With COVID safely in the rear mirror and audiences back attending theater, the 2023-2024 South Florida season looks quite promising, with full schedules, numerous world premieres and several companies celebrating significant anniversaries.
Here’s how the theater scene is shaping up, moving geographically from north to south.
With its playhouse expanded, the Maltz Jupiter Theatre readies its 20th anniversary season, beginning with Ken (Lend Me a Tenor) Ludwig’s adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express (Oct. 29–Nov. 12). It follows with a new stage version of that holiday perennial, A Christmas Carol (Nov. 28–Dec. 10), before looking to Broadway for Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (Jan. 9–28), Neil Simon’s Plaza Suite (Feb. 11–25) and that popular backstage Depression-era show, 42nd Street (March 12–31).
In West Palm Beach, the Kravis Center rolls out a seven show Broadway series, starting with the familiar razzle-dazzle of Chicago (Nov. 7–12). The rest are all Kravis debuts: screen-to-stage transfers Mean Girls (Dec. 5–10) and Beetlejuice (Dec. 19–24), and Aaron Sorkin’s take on Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird (Jan. 2–7). Next is the Alanis Morrisette show, Jagged Little Pill (Feb. 20–25), followed by Tina: The Tina Turner Musical (March 12–17). The Kravis on Broadway series wraps with the rock celebration of King Henry VIII’s wives, Six (March 26–31).
Next door in the Rinker Playhouse, MNM Theater produced the Louis Jordan revue, Five Guys Named Moe (Sept. 8–24), before moving down to Boca Raton with a reprise of Disenchanted!, a PG-rated leer at the ever-after of Disney princesses (Jan. 12–21).
Palm Beach Dramaworks has put added emphasis on developing new scripts, with its first-ever resident playwright, Jenny Connell Davis, whose Holocaust drama, The Messenger, premieres in the season’s second slot, (Dec. 8–24). It follows Kenneth Lonergan’s previously COVID-scratched Lobby Hero (Oct. 13–29). In the season’s third place is the return of Florida playwright Christopher Demos-Brown with his cancel culture script, The Cancellation of Lauren Fein (Feb. 2–18). Next is Arthur Miller’s masterwork, Death of a Salesman (March 29–April 14), about which attention must be paid, and a reprise from an early PBD season, Trying (May 24–June 9), a two-hander about a young secretary in the employ of 81-year-old former attorney general, Francis Biddle.
Boca Stage, which has a history of moving and changing its name, is on the move again. It will now take up residence at the Delray Beach Playhouse, doubling its seating capacity from its recent home at Boca Raton’s Sol Theatre. And its programming has gotten a little more mainstream, starting with Frederick Knott’s popular thriller, Wait Until Dark (Nov. 30–Dec. 17). On the theory that sex sells, the company will import the classic British sex farce, Boeing, Boeing (Feb. 22–March 10), and end its season with America’s Sexiest Couple (March 29–April 14). Still to be determined is what the troupe will rebrand itself as.
The Wick Theatre is justifiably proud — and a little amazed — that it has been around for 10 years now. The reason? Its menu of familiar musicals. This season’s opener is an Irving Berlin revue, I Love a Piano (Oct. 12–Nov. 12), followed by the Elvis parody, Bye Bye Birdie (Nov. 30-Dec. 24), then that perennial crowd-pleaser, Fiddler on the Roof (Jan. 11–Feb. 11), the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic Carousel (Feb. 20–March 24) and a bit of rock ‘n’ roll nostalgia, Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story (April 11–May 5).
Florida Atlantic University’s professional company, Theatre Lab, has a season of new or nearly new plays. It began with the family-friendly The Many Wondrous Realities of Jasmine Starr-Kidd (Sept. 16–Oct. 8), followed by a trio of premieres: a U.S. premiere, The Berlin Diaries (Nov. 18–Dec. 10), a Florida premiere, Rooted (Feb. 3–18) and a world premiere, What’s Best for the Children? (April 13–28). And for a preview of future seasons, check out the Lab’s new play festival of readings of scripts it is considering for full production (March 8-10).
In the gay enclave of Wilton Manors, Island City Stage has a season LGBTQ+ themed plays, beginning with Terrence McNally’s Tony Award winner, Love! Valour! Compassion! (Oct. 12–Nov. 5). It is followed by a comedy about a couple of Broadway fans, Which Way to the Stage? (Jan. 18–Feb. 11), a lesbian musical, Pulp (April 11 – May 5) and Skintight, a neurotic family drama of sexual identity (May 30–June 23).
New City Players, now performing in Island City Stage’s space, gets into the holiday spirit with a live radio version of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol (Nov. 30–Dec. 22), followed by the world premiere of Vanessa Garcia’s tale of migration to America, 1,000 Miles (March 7–24). The company closes its season in summertime with Tennessee Williams’ steamy A Streetcar Named Desire (July 11–Aug. 4).
Lauderhill Performing Arts Center produces a trio of Tony Award-winning musicals, beginning after the new year with A Chorus Line (Jan. 11–28), followed by Memphis (Feb. 15–March 3) and Hello, Dolly! (April 4–21).
In Fort Lauderdale, the Broward Center’s Broadway series is a mix of returning shows and South Florida premieres. It kicks off with everyone’s favorite orphan, Annie (Oct. 10–22), and the tour based on the recent revival of Funny Girl (Nov. 14–26). Next is a trio of best musical Tony winners – The Book of Mormon (Dec. 12–17), Hadestown (Jan. 9–21) and Moulin Rouge: The Musical (March 5–17) – and a pair of shows based on popular movies, Mrs. Doubtfire (April 9–21) and Clue (Jun 11–16).
Across the plaza at the Broward Center, Slow Burn Theatre will produce five family-friendly musicals, First, it salutes the late Stephen Sondheim with Into the Woods (Oct. 14–29), then Disney’s take on Hans Christian Andersen, The Little Mermaid (Dec. 16–31), followed by the nunsensical Sister Act (Feb. 3–18). Slightly weightier is the tale of lesbian high schoolers, The Prom (March 23–April 7), and the weightless SpongeBob Musical (June 8–23).
Moving into Miami-Dade, the Arsht Center has its version of Broadway, also five road companies. It leads off with Pretty Woman: The Musical (Dec. 5–10), followed by the biographical Cher Show (Jan. 2–7) and hip-hop history of founding father (Alex) Hamilton (March 13–24). Next you could take a flyer on Peter Pan (May 7–12) or take in that enduring saga of the French Revolution, Les Misérables (June 19–23).
The Arsht is also home to Zoetic Stage, which has an eclectic season of familiar and new works. It kicks off with the South Florida premiere of Lynn Nottage’s truck stop tale, Clyde’s (Nov. 2–19), followed by David Rosenberg’s world premiere drama of Zionism and Jewish identity, Wicked Child (Jan. 11–28). The company’s musical this season will be Kander and Ebb’s look at the rise of Nazism, Cabaret (March 16–April 7), and last is the world premiere of Cuban Chicken Soup, Elena Maria Garcia and Stuart Meltzer’s follow-up to her autobiographical Fuacata! (May 2–19).
GableStage is celebrating its 25th anniversary season, guided by its relatively new artistic director, Bari Newport. It begins with a posthumous biographical look at the life and career of Pulitzer Prize-winner August Wilson, How I Learned What I Learned (Sept. 29–Oct. 22). Next up is Native American playwright Larissa FastHorse’s jaundiced view of the turkey holiday’s origins, The Thanksgiving Play (Nov. 7–Dec. 10). Classical piano is at the core of Jon Marans’ Old Wicked Songs (Jan. 12–Feb. 4) to be directed here by the playwright. The rise and fall of the Lehman Brothers investment firm is chronicled in the epic Tony Award-winning The Lehman Trilogy (March 15–April 19). The GableStage season ends with Alexis Scheer’s fast-paced comedy on art and commerce, Laughs in Spanish (May 17–June 9), receiving its regional premiere.
So get off your couch, pause your streaming habits and head back to see some live theater.