Anyone else a Fall Arts Guide obsessive like me? Back in the early 2010s when I was attending the University of Minnesota, I remember spreading out the thick seasonal arts roundups of City Pages (R.I.P.) and Vita.mn (R.I.P.) on a table at Espresso Royale (I’m sensing a trend…) in Dinkytown and using a 5-cent pen to circle all the shows I desperately wanted to see. Ever since then, it’s been one of my favorite parts of fall.
These days, the local papers and magazines that used to devote seemingly endless pages to the theatrical happenings in the Twin Cities and around the state — at least during this one glorious time of the year — seem to be dropping the ball. My wife recently picked up the September issue of Mpls.St.Paul Magazine and I grabbed last Sunday’s edition of the Star Tribune, which feature their individual fall arts guides, and the theater coverage is frankly depressing — from the Strib especially. Mpls.St.Paul at least recommends 11 shows with a couple short stories about Waiting for Godot at the Guthrie. Meanwhile, the Strib has short blurbs on 10 shows on a page that also includes concerts and comedy shows. And that’s it.
It’s no surprise that local theater coverage from the mainstream press is going down the tubes, but what surprised me most of all perusing these two guides — as well as the one in the Pioneer Press — is that none of them include any of the five shows that I’m personally most excited about this season.
So to right some wrongs, here are the must-see plays and musicals I think you should buy tickets to this fall. Grab seats early, get a restaurant reservation, make a night of it. Just don’t let these productions pass you by.
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Trademark Theater at The Capri Theater
September 18 – 19
OK, this one you will sadly miss, seeing as how it’s entirely sold out and only playing two performances this weekend. But I couldn’t not mention it. Trademark Theater is the bold local company founded by Tyler Michaels King that’s “solely focused on the creation, development, and production of new theatrical productions,” and while this adaptation from King is based on a canonical work, it’s Oscar Wilde’s Dorian Gray like you’ve never seen it before: the stage and costumes start pure white, then descend into madness through live painting. Lucky for all of us, this is a workshop presentation. We’ll hopefully see a full production next year.
Merrily We Roll Along at Lyric Arts
September 11 – October 4
The most underappreciated theater in the Twin Cities metro doing the most lambasted Sondheim musical, that’s now considered a classic. Theater Latté Da did a serviceable production back in 2022. I have high hopes for this version in Anoka, partly because Lyric Arts never lets me down (when the material is good), and partly because Noah Hynick is playing Charley Kringas, one of the three friends who make up the heart of this story that follows their relationships in reverse, from their 40s back to their 20s. I first saw Noah playing, of all things, Squidward in The SpongeBob Musical at Lyric Arts, and I’ve been keeping an eye out for him ever since. His full-tilt commitment to the absurdity of Squidward makes me believe he’ll make a meal out of “Franklin Shepard, Inc.,” the tour de force of Merrily.
The Seagull at The Modern Rep
October 22 – November 7
Chekhov’s classic, being staged in a warehouse space in the North Loop by the most exciting new theater company in town. The Modern Rep is the brainchild of theatermaker Grant Sorenson (you may know him from TABLE/READ, his sensational series of one-night-only plays), who promises to “strip away 130 years of veneer to reveal the raw and racing heartbeat of this revolutionary tragicomedy.” What’s particularly interesting to me is that the cast includes Christina Baldwin, who you may know from the Jungle Theater. Forget Chekhov being reinvented for 2026, I’m more interested in Minnesota’s newest theater talent teaming up with the leaders of our beloved institutions.
Three Houses at Theatre Elision
October 22 – November 7
The Twin Cities premiere of Dave Malloy’s pandemic musical. (He’s the guy who wrote the War and Peace musical Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812, which was such a smash hit for Theatre Elision last fall that it’s coming back in 2027.) While Three Houses doesn’t have Josh Groban’s magic sprinkled over the top of it, Theatre Elision is the local authority on Malloy’s mesmerizing and galvanizing compositions — having also staged Ghost Quartet numerous times, and with Octet on the books for fall 2027, a massive get for them considering Lin-Manuel Miranda is now adapting that show into a movie — and so I’m sold on seeing anything and everything that comes from this quasi-partnership.
Angels in America – Part One: Millennium Approaches by UMN BFA Acting ’27 at Rarig Center
November 19 – 22
I’ve never regretted buying a ticket for a production by the University of Minnesota’s BFA troupe, and this November they’re tackling one of the greatest plays ever written, one that is often seen as too grand, too ambitious, and frankly too expensive for many professional companies. (When was the last time it was even performed in the Twin Cities?) I just finished reading the play a month or so ago when Jill Schafer of Cherry and Spoon posted a story on her Instagram with a (digital?) poster announcing this production — and I just about fainted. If you’ve never seen Angels in America, put this on your calendar now. It’s only playing one weekend, right before Thanksgiving. And yes, Part Two: Perestroika is coming in the spring.
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