An Unforgettable Season Awaits

Orlando Shakes’ season opens September 2019 with the multi-Tony award winning musical, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Evita. Set in Argentina, the musical follows Evita Duarte’s on her journey from a poor illegitimate child to the most powerful woman in Latin America as the wife of President Juan Perón. It received seven Tony awards including Best Musical, Best Original Score and Best Choreography.

The Signature Series will continue with Macbeth, a compelling production of Shakespeare’s classic about ambition and power. Miss. Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley takes us back to the beloved characters of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice in this comedic sequel just in time for the holiday season. In the new year, you’ll love, laugh, and cry with Becoming Dr. Ruth, in which America’s sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer recounts her extraordinary life from fleeing the Nazis, to being a sniper in Israel and finally her impact in America.

Our Fire and Reign series continues with Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part I, playing in repertory with The Three Musketeers. Finally, the 31st season will close with My Lord, What a Night. Penned by Deborah Brevoort, this new script explores the unlikely friendship between two historic icons, Jewish-American scientist Albert Einstein and African-American singer Marian Anderson.

The 2019-2020 Childrens’ Series includes three family-friendly productions: a new adaptation of the classic fairy tale Snow White, help the class solve a mystery with Miss Nelson is Missing!, and blast off into space with Interstellar Cinderella.

SIGNATURE SERIES

Evita
Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber | Lyrics and Book by Tim Rice
September 4 – October 6, 2019
Evita charts the young and ambitious Eva Perón’s meteoric rise to sainthood. Set in Argentina between 1934-1952, the Tony Award winning musical follows Eva Duarte on her journey from poor illegitimate child to ambitious actress to, as wife of military leader-turned-president Juan Perón, the most powerful woman in Latin America.

Macbeth
By William Shakespeare
October 9 – November 24, 2019
Experience a visually striking, modern production of Shakespeare’s Scottish play, featuring dynamic choreography in an intimate setting. Blind ambition and twisted prophesy lead Macbeth to murder the Scottish king and seize the throne. An impulse for destruction and a loose grip on sanity define Lord and Lady Macbeth’s foothold on power that can only end in tragedy.

Miss. Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley
By Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon | Based on Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice”
December 4 – 29, 2019
A sequel to Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” set two years after the novel ends, Miss Bennet is a romantic comedy that continues the story, only this time with bookish middle-sister Mary as it’s unlikely heroine.

Becoming Dr. Ruth
By Mark St. Germain
January 8 – February 2020
She fled the Nazis as a child, trained as a scout for the Haganah in Jerusalem, and struggled as a single mother when she came to America – before she was known as Dr. Ruth, sex therapist of radio and television. Few know about the extraordinary life of German-Jewish American Karola Ruth Seigel, the woman behind the familiar voice answering the questions we dare not ask. Becoming Dr. Ruth is guaranteed to move you – she will make you laugh, blush, cry, and leave you utterly verklempt.

The Three Musketeers
By Catherine Bush | Adapted from the novel of Alexndre Dumas
February 5 – March 22, 2020
Follow the young and brave d’Artagnan as he seeks to join the Musketeers and finds brotherhood in Athos, Porthos, and Aramis. All four will fight to protect Paris from the evil Cardinal Richelieu and his two accomplices, Comte de Rochefort and the mysterious Milady De Winter. It’s a story of loyalty, betrayal, and secrets, complete with daring sword fights and sweeping romance. A unique adaptation by Catherine Bush based on Alexandre Dumas’ classic tale.

Henry IV, Part I
by William Shakespeare
February 19 – March 21, 2020
After the events of Richard II, Henry Bolingbroke is now King Henry IV and is experiencing an unstable reign. He is at odds with the Percy family, of whom helped him ascend the throne, and all he wants is to reunite his people and lead his army on the Crusade to the Holy Land. Meanwhile, Prince Hal is spending more of his time in taverns than in the royal court. But he must redeem himself in the eyes of his father when it comes to the beloved war hero, Hotspur.

My Lord, What a Night
By Deborah Brevoort
March 18 – April 26, 2020
The real untold story based on a true friendship between two historical icons – Jewish-American scientist Albert Einstein and African-American singer Marian Anderson. When Anderson is denied a room based on the color of her skin, Einstein graciously invites her to stay in his home. From there, a foreshadowing conversation about racial politics opens up over cups of Swiss chocolate and coffee.

CHILDRENS’ SERIES

Snow White
Adapted by Brandon Roberts | Based on Grimm Fairy Tales
June 13 – July 28, 2019
The Brothers Grimm fairy tale comes to life onstage, in a fast-paced, comical rendition of the classic story of love, envy, and magic. Jealous of Snow White’s beauty, the wicked queen banishes the innocent princess to the woods. Will her courage and wit be enough to outsmart the queen’s evil plot?

Miss. Nelson is Missing!
Book, Music and Lyrics by Joan Cushing | Based on the book “Miss Nelson is Missing” and “Miss Nelson is Back” by Harry Allard
October 17 – November 22, 2019
Miss Nelson can’t control her crazy classroom because she’s just too nice. But when she disappears, her replacement is the hard-as-nails, detention-loving, recess-canceling, homework-overloading substitute teacher Viola Swamp! With the Big Test approaching, the kids suddenly realize how much they miss Miss Nelson and they’ll do anything — including hiring a private eye — to solve the mystery of her disappearance and bring her back.

Interstellar Cinderella
Music and Lyrics by Laurie Berkner | Book by Barbara Zinn Krieger | Based on the book “Interstellar Cinderella” by Deborah Underwood
April 9 – May 2, 2020
With a little help from her fairy godrobot, Cinderella is going to the ball. But when the prince’s spaceship has mechanical trouble, someone will have to zoom to the rescue! Audiences will thank their lucky stars for this irrepressible fairy tale retelling, its independent heroine, and its stellar happy ending.