UMD hosts “Gales of November” in honor of Edmund Fitzgerald

DULUTH, Minn. — The University of Minnesota-Duluth played host to a special night of remembrance in honor of Lake Superior’s most famous ship.

The production “Gales of November” took the stage at the school’s Marshall Performing Arts Center for a 1-night-only performance to relive the tale of the sinking of the S.S Edmund Fitsgerald.

Just like the Fitzgerald, the show’s history, itself being an adaptation of the musical drama “Ten November”, stretches back decades.

“We started writing it, I think in ’86, and then we finished in ’87, and then the shows went on, I think ’88 and ’89 or something like that,” said the play’s composer and lyricist Eric Peltoniemi.

“… and it toured all over the Midwest,” said actor Kevin Kling.

“It toured all over, yeah, it’s been staged across the country at different times and so forth,” said Peltoniemi.

With the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the “Mighty Fitz” just days away, Kling says now was the perfect time to bring this production back to the Twin Ports.

“Even when we’re doing the play elsewhere, the spirits and the souls are with us on stage, both of the sailors and of people that have done the play that have and it really and when then you get up here and you times it by 10, and it’s like, this is where it belongs. This is home.”

With the performance being the only Duluth stop for the show, “Gales of November” nearly sold out the theater at UMD.