My favorite musical in my favorite city in Minnesota?! I'm there, even if it means missing the first day of the
Minnesota Fringe Festival (don't worry, there are ten more days). This was my 19th time seeing
RENT, some 28 years after I saw it the first time on tour at the Ordway, and it still moves me.
Zeitgeist in Duluth (just across the street from the NorShor Theatre) is a unique hub of arts, culture, and community, with a non-profit restaurant, a movie theater, and a live performance space with various programming including theater. Under Producing Artistic Director Mary Fox (whom some of you might know from
her years performing at Yellow Tree, Theater Latte Da, the Children's Theatre Company, and more), Zeitgeist Theater has been producing excellent choices of shows in their last couple seasons. Where
Renegade Theater Company (which performed in the same space and did the Minnesota premiere of
Fun Home, among other great shows) did not survive the pandemic, Zeitgeist has bloomed in its place. Last season they did
POTUS (which we have yet to see in #TCTheater), and this season includes six great choices of plays and musicals, some familiar, some new. I've been wanting to get up to Duluth to see a Zeitgeist show for the last few years, but just wasn't able to make it work. Until
RENT. That's a show I cannot resist, and I was so thrilled to be there on opening night to see this raw young talented cast perform in the most intimate and immersive production of
RENT I've ever seen. I felt like I was surrounded by
RENT, and it was just the best. I'd tell you to get yourself to Duluth to see it but the short run is virtually sold out. Instead I'll tell you that the next time you plan a trip to Duluth, check out
what's going on at Zeitgeist,
or the Playhouse, or other arts organization in this amazing artsy town (including a production of Jonathan Larson's first musical
Tick, Tick... Boom! by Boat House Productions this fall).
