"Men on Boats" by Ten Thousand Things at Hennepin United Methodist Church

Over 15 years ago, I hiked into the Grand Canyon with nine other women (one old friend and eight new friends), many of us in celebration of our upcoming 40th birthday. It was no three-month journey through an uncharted wilderness, but it was a challenging full day hike down to the bottom of the canyon, a couple of nights at the charming Phantom Ranch, and a challenging full day hike up and out. Last night, seven of the ten of us reunited to experience Ten Thousand Things' wonderful production of Men on Boats, a reimagining of the first government sanctioned expedition down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. It's a story of adventure, of the camaraderie that comes with doing hard things together, of the complicated ideas of Manifest Destiny and unchecked masculinity upon which our country is founded. Ten Thousand Things has put their usual clear-eyed bare-bones all-the-lights-on spin on this story, with a fantastic cast of ten female/non-binary/trans actors, told in a playful way with heart, humor, and physicality to represent all the various locations and situations on the journey. i.e., there are no cisgender men and no boats in Men on Boats. Nothing against either, but this is an inventive way to tell the story. You, too, can experience this challenging and satisfying journey at Hennepin United Methodist Church, Capri Theater, or 825 Arts through March 15.

Broadway tour of "Kimberly Akimbo" at the Ordway Center

No one gets a second time around in life, but if you're lucky, you get a second time around with the 2023 Tony-winning best musical Kimberly Akimbo, thanks to the Ordway bringing it back to the Twin Cities after the tours' first stop here last summer at the Orpheum. I didn't know much about the show before seeing it last year, but fell instantly in love with it and was thrilled to revisit this charming, heart-warming, hilarious, and bittersweet musical about a 16-year-old girl living in a body that's aged 4-5 times the normal rate. There aren't that many musicals with a 60+ year old woman in the lead role, and a story that doesn't center around a romance, so that alone is reason to celebrate! This is not a big splashy huge-cast over-the-top kind of musical. It's a small intimate story that's told well, with complex, distinct, relatable characters, and music that perfectly expresses the emotions of the story. I look forward to regional productions of it when it becomes available, and I'd also love to see the original play produced locally, but in the meantime go see this funny, sweet, and touching musical filled with fun, catchy, singable songs, playing at the Ordway in downtown St. Paul through March 1 only!

"Salomé" at PAIKKA

Who knew there was an Oscar Wilde play that has never been professionally produced in the Twin Cities? Grant Sorenson, that's who. The actor-turned-director (he directed a couple of really great plays in the pre-pan years) moved home last year after receiving his MFA in directing from Boston University. Last fall he created a monthly play reading series called Table/Read, in which the audience doesn't know what play is being read until moments before it begins. And now he is producing and directing Salomé, hopefully the first of many unique and creative theatrical endeavors to come. Because Salomé is not just a play, at least not in the traditional sense of a stage and an audience separated by space and darkness. It's an immersive (but not interactive) experience that literally puts you right at Herod's banquet table. Which is not always a comfortable place to be, but always thoroughly captivating. With a talented eight-person cast performing literally a few feet in front of you and gorgeous 360-degree design, Salomé is not to be missed, especially if you're interested in theater that pushes the boundaries of what we think theater can be. But hurry - there are only three remaining performances and seating is limited.

"The Giver" at Open Window Theatre

I somehow have never read the popular "young adult dystopian novel" The Giver, maybe because I was no longer a young adult when it was published in 1993. It has since been adapted into a play by playwright Eric Coble (The Velocity of Autumn), now playing at Open Window Theatre in a lovely and moving production. It may be a book and a play for "young adults," but we all need to be reminded of the power of emotions, and the need to be open to feeling the pain of life in order to feel its joys. A talented cast, clear direction, and sparse design bring the novel and the emotions it evokes to life. Head to Open Window Theatre, a cozy space in a strip mall in Inver Grove Heights, through March 22 to experience this well-known story on stage.

"The Cake" at Theatre in the Round

Once again, Theatre in the Round is bringing us a regional premiere of a new and very relevant play. Just a few weeks after closing How to Catch Creation, about Black artists now and in the past, they opened The Cake, about a conservative Southern baker forced to confront her beliefs when they contradict her heart. Written in 2017 by playwright and screenwriter (including for a little show called This is Us) Bekah Brunstetter, the play speaks directly to the divided and divisive world that we live in, that has only gotten more extreme in this second iteration of the current administration. The play is not preachy, the characters feel like real and complex characters instead of mere caricatures, and the conversations had are awkward and necessary. It's sweet and funny and spicy, and in the end provides hope that maybe we can overcome our differences if we're willing to have tough conversations, and look past our differences to find our shared humanity. The Cake plays weekends through March 15 at the oldest theater in Minneapolis, and if all the talk about cake gives you a craving for it, you may be rewarded.

"Guys and Dolls" at Chanhassen Dinner Theatres

When the Guthrie did Guys and Dolls as their summer musical in 2019, I wrote that the Guthrie should not be doing a dated musical like this. The Guthrie should be doing the Sondheim masterpiece Sunday in the Park with George (as they did in 2017), a stunningly relevant Cabaret (last summer), and regional premiere musicals like Come From Away (coming this summer). But Guys and Dolls, which is a beloved, well-known, and comforting classic, is exactly the kind of show that Chanhassen Dinner Theatres, the comfort food of #TCTheater, should be doing. I still think the show is dated and misogynist and chock full of gender stereotypes from the title to the characters to the lyrics, but as summer escapist entertainment, it's fantastically fun. It wasn't that long ago that the Chan did three regional premiere musicals in a row (The Prom, Jersey Boys, and Beautiful), so I hope that they continue to mix in some newer shows, but a return to this classic that they first did in 1969, just the second year of the theater, and last did in 1989, is not a bad choice. And Tamara Kangas Erickson, in her main stage directing debut, has assembled an incredibly talented cast of Chan favorites and also newcomers to the Chan. The highlight of the show is the outstanding choreography and this infectious score full of endlessly singable songs that are just delightful, as long as you don't pay too close attention to the lyrics. Guys and Dolls plays all spring and summer and into September, so you have plenty of time to head West and see a really great production of a classic; the Chan really can't be beat for group dinner-and-a-show outings.

"In the Green" at Theatre Elision

Theatre Elision is remounting what was their most ambitious musical, until their epic regional premiere of Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 last fall. But In the Green is still pretty ambitious, despite the fact that it fits their typical one-act small-cast female-focused model. After all, a musical about 12th Century nun/ composer/ scholar Hildegard von Bingen that incorporates her own compositions, along with original rock and pop music including the use of a looping device, isn't your average musical. With book, music, and lyrics by NYC-based Grace McLean (who hilariously played Woodrow Wilson in the original Broadway cast of Suffs, the touring production of which is coming soon to Minneapolis), In the Green is a really incredible creation that's beautifully realized by the returning cast and creative team of Theatre Elision's 2024 regional premiere production. As I wrote at the time, this show "taps into something deeply human, specifically what it means to be a female human in the world, and the performances by the five-woman cast, accompanied by a three-piece band, are simply stunning." It once again moved me to tears, and today, in 2026, I couldn't help but be reminded of the Epstein victims, the survivors, these brave and resilient women who finally are being heard decades after crimes were committed against them. They don't yet have justice, but at least they're being listened to across the globe. Like Hildegard, they are sharing their darkness with the world, in search of the light. I hope that everyone who bought a ticket to Great Comet (and there are a lot of you, the entire run was virtually sold out) also buys a ticket to see this show (continuing through March 7), to see what Theatre Elision does best - rare musical gems that illuminate and elevate the female voice, from 900 years ago to today.

"The Mountaintop" at Artistry

Lately it feels like we're a long way from the mountaintop, like we've slid quite a way downhill in the last year, or ten years. But Katori Hall's play The Mountaintop, about the great Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., reminds us that we can never stop climbing, that progress never ends. As Artistry's Artistic Director Kelli Foster Warder noted in her pre-show speech, they could not have known when they programmed this play a year ago how relevant it (and their next two shows - What the Constitution Means to Me and In the Heights) would be. Stories about Civil Rights, the constitution that is supposed to protect us all, and an immigrant community, all of which are in danger under the current administration. The Mountaintop imagines King on the night before his assassination, having a conversation with someone who isn't what she seems, and shows us that he was more than the iconic figure, speech maker, and quote generator we often think of when we hear the name. He was human, with flaws and fears like the rest of us, which means that we too can overcome our flaws and fears and pick up the baton in the race towards justice. Head to Bloomington before this short run closes on March 1 to experience this inspiring, creatively written, and well told story.

Update: extended through March 8!

"Red" at Gremlin Theatre

'Tis the season for red. No, not because February is American Heart Month and Valentine's Day, but because this season there have been several productions of the 2010 Tony-winning play Red, the first since the regional premiere at Park Square Theatre some 13 years ago. I love a two-hander, i.e., two people sitting in a room talking, and Red is a most excellent example of the form. So even though I saw Lakeshore Players Theatre's wonderfully intimate and intense production just a few months ago, I was more than happy to spend a little more time with Russian-American abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko and his (fictional) assistant via the talented cast and design team at Gremlin Theatre. Since first seeing Red in 2012, I have been lucky enough to see several Rothko paintings in person in museums in New York and/or Chicago; in fact I seek them out whenever I'm at a museum that houses modern art. At first glance, they're simple blocks of color, usually dark rich reds. But when you look deeper, they're so layered and endlessly mesmerizing. So is this play - just a simple two-hander, but so layered in the way it explores the life of an artist and the meaning of art, and in a broader sense ideas of legacy, grief, friendship, purpose.* This production features two fantastic performances, emotionally true direction, and gorgeously messy design. See Red now through March 1 at Gremlin Theatre in Vandalia Tower, where you can also enjoy a fun, delicious, and convenient dinner-and-a-show pairing at Lake Monster Brewing / OG ZaZa Pizza / King Coil Spirits, or SK Coffee before a Sunday matinee.

"Macbeth" at the Guthrie Theater

Someone is getting murdered in a castle in Scotland, and I'm not talking about the new season of The Traitors. In the Guthrie Theater's new production of Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth, it's the king who gets murdered, and we all know who the traitor is - the title character, who then becomes the king. The Guthrie's previous Artistic Director Joe Dowling returns to direct this play, which he also directed in 2010 (just before I started this blog, and the play made it onto my first annual favorites list), and he has once again crafted a compelling and action-packed continuous two hours of storytelling with no break to catch our collective breath. But the world is much different in 2026 than it was in 2010, and this story of a country and its citizens who are hurt, desperate, and disillusioned by their corrupt leadership hits a lot closer to home. Shakespeare's evergreen tale of unchecked power and greed has resonance in any era, but perhaps never more so in my lifetime than right now. Macbeth is a dark tale, but eventually the true citizens of the beleaguered country band together to create a better future. See this powerful, visually stunning, and excellently cast production of a classic on the Guthrie's thrust stage through March 22.

"Little Women" by Collide Theatrical Dance Company at Luminary Arts Center

Louisa May Alcott's beloved 19th Century novel Little Women has been adapted countless times on stage and screen. There are TV miniseries, multiple movies, and several stage adaptations (including by two of America's most produced playwrights, Kate Hamill, commissioned by Jungle Theater, and Lauren Gunderson, coming to the Guthrie this spring). There's even a (not very successful) musical! It seems we just can't get enough of this story of four very different but ultimately loving sisters as they forge their own paths in life. And now we have a new adaptation to add to the list - Collide Theatrical Dance Company's dance piece. Collide has been creating original dance musicals for 13 years, sometimes adaptations, sometimes original stories, always gorgeously choreographed and performed, telling a story theatrically with few words. For their Little Women adaptation, director/ creator/ choreographer Regina Peluso has chosen to give Jo all of the narration and dialogue duties, with the bulk of the story told through dance, which works remarkably well since Jo is the writer telling her family's story. This Little Women is beautiful storytelling that conveys all of the emotions of Alcott's novel. And as it turns out, even (or maybe especially) when this story is told primarily through movement and dance, it still makes me cry. Only six performances remain through this Sunday, so head to Luminary Arts Center in Minneapolis' North Loop neighborhood to spend a little time with the March sisters in a whole new way.

"The Glass Menagerie" by Theater Latte Da at the Ritz Theater

Every now and then, Theater Latte Da ("we don't do musical theater we do theater musically") tries their hand to a play (e.g., their 2024 production of Stones in His Pockets). This season, Artistic Director Justin Lucero has chosen Tennessee Williams' tragically beautiful and beautifully tragic play The Glass Menagerie (which happens to be one of my favorite plays). Thankfully, Latte Da has not turned The Glass Menagerie into a musical, but they have subtly infused it with music via live underscoring, as well as live video projections from onstage cameras. The result is perhaps the best realization of Williams' quintessential (and semi-autobiographical) memory play that I've seen. It's dreamy, and cinematic, and intimate, and nostalgic, and heartachingly beautiful. The innovative and risk-taking concept is gorgeously executed by the entire team, with a cast that is simply perfection. Pay a call to the Wingfields now through March 1; you won't be disappointed, but you may feel pleasantly melancholic after the visit.
UPDATE: extended through March 8!

"Violent Delights" by Night Fire Theatre at the Crane Theater

#TCTheater artist Penelope Parsons-Lord developed Violent Delights, a compilation of scenes from Shakespeare that explicitly or implicitly connote violence, nearly 20 years ago in her native Australia. Last seen locally in 2019, it's only gotten more relevant, as our culture seemingly gets more violent every year. Violence is everywhere around us - on the news, in the games we play, in our language, and even in Shakespeare. Violence is so pervasive in our world that we sometimes don't even notice it (e.g., using the phrase "you killed it" to mean you did a great job), which is the premise of this piece. Penelope has reexamined these familiar works, pulling out "small moments of violence," and maybe now we can begin to recognize them in the real world. A talented nine-person cast plays too many characters to count, the scenes well chosen and woven together, combined with pop songs and movement to create a gripping tale that isn't one cohesive narrative, but still tells a story. You can witness these Violent Delights at the Crane Theater in Minneapolis through February 14.

"Whoosh!" at History Theatre

For the third iteration of #TCTheater artist Andrew Erskine Wheeler's solo piece Whoosh! The Civil War Mythology of Michael Hickey and His Perilous Precipitation Over St. Anthony Falls, he has partnered with History Theatre. What began as a 2022 Minnesota Fringe Festival show was expanded into an outdoor show performed very near the falls themselves, and now has been fully realized in this perfect partnership. Andrew has created several compelling solo historical Fringe shows, which are all great and succinct as they were, but it's lovely to see this one fully realized. Some Fringe shows are destined to be more - Illusion Theater often works with Transatlantic Love Affair to produce expanded versions of their Fringe shows, and Theatre in the Round supported the creators of the fantastic new original musical Endometriosis: The Musical as they expanded it into a full-length musical, producing it as part of their season last year. Whoosh! is somewhat of an anomaly for History Theatre; typically they commission, develop, and produce new works, participating in every step of development. Andrew developed Whoosh! independently, but its very Minnesotan and historical themes make it a natural fit for History Theatre, and they provided the resources and additional creative talent to help make it all that it can be. As much as I love the intimate solo storytelling nature of the original, this expanded version is just as moving and compelling, and even richer and more thrilling. Take a trip over the falls and through the history of this great state now through February 22.

"The Happiest Man on Earth" at Six Points Theater

"Family first, family second, family last. And we are all family." When Six Points Theater programmed the solo play The Happiest Man on Earth, based on a Holocaust survivor's memoir, for their 31st season, they couldn't have known that it would play at a time when Minnesota has shown the entire world the true meaning of these words. We are all family, we are all Minnesotans, and when you come for any of us, you come for all of us, and we will stand up for and protect our neighbors, our family. This 80-year-old story of surviving Nazi Germany has an eerie resonance to what's happening right here, right now. People afraid to leave their houses to go to work or school, citizens and lawful immigrants carrying their papers around as protection, armed government agents abducting people off the streets and imprisoning them in detention centers where they're treated inhumanely. I'm not calling anyone Nazis, they were a special breed of evil, but the parallels are unmistakable to anyone who's looking. We need to remember our past in order not to repeat it, and since there are fewer and fewer people alive who lived through the Holocaust, plays like this are an excellent way to do that. Six Points' regional premiere of The Happiest Man on Earth is a gorgeous and moving production that is at times difficult to watch, but also provides hope that humans can survive unthinkably horrible times, and come out on the other side better and stronger, and choose happiness. Experience this beautiful true story through February 8 only at Six Points Theater in St. Paul's Highland Park neighborhood.