"Cabaret" at the Guthrie Theater

"What good is sitting alone in your room? Come hear the music play. Life is a cabaret, old chum, come to the cabaret!" Truer words have never been sung, and they have never been more true than now. With our world getting weirder and scarier every day, who doesn't need to "leave their troubles outside" every now and then? But Kander and Ebb's brilliant musical Cabaret is a subversive little thing. It lures you in with fun and sexy songs and dances, and then slowly, ever so slowly, it reminds you that it's not so easy to forget your troubles. They're still there, even when we're not thinking about them, and maybe they've even gotten worse when we weren't looking, when we were dancing. This musical cautionary tale about the rise of fascism in 1930s Germany, which the Guthrie had originally scheduled for the summer of 2020 before a global pandemic shuttered all theaters, has never felt more relevant than it does right now in the summer of 2025. The Guthrie's stunning new production of Cabaret is perfectly marvelous and utterly devastating, and it's the #TCTheater event of the summer. Do not miss it! The Kit Kat Klub remains open for business (until it tragically shuts its doors every night) through August 24.

"A Midsummer Night's Dream" at the Guthrie Theater

A Midsummer Night's Dream is probably my favorite Shakespeare play. Partly because it's also probably the one I've seen the most on stage (this is my 10th time seeing it, and my 7th time writing about it in my almost 15 years as a Twin Cities Theater Blogger), but also because it's really the perfect rom com, with a little bit of everything. In his final season as the Guthrie's Artistic Director, Joe Dowling staged a memorable in-the-round production in 2015, and now current Artistic Director Joseph Haj is bringing us his version of this classic. I was lucky enough to attend the first meet-and-greet with the cast and creative team back in early January, when Joe talked about what the show means to him. He staged it at Oregon Shakespeare Festival in March 2020, and we know how that story goes - the show only had a few performances before being cancelled due to the pandemic. So this is a re-do of sorts, even bringing a few cast and creatives back. But this is a fresh, new Midsummer, bringing a bright warm glow to the Guthrie stage now when we need in most in this bleak, dark Midwinter. It's a delightful production full of heart, humor, and hope, and more music than any previous Midsummer I've seen. Whether you've never seen Midsummer before (where have you been?) or you've seen it a dozen times, here are ten reasons to see the Guthrie's new production of A Midsummer Night's Dream:

"The Glass Menagerie" at the Guthrie Theater

Long before I became a Twin Cities Theater Blogger, I became a Guthrie season subscriber. The decision to accept that telephone offer to see five shows for $100 changed my life. As a Guthrie subscriber, I began to see more than just the touring musicals and an occasional local show. I started to know and follow the local community of theater artists, I was introduced to other local theaters. The more local theater I saw, the more I found to see, and it continued to snowball until I just had to start writing about it. I'm now entering my 17th season as a Guthrie subscriber, and my 10th season as a #TCTheater blogger. How fitting to begin this milestone year with one of my favorite playwrights and one of my favorite plays. I first saw The Glass Menagerie at the Guthrie in 2007 (not counting when my high school did it), first wrote about it in 2010 at the Jungle, shortly after I started blogging, and have seen and written about it multiple times since. The Guthrie's new production, directed by Artistic Director Joseph Haj, is just as lovely, sad, and wistful as any I've seen.

"Cyrano de Bergerac" at the Guthrie Theater

The Guthrie's Artistic Director Joseph Haj brings his adaptation of the classic play Cyrano de Bergerac to the proscenium stage. First produced in 2006 and revised for this production, he based it on the original French and two early English translations, with a goal "to create a well-built, forward-moving story with a steady rhythm that remained in pursuit of what I believed to be Rostand's key theme: the idea that true beauty resides within." Mission accomplished. A dynamic staging, a lovely cast, and inventive design bring this beloved classic to life.

"Noises Off" at the Guthrie Theater

A Christmas Carol is not the only thing playing in that big beautiful blue building on the river. Across the lobby from the 44th annual production of A Christmas Carol, the Guthrie is presenting a hilarious comedy that will make your face hurt from laughing so much. Noises Off is the perfect madcap comedy, perfectly executed by the cast, crew, and creative team at the Guthrie. The play within a play format allows the audience to peak inside the world of the theater and see what it might be like in rehearsal, backstage during a performance, and at the end of a long and troubled tour. It's a complete mess as things continue to go wrong for the fictional company, but the real-life company pulls it all off beautifully; this is impeccably organized chaos thanks to first-time Guthrie director Meredith McDonough and her team. If your thoughts about theater are, as one of the characters in the play says: "I don't go to the theater to listen to other people's problems, I go to be taken out of myself and hopefully not put back in again," this is the perfect play for that.

"Sense and Sensibility" at the Guthrie Theater

The Guthrie's 2016-2017 season marks my 14th season as a subscriber, and I'm still just as excited as I ever was to walk into that big beautiful building on the river. In fact, more than excited, it feels like home. It's my happy place (especially when preceded by dinner at my favorite restaurant, Spoonriver). I've always been a fan of the Guthrie, but there's a new excitement in the air. It's the second season for new Artistic Director Joseph Haj (who recently accepted the Ivey for the ensemble of Trouble in Mind), and you can already see the changes, specifically in a greater commitment to new works and greater diversity onstage and behind the scenes. The first play in the new season is a wonderful example of that. While Jane Austen's beloved novel Sense and Sensibility is over 200 years old, this is a brand new adaptation that tells the story with a freshness and drive that makes it feel new. And by the way, the playwright is a woman, a young woman, an actress, who played the role of Marianne in her adaptation off Broadway. The Guthrie's production is directed by a woman (Sarah Rasmussen, herself an exciting new Artistic Director over at the Jungle), with scenic and costume design by a woman, and featuring a cast that is two-thirds women and ethnically diverse. That is reason for excitement indeed, especially when the end product is this delightful.