Curtain’s Up!

Curtain’s Up!

From thought-provoking comedies to warm and fuzzy musicals, there is much to see this theater season.

Winston Gieseke Arts & Entertainment, Current Digital

Curtain’s Up!
Dezart Performs opened the season with Church and State, starring (from left) Kelley Moody as Sara Whitmore, Beau Marie as Sen. Charlie Whitmore, and Tammy Hubler as campaign manager Alex Klein.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY DAVID PERRY

While it may not be true that “all the world’s a stage,” as William Shakespeare famously declared in As You Like It, it seems that much of the Coachella Valley is. With so many performance venues here, it would be impossible to see everything they offer. But it’s worth trying. Here are the shows we look forward to seeing this season.

While The Sound of Music has nothing to do with Christmas (and neither does “My Favorite Things,” even though Barbra, Mary J., and others include it on their holiday albums), it does convey all the warmth and schmaltzy family goodness that people cherish this time of year. The Desert TheatreWorks production runs Dec. 7–23. If warm and schmaltzy is not your jam, go see Christmas With the Crawfords, which plays at The Desert Rose Playhouse through Dec. 23. Joan ’s annual holiday interview does not go well this year!

January is all about having internal struggles between what you should be doing and what you want to be doing. If seeing lots of community theater is one of your resolutions, you’re in luck. Everyone’s favorite musical about gambling, Frank Loesser’s Guys and Dolls, opens Jan. 18 at Palm Canyon Theatre, while CVRep presents some heavier fare in James Ijames’ White, a comedy about race and gender identity (Jan. 23–Feb. 17). And for fans of the bizarre, the passing of a beloved pet signals the beginning of the end for a crumbling marriage in Encore Theater District’s production of Nick Darke’s The Dead Monkey (Jan. 31–Feb. 3).

Good, clean fun is sure to ensue when Coyote StageWorks mounts its production of Honky Tonk Laundry, a tale of two country angels who turn their laundromat into a performance space (Feb. 1–10). Incurable romantics will be touched by the Vietnam-era love story involving a young American soldier in the musical adaptation of the 1991 film Dogfight, presented by David Green’s Musical Theatre University (Feb. 1–3). Rounding off the month is Stephen Schwartz and Nina Faso’s musical reimagining of Studs Terkel’s best-selling book, Working, which runs Feb. 8–17 at Hi-Desert Playhouse.

Even though Black History Month is officially in February, March continues to educate with a “scalding take on race” (The New York Times) in the form of Bruce Graham’s White Guy on the Bus, part of Dezart Performs’ lineup (March 1–10), as well as the beloved musical Hairspray (Desert TheatreWorks, March 8–24), which tackles themes of segregation and acceptance. And those who fancy musicals about board games and the Cold War might enjoy Chess, with music by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus (of ABBA fame) and lyrics by Tim Rice (Evita and Disney’s Beauty and the Beast). It plays at CVRep March 13–31.

The season comes to a close with Audrey Cefaly’s Maytag Virgin (Dezart Performs, April 5–14), Rupert Holmes’ Curtains (David Green’s Musical Theatre University, April 5–7), local performer Jason Hull’s original comedy Myrna’s Getting Married (Script2Stage2Screen, May 3–4), and Steve Martin’s Meteor Shower (Palm Canyon Theatre, May 30–June 1).

Evita
Rent

PHOTOGRAPHS BY CAROL ROSEGG/MCCALLUM THEATRE

Rent comes to the McCallum Theatre Feb. 8–10, followed by Evita Feb. 27–28.

THEATRE CALENDAR
December 2018

7–8 / A Polly’s Amorous Adventure. By Denis LaComb, produced by Script2Stage2Screen. Unitarian Universalist Church of the Desert.

7–23 / The Sound of Music. Produced by Desert TheatreWorks. Indio Performing Arts Center.

12 / Sounds of the Season Concert. Palm Canyon Theatre.

January 2019

1–27 / Brighton Beach Memoirs. By Neil Simon, produced by Desert TheatreWorks. Indio Performing Arts Center.

11–20 / Perfect Engagement. By Topher Payne, produced by Dezart Performs. Pearl McManus Theatre.

15–20 / Jersey Boys. McCallum Theatre.

18–19 / Address Unknown. By Kathrine Kressmann Taylor. Hi-Desert Playhouse.

18–Feb. 10 / Looped. By Matthew Lombardo. Desert Rose Playhouse.

18–Feb. 10 / Guys and Dolls. Palm Canyon Theatre.

23–Feb. 17 / White. By James Ijames. CVRep at The Atrium.

25–27 / The Wizard of Oz. McCallum Theatre.

31–Feb. 3 / The Dead Monkey. By Nick Darke, produced by Encore Theatre District. Palm Springs High School Black Box Theatre.

February 2019

1–2 / Seven Bridges Road. By Marilynn Barner Anselmi, produced by Script2Stage2Screen. Unitarian Universalist Church of the Desert.

1–3 / Dogfight. By Peter Duchan, produced by David Green’s Musical Theatre University. Helene Galen Performing Arts Center.

1–10 / Honky Tonk Laundry.By Roger Bean, produced by Coyote StageWorks. Annenberg Theater.

1–10 / Looped. By Matthew Lombardo. Desert Rose Playhouse.

1–10 / Guys and Dolls. Palm Canyon Theatre.

1–17 / White. By James Ijames. CVRep at The Atrium.

8–10 / Rent. McCallum Theatre.

8–10 / For a Reason. By Tony Padilla, produced by Desert Ensemble Theatre. Pearl McManus Theatre.

8–17 / Some Enchanted Evening: The Music of Rodgers & Hammerstein. Produced by Desert TheatreWorks. Indio Performing Arts Center.

8–17 / Working. By Nina Faso and Stephen Schwartz. Hi-Desert Playhouse.

15–17 / For a Reason. By Tony Padilla, produced by Desert Ensemble Theatre. Pearl McManus Theatre.

22–March 10 / The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. Palm Canyon Theatre.

27–28 / Evita. McCallum Theatre.

March 2019

1–10 / White Guy on the Bus. By Bruce Graham, produced by Dezart Performs. Pearl McManus Theatre.

1–10 / The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. Palm Canyon Theatre.

8–9 / Breakable. By Vicky Vodrey, produced by Script2Stage2Screen. Unitarian Universalist Church of the Desert.

8–9 / For Peter Pan on Her 70th Birthday. By Sarah Ruhl. Hi-Desert Playhouse.

8–24 / Hairspray. Produced by Desert TheatreWorks. Indio Performing Arts Center.

13–31 / Chess. By Richard Nelson. CVRep at The Atrium.

15–17 / Proof. By David Auburn, produced by Desert Ensemble Theatre. Pearl McManus Theatre.

15–17 / Monty Python’s Spamalot. McCallum Theatre.

21–24 / Shakespeare in Love.Palm Canyon Theatre.

22–23 / Closing Credits: An Evening With Frank Capra. By Loren Masters and George Morgan. Hi-Desert Playhouse.

22–31 / Greater Tuna. By Jaston Williams, Joe Sears, and Ed Howard, produced by Coyote StageWorks. Annenberg Theater.

April 2019

5–6 / Heavenly Bliss. By John Lordan and “Train Song” by Christopher Younggren, produced by Script2Stage2Screen. Unitarian Universalist Church of the Desert.

5–7 / Curtains. By Rupert Holmes, produced by David Green’s Musical Theatre University.  Helene Galen Performing Arts Center.

5–14 / Going to a Place Where You Already Are. By Bekah Brunstetter. Hi-Desert Playhouse

5–14 Grand Hotel. Palm Canyon Theatre.

5–14 / Maytag Virgin. By Audrey Cefaly, produced by Dezart Performs. Pearl McManus Theatre.

5–15 / Love, Sex, and the IRS. Produced by Desert TheatreWorks. Indio Performing Arts Center.

11–14 / Durang, Durang, Durang: A One Act Festival. By Christopher Durang, produced by Encore Theatre District. Black Box Theatre.

19–21 / Graceland and Asleep at the Wheel. By Ellen Byron, produced by Desert Ensemble Theatre. Pearl McManus Theatre.

25–28 / The Diary of Anne Frank. By Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett. Palm Canyon Theatre.

26–28 / Graceland and Asleep at the Wheel. By Ellen Byron, produced by Desert Ensemble Theatre. Pearl McManus Theatre.

May 2019

1–19 / Good People. By David Lindsay-Abaire. CVRep at The Atrium.

3–4 / Myrna’s Getting Married. By Jason Hull, produced by Script2Stage2Screen. Unitarian Universalist Church of the Desert.

10–19 / Big River. Palm Canyon Theatre.

17–26 / Falling. By Deanna Jent, produced by Encore Theatre District. Palm Springs High School Black Box Theatre.

24–25 / Heroes. By Gerald Sibleyras. Hi-Desert Playhouse.

30–June 1 / Steve Martin’s Meteor Shower. Palm Canyon Theatre.

June 2019

1 / Steve Martin’s Meteor Shower. Palm Canyon Theatre.

5–14 / Spring Awakening. Palm Canyon Theatre.

August 2019

2–10  / Peter Pan Jr. Hi-Desert Playhouse.