunt her in the guise of Andrew. The two studied in the same cohort in college, and white Andrew took a stab at a play about the Mississippi delta.

Leslie found it not just awful, but offensive, so she took it to make her own. Now, Andrew is looking for some credit. From there, the play spirals into the mad world of television production, with Andrew in tow as an unwanted producer. 

Inda Craig-Galvan's play is best when it works under your skin, examining uncomfortable topics, often centered on cultural appropriation and who gets to tell stories. The script hints at the madness of television production, especially around the above topics, but could have benefitted some additional characters to flesh those ideas out. We do get Leslie's best friend, Miriam, who finds herself stuck between the two other characters.

The cast is fantastic and director Sha Cage mines the humor and the menace (especially Gabriel Murphy's creepy Andrew) out of the material.

A Jumping-Off Point runs through May 19 at the Jungle Theater. 

Four Humors brings back Rasputin in all it's gory glory

You may know him from history, stories, or Boney M's disco anthem. Rasputin is a fascinating character with a particularly gory end. Perfect fodder for Four Humors, who have remounted their titular Twin Cites Horror Festival hit for a short run at Open Eye Theater.

The company-written production takes us to the end of December, 1916, in St. Petersburg. If you know your history, that's just before the most tumultuous year in Russian history, with the October Revolution just months away.

To the rich and powerful men gathered at Prince Felix Ysupov's palace, those concerns were far away. They had only one thing in mind -- end the life of the powerful priest who had bedazzled the royal family and turned upper crust Russian society upside down. By the end of the night, they will have poisoned, shot, suffocated, and finally drowned the man.

Joining the prince are Duke Dmitri Pavlovich and Valdimir Purishkevich (noted, in the program and throughout the show, as a "far-right politician"), who have hatched a plot to end Rasputin. 

Or have they? The play is told Rashomon-style, with each conspirator recounting the evening. Not only does this allow for three different perspectives on the events, but allows the company to tell the story in three distinct ways.

The first, from the perspective of the Duke, is a ribald tale, full of dark humor -- Rasputin pulls out a gun and asks the dinner party of they have ever played "Us Roulette" -- and plenty of brutal jokes at the expense of the high-class company at the table. Vladimir's paints the Prince as a pratfalling fool who engages in the murder almost by accident.

And the Prince's tale? Well, there's a reason why this show premiered at the Twin Cities Horror Festival.

The quartet of creators -- Ryan Lear (Felix), Brant Miller (the Duke), Allison Vincent (Validimir), and Matt Spring (Rasputin -- are all gifted comic performers, but they also expertly hit the play's darker notes. That creates an evening that is not just funny, but one that cuts deep, especially as it delves into issues of class, control, and the presence of the devil on Earth.

Rasputin runs through May 18 at Open Eye Theater. Also, Four Humor's vicious take on Lolita (dubbed, a Three Man Show, with Lear, Miller, and Spring as the cast) will be presented Saturday, May 18. Tickets are going fast. Don't sleep on these shows.  

Also, if you think "Rasputin" is a cool tune, but want to hear it with a Celtic punk flair, check out this cover by local legends Boiled in Lead.