Guides for Musicals, Plays, Operas & Operettas
Read expert-written show guides with context, plot, characters and video examples.
Once
You know the story: Guy meets Girl. But in Once, an unconventional and romantic musical based on the award-winning 2006 film, what follows is not a traditional love story. Guy, a heartbroken musician busking for coins on the streets of Dublin, meets Girl, a Czech immigrant with a complicated hist... read more
The Producers
Based on the 1968 film, Mel Brooks’s musical The Producers is a laugh-out-loud, outrageous, crowd-pleasing farce that has been a smash hit since its 2001 debut. Fading Broadway producer Max Bialystock is desperate to get to the top of his profession again, and he finds an unlikely ally in mousy... read more
High School Musical on Stage!
Disney’s High School Musical on Stage centers on the blossoming relationship between Troy, a high school jock, and Gabriella, the new smart girl at school. They meet on a family vacation and become attracted to each other while singing in a karaoke competition. Rediscovering each other at school,... read more
American Idiot
Bold, brash, and fun, American Idiot takes Green Day’s chart-topping 2005 punk rock album and brings it vibrantly to life. American Idiot follows a young anti-hero, Johnny, the self-proclaimed “Jesus of Suburbia”, and his two buddies, Will and Tunny, as they attempt to break out of their mind-num... read more
Hamlet
Prince Hamlet of Denmark is not a happy camper. He has just been hurried back home from University to learn that his father the King is dead, and that his mother has already jumped into “incestuous sheets” by marrying his father’s brother, Claudius, thus making him the new King of Denmark. In s... read more
You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown
Charles Schulz’s beloved comic comes to life in Clark Gesner’s classic musical, You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown. The whole gang is here: bossy Lucy is hopelessly in love with piano prodigy Schroeder who doesn’t give her the time of day, perfectionist Sally is still mocking blanket-toting Linus,... read more
Little Women
Louisa May Alcott’s beloved story of the adventures of the four March sisters is brought to vivid musical life in Little Women. The Civil War is in full swing, and the March sisters -- Meg, the oldest, a romantic, the spirited and tomboyish Jo, sweet and loving Beth, and irascible, playful Amy --... read more
Jesus Christ Superstar
Jesus Christ Superstar tells the story of biblical Jesus in the final days leading up to his crucifixion. A rock opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, the musical has no spoken dialogue and is sometimes considered a modern rock-opera. Loosely based on the Gospels, Superstar focuses on the pe... read more
Macbeth
Heroic Macbeth has just won two victorious battles for Scotland, when he encounters three weird sisters who tell him this is only the beginning of his path to glory. They foresee that Macbeth will become the Thane of Cawdor, and then, ultimately, the King of all Scotland. At first, the honest and... read more
Pirates of Penzance
Gilbert and Sullivan’s most popular show, The Pirates of Penzance, is a rollicking, delightfully funny tale of a band of soft-tempered pirates. Mistakenly apprenticed to a pirate by his nursemaid Ruth at the age of eight, the handsome Frederic is now twenty-one and, though quite fond of the gro... read more
