In my Great American Theatre Talk-Back Tour of 2014, I landed at the Commonweal Theatre in Lanesboro, MN for a weekend. If I had to describe Minnesota in a word it would be “spectacular.” If I had to describe it in two words it would be “f**king spectacular.” Which, by the by, should be Minnesota’s new tourism slogan: “Minnesota – F**king Spectacular.”
The Commonweal Theatre generously flew me out to see their production of Around the World in 80 Days and to be the special guest for their Sunday Salon series. The theatre treated me like a king. They treated me to dinner and lunch and put me up at a lovely bed and breakfast where I had fantastic breakfasts (the latter part of B&B) and an amazing dinner on Sunday night.
Commonweal Theatre’s Around the World in 80 Days
The production of Around the World in 80 Days was directed by my old friend Alan Bailey and he put together a really wonderful production. I was pleasantly surprised that he added dance numbers whenever Phileas Fogg arrived in a new country. The audience ate it up.
The cast was magnificent: Hal Cropp, Gary Danciu, Diana Jurand, David Hennessey and hands down one of the best performances I’ve ever seen, Adrienne Sweeney as Passepartout. What was most refreshing was the clarity of the text. The actors were completely committed to the text and they all found the heart of the story. Truly brilliant.
The Sunday Salon was quite fun. I was able to share the stage with the cast and answer loads of questions about the show. Someone asked about the balloon. Someone always does. Near the end of the talk, company member and new friend Jeremy van Meter informed me that Germany had won the World Cup. The two of us did a victory dance on stage. After the talk back Catherine Glynn (Another company member) and Jeremy van Meter, owners of the b&b where I stayed, cooked an amazing dinner. I mean a-mazing. Thank you Hal, Jeremy, Catherine and everyone at the Commonweal for showing me such a lovely weekend.
That’s me trying to sneak my head into the picture.
