"Kinky Boots" at Lyric Arts

To close out the 2023-2024 season, Lyric Arts is bringing us their second regional premiere of the season (the first was 9 to 5) - the super fun and feel good musical Kinky Boots. Last seen in the Twin Cities in 2015 (the Broadway tour), the 2013 Tony-winning musical celebrates the love of shoes and self-identity in a glorious, fun, warm-hearted way. But of course it's about more than just shoes (even if they are "the most beautiful thing in the world"). As with most musicals there's a love story at its core, but this time the love story is a friendship between two very different men who grow to admire and respect each other, encouraging each other to live up to their full potential. With this great story (based on a 2005 movie that was based on a true story) adapted to the stage by Broadway legend Harvey Fierstein with score by music legend Cyndi Lauper (the first woman to win a solo Tony for best score), it's a surefire hit!* Lyric Arts has assembled a fantastic cast to ensure the most fun and heart-warming time. 

"Survivors" at Six Points Theater

Just in time for Holocaust Remembrance Day, Six Points Theater is presenting the play Survivors, which tells the stories of ten Holocaust survivors. 79 years ago today the concentration camp Auschwitz was liberated by the Soviet army. In the course of human history, or even American history, that's not that long ago, and unfortunately it did not mark the end of violence, discrimination, and hate against the Jewish people. It's so important to keep telling these stories, to remember the horrors that Jews endured not so very long or far away, because as they say in the play, "Never Forget! Never Again! Never is Now!" Survivors only has three performances; it's more of a special event than a part of Six Points' full season. But if you have a chance to see the final performance on Sunday afternoon, I encourage you to do so. Each performance is followed by a discussion about anti-Semitism with local leaders and scholars. Anti-Semitism never went away, but has seen a resurgence in recent years with the extreme political climate, as well as in recent months since the Israel-Hamas War. I'm so glad I was able to attend this moving performance and informative discussion, which was heavy and a bit depressing, but also hopeful and inspiring. (Click here for info and to purchase tickets to the final performance.)

"Trayf" at Six Points Theater

"Trayf" is a Yiddish word meaning "food not in accordance with Jewish dietary law." In the play Trayf, currently playing at Six Points Theater, the word refers not just to food, but to anything not following the strict Orthodox laws that the characters subscribe to (e.g., secular music, mixed gender swimming, musicals!). But really, the play is about friendship, and what happens when two friends begin to grow beyond their childhood beliefs and want different things. Can they still maintain that friendship when their lives begin to move in different directions? The 90-minute play is funny and touching, and explores ideas of faith, family, and adhering to ancient traditions vs. living in the modern world. See it at the Highland Park Community Center through March 12.

"Uncle Philip's Coat" at Six Points Theater

The day before Halloween at my chosen place of worship, the sermon was about ghosts. And that maybe ghosts aren't the spooky thing we think about this time of the year, but the spirit of our ancestors that we carry with us by remembering them. A few hours later this theme came up again in Six Points Theater's production of Uncle Philip's Coat. In this engrossing and engaging solo play, #TCTheater veteran J.C. Cutler portrays the playwright Matty Selman as well as his ancestors in a story of family and identity and the ghosts that are carried in an old ragged coat, full of stories and history.

"Top Girls" by Theatre Pro Rata at the Crane Theater

Everyone loves the '80s, right? Maybe not so much after seeing Theatre Pro Rata's production of Caryl Churchill's Top Girls, which takes an unflinching look at what the '80s were really like, particularly in the lives of working women who seemed on the surface to "have it all." It's dark, weird, and a little fantastical, like all of Churchill's work, but it's also smart, thought-provoking, grounded in humanity, and relevant to our world 40 years later, with a different sort of gender politics happening in the work place.