Email Author Brad Richason

2012 Stories by Brad Richason

• Murder at the Masquerade

  published December 26, 2012

  If over the course of an average evening out, one were to witness a stranger expire under suspicious circumstances, the reasonable response would... More >>

• Christmas at the Riverview

  published December 19, 2012

  Throughout cinematic history, filmmakers have struggled to convey the virtues of Christmas without succumbing to overwrought sentiment (see: the... More >>

• Trailer Park Boys: Dear Santa Claus, Go F#ck Yourself

  published December 12, 2012

  Although the Canadian mockumentary television series The Trailer Park Boys technically ended its run in 2008, the titular reprobates... More >>

• La Natividad

  published December 12, 2012

  Though it forms the elemental core of religious Christmas celebrations, the Nativity story (recounting the birth of Jesus) is seldom thought of as... More >>

• A Very Die Hard Christmas

  published December 5, 2012

  As a holiday tradition, a viewing of the 1988 action film Die Hard might initially seem unorthodox. Yes, the movie is set on Christmas Eve,... More >>

• Elf: The Broadway Musical

  published December 5, 2012

  There's a scene in the 2003 Yuletide comedy Elf in which the central character, Buddy (played with unhinged innocence by Will Ferrell),... More >>

• Striking 12

  published November 28, 2012

  Call it the Nutcracker Effect, but there have been so many variations on Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Match Girl" in recent... More >>

• The Archers Redux

  published November 28, 2012

  In filmmaking circles, the auteur theory views the director as the creative impetus behind each film, fighting to preserve a singular cinematic... More >>

• A Midsummer Night's Dream

  published November 21, 2012

  As we insulate ourselves against plummeting temperatures and obsessively scan the skies for signs of snow, it's only natural to lament not taking... More >>

• Christmas of Swing

  published November 21, 2012

  Though rampant commercialism makes it tempting to adopt a cynical stance toward the holiday season, the underlying dream of universal goodwill... More >>

• Falstaff

  published November 14, 2012

  While opera tends to be stereotyped as grandiose melodrama replete with eloquent scores and impassioned arias, such a sweeping generalization... More >>

• 84, Charing Cross Road

  published November 14, 2012

  One of the common laments of the internet age is that the art of letter writing has been cast aside as an archaic chore. But while the immediacy... More >>

• Fifty Shades of White: A Minnesota XXXmas

  published November 14, 2012

  If the publishing world's bestseller lists are any indication, the erotic novels collectively known as the Fifty Shades Trilogy will be a... More >>

• Minnesota Opera: Anna Bolena

  published November 7, 2012

  Depicting the fateful final days of Anne Boleyn, the second of Henry VIII's six wives, Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti's Anna Bolena... More >>

• Blacula: Young, Black, and Undead

  published October 31, 2012

  As evidenced by vampires' most recent resurrection, each generation gets its own variation of the creature, from the rodent-like fiend of 1922's... More >>

• 2012 Twin Cities Horror Festival

  published October 24, 2012

  Horror, as a genre, tends to be regarded with a measure of critical respectability just a few notches above soft-core pornography. Such dismissals... More >>

• Marilyn Monroe: Luminous

  published October 24, 2012

  Famed as the blond bombshell haunted by tabloid-worthy tragedies, Marilyn Monroe remains one of the most enduring celebrity icons of the 20th... More >>

• Measure for Measure

  published October 17, 2012

  It seems like more than a mere coincidence that Ten Thousand Things, long heralded for its mission to introduce theater to unfamiliar audiences,... More >>

• Speed-the-Plow

  published October 17, 2012

  Critics of playwright David Mamet often take issue with the male-centric focus that pervades much of his work, alleging that his otherwise... More >>

• Beatnik Giselle

  published October 17, 2012

  Though the bulk of their work was created in the 1950s, the artists of the Beat Generation have seen their mythologies only grow in subsequent... More >>

• Victorian Ghost Stories

  published October 17, 2012

  Halloween can be a distressing season for revelers with weak stomachs. Paralleling the graphic carnage of the modern horror genre, contemporary... More >>

• Summer and Smoke

  published October 10, 2012

  Call it the Puritan contribution to our cultural heritage, but the notion that sublime spirituality is locked in an everlasting battle with primal... More >>

• Japanese Horror Classics

  published October 3, 2012

  Bolstered by such films as Ju-on and Ringu (and their American remakes, respectively, The Grudge and The Ring),... More >>

• The Haunted Basement

  published October 3, 2012

  Intrepid seekers of Halloween frights will have no trouble finding ghoulish delights throughout the Twin Cities. Every October, horror-themed... More >>

• Measure for Measure

  published September 26, 2012

  It seems like more than a mere coincidence that Ten Thousand Things, long heralded for its mission to introduce theater to unfamiliar audiences,... More >>