Photos courtesy of the SPCO and Sarah Rubinstein
This past Sunday, before the snow and before the Super Bowl, I and a friend had the distinct pleasure of enjoying a most civilized Sunday afternoon in St. Paul.
We paid a visit to this place: the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra's Music Room, located in their headquarters downtown St. Paul. I've seen the SPCO in other places and loved it, but this was the perfect place for them; as I said on Facebook, it was like seeing a splendid wild animal in its natural habitat. It's a warm, intimate, inviting space, and in the case of last Sunday's concert, there were never more than five musicians playing together at any one time, so the audience chairs were seated on three sides of the musicians, and very close.
The concert opened with Jean Marie Leclair's Sonata in F for Two Violins, Opus 3, No. 4.
Have I ever mentioned how much I love the stringed instruments? No? Silly me. This was a perfect performance for me, as the violin duet was followed by Luigi Boccherini's Quintet in C for Two Violins, Viola, and Two Cellos, and after the intermission was Alexander Borodin's Quartet No. 2 in D for Two Violins, Viola, and Cello.
The music was beyond lovely, and what I also was pleased to see was how many young (as in: under 40) people there were enjoying the music, including what looked to be some teenagers seated up front and rapt with attention. Many orchestras and classical music organizations have worried about getting younger generations to attend their concerts, so it was wonderful to see the mixed age groups. It also helps that they have kept their ticket prices quite reasonable--for the upcoming 2010-11 season, all tickets will fall into the categories of $10, $25, or $40.
The SPCO does reach out to those groups. They have the Club2030, which offers discount tickets to 20- and 30-somethings, and the Orchestra also takes its show on the road. Besides performing at the Music Room, you can find them at the Ordway and the University of MInnesota-Minneapolis. But they also reach out to the community by holding concerts at Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie (I've seen them there, and it's a great venue for them); Wayzata Community Church; St. Paul's United Church of Christ; Trinity Church in Stillwater; Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church in Apple Valley; and Temple Israel in Minneapolis.
You can also hear recorded broadcasts of their concerts on MPR.
Trust me on this--you need some beauty and civilization in your life. You'll find it with the SPCO.
And for those of you out there in the SW suburbs? The SPCO is performing a free concert at Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie on March 26. Details here.
My thanks to the fine folks at the SPCO for providing tickets for me.
Oh, how I'd love to see this.
THEATER | "Rent" feels fresh and thrilling in homegrown production at The Lab Theater
Courtesy of the Twin Cities Daily Planet
The production of Rent currently playing at The Lab Theater is the kind of thing you don't see very often: a homegrown, fully-staged, professional production of a Broadway musical. There's a good reason you don't see such productions very often, and it's not an artistic reason—as this production makes clear, we have no shortage of dazzling local talent. The reason is economic: professional musicals are expensive, and without the tourist traffic of New York or the economies of scale enjoyed by touring productions, it's hard not to lose your shirt. The ominous number of empty seats at Thursday night's performance of Rent augur that locally-produced musicals may continue to be a rarity, so catch it while you can.
I'd never seen any production of Rent prior to Thursday night—there hadn't seemed to be much reason to. The last touring production that came to the Orpheum was greeted with a big shrug; even my mom called it "a period piece." It sure seems fresh in director Andrew Rasmussen's vigorous production at The Lab, though: references to Doc Martens and yuppies serve as amusing and slightly surprising reminders that the show debuted in 1994. That was before multicultural urban rock operas were standard fare on Broadway, but what I was pleased to discover about Rent is that none of the characters feel token: they're rich and human, and their circumstances are simply treated as their reality.
The plot, for those of you who have been under the rock with me for the past 16 years, concerns a group of young people living the boho dream (writer Jonathan Larson was inspired by La Boheme, and by his own experiences) in New York City, fighting gentrification, discrimination, drug addiction, HIV, The Man, and their own demons. They fight, break up, make up, live, and die. The specific situations were (and are) contemporary, but the basic plot elements are older than a certain Middle Eastern Jew whose birth is celebrated at the beginning and end of the show. In fact, the show even reaches into His bag of tricks for a last-minute plot twist.
There's a lot that's exciting about this production, and the excitement begins with the casting. The local performers who fill the stage are skilled and experienced, but they perform with the kind of gusto you usually see only in high school productions. That's a compliment: they sing like they mean it. Leads Maria Isa and Harley Wood have tremendous charisma—more individually than together, but charisma nonetheless. Casting Isa, in particular, was a coup. She looks and sounds like a star; she nails her vocal solos with technical finesse and palpable emotion, and she wears her thigh-high black boots like she invented them.
Rent demands a deep cast, though, and this production has it. To the potentially awkward role of white-boy filmmaker Mark, Reid Harmsen brings conviction and a wry sense of humor. Kinaundrae Lee makes Angel as lovable as he needs to be for later developments to carry weight, and Lorin Yenor is charming as Angel's boyfriend Collins. The absolute high point of the evening is an indignant duet between Colleen Somerville and Jamecia Bennett as a dating couple, which outdoes anything in Dreamgirls as a no-holds-barred diva-on-diva vocal smackdown.
Bonnie Bologna's set and Barb Portigna's costumes are serviceable and unobtrusive, as is the performance by musical director Dennis Curley's band. Really, what you're paying to see here are the actors' performances, and they do not disappoint. At $46.50, tickets for this production of Rent are in the ballpark of what you'd pay to see a touring production on Hennepin—but what you lose in fancy sets and gilded proscenium is more than made up for by close proximity to tremendous performers. Every time a song ended, I found myself surprised to hear the pitter-patter of a small audience's applause rather than the thunder of a full Orpheum. I now understand why Rent is one of the top-grossing Broadway shows of all time, and this thrilling production feels true to the DIY spirit the show celebrates. Don't miss it.
The Lab Theater
700 1st St. N.
Minneapolis, MN 55401
Phone:
