Three Twin Cities arts organizations announce new seasons, shows
As the current arts season chugs along, organizations across the Twin Cities have begun to announce works coming to the stage starting in late fall and continuing into next year.
We have a roundup of forthcoming productions at three Twin Cities performing arts groups.
The Guthrie Theater sees a new take on Shakespeare, but no world premieres
Next year’s Guthrie season will be diverse, including “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and the return of “A Christmas Carol.” Alongside old favorites will be shows new to Guthrie audiences, like Lloyd Suh’s “The Heart Sellers” and a presentation of Octopus Theatricals’ production of “All the Devils Are Here: How Shakespeare Invented the Villain.”
“A good season for us feels like it has arms widely around our community, that there's something in that season for everyone,” said Artistic Director Joseph Haj.
Create a More Connected Minnesota
MPR News is your trusted resource for the news you need. With your support, MPR News brings accessible, courageous journalism and authentic conversation to everyone - free of paywalls and barriers. Your gift makes a difference.
Unlike recent seasons, the theater has no world premieres planned for 2024-25.
“The American theater is drunk on premier-itis. And we’re simply not at the Guthrie,” said Haj.
“A play is ready when a play is ready. And you can’t rush it ... so some years we’ll have a world premiere and some years, we simply won’t.”
Another play of note will be the English language adaptation of “The Lehman Trilogy” which gained a lot of buzz when it won the Tony Award for Best Play in 2022.
Hennepin Theater Trust will party like it’s 1999
The operator of three historic theaters in downtown Minneapolis announced in early February that its Broadway on Hennepin season would include the world premiere of “Purple Rain,” based on the film starring Prince and utilizing his music.
“Prince was a visionary artist who created the Minneapolis sound and ignited a profound appreciation for the arts in the Twin Cities and Minnesota as a whole,” said Todd Duesing, Hennepin Theatre Trust’s CEO and president.
“Purple Rain” has a planned run on Broadway after its 2025 Minneapolis premiere at the State Theater.
Kicking off the season is the musical adaptation of “Back to the Future” in September. It is one of several film-to-stage adaptations making up the Trust’s season, including “Some Like It Hot” and “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.”
The Tony-winning musical “Kimberly Akimbo,” about a young woman with a rare disease who gets swept up into a check laundering scheme, will take the penultimate slot in the season in July 2025. Other shows include the return of “The Book of Mormon” and “Hadestown.”
Minnesota Opera revisits classic, offers new work
Minnesota Opera has announced its 2024-25 season. This will be the first full season for Christopher Franklin, the new principal conductor of the Minneapolis-based group. Shows will include Charles Gounod's classic "Romeo and Juliet," as well as "The Barber of Seville."
The company will also welcome back Monét X Change — one of the winners of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 4 — to host a benefit concert. Monét X Change, a trained opera singer, performed with the company last season in “The Daughter of the Regiment.”
The company will also present “The Snowy Day,” a 2021 opera based on the classic children's book. The opera’s president and general director, Ryan Taylor, describes the world of “The Snowy Day” as “full of the unique joy only the first snowfall can bring.”
Correction (March 8, 2024): A previous version of this story incorrectly stated Christopher Franklin's new position. The above story has been updated.
