Beat the winter blues with these 8 must-see Twin Cities theater shows

A new year means a new leaf, fresh energy and vitality on Minnesota stages, which are heating up even as the weather dips low. Here’s a quick list of some required viewing over the next three months.

After delivering a stellar performance as Cynthia Weil in “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” at Chanhassen Dinner Theatres last year, Shinah Hey plays title character and dance hall hostess Charity Hope Valentine in this 1966 musical by Cy Coleman, Dorothy Fields and Neil Simon about a woman buffeted by the slings and arrows of love and life in the big city. With iconic numbers such as “The Rich Man’s Frug,” “Big Spender” and “If My Friends Could See Me Now,” “Charity” served as a vehicle for director and choreographer Bob Fosse to spotlight his wife and muse, Gwen Verdon. The roles of director and choreographer have been split up in this season kickoff at Artistry, where Laura Leffler handles the staging and Abby Magalee styles the movement. Anita Ruth returns to conduct the 20-piece orchestra fronted by a fresh-faced cast that includes Quinn Lorez, Hope Nordquist and former “American Idol” contestant Aliya Grace. (Jan. 23-Feb. 15, Artistry, Bloomington.)

The rollicking musical returns for the third time to Chanhassen Dinner Theatres. It may be a throwback to 1950s nostalgia, but artistic director Michael Brindisi and his creative team, including resident choreographer Tamara Kangas Erickson and music director Andrew Kust, usually find new ways to make it fresh and entertaining. The current production is headlined by Dayle Theisen as Sandy opposite Sam Stoll as Danny in a cast studded with vocal firepower, including Suzie Juul, Alan Bach and Kasano Mwanza returning to a role he has played with charismatic gusto, Teen Angel. With lots of slicked-back hair, poodle skirts and leather jackets, “Grease” promises a vroom-vroom ride to Rydell High. (Jan. 31-Oct. 4, Chanhassen Dinner Theatres.)

Shakespeare’s most popular rom-com has a storied history at the Guthrie Theater, where former artistic director Joe Dowling made “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” into a high-flying, acrobatic spectacle that became one of his signature shows. Current artistic director Joseph Haj is putting his own stamp on the show, playing up the contrasts with town and country, and underscoring the lyrical romance of both the story and the language with music. Composer Jack Herrick, with whom Haj has worked on “Hamlet” and the landmark History Plays, has set much of Shakespeare’s text to song, and some actors also play instruments. Haj has tapped History Plays alums William Sturdivant, Dustin Bronson, John Catron and Jimmy Kieffer, who plays Puck, for his village-sized cast. The “Dream” players include Regina Marie Williams, Aimee K. Bryant, Kimberly Richardson, Max Wojtanowicz and Broadway star Remy Auberjonois. (Feb. 1-March 23, Guthrie Theater, Mpls.)

This musical for young audiences is based on Matt de la Pena’s and Christian Robinson’s children’s book and is all about the imagination. On a subway ride, Milo imagines the lives of his fellow passengers, even if his older sister continues to be annoying. Toussaint Francois Battiste, who plays the title character, is a rising star, having acted with his dad, Francois Battiste, in “A Raisin in the Sun” at New York’s Public Theater, and in Apple TV’s new series “The Savant,” playing the son of Jessica Chastain. At CTC, China A. Brickey plays his mom and John Jamison II plays Debbie Downer in this production staged by Mikael Burke with choreography by Breon Arzell and music direction by Sanford Moore. (Feb. 4-March 9, Children’s Theatre Company, Mpls.)

Fresh from making her Broadway debut as the dramaturge of “A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical,” Twin Cities theater veteran Faye Price stages D.L. Coburn’s Pulitzer Prize-winning chestnut about two opposites in a retirement home who develop an unlikely bond over card games. The roles have been inhabited on Broadway by legendary acting couples such as Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy, and James Earl Jones and Cicely Tyson. Price has tapped Greta Oglesby and Terry Hempleman to create the onstage fireworks. (Feb. 5-21, Park Square Theatre, St. Paul.)

Showstoppers happen regularly in musicals. In dramas, not so much. But legendary Minnesota director Lou Bellamy orchestrated such a moment in “Wine in the Wilderness” last February with Nubia Monks at Penumbra Theatre. He casts Monks again here, Dominique Morisseau’s first play in her poetic Detroit trilogy. You don’t need to have seen “Skeleton Crew” and “Detroit ’67” to appreciate “Blue,” which is set in 1949 in the Motor City’s Paradise Valley neighborhood and orbits a jazz club in an area undergoing gentrification. Club owner Blue wrestles with a decision about selling the place, even as dramas of love and lies unfold among his musicians and patrons. The cast includes Lester Purry alongside Angela Wildflower, who was stellar in “The Color Purple” at Theater Latté Da. And Mikell Sapp plays Blue in what could be a career high-water mark. (Feb. 13-March 9, Penumbra Theatre, St. Paul.)

Before social media and email, fans of celebrities would write letters with the hope that they would get a response. Poet T.S. Eliot was an admirer of comic genius Groucho Marx and wrote to him, asking for a picture. In June 1964, Groucho was passing through London, where Eliot lived, and the poet invited the comic over for dinner. There’s not much written about what transpired between them, so playwright Jeffrey Hatcher has imagined what it would be like to have the literary titan and the master of one-liners go at it in a game of one-upmanship. The two-hander premieres with Jim Cunningham, who has played Groucho in “The Cocoanuts,” again playing Groucho, and understated actor John Middleton as Eliot. Hatcher also works with his son, Evan Hatcher, as part of the creative process in a show directed by Illusion co-founder Michael Robins. (Feb. 21-March 15, Illusion Theater, Mpls.)

Before she became executive producer and a writer for “Succession,” Lucy Prebble wrote “The Effect,” a 2012 play about two volunteers who sign up for a clinical trial of antidepressants and then fall in love, raising doubts about the trials, the medicalization of depression and whether or not their feelings are true. Alison Ruth’s production for the Jungle Theater features a return to the stage for Christina Baldwin, the company’s artistic director, who also scripted and directed “Dinner for One.” She acts opposite film star Greg Watanabe (“Watch Over Me”), who memorably performed at the venue in “Cambodian Rock Band.” (March 1-30, Jungle Theater, Mpls.)