The four-year graduation rates for Duluth Denfeld and Duluth East high schools (2022-23 school year), according to StarTribune.com reporting:
■ Duluth Denfeld, 74.4%
■ Duluth East, 94.3%
■ Minnesota overall rate, 83.3%
Duluth Playhouse announces 2024-25 season
The Duluth Playhouse on Wednesday night presented a new lineup of plays and musicals for the 2024-25 season.
“For our 110th anniversary season, the Playhouse has chosen a collection of stories about optimistic dreamers who are keeping hope alive in an unpredictable world,” Producing Artistic Director Phillip Fazio said in a press release. “Our goal was to select works from a variety of genres that provide a fresh perspective on characters who achieve the impossible to make their dreams come true. We invite you to share in the communal experience of live theatre as we magically transport audiences to another time and place to laugh, think, and create new memories that will last a lifetime.”
First up in its Main Stage series, audiences can follow four blue-collar kids who work their way from the streets of Jersey to the heights of stardom in the Tony Award-winning musical sensation Jersey Boys. For the holidays, they’ll get swept away by the music and magic of the new Broadway adaptation of Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella. Then, part Monty Python, part Sherlock Holmes, The One-Act Play That Goes Wrong is guaranteed to leave audiences aching with laughter at the start of 2025.
Destined to become the sleeper hit of the season, The Light in the Piazza will grace the NorShor stage in the springtime, taking audiences on an enchanting journey to Florence, Italy. Heralded as a work of consummate beauty when it opened on Broadway, this charming musical is said to feature "the most intensely romantic score of any musical since West Side Story" (New York Times).
At the start of the summer, the Playhouse will produce the regional premiere of Laura Wade’s witty play Home, I’m Darling (winner of the 2019 Olivier Award for Best New Comedy), which offers a thought-provoking examination of the pursuit of perfection, the dangers of nostalgia, and the realities of modern relationships.
Finally, making its long-awaited Twin Ports premiere this summer is Waitress, featuring an original score by Grammy Award winner Sara Bareilles ("Brave," "Love Song"). This smash hit musical has been praised by audiences and critics alike since it opened on Broadway in 2016.
In October, the Playhouse will kick off its Underground season with The Thin Place, an immersive ghost story by award-winning playwright Lucas Hnath that will keep audiences on the edge of their seats.
In April, Every Brilliant Thing will take audiences on a transcendent and tender coming-of-age journey that reminds them to pay attention to life’s smallest joys—and to each other. Duluth Playhouse’s beloved New Play Festival, formerly known as What She Said, is undergoing a transformation to better reflect the festival’s core mission of elevating the voices of women artists. Now titled Women in Theatre, New Play Festival, it better encapsulates the essence of what the theatre aims to achieve—a platform dedicated to showcasing the brilliance of women playwrights staged by local women directors.
Duluth Playhouse’s first Youth Theatre show of the season will be a spectacular new musical filled with themes of home, love, and the meaning of family. In Anastasia: The Musical (Youth Edition), Anya embarks on an unforgettable adventure to uncover her identity and find where she truly belongs. Next, audiences can tumble down the rabbit hole and go on a mysterious journey of self-discovery in Disney’s Alice in Wonderland JR, a new stage adaptation of the classic Disney film.
In the summer, audiences can witness the work of students who perform in the Junior and Senior Intensives. First up is a production of Cats: Young Actors Edition, the Tony Award-winning musical spectacular which ran on Broadway for 18 years. Set amongst a larger-than-life junkyard playground, the Jellicle Cats come out to tell their stories and dance the night away in this iconic mega-musical.
Wrapping up the season, Duluth Playhouse Youth Theatre invites audiences back to the times of big bands with big egos, playing big guitar solos, and sporting even bigger hair. Featuring hits from legendary 80s bands like Night Ranger, REO Speedwagon, and Twisted Sister, the epic Broadway musical Rock of Ages: Teen Edition promises an electrifying experience for all generations.
