If The Spirit Moves - World Premiere

​

Book and Lyrics by Germaine Shames; Music by Erin Murray Quinlan

 

A disillusioned expat Dadaist artist returns after World War I. Needing to earn a living, she sets out to impersonate a spirit medium—only to discover that she is the real deal.  A shell-shocked war hero, a charity matron mourning her daughter, and a young war widow flock to the reluctant medium and are spontaneously healed. A wealthy male client falls in love with her. When her former love comes courting in the form of a directionless Dada poet, she must choose, not only between two men, but two radically different outlooks on life.  If the Spirit Moves is a tender tale of recovery and healing in which rich and poor, living and dead, transcend their differences through laughter, tears, and hope for a brighter tomorrow. 

​

Ghost Quartet

​

Book, Lyrics and Music by Dave Malloy

​

Back by popular demand, Ghost Quartet is a song cycle about love, death and whiskey.  A camera breaks and four friends drink in an interwoven tale spanning seven centuries, with a murderous sister, a treehouse astronomer, a bear, a subway, and the ghost of Thelonious Monk.  The story draws from several fairy tales and "ghost stories", including Snow White and Rose Red, Edgar Allen Poe's Fall of the House of Usher, and One Thousand and One Nights (commonly known as Arabian Nights). Cast members present the story and music as a "concept album" and accompany themselves on keyboard, violin, ukulele, guitar, mandolin, and percussion.  

​

​

A Flight of Short Musicals

​

Join us for one weekend in January for our “short musicals” festival.  We’ll present a flight of a half dozen 10- to 20-minute musicals, with brief intermissions between each to enjoy a flight of your favorite beverage – wine, beer or non-alcoholic options!  

 

The musicals will include:  My Boyfriend is an Alien (and I’m OK with that) by Christine Toy Johnson & Bobby Cronin; The Manifesto by Germaine Shames & Nadav Amir-Himmel; 

Der Strunkenwhitenleider by Scott Guy set to the music of Liza Lehmann; Five Minutes by Ben Larson and Eric "Pogi" Sumangil; and Missing Karma by Timothy Huang.

Plus a few surprises!

​

​

First Lady Suite

​

Words and Music by Michael John LaChiusa

​

First Lady Suite is an enthralling look into the lives of some of history’s most neglected figures, the wives of U.S. presidents.  The musical is presented in four vignettes.  Over Texas takes place aboard Air Force One on November 22nd, 1963. Where’s Mamie? is a time-travel fantasy as Mamie, melancholic and alone on her birthday, is paid a visit by the celebrated opera star Marian Anderson.  They travel to Algiers to confront Ike about an affair and warn him of the racial strife he’ll face later as President. In Olio, first daughter Margaret Truman sing at a recital but is upstaged by First Lady Bess.  Eleanor Sleeps Here is a heart-rending examination of the relationship between Eleanor Roosevelt and Lorena Hickok as they’re flown over Washington by Amelia Earhart.

​

We Foxes

​

Words and Music by Ryan Scott Oliver

​

We Foxes is a southern Gothic musical thriller set in the mid-1940s.  Willa is left alone when her brother is conscripted into the army after being falsely accused of theft.  She is taken in by the Sheriff’s wife, Vesta Quimby -- the most beloved and powerful woman in town. When Willa discovers dark secrets, she must fight to survive.  We Foxes is a story of intense human struggle, deliverance, and the great salvation found only in oneself.  This Developmental Production will be presented to Twin Cities audiences for the first time!