Month: June 2004

  • Peter Krause: The Rakish Interview

    HBO unveiled Six Feet Under in 2000, at a time when nobody thought TV could top The Sopranos in terms of first-rate drama. But Alan Ball’s show, centering on a family that runs a funeral home in Los Angeles, immediately proved to be as addictive as the mafia saga, and even more so. Having just…

  • Tin Fish

    Everyone thinks they could be a writer, and everyone thinks they could run a restaurant. Folks don’t realize how much work, tedious work, is involved in either enterprise. Well, we confess that our second-best idea—after starting this magazine—was to open a good fish-and-chips joint, in the classic British style of a walk-up chippy. True, you…

  • Machu Picchu

    If the question is “do French fries belong in a stir-fry?” then the answer is Machu Picchu. While the game of musical chairs continues apace with restaurateurs at the intersection of Lyndale and Lake, the Saltados at this Peruvian-style joint have made us glad they’ve stuck it out. Their new expansion features a nifty little…

  • The Phantom of the Opera

    Antiques Roadshow fans beware: The Orpheum’s production of Phantom contains graphic scenes depicting violence against excessive ornament. Broadway’s most beloved romantic tragedy moves to Minneapolis, along with its ten-story, half-ton chandelier, which, during the performance, crashes onto the stage and shatters to bits. And you thought Prince smashing his nonsensical symbol-shaped guitar was dramatic! For…

  • Dirty Blonde

    In the realm of legendary twentieth-century blondes, who looms largest, Madonna, Marilyn, or Mae? We’d vote for the brassy, bossy, up-front-and-in-control Ms. West. So, apparently, would Claudia Shear. In her 2000 play Dirty Blonde, the early-American sex bomb inspires a connection between a librarian, Charlie, and an actress, Jo, who explore their love for each…

  • Angel Street

    Spooky! The Manningham family has recently moved into a new house full of old secrets. While husband Jack struggles to conceal his past trangressions, wife Bella drifts toward insanity, as the house’s gaslights flicker and footsteps echo in the attic. Even Scotland Yard makes a signature appearance. Does the mix of plot-driven whodunnit and dark…