Show: 34
Title: Death! A Musical
Category: Comedy / Musical Theater / Original Music / Kid friendly
By: Gabriel Shen | Twin Cities Youth Theatre
Created by: Gabriel Shen
Location: Southern Theater
Summary: A musical about a 13-year old girl who dies and goes to the afterlife, written and performed by middle schoolers.
Highlights: This is the kind of show that makes adults wonder what they've been doing with their life, because soon-to-be 8th grader Gabriel Shen has written music, book, and lyrics (the latter two with Francis Shen) for a musical, which they also directed, play a role in, and operate the sound board for. Pretty impressive, and very promising for the future of #TCTheater. In the musical, Alana (an endearing Vivienne Steele) finds herself in the afterlife, and wants to return to life. She finds a clause in the fine print of the contract that says she can do just that if she completes seven random and pretty easy to accomplish tasks. So she does that, which results in the end of death. Sounds great, doesn't it? But these precocious kids remind us that what makes life so precious is that our time is limited, and "Life Without Death" is no life at all. Pretty profound stuff. All of the kids in nine-person cast are so talented and cute, and the onstage orchestra is also made up of talented young people, led by musical director and orchestrator Angela Steiner (because arranging their original score for a 10-piece orchestra is a big ask for a 7th grader, even a super talented one). It may sound trite, but children really are our future, and the future looks bright. Kudos to these young people for making adventurous art in the Minnesota Fringe Festival, for which they won the venue award (most tickets sold) thanks to their supportive families and community.
