New Work and National Tours: Dallas-Fort Worth Stages Get Us Laughing, Thinking, and Feeling the Music
The national tours of Tootsie, Fiddler on the Roof, and To Kill a Mockingbird, plus regional premieres and intimate productions of new works and classics, light up local stages.
Cruel Intentions: The ‘90s Musical
Created by Jordan Ross, Lindsy Rosin, and Roger Kumble Based on the film. Co-production with Stage West.
Stage West teams up with Uptown Players for a co-production of this new jukebox musical where two stepsiblings place a bet — and vow to destroy anyone who gets in their way. There will be an ASL-interpreted performance on May 18.
Where: Stage West, 821 W. Vickery Blvd., Fort Worth
When: May 4-21
Website: www.stagewest.org
Where: Uptown Players at Kalita Humphries Theater, 3636 Turtle Creek Blvd., Dallas
When: June 1-11
Website: www.uptownplayers.org
Tootsie
Music and lyrics by David Yazbek, book by Robert Horn, adapted from the 1982 film of the same name by Larry Gelbart, Barry Levinson, Elaine May, and Murray Schisgal from a story by Gelbart and Don McGuire.
Tootsie is a laugh-out-loud love letter to the theater. It’s the story of Michael Dorsey, a talented but difficult actor who struggles to find work until one show-stopping act of desperation lands him the role of a lifetime — as a woman in a daytime soap opera. He gets the part and must keep pretending to be a woman in public, learning about himself in the process. Enjoy the laugh-a-minute experience.
Where: Bass Performance Hall, 525 Commerce St., Fort Worth
When: May 9-14
Website: www.basshall.com
Fiddler on the Roof
Music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick and book by Joseph Stein.
The Moody Foundation presents the national tour of Bartlett Sher’s production of the classic story of Tevye, the dairyman, who faces struggles in his family and the world with wisdom, wit, courage, resignation, and an incredible musical score —presented as part of the Broadway at the Center series at AT&T Performing Arts Center.
Where: Winspear Opera House, 2403 Flora St., Dallas
When: May 11-14
Website: www.attpac.org
Saturday Night Fever
Music and lyrics by the Bee Gees and other artists, book by Nan Knighton, Arlene Phillips, Paul Nicholas, and Robert Stigwood. Adapted from the 1977 film Saturday Night Fever.
The Firehouse Theatre takes you back to the world of 70s disco balls, platform boots, and white suits with this musical adaptation of the film about a 29-year-old Brooklyn clerk who moonlights as the king of the dance floor.
Where: The Firehouse Theatre, 2535 Valley View Lane, Farmers Branch
When: May 11-28
Website: www.firehousetheatre.org
Rounding Third
By Richard Dresser.
Michael Serrecchia directs this topical story of competition in junior sports where the super competitive Don, whose son is a star on the baseball team, faces off against his assistant coach, Michael, whose kid can barely keep his shoes tied and thinks the children are there to have fun.
Where: Theatre Frisco, 8004 Dallas North Tollway, Frisco
When: May 12-28
Website: www.theatrefrisco.com
Praise the Lord and Raise the Roof
By Celeste B. Walker.
Jubilee Theatre presents a light-hearted comedy with room for thought as a pastor challenges the attitude and actions of the leadership toward theft, race, and what it means to be a Christian.
Where: Jubilee Theatre, 506 Main St., Fort Worth
When: Friday, May 19 – Saturday, June 17
Website: www.jubileetheatre.org
To Kill a Mockingbird
Book by Aaron Sorkin, adapted from the book by Harper Lee.
Emmy Award-winning actor Richard Thomas stars in the national tour of the acclaimed new adaptation of Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book about a country lawyer who persists in doing the right thing — defending an unfairly accused Black man — even though his white community is against him. Directed by Tony Award-winner Bartlett Sher and presented by Broadway Dallas. Written by the acclaimed Aaron Sorkin.
Where: Music Hall at Fair Park, 909 1st Ave., Dallas
When: May 16-28
Website: www.broadwaydallas.org
Next to Normal
Book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey, Music by Tom Kitt.
This “electrically charged” Tony-Award-winning musical explores a family’s raw and emotional journey with a mother struggling with chronic bipolar disorder as they navigate a world of therapists and medication. Christie Vela directs, and Vonda K. Bowling music directs.
Where: Theatre Three, 2688 Laclede St., Dallas
When: June 1 – July 2
Website: www.theatre3dallas.com
Tiny Beautiful Things
Adapted by Nia Vardalos from the book by Cheryl Strayed.
Susan Sargeant directs this four-person play about an advice columnist who reaches into her own past and life experiences to give people words of wisdom, compassion, and hope.
Where: Circle Theatre, 230 West Fourth St., Fort Worth
When: June 1-17
Website: www.circletheatre.com
The Way She Spoke
By Isaac Gomez.
Blake Hackler directs Undermain Theatre’s regional premiere of a one-woman play, drawn from interviews, that gives a voice to the thousands of women who have been murdered in an epidemic of violence on the streets of Juarez, Mexico.
Where: Undermain Theatre, 320 Main St., Dallas
When: June 1-17
Website: www.undermain.org
Things My Mother Taught Me
By Katherine DiSavino.
Amy Jackson directs this comedy about Olivia and Gabe, who have packed up their belongings and driven halfway across the country to start a new life together — only to find that when their parents show up, nothing goes as planned.
Where: Runway Theatre, 215 N Dooley St., Grapevine
When: June 2-18
Website: www.runwaytheatre.com
Miss Saigon
Music by Claude-Michael Schonberg, lyrics by Richard Maltby Jr. and Alain Boublil. Adaptation by Alain Boublil.
Casa Manana presents the tragic musical about Chris, an American soldier who meets and falls in love with Kim, a Vietnamese woman, during the Vietnam War. As in Madame Butterfly, the opera that inspired this show, the lovers are separated at the end of the war, with Kim, who has been waiting for Chris’s return, devastated when he returns with his American wife.
Where: Casa Manana, 3101 W. Lancaster Ave., Fort Worth
When: June 3-11
Website: www.casamanana.org
The Last Truck Stop
By Crystal Jackson.
Kitchen Dog Theater presents a futurist world premiere where cars are outlawed, and everyone must live in corporate housing in the city. Christopher Carlos directs this show, focusing on two rebellious residents as part of the company’s annual New Works Festival.
Where: Trinity River Arts Center, 260 N. Stemmons Freeway, Dallas
When: June 8-25
Website: www.kitchendogtheater.org
Fly by Night
Conceived by Kim Rosenstock, written by Will Connolly, Michael Mitnick and Kim Rosenstock.
Broadway alumnus and Fort Worth native Major Attaway, who played the Genie in Aladdin, directs this music-filled show starring David Coffee. A star-crossed prophecy ensnares two charming sisters and a luckless sandwich maker during the 1965 Northeast blackout. Vicky Nooe music directs.
Where: Theatre Arlington, 305 W. Main St., Arlington
When: June 16 – July 2
Website: www.theatrearlington.org
