The fall theater season is afoot and we’re already spotting trends. Intriguing one-woman, one-man and two-person shows. Twisty thrillers. Juicy roles for women. One of the Straz Center’s most exciting Broadway lineups in years.

And this is just our fall preview. Come January, we’ll look ahead to fresh takes on the classics, from Shakespeare to Hawthorne to “The Bash of the Titans.” (Yes, I said Bash; it’s a musical parody from the talented folks at freeFall, it’s not till June and I can’t wait. And the Greeks will take another bow in August when Colleen Cherry takes on the one-woman saga of “Penelope,” Odysseus’ very patient wife.) But we’re getting ahead of ourselves—let’s talk fall. Get links to all of these by visiting cltampa.com/arts.

freeFall Theatre’s “Tell Me On a Sunday.” Credit: Thee Photo Ninja / freeFall

Solos & duos

“Tell Me On A Sunday“ (Sept. 5-Oct. 5, freeFall). Broadway songbird Bernadette Peters won a Tony when this show was presented as the “Song” half of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Song and Dance. Now we get to see Tampa Bay’s favorite songbird, Julia Rifino, in the role of an English girl looking for love in all the wrong places in NYC.
“Hundred Days” (Oct. 22-Nov. 16, American Stage). So you met your soulmate with only 100 days to live? Seems like a good reason to start singing! A two-person rock musical by the married songwriters known as The Bengsons.
“Latin History for Morons” (Dec. 5-21, Stageworks). In this Tony-nominated solo show by John Leguizamo, a father discovers a glaring absence of Latin American contributions in his son’s history textbooks and embarks on a journey to fill in the gaps.

Eric Davis stars in freeFall’s “Deathtrap.” Credit: Thee Photo Ninja / freeFall

Secrets & lies

“Goddess of the Hunt” (Sept. 18-Oct. 5, Lab Theatre Project). The titular goddess in this new play by Doug DeVita (Fable) is a TV interior-design star whose hunt for clients takes some malevolent turns. But the play’s real villain may be social media. (Full disclosure: I’m in this one.)
“White” (Oct. 9-19, Off-Central Players). James Ijames’s hilarious Fat Ham at American Stage was a highlight of the ‘24-’25 theater season, so we were happy to see one of his works on Off-Central’s fall schedule: a play about a white male artist scheming to get included in an exhibition of works by people of color.
• “Clone“ (Oct. 16-Nov. 2, TheatreFor). Graham Jones directs DC Cathro’s play, which is set in a near-future when clones have been discovered living secretly among us. When one man’s clone is apprehended and turned over to him as property, a power struggle ensues.
“Deathtrap“ (Oct. 24-Dec. 7, freeFall). Matthew McGee takes the director’s chair for this one, leading a stellar cast (Eric Davis, Robert Teasdale, Sara DelBeato, Natalie Symons, and John Lombardi) in Ira Levin’s comedy thriller of back-stabbing playwrights and a psychic named Helga.
“So Long Life“ (Nov. 20-Dec. 7, LAB Theatre Project). An aging actor with Alzheimer’s struggles to share secrets on the anniversary of his wife’s death. Owen Robertson directs another LAB premiere.

Jessica Sandidge will sing the title role in “Susannah” for St. Pete Opera in October. Credit: St. Pete Opera

Leading women

“Fat Pig“ (Sept. 18-28, Dead Canary at The Studio@620). The second production from a new company that’s as daring as its name, Fat Pig, by the ever-controversial Neil LaBute, challenges our notions of beauty and acceptance in a play about a man and his plus-sized girlfriend.
“Susannah“ (Oct. 17, 19 & 21, St. Pete Opera). The acclaimed opera by late FSU professor Carlisle Floyd centers on a teenaged girl branded as a sinner in her Tennessee mountain town.
“Cadillac Crew“ (Nov. 6-16, The Studio@620). Four Black female Civil Rights activists ponder whether the battle includes women. Produced in partnership with Powerstories.
“Art” (Nov. 13-23, The Off-Central). Is all-white a’ight? Friendships are threatened by a dispute over an all-white painting in the Tony-winning comedy by Yasmina Reza. It’s usually performed by three men, but Off-Central is going with an all-female cast.

The cast of “Ghost Brothers of Darkland County,” coming to Jobsite in October. Credit: James Zambon Productions

Spooky season

“Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors“ (Sept. 16-Oct. 26, Jaeb Theatre at the Straz). “Perfect for audiences of all blood types,” reads the Straz Center’s description of this fang-in-cheek romp, in which the vampire hunter is a woman and the scariest pursuit may be… real estate?
“Ghost Brothers of Darkland County“ (Oct. 15-Nov. 9, Jobsite). A musical thriller by the killer duo of Stephen King and John Mellencamp, whose blues-tinged country score accompanies a Southern Gothic yarn about brothers in love with the same woman.
“Evil Dead: The Musical“ (Oct. 24-Nov. 16, Stageworks). There will be blood. Stageworks brings back its hit musical horror parody, complete with chainsaws, flying limbs and naive college students.
“Radio Theatre Project” (Oct. 27, Studio@620). The Studio@620 fan favorite kicks off its new season with a seasonally spooky evening of Twilight Zone-ish radio plays. The series, in which actors on mics are accompanied by live sound effects, continues every fourth Monday through February, with varying Mondays in March and April.
“The Turn of the Screw” (Nov. 21 & 23, Opera Tampa). OT’s 30th anniversary season is almost all spooky, beginning with Benjamin Britten’s adaptation of the Henry James classic about a governess tormented by ghosts and her possibly possessed charges, then follows up in ‘26 with operatic treatments of The Shining and Macbeth (with Mozart’s comparatively light-hearted but still other-worldly Magic Flute in between).

The Wiz featuring Alan Mingo Jr. in 2023 Credit: Photo by Jeremy Daniel

Straz’ll dazzle

“The Wiz” (Oct. 14-19). The Wizard of Oz story, as retold musically through a Black lens, first hit Broadway in the 1970s. Now the Straz brings us the splashy 2024 revival, described by Variety as a “hypercolor whirligig.”
“Water for Elephants“ (Oct. 28-Nov. 2). Based on Sara Gruen’s novel about a boy who literally runs away to join the circus, this 2024 Broadway musical, acclaimed as “gorgeously imaginative” by the New York Times, features puppet animals and a cast of limber humans.
“Kimberly Akimbo“ (Nov. 18-23). Tops on my must-see list is this Tony-winning musical adaptation of David Lindsay-Abaire’s lovely, funny, heartbreaking play about a teenage girl determined to get the most out of life despite a disease that’s aging her too fast. Big plus: Ann Morrison, a local favorite seen frequently at freeFall, is playing the title role for this national tour.
“The Outsiders” (Dec. 27, 2025-Jan. 4, 2026). The sheer jaw-dropping energy of this adaptation of S.E. Hinton’s beloved novel (and Francis Ford Coppola’s movie) came abundantly clear this year during the number excerpted for the Tonys, where it won Best Musical.

freeFall Theatre’s 2024 presentation of ‘A Christmas Carol’ in St. Petersburg, Florida. Credit: Photo via ACCMusical/Facebook

Happy holidays

Look for Creative Loafing Tampa Bay’s Holiday Guide in November, when we’ll have news of the many Christmas-time attractions coming up. They include the return of Cindy Lou Who in “Who’s Holiday” at the Off-Central, plus multiple takes on A Christmas Carol, including a concert version at freeFall, a live radio play adaptation at Tampa Rep, and, in what sounds like an inspired mix of slapstick and Dickens, “The Three Scrooges” at TheatreFor.

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