Today’s Highlights:
Relax … let go ….let fly
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Michael Levin’s Sober Songs will run Aug. 30 – Sept. 28 (opening Sept. 6) at Theatre Row, directed by Chris Mackin, with music direction & arrangements by Brian Reynolds, and choreography by Megan Roe.
Melani Carríe, Jason Fio, Bernard Holcmob, Merrill Mitchell, Henry Ryeder, and Jocelyn Darci Trimmer, with Lennie Disanto, Sara Sun Park, and Jake Kleve.
Set in the basement of a Brooklyn church, Sober Songs is a darkly comedic musical that follows six young adults in recovery at a local AA meeting founded by the gruff but loving “Cap.” Blending biting humor, emotional ballads, and sharp dialogue, the show evolves from light and charming to deeply emotional, offering a raw, character-driven, and emotionally authentic look at addiction, love, identity, and the complicated, messy road to sobriety. With heart, heartbreak, and cathartic honesty, Sober Songs offers a deeply human—and at times hilarious—glimpse into recovery culture.
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ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, created and performed by Julia Masli, will run Oct. 15 – Nov. 9 (opening Oct. 19) at Pasadena Playhouse, directed by Kim Noble.
All Julia Masli wants to do is solve people’s problems and win the Nobel Peace Prize, but this plan keeps going wrong as she continually wins prizes for comedy. In her wildly unpredictable solo show ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, the award-winning performer turns the audience’s problems into surreal, side-splitting theater. No script, no safety net, just one woman on a mission to help. After sensational runs in Edinburgh, Melbourne, New York, and D.C., Julia is on her way to Pasadena to solve all our problems.
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Samuel D. Hunter’s Little Bear Ridge Road will begin previews Oct. 7 and open Oct. 30 at the Booth Theatre, directed by Joe Mantello.
Laurie Metcalf, Micah Stock, John Drea, and Meighan Berachis.
On the remote outskirts of a small Idaho town, a razor-tongued aunt and her long-estranged nephew find themselves suddenly back in each other’s orbit—two lonely souls with a crumbling house to sell and a tangled history to unravel. Bitingly funny and quietly explosive, Little Bear Ridge Road is a sharply etched portrait of two people reaching across emotional galaxies—searching for meaning and fumbling toward connection, even as they fear it might swallow them whole. In this piercing and profound new play, the void is vast, the stars are indifferent, and love—messy, human, and hard-won—might be the only thing tethering us to Earth.
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The city 0f WestHollywood & Coeurage Ensemble will present free theater in the parks!
Pericles (Sept. 6-21 at Kings Road Park), directed by Amanda McRaven.
Ted Barton, Emily Gibson, Donna Simone Johnson, Kasper, Mateo Mpinduzi-Mott, and Eddie Vona.
Part adventure, part fairytale, and full of heart, this immersive production of Shakespeare’s Pericles invites audiences to travel through mystical lands, meet pirates and nuns, and dance alongside a cast of unforgettable characters. When Pericles leaves home in search of fortune, they cross paths with a cast of strange and wondrous characters — wacky kings, mysterious nuns, evil queens, and the love of their life. But when tragedy strikes and that love is lost at sea, Pericles keeps moving to outrun grief. Will they find their way home or something even better? Running time is 90 minutes.
Additional productions TBA.
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Anthony Anello’s let’s talk about anything else will run Sept. 7-28 at The Flea Theater, directed by Dennis Corsi.
Ry Albinus, Evan Clausen, Sadithi De Zilva, Dylan Lesch, Posie Lewis, Gabriella O’Fallon, and Caroline Portante.
A group of friends escape to the Berkshires for a week-long getaway almost a year after their friend Abby’s untimely passing. Despite their efforts to keep their pasts outside the walls of their secluded AirBnB cabin, their grief continues to haunt them until they have no choice but to confront it.
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Off-Broadway’s New Georges has announced the first show in its 2026 season:
A Woman Among Women (new iteration begins previews May 16), by Julia May Jonas, with music by Brian Cavanagh-Strong, and directed by Sarah Cameron Hughes, at Lincoln Center’s Clare tow Theater.
Casting TBA.
It’s a summer day in Northampton, Massachusetts and Cleo, founder of the local women’s wellness center, holds court in her backyard. As friends, family and neighbors pass through, the air hums with a tension that may destroy the community she’s worked so hard to build.
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Amadeus will run Feb. 11 – Mar. 8, 2026 (openingFeb. 15) at Pasadena Playhouse, directed by Darko Tresnjak.
TBA.
The stage is set for a riveting rivalry between two composers: Antonio Salieri, the court’s celebrated musician, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the vulgar prodigy whose brilliance threatens everything Salieri holds dear.
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Bonnie & Clyde has been extended through Aug. 31 at Sag Harbor’s Bay Street Theater, directed by Scott Schwartz.
Lyda Jade Harlan (Bonnie Parker), Charlie Webb (Clyde Barrow), Nick Bailey (Buck Barrow), Ashley Aslexandra (Brlanche Barrow), Jeremy Webb (Sheriff Schmid), Kathy Deitch (Govenor Miriam Ferguson), Gisela Adisa (Emma Parker), Amy Bodnar (Cumie Barrow), Anargha Pal Ted Hinton), and Vishal Vaidya (Captain Frank Hamer), with Mackenzie Germain and Anthony Cosetllo.
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LA Opera has announced its 2025 Fall Season at LA’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Casting TBA.
West Side Story (Sept. 20 – Oct. 12)
Phantom of the Opera (Oct. 3031)
La Bohème ( Nov 22 – Dec. 14)
Hildegard (Nov. 5 – 9)**********************
Speakeasy Stage will present Eboni Booth’s Primary Trust Sept. 12 – Oct. 11 (opening Sept. 14) at Boston’s Calderwood Pavilion, directed by Dawn M. Simmons.
David J. Castillo, Arthur Gomez, Janelle Grace, and Luis Negrón. Kenneth works at a bookstore and spends his evenings at the local tiki bar. But when he’s suddenly laid off, his carefully ordered world starts to shift—pushing him into unexpected friendships, unlikely courage, and a life he never imagined. Touching, funny, and quietly profound, this Pulitzer Prize-winning play explores how even the smallest acts of kindness can shift a life—and maybe even save one.**********************
A benefit reading of Loves’ Labour’s Won, newly adapted by Alice Scovell, will take place Mon. Sept. 15 at 7 PM at NYC’s Kaye Playhouse (at Hunter College), directed byBrian Isaac Phillip. The event and will support NYC’s The Acting Company,
Steven Boyer, Christian Conn, Ismenia Mendes, and Sarah Stiles.
Shakespeare’s sequel, Love’s Labour’s Won, has been lost to time. Until now. With an assist from playwright Alice Scovell, three couples—on the cusp of marriage, torn apart for a year—are finally reunited. Still, a lot can change in a year. Happy endings aren’t guaranteed, but maybe they can be won.