Love Is All Around

Week 26: Minneapolis, MN

All I ever knew about Minneapolis was that Mary Tyler Moore came here to "make it on her own" and found herself living in an impossibly large apartment with a big M on the wall, and working at WJM. I also knew that the famed Guthrie Theatre was here, one of America's original and most prestigious regional theatres. Minneapolis is a theatre town, with many fine cultural institutions and performance venues. In fact, our arrival here on Sunday night of Memorial Day weekend was a real shot in the arm--a healthy dose of real, urban, gritty, city life after many weeks in small, sedate midwestern towns. Hennepin Avenue was hopping with activity that first night, the strip of nightclubs and bars rocking with hipsters enjoying their holiday weekend.
Our theatre this week, the Orpheum, is right along that same strip, and just yards away from the fine shops and department stores of the Nicollet Mall, where one can find Target (Minneapolis is the home of that mega emporium) as well as Miss Mary herself, captured in bronze, about to toss her tam in the air. A little bit of "Spamalot" trivia for you: there is a tiny musical snippet of the Mary Tyler Moore theme in the show that plays off the King and Lady of the Lake following her acceptance of his proposal and leads into the wedding finale.

The Orpheum Theatre was built as a vaudeville house in the 1920s and many of the greats of vaudeville, from the Marx Brothers, to Jack Benny, to Fanny Brice graced its stage.
In the 1990s, a $10 million renovation restored many of the original details of the theatre while expanding the stage to accommodate today's high tech Broadway touring productions. The result is a real jewel of a theatre. It is such a pleasure to work in a great old theatre building--the smell of dust and paint, the intimacy of the connection to the audience, the feeling of tradition. It makes me feel enormously grateful to be doing the work I love and to be a part of the theatre. Our opening night here was terrific--a wonderful, high energy performance followed by a nice reception at a local hotel. The organization that runs the Orpheum also runs the State Theatre across the street and this week the amazing stand up comedian and actor Eddie Izzard was doing his one man show there.
To our delight, he and some of his staff and crew crashed our party and my friend Bree and I had the pleasure of spending an hour with this very funny, very down to earth man. He amused with his stories--one especially where he suggested changes to the plot of "Spamalot" to Eric Idle. His idea was for King Arthur to be captured and thrown into a dungeon from which the Lady of the Lake, in Xena Warrior Princess mode, would rescue him--thus, in Eddie's view, motivating the wedding at the end of the show. Hilarious. What a pleasure to meet this talented guy and to experience his unique sense of humor one on one.

Minneapolis, like any great, sprawling, major city, offers many things to do and see. And after so many small and easily walkable cities, I found myself getting worn out trudging all around Minneapolis to try and visit some key spots!
I visited the Walker Center, a beautiful contemporary art museum with the wonderful Minneapolis Sculpture Garden right next door. The Walker is representative of beautiful new concepts in architecture that blend with the solid traditional structures of the city to give Minneapolis a very pleasing and interesting visual character all its own. Glass enclosed skyways connecting buildings throughout the city speak of brutal midwestern winters; the warehouse district where I have been staying this week is full of marvelous old brick industrial structures converted into high end condos and interior design showrooms.




Another stunning architectural marvel is the new Guthrie Theatre complex, located on the river front in the old mill district.
To those of us who have a passion for theatre as fine art, the Guthrie represents something very special and hallowed in American theatrical history. Irish director Tyrone Guthrie, whose early efforts at the Old Vic in England with such greats as Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud revolutionized British theatre, founded an institution where he felt he could do the kind of work that was not possible in the commercial world of Broadway. The Guthrie was essentially the first important regional theatre in America and is still one of the greatest--its importance to the development of theatre throughout the nation and its significance to the careers of some of our greatest talents cannot be underestimated. I had the opportunity to audition for the company while I was here this week, and it was exciting to be seen at this illustrious theatre.
The Guthrie is located right on the river front where the mighty Mississippi rolls by a series of lovely public parks. The Stone Arch Bridge spans the river, affording a lovely view of the St. Anthony Falls, the only such falls along the entire Mississippi.



The Minneapolis Institute of Arts is absolutely INCREDIBLE. One of the really great museums. The collection is enormous and incredibly diverse, including extensive Asian art collections, period rooms, decorative arts, photography; the 17th century painting collection is remarkable, with many of the best artists of the Caravaggio school represented--including the female artist Artemisia Gentileschi, who was the daughter of a great painter and a great painter herself. Every significant Impressionist painter is represented. The Greek and Roman sculptures are rare and wonderful. It's an extraordinary museum all around and is entirely free to the public. What a gift! The complex also houses the Children's Theatre of Minneapolis, which is an excellent professional company. I tell you, Minneapolis is a top notch city with many great things going for it and a lot of beautiful recent developments.

My Minneapolis dresser is Su.
Su is another of those amazing pros who know their jobs inside and out. She is wonderfully calm and efficient and quite funny with a real twinkle in her eye. The whole crew at the Orpheum is first rate, the theatre itself is a pleasure to perform in, and our audiences here have been terrific. Note to self: come back to Minneapolis sometime. It's a first rate city. And yes, I boycotted the Mall of America. Not that I was not interested in seeing that monument to suburban capitalism, but I am trying to rein in my spending and didn't trust myself to spend a day there! More from Oklahoma City next week.