Twin Cities theater this weekend is all about the musical

by Lauren B. Photography

The cast of "Always & Forever" say it with a song

​It's a busy weekend, particularly considering the fact that we're in the afterglow of the Fringe, when local stages tend to be dark and theatrical options fewer than the usual dizzying gamut. As fate would have it, we're off to see a trio of musicals on stages ranging from downtown Minneapolis to relatively far-flung suburbs.  Opening at Illusion Theater downtown this weekend is Always and Forever, a musical that depicts four African American men in a barbershop telling stories through song about the highs and lows that accompany that thing we call love. The excellent Dennis Spears and T. Mychael Rambo are among the cast.

City of Angels is opening at Bloomington Civic Theatre; a six-time Tony winner in 1989, it's a jazz-charged affectionate send-up of film noir and detective fiction. It contains a double-world set-up in which one half of the show is dark and gritty, while the other is a Technicolor fantasy. And did we mention that it goes heavy on the jazz?

Out at Chanhassen Dinner Theatres, All Shook Up is a jukebox musical built around the music of Elvis Presley--it tells the story of a small-town girl, a guitar-wielding stranger, the lure of the open . . . oh, the hell with it. It's a musical comedy built around Elvis music. Enough said.

And don't forget The Scottsboro Boys at the Guthrie.