There is a great range of work opening on Twin Cities stages this weekend. Theater Latté Da is premiering a new musical, Ten Thousand Things is resurrecting an old one. Loudmouth Collective has a quirky two-man show and Children's Theatre does that one better with a solo performance by a celebrated New York performer.
'Lullaby'
Latté Da brings this piece forward from its new-work program "Next 20/20." Written by Michael Elyanow, it's described as a play with alt-rock music. Jeremy Cohen, producing artistic director of the Playwrights' Center, directs with a cast of four.
The story is about a young mother (Adelin Phelps) who takes guitar lessons from a has-been rocker (Annie Enneking) in hopes of learning how to play lullabies for her baby. Enneking knows this business. She's frontwoman for the band Annie and the Bang Bang. Phelps has impressed critics in several small works around town. David Darrow, one of the founders of 7th House Productions, has musical and acting chops, and James Eckhouse is an actor from film, stage and theater. He was on "Beverly Hills, 90210" and recently worked with Bryan Cranston on the LBJ play "All the Way."
7:30 p.m. Fri.-Sat., 2 p.m. Sun., 7:30 p.m. Wed.-Thu. Ends Feb. 7. Ritz Theater, 345 13th Av. NE., Mpls. $23-$37. 612-339-3003 or latteda.org.
'The Best Brothers'
Two longtime denizens of the local scene, David Mann and Wade A. Vaughn, star in this story of brothers who come to understand each other in the wake of their mother's death. It's a familiar convention, but in this case, the mother is killed in a bizarre accident at a gay pride parade. Daniel MacIvor, a prolific Canadian playwright and actor, wrote the script. Natalie Novacek directs the work for Loudmouth Collective, a small troupe in its fourth season.
8 p.m. Fri.-Mon., Thu. Ends Jan. 24. Open Eye Figure Theatre, 506 E. 24th St., Mpls. $10-$15. 612-643-1231 or loudmouthcollective.com.
'Dear World'
Here's a trivia question for future theater-nerd gatherings: what was Sarah Rasmussen's first production after she was named artistic director of the Jungle Theater? Yeah, this little musical by Jerry Herman, based on "The Madwoman of Chaillot," which opens public shows this weekend for Ten Thousand Things.
It's a quirky chamber musical about eccentrics who fight a corporation that wants to drill for oil below a Paris bistro. Doesn't that sound like something Mr. Burns would do on "The Simpsons?"
