Beck Center for the Arts Announces 2024-2025 Professional Theater Season Lakewood, OH-Beck Center for the Arts<http://www.beckcenter.org/> is pleased to announce its 2024-2025 Professional Theater Season, the 91st season which includes Tony Award® Winners, comedies, dramas, musicals, and another fabulous collaboration with Baldwin Wallace University Musical Theatre program<https://www.bw.edu/academics/undergraduate/music-theatre/>. Beck Center for the Arts' Artistic Director Scott Spence says, "I believe our 2024-2025 professional theater season will nicely fulfill our patrons expectations in terms of variety, balance and sheer entertainment value! We are so fortunate to have two wonderful theater spaces to accommodate such an amazing array of titles so our audiences have truly great choices. Putting our seasons together every year continues to be a great joy for me." Season Tickets and Flex Passes for the 2024-2025 Professional Theater Season range in price from $120 to $336 and are available for purchase now for renewing subscribers at 216-521-2540. Season tickets and flex passes go on sale to new subscribers on May 28, 2024. Tickets to individual shows will go on sale to the public on July 1, 2024 at 216-521-2540 and Beckcenter.org<https://www.beckcenter.org/professional-theater>. Curtain times are 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 2:30 p.m. Sundays. Preview performances are 7:30 p.m. the Thursday before opening night, with general admission seating for just $10. Smart Seats® are available for each performance at just $10 per person. For more information on the 2024-2025 Professional Theater Season please visit beckcenter.org.<https://www.beckcenter.org/professional-theater> The Sunshine Boys<https://www.concordtheatricals.com/p/2821/the-sunshine-boys>, by Neil Simon, directed by William Roudebush, and starring Austin Pendleton. Senney Theater, September 13 to October 6, 2024 with THURSDAY performances September 26 and October 3, 2024. Produced with special arrangement with Concord Theatricals. Al and Willie, as "Lewis and Clark" were top-billed vaudevillians for over forty years... now they aren't even speaking. When CBS requests them for a "History of Comedy" retrospective, the grudging reunion brings the two back together, along with a flood of memories, miseries, and laughs. "It's ham on wry [...] Simon's sure-footed craftsmanship and his one liners are as exquisitely apt as ever." - New York Post "Delicious and oddly affecting." -The New York Times. The Glass Menagerie<https://www.concordtheatricals.com/p/6613/the-glass-menagerie>, by Tennessee Williams<https://www.concordtheatricals.com/a/4954/tennessee-williams>, directed by Thomas Q. Fulton, and starring Derdriu Ring as Amanda Wingfield. Studio Theater, October 4 to November 3, 2024. Produced with special arrangement with Concord Theatricals. Winner of 2014 Drama League Award - Outstanding Revival of a Play. Amanda lives in poverty in a dingy St. Louis apartment with her son, Tom, and her daughter, Laura. Amanda strives to give meaning and direction to her life and the lives of her children. Her daughter Laura lives in her illusions with the challenge of a disability. When Tom invites a young friend to their apartment, for a shining moment in time, Laura is lifted out of herself into a new world. Is this young man the answer to their despair, or will the disillusions they built to protect themselves come apart? Can others help save ourselves from the world we create? "Astonishing refresh upturns a delicate classic"--The Guardian. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat<https://www.concordtheatricals.com/p/44899/joseph-and-the-amazing-technicolor-dreamcoat>, Lyrics by Tim Rice, and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Directed by Scott Spence, Music Director Larry Goodpaster, and Choreography by Lauren Marousek. Senney Theater, December 6, 2024 to January 5, 2025 with special curtains: THURSDAYS December 12 at 7:30 pm, December 19 at 7:30 pm, 2024 and January 2, 2025. SATURDAYS with SPECIAL CURTAINS, all curtains spelled out meaning if you don't see a 7:30 pm then there is NOT an eve curtain, Saturday December 7 is 2:30 pm ONLY, Saturday December 14 is 2:30 pm ONLY, Saturday December 21 is 2:30 pm ONLY, Saturday December 28, 2024 is 2:30 pm and 7:30 pm, and Saturday January 4, 2025 is 2:30 pm ONLY. Presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of The Really Useful Group. www.concordtheatricals.com<http://www.concordtheatricals.com>. Back by POPULAR DEMAND! The irresistible family-friendly musical about family! Go on the journey of the trials and triumphs of Joseph. This production features different styles of music and the most colorful costumes! Perfect for all ages, this show is sure to be a hit with you and yours. "Jubilant... What keeps the show alive is its delight in simple storytelling, the bounce of Tim Rice's lyrics and the merry eclecticism of Andrew Lloyd Webber's score, which embraces country and western, calypso, French Chanson and Elvis-style rock... There is wit in Lloyd Webber's willingness to try different styles and in Rice's verbal dexterity." - Michael Billington, The Guardian Waitress The Musical,<https://www.mtishows.com/waitress> Baldwin Wallace Music Theatre Program Collaboration, Directed by Victoria Bussert, Music Direction Matthew Webb, Choreography Lauren Marousek. Featuring music and lyrics by Sara Bareilles<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sara_Bareilles>, Book by Jessie Nelson. Senney Theater, February 7 to March 2, 2025, with THURSDAY February 13 at 7:30 pm., February 20 at 7:30 pm, February 27, 2025 at 7:30 pm. Produced with special arrangement with MTI Musical Theatre International. The story of Jenna, the titular waitress and expert pie-maker who dreams of a way out of her small town and rocky marriage. Based on the 2007 movie of the same name, Waitress features a book by acclaimed screenwriter Jessie Nelson (I Am Sam) and music and lyrics by Grammy Award® winner Sara Bareilles<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sara_Bareilles> ("Love Song," "Brave"). "Waitress is the hit musical that's "a little slice of heaven"--Entertainment Weekly. Under a Baseball Sky, Written by Jose Cruz Gonzalez Directed by Eric Schmiedl. Studio Theater, April 4 to May 4, 2025, please note there is no show on Sunday, April 20, 2024, Easter Sunday. Presented with arrangements by Susan Schulman Agency.
From José Cruz González, author of American Mariachi, comes a new play about baseball's deep roots in the Mexican American community. When troublemaker Teo is put to work cleaning up a vacant lot belonging to his elderly neighbor, this unlikely pair forms a bond forged in history and America's favorite pastime. Inspired by a neighborhood in California, this new piece of vibrant theater celebrates communities and individuals coming together to find hope, healing, love, and the occasional home run. José Cruz González's Under a Baseball Sky was commissioned by the Old Globe and underwritten by The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation.
The Robber Bridegroom, <https://www.mtishows.com/the-robber-bridegroom> Music by Robert Waldman<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Waldman>, Book and Lyrics by Alfred Uhry<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Uhry>. Directed by Scott Spence, Music Direction Larry Goodpaster, Choreography by Lauren Marousek. Studio Theater, May 30 to June 29, 2025, with THURSDAY June 12, June 19, and June 26, 2025. Produced with special arrangements with MTI Musical Theatre International. Winner of the 2016 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Revival, this musical is based on the novella of the same name written in 1942 by Eudora Welty<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudora_Welty>. A sense of justice for the average person compels us to seek out Robin Hood type heroes. This fairytale is set to bluegrass music. The perfect soundtrack setting for the intimate Studio Theater. This musical is a universal classic, while set in the late 18th century the musical ran on Broadway in the mid-1970s but it is just as inspiring today in the 24-hour news cycle of corrupt greed. "This is designed as a good time," --Entertainment Weekly. A Chorus Line,<https://www.concordtheatricals.com/p/44602/a-chorus-line> Music by Marvin Hamlisch<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvin_Hamlisch>, lyrics by Edward Kleban<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Kleban>, book by James Kirkwood Jr.<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Kirkwood_Jr.> and Nicholas Dante<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Dante>. Directed and choreographed by Christopher Chase Carter. Musical Direction by Larry Goodpaster. Senney Theater, July 11 to August 10, 2025, THURSDAYS July 24 at 7:30 pm, July 31 at 7:30 pm, and August 7, 2025 at 7:30 pm. Produced with special arrangement with Concord Theatricals. A Chorus Line is THE 1975 musical with. A Chorus Line, Directed and Choreographed by Christopher Chase Carter remains the seventh longest-running Broadway show<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_longest-running_Broadway_shows> ever. A Chorus Line's success has spawned many successful productions worldwide. It began a lengthy run in the West End<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_End_theatre> in 1976, and was revived on Broadway in 2006, and in the West End in 2013, and 2007 with a Tony Award Best Revival of a Musical<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Award_for_Best_Revival_of_a_Musical>. Picture a bare stage, and all your dreams of Broadway lay before you. This time, you "gotta get it," in honor of the 50th anniversary of a Broadway favorite. "I'm always excited to see A Chorus Line."--The New York Times All performances are at theaters inside Beck Center for the Arts<http://www.beckcenter.org/> located at 17801 Detroit Avenue in Lakewood, just ten minutes west of downtown Cleveland. Free onsite parking is available. For more information visit beckcenter.org<http://www.beckcenter.org/>. Beck Center for the Arts is proud to be a part of Northeast Ohio's professional theater landscape, operating under a letter of agreement with Actors' Equity Association. We are a Small Professional Theater (SPT) based on the number of seats, number of our performances, and the maximum weekly hours of work we provide to actors. We produce every show on our stages, by choosing the play, casting and rehearsing it, building the sets, props, and costumes, directing and performing the live music, and designing lights and sound. We proudly utilize regional resources and talent. Beck Center for the Arts also offers arts education for all ages, all skill levels, and all abilities with classes and lessons in music, dance, visual arts, and theater, as well as creative arts therapies. Financial assistance is offered to qualified applicants so that these programs can be enjoyed by all.