#musical-theater

#musical-theater

I Can Do That! Performing Arts Center begins 2026 with the high-energy show Newsies, the Musical, Jan. 16-25 at Walnut Creek's Del Valle Theatre on 1963 Tice Valley Blvd. Inspired by the real-life newsboys' strike of 1899, Newsies features music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Jack Feldman and book by Harvey Fierstein. Set in turn-of-the-century New York City, the show follows Jack Kelly and a band of young newspaper sellers who rally together to stand up against powerful publishers and fight for what's right.

The musical, based on the bestselling book by R.J. Palacio and the award-winning movie of the same name, follows Auggie Pullman, a young boy with a facial disability making the transition from home school to public school. In doing so, he navigates the challenges of being seen as different by peers who both embrace and reject him. The musical also explores the perspective of his older sister in a family whose rhythms have revolved around Auggie's medical needs.

Celebrating old and new works, two more companies open their seasons this month. In celebration of its 20th anniversary, Third Rail Reportory is revisiting the first show it produced, in 2005, Craig Wright's Recent Tragic Events, while Corrib Theatre has commissioned a work, Stilt, by award-winning playwright Joy Nesbitt. Meanwhile, former Fertile Ground producers continue to flourish this fall. Jed Sutton (What the Fox?, 2025) and Ariel Bittner (Mountain Woman, 2025) are joining forces with Maddy Schultz this month to present, three short plays onstage at Ethos Music Center.

They get him to pronounce the names of farm animals, move onto flash cards with important proper nouns like "Champs-Élysées" and "Great White Way." He adopts a BBC-ready accent-he's been watching a lot of Masterpiece Theater-but still stumbles through until his father takes him aside and feeds him the blood of a rabbit. Suddenly everything clicks: "I think I've got it!"

Down the street, Oklahoma! is premiering, a debut that for Hart (Ethan Hawke) stings. His longtime collaborator, the composer Richard Rodgers, has made it not with Hart but with his new songwriting partner, Oscar Hammerstein II. Six months from this night, Hart will die from pneumonia after spending a cold night passed out outside an 8th Avenue bar. He was 48.

The Songbook Sundays concert series created and hosted by Deborah Grace Winer, will continue October 5 at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Dizzy's Club with a celebration of the work of Leonard Bernstein. Entitled Tonight, Bernstein, performances are scheduled for 5 PM and 7:30 PM. Interpreting the work of the late composer and lyricist will be Tony winner Karen Ziemba, Hamilton favorite Sydney James Harcourt, and Simona Daniele. The evening's music director is Tedd Firth.

The lyrical register of pop music demands imagery that's direct and broadly relatable, the kind of message that can be easily understood over a thudding bass line. So too does gospel, where the communion arrives not on Saturday night at the club but at a service the next morning. In either case, the roof might get blown off, and in a moment of mass worship, you're able to believe for a few minutes at a time in a collective euphoria.

The Los Altos Stage Company presents Cabaret, one of the most iconic musicals in American theater history. With music and lyrics by John Kander and Fred Ebb, and a book by Joe Masteroff (which in turn was based on a play by John Van Druten and a novel by Christopher Isherwood), the musical debuted on Broadway in 1966 and was later adapted into the 1972 film, which won legendary director-choreographer Bob Fosse his first Oscar.

Sweet Charity is a timeless musical that captures the essence of love and hardship through the story of Charity Hope Valentine, a taxi dancer in New York.

I don't think that the system broke down at random; I think it broke down in response to more colleges creating more B.F.A. programs, not because they were equipped to have those programs, but because they thought they would be cash cows—and they were.

The 1998 musical presents the tragic story of Leo Frank, a Jewish man wrongfully accused and lynched, highlighting the flaws in Jim Crow justice.

Gwon's musical explores the intersection of identity and performance in a small-town setting, capturing the struggles of closeted individuals navigating societal expectations.