Nina Simone at Pillsbury House Theater

 Twin Cities theater goers -- don't miss Pillsbury House Theater's production of Nina Simone: Four Women. Almost all the remaining performances are sold out, so hopefully they'll extend the production, But that often isn't possible, so you'd best snag whatever tickets you can get. 

All four women in the cast are fabulous both as actors and as singers. And Sanford Moore's music directing shines as well. Set against the backdrop of the civil rights movement and the murder of four young black girls in Birmingham, Alabama, the show is moving and at times infuriating in its tone. Erin Willis as Nina really channels the rage that must have gone into the writing of Simone's music. 

 The Scottish Play at the Guthrie

I saw Macbeth earlier this week, in a production both loving and unnerving at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, earlier this week. What a poetic masterpiece! I hadn't realized that Macbeth is the shortest of Shakespeare's tragedies. The crimes and retribution seem to spill full throttle onto the stage amid the dark soliloquies of the characters. I'd highly recommend it. 

All the performances were compelling, especially Lady Macbeth. Perhaps her villainous nature is something of a deterrent, but I'd think all the leading ladies of stage and screen would like to sink their teeth into that role the way so many actors (many too old for the part) yearn to play Hamlet. "Look like an innocent flower, but be the serpent under it."

When Macbeth's corpse is hung by his feat at the end of the play, you practically expect to see real blood dripping off his finger. Seeing a production like this is a visceral experience. "Fair is foul, and foul is fair," indeed.