Secrets of the City

In 1999 the century-old Shubert Theater was miraculously moved a-block-and-a-half down Hennepin Avenue, where it has since sat, neglected, as some kind of strange monument to Minnesota dance. Now, 10 years later, Artspace is finally set to break ground tomorrow on the new Minnesota Shubert Center, transforming the historic building into a flagship center for dance.

Meanwhile, Twin Cities entrepreneur Greg Frankenfield announced that he is walking away from his purchase agreement to buy the Chanhassen Dinner Theatres. According to the Strib, “Frankenfield’s inability to close a deal with the musician’s union at Chanhassen precipitated his withdrawal.”

This production of Faith Healer makes us sit up and take notice for a handful of reasons, but primarily because Joe Dowling does double duty here, directing this Brian Friel drama, and playing the lead role (in his American acting debut).  On top of that, Dowling is a bit of a Friel scholar; actually a full blown Friel-0-phile.   In his first year here with the Guthrie, Dowling directed Friel’s Philadelphia, Here I Come, and we were entirely encouraged by the return of the Guthrie to pure story and an honest theatrical experience — without all the bells and whistles of bygone productions. That’s Friel, and that’s Dowling.  Since 1995, Dowling has also directed Friel’s Molly Sweeney and The Home Place, and Brian Friel has visited our fair state in the process. Now’s the time: Win a 4-pack of tickets to the Friday,  November 20 performance of Faith Healer, and get a pass for a free backstage tour, to boot!  Send your full name in an email to CONTESTS@SecretsoftheCity.com with the Subject Line: FAITH HEALER. Just to be sure, see all the scoop on the play in the Guthrie’s Play Guide, and buy your tickets here and now to see Dowling, along with Sally Wingert and Raye Birk, in this landmark production.

Faith Healer, through December 6, Guthrie Theater, 818 S. 2nd Street, Mpls;  Special Secrets Pricing of $20 on Tues, Wed, Thursdays for Secrets of the City

The Daily Planet recently published a story about the fascinating history of the Band Box Theater in downtown Minneapolis. My favorite bit: After several decades as a movie theater, the 1920 building served as a Pentecostal church presided over by the to-be-notorious Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker. The basement was the gathering place for their youth group, the Navigators Club, and its walls still bear dusty hand-painted murals of the Holy Land, complete with a once-functioning wall-mounted fountain. It must have been a magical land for those little Navigators.

Last night was the Ivey Awards, Minnesota’s celebration of its thriving theater community. The Lifetime Achievement Award went to Dudley Riggs: “When I left New York 50 years ago, my agent said, ‘If you’re not in New York, you don’t count.’ I never agreed with that because what counts is the work,” said Riggs, a former aerialist with Ringling Bros., who moved to the Twin Cities in 1958 with his Instant Theatre Company.

The Torch Theater will be performing scripts from the Mary Tyler Moore show live, according to the Strib, starring theater’s artistic director, Stacia Rice, as Mary Richards. This is promising, as Stacia is a very good actress. Even more interstingly, they yhave gotten one of the original castmembers from the show to reprise her role: The final weekend will feature actress Linda Kelsey, playing “Happy Homemaker” host Sue Ann Nivens in the episode Kelsey did in 1974.

The Daily Planet does a story about the fate of Northeast’s long-dorminant Hollywood Theater which may be reopening soon, although not necessarily as a cinema: the city reevaluated the site’s development potential and changed its approach to pursue more general or interim arts-related reuses such as photography and art studios or architectural offices.

The final dispatch from our Fringe correspondent, Christopher Kidder: The final weekend of the 2009 MN Fringe is upon us, and if the first weekend was any indication, there will be huge goings on.  Saturday has show times starting at 1 p.m. and going straight through to 11 p.m.  Just before midnight the winners of the Fringe Encore slots will be announced (The best selling shows in each venue get an extra performance on Sunday). (More inside)

More from Christopher Kidder: Over 16,000 tickets were sold for the first four days of the Minnesota Fringe this past weekend.  That’s a nearly 20% jump from the same period last year.  AND there were all sorts of sell-out shows.  Many of those shows were mentioned in my pre-Fringe articles here at Secrets of the City.  I am in no way claiming responsibility, merely pointing out a beautiful coincidence.

The fact that there are more people attending Fringe shows this year actually surprised me, as the venues have seemed a little less busy, less crowded and less frantic between shows to me.  I’ve noticed a marked lack of the rambling excitement that has possessed crowds of years past.  Not as much mingling, nor as much banter being thrown around by people waiting out and about.  I’ve been accosted by far fewer performers trying to get me to see their shows… And that’s saying something in a year when master huckster Jimmy Hogg is in two productions! (more inside)

Today’s offerings from our Fringe correspondent, Christopher Kidder: Over the first two days of the Minnesota Fringe Festival, I have seen 6 shows.  Most of these have been in the Rarig Center on the U of M’s West Bank campus.  This will be the case for most Fringe-goers this year because most of the venues are within walking distance of each other at Augsburg, the U, or the 7-Corners area.  There are some venues that are not right nearby.  The Bryant-Lake Bowl in the Uptown/Lyn-Lake area, and the Ritz in Nordeast are perennial Fringe venues and so folks know that travel time to see a show there will take a while.  And yet, no one seems to have too much of a problem going from one of the more central locations out to these two satellites. (More inside.)

More Fringe reviews from our Fringe correspondent Christopher Kidder:

Every year I hear about novel ways that people use to select which plays they will see at the Minnesota Fringe Festival.  What prompts these discussions is the fact that I personally use charts against which I roll dice to decide randomly which shows to attend.  With one day of Fringing under my belt so far this year, the dice have been pretty kind.

But, other people I’ve talked to so far this year are tending toward the more practical angle.  Many are choosing to tackle a specific venue.  That way they don’t have to miss a show because they couldn’t find parking.  Others are doing the traditional thing of seeing shows that their friends are in. (More inside)