Twin Cities' 10 can't-miss theater productions of the fall

This musical was adapted by playwright Cheryl West ("Akeelah and the Bee") from the Newbery Award-winning book about a child's awakening to class differences. But the bigger draw is the father-son composing team of Lamont and Paris Dozier. With the Holland brothers, Lamont Dozier was behind many of Motown's biggest hits. (Sept. 15-Oct. 21, Children's Theatre, Mpls., $15-$64, 612-874-0400 or childrenstheatre.org.)

This Guthrie-commissioned adaptation of Mary Shelley's novel, which is marking its 200th anniversary, was first staged 30 years ago. Playwright Barbara Field imagines a reckoning between a dying Frankenstein and the creature he made. (Sept. 15-Oct. 27, $15-$78, Guthrie Theater, Mpls., 612-377-2224 or guthrietheater.org.)

Actor/writers Shanan Custer and Carolyn Pool are building a franchise of sip-and-gab shows. This one, a hit at the 2016 Minnesota Fringe Festival, is the second in a series that includes"2 Sugars, Room for Cream" and the forthcoming "Bad Things, Good Whiskey." (Sept. 14-Oct. 14, $16-$40, Park Sqaure Theatre, St. Paul, parksquaretheatre.org.)

There's history riding on Penumbra Theatre's revival of Ntozake Shange's landmark choreo­poem. It marks the mainstage directing debut of artistic director Sarah Bellamy, who is teaming up with her dad, theater founder Lou Bellamy, and fearless choreographer Ananya Chatterjea. (Sept. 18-Oct. 14, $15-$40, 651-224-3180 or penumbratheatre.org.)

Not the 2015 Kander-and-Ebb musical, but the 1956 Friedrich Durrenmatt drama on which that show is based. Katherine Ferrand plays a dowager returning to her hometown, where residents hope she'll bestow her great wealth upon them. She has more surprising plans, though, and so does director Wendy Knox, who is staging this play in a former railroad roundhouse. (Sept. 28-Oct. 21. $22-$25, Minnesota Transportation Museum, St. Paul, brownpapertickets.com.)

Lyndon Johnson's reach exceeds his grasp in Robert Schenkkan's sequel to the History Theatre hit "All the Way." Its cast returns, with Pearce Bunting as LBJ, Shawn Hamilton as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Andrew Erskine Wheeler as Minnesota's own Hubert Humphrey. (Oct. 6-28, $43-$56, historytheatre.com.)

Carlos Murillo's play should touch a nerve: It's about a 14-year-old Mexican-American girl who discovers secrets about her parents when she's accepted into a Chicago prep school. (Oct. 9-Nov. 25, Children's Theatre, 612-874-0400 or childrenstheatre.org.)

Directed by Randy Reyes, this Molière farce is the first show by Ten Thousand Things since Marcela Lorca took over from founder Michelle Hensley. But it brings back many faces familiar to TTT fans, including Kimberly Richardson, Sarah Agnew and Elise Langer. (Oct. 11-Nov. 4, $30, tenthousandthings.org.)

Will we be hearing Vivaldi violin concertos? Frankie Valli's "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You?" Both? Neither? All is mystery in the latest from the Moving Company. All we know is it was created by Steven Epp, Nathan Keepers and Dominique Serrand, and its cast is Heidi Bakke, Joy Dolo and Epp. (Nov. 1-Dec. 2, $20-$32, Lab Theater, Mpls. thelabtheater.org.)

The "harbingers" are three plays by African-American writers, all engaging with the Second Amendment: Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm's "Hooded or Being Black for Dummies," Idris Goodwin's "Hype Man, a breakbeat play," and "Gloria," a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2016 and the third Branden Jacobs-Jenkins provocation to be produced by Mixed Blood Theatre. (Nov. 17-Dec. 2. Free-$35. mixedblood.com.)