"The Most Happy Fella" by Ten Thousand Things at Open Book

Frank Loesser's most popular and frequently produced musical Guys and Dolls is currently playing at Chanhassen Dinner Theatres in a big, splashy, "fantastically fun" production, full of jaw-dropping dance numbers and catchy familiar songs. But for the next few weeks you also have a rare chance to see his lesser-known musical The Most Happy Fella receive the opposite treatment - meaning quiet and intimate and exquisitely lovely. As much as I love a big splashy musical, I have a special place in my heart for a Ten Thousand Things production of a musical, which like all of their worked is stripped down to reveal the truth and heart of the piece, but for musicals also features stripped down music that's unamplified in an intimate space, and gorgeously pure. This is my third experience with The Most Happy Fella, and my favorite to date. This version really touched me; it's such a sweet and hopeful story about love, friendship, community, and finding happiness in life, even if it looks different from what you expected. It's also incredibly timely and relevant in its centering of stories about "women, elders, immigrants, and the working class" (as noted by TTT Artistic Director Caitlin Lowans). But the word is already out - many performances have already sold out and others are close to it, so get your tickets now to experience this lovely classic musical the way that only TTT can do it! (Continuing at Open Book this weekend, Hennepin United Methodist Church next weekend, with best availability at the Capri Theater and 825 Arts the following weekends, through June 7).

"Thank You for Holding: The Caregiver Play Project" by Wonderlust Productions at 825 Arts

Wonderlust Productions is unique in the kind of theater that they make. Whether it's prison, or state government, or in this case caregiving, they spend a couple years researching a topic, specifically by interviewing people in the community who live in it. Then they create a new piece of theater, with both professional actors and these community consultants acting in the story. The result here is a very moving, raw, truthful depiction of caregiving, the pain and the joys and the endless bureaucracy of navigating a broken health care system. While I have never been a caregiver (yet, as this show reminds us), at least not to humans, I have been a witness to caregiving, and it is probably the hardest and most necessary job there is. But a thankless and often unrecognized one, so kudos to Wonderlust to shining a light on it, and letting caregivers tell their own story. Thank You for Holding continues at the new theater space 825 Arts on University in St. Paul through November 3.

"The Buddha Prince" by TigerLion Arts at Wasburn Fair Oaks Park

If you've been reading Cherry and Spoon for a while, you might know that Nature, the outdoor walking play about the life, work, and friendship of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, is one of my favorite theater experiences of all time. But what you may not know, and what I didn't know either, is that Nature was not TigerLion Arts' first foray into ambulatory theater. Back in the early aughts, Nature co-creators Markell Kiefer and Tyson Forbes (along with Samuel Elmore) developed The Buddha Prince with Tibetan-American artist Tenzin Ngawang. After performing multiple times around the country, the piece was shelved while Nature was developed and toured for the next decade. Now they're bringing it back for the first time in 14 years. I said on the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers' podcast Twin Cities Theater Chat that if The Buddha Prince was half as good as Nature, it would be a wonderful experience. I'm happy to report that it is as lovely and unique an experience as Nature, with many of the same themes and even structure, just with a different focus. A co-production with the Tibetan American Foundation of Minnesota, The Buddha Prince is a celebration of the life and work of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, as well as Tibetan culture, music, history, and dance.

"Passing Strange" at Yellow Tree Theatre

The latest offering at Yellow Tree Theatre, the little theater in the 'burbs with big bold theatrical offerings, is Passing Strange, a loosely autobiographical musical by the musician known as Stew (with help from Heidi Rodewald on the music composition). This rarely done musical (last seen in #TCTheater at Mixed Blood in 2014) is a coming of age story about a young black man from L.A. who travels to Europe in search of what he calls "the real." The narrator (played by Stew himself on Broadway) and his younger self take us on this epic journey with them, filled with the highs of love and music and the lows of grief and heartbreak, and it's a beautiful thing when he comes out the other end with a better understanding of life, love, and art.* The talented cast and creative team at Yellow Tree bring out all of the passion and poignancy of the piece, for a truly unique experience. See it in Osseo through May 8 (click here for info and tickets).

"Amahl and the Night Visitors" by Skylark Opera Theatre at Park Square Theatre

Time to celebrate the return of another theater company back after the extended intermission of 2020-2021, namely Skylark Opera Theatre, who brings us accessible opera in English! They return to live performance after more than two years with Amahl and the Night Visitor, a one-act opera by Italian composer Gian Carlo Menotti. The first opera written for American TV (in 1951), Amahl tells the Nativity story through the eyes of a child who sees the star and is visited by the Three Kings. It's a sweet little story (just about an hour long), well performed by the large and talented cast in the intimate space of Park Square Theatre's Andy Boss thrust stage. But only three performances remain this weekend, so act fast to catch this charming holiday* offering for kids and adults alike (click here for info and tickets).

"The Convert" by Frank Theatre at Gremlin Theatre

Two years ago, the Guthrie premiered a new play Familiar by Danai Gurira. You may know her from a little movie called Black Panther or the obscure TV show The Walking Dead, but before her success on the big and small screen she started her career in theater, including at St. Paul's Macalester College. Now Frank Theatre is bringing us the regional premiere of her 2012 play The Convert, having previously produced Eclipsed in 2010 (which went on to become Danai's first show on Broadway). While Familiar is a dramedy about a Zimbabwean-Minnesotan family (based on her own), The Convert is a much more serious look at the history of Zimbabwe, in particular the colonialism and missionary work in which the English tried to subdue, subjugate, and convert the native Shona people. In particular it tells the story of one young woman who seems to happily convert to Roman Catholicism, but feels conflict at leaving the ways of her people behind. It's an intense play that humanizes the people on all sides of this conflict, as always thoroughly and thoughtfully realized by director Wendy Knox, the strong seven-person cast, and the creative team.