By Sharon Geltner
Area stages are planning an exciting season of TV stars, Netflix writers, off-Broadway actors, European festival standouts, and innovative productions. The contrasts range from Broadway musicals and brand names such as Neil Simon and Stephen King to Southeastern United States premieres of thought-provoking plays.
Below, in geographical order, from north to south, are the schedules of the thespian cornucopia to look forward this fall and winter, as well as the latest developments with staff and facilities.
Maltz Jupiter Theatre
“We spent $200,000 redoing our aluminum stage floor, which was a quarter-inch off, and we added a gift shop near the bar,” said Producing Artistic Director Andrew Kato. He’s also anticipating this month’s opening of the $5 million Goldner Conservatory, which provides state-of-the-art studios and other facilities for performing arts education for all ages.
Kato, who was a waiter at the Burt Reynolds Dinner Theater (prior to its transforming into the Maltz) and later produced the Tony Awards for 13 years, will also produce the Carbonell Awards pro bono. Those are South Florida’s theater awards and Kato’s show, with 11-piece band, will be held for the first time in Palm Beach County, specifically at Florida Atlantic University, on Nov. 17.
Kato is donating theater personnel and material to create excitement. “This award ceremony is going to be a one-off. It needs to be souped up and it is going to have a different feel, including the FAU Orchestra,” he said.
The Maltz season begins with Misery (Oct. 26-Nov. 9), Stephen King’s tale of a crazy fan kidnapping an author. Million Dollar Quartet (Dec. 2-Dec. 14) is an impromptu jam session with Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash. Come From Away (Jan. 6-Jan. 25), is the musical based on the true story of a Newfoundland town taking in airline passengers after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Goodnight, Oscar (Feb. 15-Mar. 1), details a time when pianist and legendary grouch Oscar Levant appears on Jack Paar’s show after being released from a mental institution. Man of La Mancha (Mar. 17-Apr. 5), the Mitch Leigh musical based on Cervantes’s novel about Don Quixote and his impossible dream. Fully Committed (Apr. 16-Apr. 19) is the story of an out-of-work actor who mans the reservations line at Manhattan’s trendiest restaurant.
Visit: www.jupitertheatre.org
Palm Beach Dramaworks
“The show people are talking about the most is ‘Driving Miss Daisy.’ The lead role is played by Debra Jo Rupp,” said Mark Sullivan, box office and concessions manager. “She played Kitty [Forman] in ‘That ’70s Show’ and people recognize her name and face. Because of the interest, we extended the run from three to four weeks before the tickets went on sale.”
And to meet increased overall demand, Dramaworks has added Thursday matinees to many of its productions, “something that didn’t exist three years ago,” Sullivan said.
Meanwhile, Sue Ellen Beryl (married to William Hayes, producing artistic director) stepped down as managing director Sept. 1. However, she “will focus on launching an endowment (to sustain the next 25 years) and strengthening relationships with patrons and donors,” Dramaworks said in a prepared statement. That same day, Rudina Toro was named executive director after serving as the theater’s first financial and operating officer since 2023. She worked on Dramaworks’s first audit years ago and managed a dozen audits after that.
Toro said in a prepared statement that one of her goals is to strengthen publicity, marketing and promotions, “… because we think that once [people] get to know us, they’ll be all-in and eager to come back again and again … now we have more resources to devote towards creative messaging and advertising to let people know we’re here and that we offer thought-provoking theater. We aim to deepen existing relationships and reach new audiences whom we can develop into lifelong patrons and friends.”
Another highlight in Dramaworks’s busy season is that the theater will receive the George Abbott Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts, awarded to those who have contributed significantly to the artistic and cultural development of the region. The ceremony will be held during the Carbonell Awards in November.
Dramaworks kicks things off with The Mountaintop (Oct. 6-Nov. 9), a two-character fantasia on Martin Luther King’s last night on earth. The Seafarer (Dec. 10-Dec. 28) concerns a boozy Christmas Eve in Dublin among brothers and friends. Driving Miss Daisy (Feb. 4-Mar. 1) is Alfred Uhry’s familiar story of a Black chauffeur and his elderly white passenger, reflecting on aging and prejudice. The Crucible (Apr. 1-April 19), which come next, is Arthur Miller’s now-classic play inspired by the Salem with trials. The season ends with the world premiere of Vineland Place (May 13-May 31), in which a young writer is hired by a novelist’s widow to complete his book but gets ensnared in a mystery.
Visit: www.palmbeachdramaworks.org
Kravis Center for the Performing Arts
The Kravis Center is premiering ’Twas the Night Before, a Christmas show by the Cirque Du Soleil acrobatic company, and is featuring appearances by Sutton Foster and Kelli O’Hara, said Charlotte Vermaak, director of public relations. “The Kravis’ first holiday show will perform here before heading to New York.”
The center’s Kravis on Broadway series starts with The Wiz (Oct. 21-Oct. 26), Charlie Smalls’s retelling of The Wizard of Oz in an urban, African-American, fantasy world. Then comes Kimberly Akimbo (Nov. 11-Nov. 16), in which a sick teen girl ages rapidly and confronts family secrets. The Choir of Man (Dec. 22-Dec. 28) is similar to Once, with a bar on stage, but this time, the audience is invited up. Some Like It Hot (Jan. 6-Jan. 11), the familiar tale of a musician and his pal who join a woman’s jazz band after witnessing a Mafia murder. MJ: The Musical (Feb. 10-Feb. 15) is a jukebox musical focused on Michael Jackson rehearsing his 1992 world tour. A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical (Apr. 7-Apr. 12), is a jukebox show about the Brooklyn-born songwriter of “Sweet Caroline,” among other hits. The season ends with a tearjerker, The Notebook (Apr. 28-May 3), in which rural Southern teens in the 1940s defy parents’ disapproval to get married — eventually.
54 Below at Rinker Playhouse
The Kravis has extended 54 Below (featuring Broadway stars in a cabaret setting) for a second season. And this time, charcuterie will be served, along with drinks.
Claybourne Elder (Jan. 23-24), a Grammy Award nominee who acted in the revival of Company and HBO’s hit series The Gilded Age.
Kyle Taylor Parker (Feb. 27-28), who originated the role of Lola in Kinky Boots and starred in Smokey Joe’s Cafe.
Patti Murin (March 20-21), who played Glinda in Wicked and Anna in Frozen.
Kerry Butler (Apr. 17-18), who starred in Rock of Ages and Beauty and the Beast.
As a reminder, the Kravis Center is now charging for self-parking in its garage. Valet parking is still available.
Visit: www.kravis.org
The Wick Theatre and Costume Museum
It makes sense for a theater known for its costume museum to be very enthusiastic about the glitzy Bob Mackie reproductions that will dazzle in The Cher Show in late April, said Kay Renz, theater spokesman. Two actors and an understudy from the national tour will be performing.
Leading off the Wick season is The Fantasticks (Oct. 9-Nov. 2), the Schmidt and Jones musical that ran for decades off-Broadway in which two fathers fake a feud to trick their children into marriage. A Christmas Carol (Nov. 29-Dec. 24) is Charles Dickens’ classic tale of Ebenezer Scrooge being haunted by specters. My Fair Lady (Jan. 22-Feb. 22), the Lerner and Loewe classic about the Cockney flower girl transformed into a posh society lady, folllows. Next up is Camelot (March 19-April 12), another Lerner and Loewe favorite about the love triangle that develops when King Arthur’s queen Guinevere falls for Lancelot. The finale, The Cher Show (April 30-May 31), features three actors who portray the pop-rock goddess in different stages of her career.
Visit: www.thewick.org
FAU Theatre Lab
“We are the only theater in Florida exclusively dedicated to new plays. That is all we do,” said Producing Artistic Director Matt Stabile. He added that Theatre Lab debuts more new playwrights than anyone else in the state.
Stabile is an expert on recruiting new playwrights. He just joined the board of the National New Play Network, which is now the pipeline for sharing new scripts between regional theaters, including rolling out world premieres.
This season, for the first time, the Theatre Lab has commissioned a play, Heebie Jeebies: Tales from the Midnight Campfire (Sept. 20-Oct. 12), family fare about kids running away, summer camp and updated (but not too scary) tales such as “The Monkey’s Paw.” Playwright Gina Montet lives in Miami.
The first of three world premieres will be The City in the City in the City (Nov. 8-Nov. 23), featuring two actors playing 30 roles. “The entire theater will be turned into a foreign bazaar,” Stabile said. This play is written by Matthew Capodicasa, who now writes for Vladimir, an upcoming 8-episode Netflix series starring Rachel Weisz.
Next are Conversa (Feb. 7-Feb. 22), funny autobiographical tale of a rabbi and her daughter and Inferna (Apr. 11-Apr. 26), in which a playwright takes a deep dive into the “scripts” she followed at church and school, and the lessons she learned from them.
Visit: www.fauevents.com
West Boca Theatre Company
Holly Budney, artistic director at the company located at Boca’s Levis Jewish Community Center, is excited to cast a Delray Beach actor who had great success in Europe recently, she said.
“Mark Liebert, who will play the grandfather in Neil Simon’s autobiography, ‘Broadway Bound,’ sold out the one-man play ‘Wiesenthal’ at the Edinburg Fringe Festival in Scotland in 2023 and King’s Head Theatre in London in 2024,” she said.
Meanwhile, Budney’s childhood friend, Michael Golding, who played several roles in last season’s My Name is Asher Lev, will play John Barrymore in I Hate Hamlet.
“We’ve been friends since 7th grade at Nautilus Junior High School in Miami Beach,” Budney said. “In my yearbook, he wrote 50 years ago that we have so much in common and someday our paths will cross again and we will share a stage. It’s come true.”
The West Boca Theater Company season begins with The Last Romance (Dec. 6-21), a story of regaining a lost opportunity to find love. Broadway Bound (Jan. 7-25) is part three of a Neil Simon trilogy in which he and his brother try to break into show business as comedy writers. Next is the Paul Rudnick comedy I Hate Hamlet, in which the ghost of John Barrymore haunts a young TV star (Feb. 8-Feb. 22). The season ends with a true story, Dear Jack, Dear Louise, based on playwright Ken Ludwig’s parents’ correspondence between a World War II soldier and a young woman with a budding theatrical career. (March 7-22).
Visit: levisjcc.org/culture/theater/
Slow Burn Theatre Co.
In the 585-seat Amaturo Theater, located in the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, Slow Burn Theatre will produce five family-friendly musicals. This is all the more needed in Broward County because the Broadway at Lauderhill Performing Arts Center series has gone dark.
First, Catch Me if You Can (Oct.11-26), the story of an FBI agent who wants to jail a con man, but his prey eludes capture. Frozen (Dec. 13-Jan. 4), the popular Disney tale of an eternal winter in which a princess, snowman and reindeer search for her sister. Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (Feb. 14-March 1), the jukebox musical about the Brill Building singer-songwriter’s rise to stardom. Hairspray (Apr. 11-26), John Waters’s tale of 1962 Baltimore, in which a plump, teen celebrity integrates a dance show. Finally, there is Jagged Little Pill (June 13-28), a family story inspired by Canadian pop singer Alanis Morrissette’s popular album.
Visit: www.slowburntheatre.org
GableStage
GableStage will produce several Southeastern U.S. premieres, said new interim Managing Director Rachel Burttram Powers. These productions include Prayer for the French Republic, which, with a cast of 11, “will be the largest play we ever staged. We had to [reconfigure] our dressing room for more space.”
She noted, “Several of our board members see shows that they really loved in New York and champion them for us to produce.”
The season begins with Harry Clarke (Oct. 10-Nov. 2), about a young Midwesterner who cons his way into a rich London family. Left on Tenth (Nov. 21-Dec. 21) is up next, based on Delia Ephron’s memoir of love, loss and second chances (featuring two dogs and a “dog wrangler.”) Sotto Voce (Jan. 23–Feb.15), in which a Jewish-Cuban researcher’s obsession with the doomed SS St. Louis leads him to a novelist haunted by the love she lost on the voyage. Prayer for the French Republic (March 20-April 19) is the five-generation history of an American-French family in France. And Eureka Day (May 15-June 14) concerns a private California elementary school that gets embroiled in a mumps vaccine controversy.
Visit: www.gablestage.org
Sharon Geltner is the author of Charity Bashed, available on Amazon and in area libraries, and is a theater judge for the tri-county Carbonell Awards and Silver Palm Awards.