"Fun Home" by Theater Latte Da at the Ritz Theater

The long-awaited #TCTheater premiere of the 2015 Tony winning best musical Fun Home is finally happening! I was lucky enough to see this brilliant and moving musical on Broadway and have loved it ever since, even driving to Duluth for the Minnesota premiere by an intrepid theater company known as Renegade in 2019. I'm thrilled to finally see a production in the Twin Cities, and no one better to do it than Theater Latte Da. The smartly and succinctly written 90-minute musical is perfectly cast, perfectly staged, and perfectly designed, for an emotionally satisfying and epic journey through one person's story of coming of age, coming out, and coming to terms with her parents' flaws and humanity; a specific story that feels so real and relatable. Apparently I am not alone in this opinion; some performances are already selling out and they've extended it a week. Don't wait - get your tickets now to see this modern musical theater masterpiece (through April 11 at the Ritz Theater in Northeast Minneapolis).

"Beautiful: The Carole King Musical" at Chanhassen Dinner Theatres

For their third regional premiere in a row, Chanhassen Dinner Theatres (CDT) is presenting Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. It's interesting that it follows on the heels of their regional premiere of Jersey Boys, because that 2006 Tony-winning bio-musical about Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons set the standard for the bio-musical and spawned a bunch more of the like, of which Beautiful (premiering in 2014), is one of the better ones. You can definitely see some similarity in structure between the two shows, both feature recognizable hits from the mid 20th Century, and both are really more like plays with music than musicals (most of songs are sung in context - in a studio or at a concert). As Artistic Director Michael Brindisi says, they went from the Jersey boys to the Brooklyn girl. And this first #TCTheater production is big, bold, and yes - beautiful. With an outrageously talented ensemble, super smooth transitions between the many mini scenes and songs, and unstoppable momentum that makes each act of this 2.5-hour-long musical feel like 20 minutes, Beautiful is not to be missed. It's playing through the end of September so you have plenty of time to get out to the Western metro for this celebration of one of the most prolific songwriters of 20th Century American popular music.

"Jersey Boys" at the Chanhassen Dinner Theatres

Jersey Boys is my musical theater guilty pleasure, and the exception that proves the rule about jukebox musicals. Meaning, I'm not usually a fan of taking popular hit songs and creating a musical around them; I much prefer new original musical theater. Except for Jersey Boys, which I can't help but love and see nearly every time the Broadway tour came to town (four, although I missed last year's tour). After running for over 11 years, the Tony-winning musical closed on Broadway in 2017, but continued to tour the country for several more years. The reason I love it is not just because of the fantastically catchy music of Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, the sharp choreography, and the retro fashions. But also because all of this is put together very smartly in the true story of the group, dealing with the good and the bad of fame and living in the music industry.* Leave it to Chanhassen Dinner Theatre's Artistic Director Michael Brindisi to snap up the rights to the show as soon as it became available for regional productions, making this their second regional premiere this year, after the super fun and heart-warming The Prom (which closed just a week before Jersey Boys began performances). It's great fun to see a different take on this show that I love and am so familiar with. As always, the Chan delivers a top-notch production of this musical that is sure to be a crowd-pleaser (but one with substance) for the next eight months (click here for info and tickets).

"The Prom" at Chanhassen Dinner Theatres

This late winter/early spring, Chanhassen Dinner Theatres is bringing us the regional premiere of a new original modern-day Broadway musical, a bit of a step outside their comfort zone of classics and retro pieces (like the recent '80s-set Footloose, which ran for a full year). But what a great and exciting choice The Prom is - a musical that’s all about love, inclusion, acceptance, friendship, community, and seeing the goodness and worth of all humans regardless of who they are or whom they love. It's a beautiful and necessary message, with recent threats to LGBTQ+ and transgender rights. The Prom shows is that we all belong, we all deserve to go to the prom exactly as we are, we all deserve to love whom we chose to love, be who we truly are, and be happy. That's not so radical, is it? Despite the modern message, The Prom is in many ways an old-fashioned classic musical, with big dance numbers, broad comedy, Broadway references, and a fantastic and mostly upbeat score that'll send you out into the cold singing, with a heart warmed from this beautiful story. But unlike many of their open-ended shows, this one has an end date - June 10. So don't wait too long to get your tickets and head out to the Western suburbs for this super fun and heart-warming show. Click here for info and tickets, and keep reading for information on discount tickets at the end of this post.

"Beyond the Rainbow: Garland at Carnegie Hall" at History Theatre

I hope HERstory never ends! After a successful spring of three new works by women about women, HERstory Theatre has continued this fall with the powerful and moving more-than-just-a-play Gloria: A Life (a regional premiere), and now a remount of the History Theatre's original play-with-music Beyond the Rainbow: Garland at Carnegie Hall. This commissioned piece (as many of their work is) premiered in 2005, and has since been produced at regional theaters around the country, including a few return engagements at the History Theatre, most recently in 2011 when I first saw it. Some of the original cast returns, including the incomparable Jody Briskey as Judy, in this story of one of Minnesota's favorite daughters. Everybody loves Judy, especially here in the land of her birth, and this play is a beautiful homage to the human behind the legend, while still celebrating her incredible legacy of music and film.

"Victor/Victoria" by Artistry at Bloomington Center for the Arts

Twenty-four years ago, a new musical premiered in Minneapolis before moving to Broadway. A new musical starring Julie Andrews, created for her by her husband Blake Edwards, based on the 1982 movie also created for her. Yet inexplicably Victor/Victoria is only now receiving its regional premiere. Theaters have a tendency to do the tried and true musicals that we all know and love, but there are so many rarely produced gems out there (see also this list of musicals written by women). Artistry is bringing us one such musical in Victor/Victoria, and even more in their 2019-2020 season (which includes the rarely done musicals A New Brain and Mame, as well as the regional premiere of the 2014 musical The Bridges of Madison County with music by Jason Robert Brown, one of the most gorgeous scores I've ever heard). And even better - Victor/Victoria happens to be very timely and relevant with its themes of gender fluidity and being free to be who you are and love who you want. The team at Artistry has delivered a gorgeous production of this big old-fashioned musical full of heart and humor.