The Lakewood Playhouse Celebrates Its 81st Anniversary Season with Five Premier Shows – 2 of Them South Sound Premiers. All of next season’s shows continue to embrace some of our established past productions as we evolve into a Playhouse that produces moderns works fresh off of Broadway and Off-Broadway. Season Ticket Renewals are currently underway and will be open to Sales for New Season Ticket Buyers on May 28th, 2019!
Here is the Sensational Line-Up for Our History-Making 81st Anniversary Season!
BILOXI BLUES
By Neil Simon
Sept 12th – Oct. 6th, 2019
The Sequel to Last Season’s BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS and Part Two of Neil Simon’s Autobiographical Trilogy. When we last met Eugene Jerome, he was coping with adolescence in 1930’s Brooklyn. Here, he is a young army recruit during WW II, going through basic training and learning about Life and Love with a capital ‘L’ along with some harsher lessons, while stationed at boot camp in Biloxi, Mississippi in 1943.
A Lakewood Playhouse Premier
THE BEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER
By Andrew J. Fenady
Based upon the teleplay by Val DeCrow and Andrew J. Fenady
November 29th – December 23rd, 2019
In this hilarious Christmas classic, a couple struggling to put on a church Christmas pageant is faced with casting the Herdman kids–probably the most inventively awful kids in history. You won’t believe the mayhem – and the fun – when the Herdmans collide with the Christmas story head on! This delightful comedy is adapted from the best-selling Young Adult book, and has become a holiday staple for groups across the United States! Features plenty of great roles for children and adults, a few favorite Christmas Carols, and a lot of laughs!
Last Presented in 2010
HEATHER’S – THE MUSICAL
by Laurence O’Keefe & Kevin Murphy
January 16th – February 9th, 2020
Our 5th Annual OUTSIDE the (Music) BOX Presentation
Being Popular can be Murder in this Musical based on the classic 1989 film, Westerberg High is ruled by a shoulder-padded, scrunchie-wearing junta: Heather, Heather, and Heather, the hottest and cruelest girls in all of Ohio. But misfit Veronica Sawyer rejects their evil regime for a new boyfriend, the dark and sexy stranger J.D., who plans to put the Heathers in their place – six feet under.
A Lakewood Playhouse / South Sound Premier
THE WOLVES
By Sarah DeLappe
February 22nd through March 17th, 2019
Life is a game that takes practice. As girls indoor soccer team warms up, the team navigates big questions and wages tiny battles with all the vim and vigor of a pack of adolescent warriors. A portrait of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for nine American girls who just want to score some goals.
A Lakewood Playhouse Premier / South Sound Premier
MURDER ON THE NILE
By Agatha Christie
April 9th – May 3rd, 2020
Kay Ridgeway has led a charmed life. Blessed with beauty, enormous wealth, and a new husband, she embarks on a honeymoon voyage down the Nile. Fatal circumstances await when the idyllic surroundings are shattered by a shocking and brutal murder. Under scrutiny is a multitude of memorable passengers, all with a reason to kill. The tension and claustrophobia builds, as a shocking and audacious conspiracy is laid bare.
Last Presented in 2001
RAGTIME – The Musical
Based on the Novel by E.L. Doctrow
Adapted by Terrence McNally / Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens / Music by Stephen Flaherty
May 28th – June 28th, 2020
A New World. A New Hope. A New Music. At the dawn of a new century, everything is changing… and anything is possible. Set in the volatile melting pot of turn-of-the-century New York, three distinctly American tales are woven together – that of a stifled upper-class wife, a determined Jewish immigrant and a daring young Harlem musician – united by their courage, compassion and belief in the promise of the future. Together, they confront history’s timeless contradictions of wealth and poverty, freedom and prejudice, hope and despair, and what it means to live in America.
A Lakewood Playhouse Premier
BONUS SHOWS
12th ANNUAL FALL RADIO SHOW: RADIO NOIR
October 11th, 12th & 13th, 2019
The Return of our MOST POPULAR Radio Show to the Lakewood Playhouse and the Kick Off for our 81st Season’s FRIENDS FUND. This year’s presentation features the stories of Hard Boiled Detectives and More!
LAKEWOOD INSTITUTE of THEATRE Presents: PIPPI LONGSTOCKING
8 SHOWS ONLY– October 24th to November 3rd, 2019
On the outskirts of town stands a ramshackle house. It may not seem like much ’til you peek through the railings…then, there’s a horse on the porch, a monkey in the kitchen and a freckle faced, red-pigtailed, whirlwind of a girl in mismatched stockings presiding over all! This is the domain of Pippi Longstocking who is outrageously unsupervised and proud of it. When her father sails into town just in time to rescue her from a solitary life in the Children’s Home, she has the chance to join him in his adventurous pirate life, but she chooses to stay. As odd as it seems, and against all the rules, she has found a place where she belongs.
A Lakewood Playhouse Premier
Mary says
What a variety of remarkable shows.
Chas. Ames says
Some features I haven’t heard, but they look good.
Artistic Director John Munn is getting his confidence to try new stuff.
Looking forward to seeing them.