Theater News

Minneapolis/St. Paul Spotlight: November 2008

Funk It Up

Jahi Kearse and Namir Smallwood
in Five Fingers of Funk
(© Rob Levine)
Jahi Kearse and Namir Smallwood
in Five Fingers of Funk
(© Rob Levine)

Be sure not to miss Will Power’s Five Fingers of Funk (Children’s Theater Company, through November 16). This new musical is a coming of age story set in the 1970s to the tune of funk music. Power is widely regarded as a leader in the hip hop theater movement. In press notes, Power declares, “As the home turf of Prince and The Time, Minneapolis was one of the epicenters of funk.”

Stage and screen star Charles Keating’s I and I: The Sense of Self, a one-man show exploring the subject of aging through poems, opinions, and essays plays the Guthrie November 16 & 17. The theater is also presenting Shadowlands (November 1-December 21), a drama and love story centering on the personal life of author C.S. Lewis, portrayed by Broadway veteran, Simon Jones.

Those with small children might also head over to the Children’s Theater Company for Lewis’ classic, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (November 11-January 3). Slightly more irreverent is Brave New Workshop’s political sketch-comedy show The Lion, The Witch, and the War Hero or Is McCain Able? (through November 8). And as the election season winds to a close, take some time to reflect on the nature of politics with George Orwell’s Animal Farm playing at the Southern Theater (through November 16).

Flying into the Orpheum Theatre is the national tour of Wicked (November 5-December 7). Just down Hennepin avenue, Menopause the Musical plays a considerably shorter run at the Pantages Theater (November 1-9). Opera Lovers won’t want to miss the Minnesota Opera’s production of Mozart’s rarely-performed comic opera The Abduction from the Seraglio (Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, November 1-8). The staging comes from James Robinson, whose 1995 production of Turandot for the Minnesota Opera is one of the most widely-reproduced in America today.

The Christmas season officially begins after Thanksgiving, however the Christmas show season begins at the Hennepin Stages with, A Don’t Hug Me Christmas Carol (November 21-December 28). This yuletide sequel to the twin cities musical comedy smash hit, Don’t Hug Me is a Minnesota-flavored take-off on the Charles Dickens classic. Immediately after Thanksgiving comes Black Nativity, a Twin Cities holiday tradition, celebrating its 22nd year at Penumbra Theatre (November 28-December 28). Opening on the same day is Theater Latté Da’s A Christmas Carole Petersen, Tod Petersen’s holiday musical tribute to his childhood in Mankato, Minnesota and his mother, Carole (Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, November 28-December 21).