TheatreWorks’ bold new season
Two world premiere musicals and the regional debut of a science-driven romantic drama are the spine of the big and splashy TheatreWorks 2017-2018 season.
“The Prince of Egypt,” with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz (“Wicked,” “Godspell”) and lyrics by Philip LaZebnik (“Pocahontas,” “Mulan”), will make its world premiere Oct. 5-Nov. 6. Based on the hit DreamWorks film, the musical tells the biblical story of Moses. The other new musical, “Four Immigrants: An American Manga,” a tale of Japanese immigrants to San Francisco built on a ragtime score, will run July 12-Aug. 6. “Manga” emerged as a hit from the company’s new works festival.
The rest of the nine-play roster for the company’s Stephen Schwartz’s musical “The Prince of Egypt,” based on the DreamWorks adaptation of the story of Moses, will get its world premiere as part of TheatreWorks’ 2017-18 season. 48th season includes Nick Payne’s brainy hit romance “Constellations” (Aug. 23-Sept. 17) in its regional premiere; Hershey Felder’s return in “Our Great Tchaikovsky” (Jan. 10-Feb. 4, 2018); the haunting Depression-era drama of workers in an auto plant, “Skeleton Crew” (March 7-April 1, 2018); the chilling McCarthy-era musical “The Finks” (June 6-July 1, 2018); and the regional premiere of the Tony-winning musical version of “The Bridges of Madison County” (April 4-29, 2018). The holiday romps “The Santaland Diaries” (Dec. 5-23) and “Around the World in 80 Days” (Nov. 29-Dec. 23) will round out the lineup. Performances are at the Lucie Stern Theatre in Palo Alto and the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, except for “Santaland Diaries,” which will be staged at Lohman Theatre at Foothill College, Los Altos Hills. Subscriptions range $211-$567; single tickets go on sale in the spring; 650-463-1960, theatreworks.org.