10 best and brightest theater shows to catch this fall

'Merrily We Roll Along'

Director Peter Rothstein has tapped top talent for his revival of Stephen Sondheim's 1981 musical about soured friendships. The principals include Broadway actor Dylan Frederick ("The Inheritance") and Twin Cities standouts Becca Hart and Reese Britts. "Merrily" is notable for its songs, including "Not a Day Goes By," and for the fact that it is told backward. Interestingly, Theater Latte Da's production plays at the same time as an off-Broadway revival headlined by Daniel Radcliffe. (Sept. 24–Oct. 30, Ritz Theater, Mpls.)

'Sally & Tom'

Pulitzer winner Suzan-Lori Parks trains her sights on the fraught "relationship" between founding father Thomas Jefferson and his enslaved "mistress" Sally Hemings in the Guthrie Theater production, which is not to be confused with Thomas Bradshaw's 2017 work, "Thomas and Sally," or the 2005 musical "Sally and Tom (The American Way)," all grappling with the same subject. In "Sally & Tom," a contemporary couple try to put on a show about historical characters as the past keeps bubbling into the present. It will be staged by actor, playwright and director Steve Broadnax III. (Oct. 1–Nov. 6, Guthrie Theater, Mpls.)

'Weathering'

A commission from Harrison David Rivers, the play orbits a couple beset by grief and loss, and the healing circle of women that surrounds them. It's directed by Colette Robert. (Oct. 13-Nov. 6, Penumbra Theatre, St. Paul.)

'Carmela Full of Wishes'

'Fire in the New World'
R.A. (aka Rick) Shiomi has a distinguished history as a leader of Mu Performing Arts and co-founder of Full Circle Theater Company. Also a playwright, his new work centers on a private eye who battles criminals and discrimination in Vancouver's Japantown in the wake of World War II. (Oct. 19-Nov. 6, Park Square Theatre, St. Paul).

'Bull Jean Stories'
Poetic playwright Sharon Bridgforth, whose "dat Black Mermaid Man Lady/The Show" lit up the stage at Pillsbury House Theatre in 2018, returns with "Bull Jean Stories," a chronicle of a "woman-loving-woman named bull-dog-jean." The play is set in the 1920s in the American South and adapted from Bridgforth's 1998 poetry collection of the same title. (Oct. 20-Nov. 13, Pillsbury House Theatre, Mpls.)

'Uncle Philip's Coat'
If only fabrics could talk. Matty Selman's one-person play, follows a shabby garment inherited by a struggling actor. Turns out the coat saved a life during a Russian pogrom, was used to display items for sale on Coney Island and provided warmth in the cold streets of the Big Apple. Craig Johnson directs. (Oct. 22-Nov. 13, Six Points Theater, St. Paul.)

'Six'
The splashy British pop musical about the fates of the six wives of Henry VIII ("divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived") would seem like an unlikely vehicle for women empowerment. But with its power ballads and concert stylings, "Six," which had a pre-Broadway run at the Ordway, has won over fans far and wide, not to mention snagging a Tony for best score. (Oct. 25-Nov. 6, Ordway Center, St Paul.)

'Les Misérables'
The blockbuster musical by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg is acclaimed for many reasons, including its stirring music, inspiring performances and a story of long-sought redemption. This production has been here before and is welcome anytime. (Dec. 6-18, Orpheum Theatre, Mpls.)