Critical Review at Hennepin Arts

& Juliet , one of the newest jukebox musicals to hit the Orpheum stage, represents unoriginality at its finest. Packed full of boring pop music and cringey dialogue, I couldn’t conclude if my initial distaste was due to my crippling bias against jukebox musicals. While Act 2 somewhat shifted my mindset, it took me too much effort to even attempt to enjoy the show. It’s a pity that such an amazingly talented cast is confined to something I can only equate to what it would feel like watching a Millennial English teacher’s PowerPoint presentation. & Juliet follows William Shakespeare (Corey Mach) and his wife, Anne (Teal Wicks) as they set out to reinvent the tragedy Shakespeare envisioned. We meet a still-alive Juliet (Rachel Simone Webb) reeling from the death of her short-term lover, Romeo (Daniel J. Maldonado). Once she discovers he may not be all she thought he was- and is in fact, a pompous asshole- she ventures to Paris with her best friends. Along the way, she learns she ...

Out of all the musicals I’ve seen, I feel that & Juliet is a tough one to find my opinion on. Did it have a powerful impact that left me changed? Not really. Did it have breathtaking dancing, Oscar-worthy acting, or astounding songs? Not really. But, did I have fun? Absolutely.  I began to get a sense for the fun when it opened with a jazzy preshow, where some of the actors come onstage before the official start to dance and liven up the audience. The dancers seemed to be quite talented, and that raised my hopes for the show itself, but sadly, there was no big dance number that showed off the amount of talent in this ensemble. By that beginning, and the general hip-hop vibe of the show, I had thought that it would be a lot more dance-heavy. The dancing that was there wasn’t bad by any means; in “Blow” there was some large-scale choreography to emulate a club, and the ensemble proved to be effective backup dancers in “Problem/Can’t Feel My Face.” But if the dancing had been m...

Let me take you back to the 1500’s, to Shakespeare’s prime. But something is… different. A young woman is hanging from a chandelier and her deceased husband comes back to life. The musical & Juliet features a fun combination of silly chaos and clever chuckles as it brings the story of Romeo and Juliet from the page to the stage. But there’s a twist: What if Juliet had not killed herself? The popular jukebox musical & Juliet plays out what could have been if Juliet made a different decision after she woke up and saw that Romeo (Daniel J. Maldonado) was dead . The show kicks off with Shakespeare’s wife, Anne Hathaway (Teal Wicks), explaining that she does not want Juliet (Rachel Simone Webb) to kill herself: She longs for one of Shakespeare's romantic plays to end happily, just once. With creative outfits, impressive singing, and comedic actors, & Juliet pleases the eyes and ears as Juliet grabs the wheel to take control of her own life.       The f...

“My story will make you believe in God” Life Of Pi, an adaptation based on a 2001 philosophical novel by Yann Martel, continues its first American tour in Minneapolis. While originally premiering in the West End, Life of Pi was translated to the Broadway stage in 2023. The play has since received glowing reviews from audience members and critics, and this tour definitively lives up to expectations. Awards include Tonys for best scenic design, best costume design, and best lighting design of a play. The show follows Piscine “Pi” Patel (Taha Mandviwala), a seventeen-year-old boy on an epic journey of survival after a shipwreck kills his entire family and their bevy of zoo animals. Pi is stranded in the middle of the Pacific with a tiger, aka “Richard Parker”, for 227 days. During his time afloat, he contemplates the intersectionality of reality and belief.  The play’s company successfully brings these complex messages the show presents to life. Throughout Pi’s early years, he struggl...

  I walked into Life of Pi without prior knowledge of its powerful story. A boy stranded on a lifeboat with a tiger and award-winning projection design. I wasn’t expecting the heart-wrenching tragic tale I witnessed or the level of immersion possible onstage. The story follows a young Indian boy, Pi, who is shipwrecked with a Bengal tiger for months before his eventual rescue. It begins with Pi recovering in a hospital. He recounts his experience for Canadian embassy members who are attempting to figure out why the shipwreck occurred. There are a few surprising twists, which I won’t spoil, but the main story is easy enough to follow. I was drawn in from the moment it began. The effortless and ever-changing set design by Tim Hatley ( Shrek, Dreamgirls ) was wondrous. Walls open and fold inwards to reveal the bow of a ship and side panels glide towards the center of the stage to construct Pi’s lifeboat, which is on a separate turntable. Dynamic projections across both the walls a...

The new play Life of Pi is based on Yann Martel’s 2001 best-selling novel , which was adapted into a film by Ang Lee in 2012. The show first premiered in England before transferring to Broadway in 2023. The play follows Piscine “Pi” Patel, who, narrating the story in a flashback, describes the fantastical events that take place following a shipwreck where he is stranded at sea. Unsurprisingly, much of the show’s emotional weight rests on Taha Mandviwala, who plays the titular protagonist with candid rawness. Mandviwala’s Pi shifts seamlessly between humor and exhaustion, adrenaline and anguish, his performance continuously bursting with feeling. Other standouts in the cast include Jessica Angleskhan, who shines in dual roles as the concerned nurse and Pi’s warm, protective Amma. Sinclair Mitchell’s Admiral Jackson, the author of a book on survival at sea, provides a practical, sometimes comic counterpoint to Pi’s more philosophical struggles. Still, the undoubtable star of the show is...