Stage Notes is a weekly aggregate post about theater, classical music and stage news, events, reviews and other pertinent information.
Stage Notes Calendar
Opening this week:
Sammons Cabaret: Astrid Merriman Cabaret and Cabernet Fête, 7:30 p.m. today.
Bishop Arts Theatre: The Stamped Project: The Fourth Annual Banned Books Festival, today-March 2.
Ballet North Texas: epək, Friday and Saturday at Moody Performance Hall.
DSO Pops: Let’s Groove Tonight: Motown & The Philly Sound, Friday-Feb. 23.
Texas Ballet Theater: International Woman, Friday-Sunday at Bass Hall.
Family Music Theatre: Anastasia, Friday-March 8 at the New Vida Center.
Stolen Shakespeare Festival 2025: Richard III, Friday-March 8 at Arts Fort Worth.
Upright Theatre Company: Shrek The Musical, Friday-March 23.
Pocket Sandwich Theatre: Laughter on the 23rd Floor, Friday-March 29.
DFW Play: Love Unlocked, 2 and 5:30 p.m. Saturday at the Cox Playhouse.
Eisemann Center Presents: MOMIX: Alice, 8 p.m., Saturday.
Irving Symphony Orchestra: The Best of Broadway with Norm Lewis, Saturdat at the Irving Arts Center.
FWSO Chamber: Brahms and Schoenberg, 3 p.m. Sunday at Kimbell Art Museum.
Dallas Chamber Music Society: Viano Quartet, 7:30 p.m. Sunday at Caruth Auditorium.
Broadway Dallas: Hadestown, Tuesday-March 2.
Onstage now:
Circle Theatre: Destroying David, through Saturday, pictured.
Cara Mia Theatre: Tina’s Journey, through Sunday at Latino Cultural Center.
Fair Assembly: Twelfth Night, through Sunday at Arts Mission Oak Cliff.
The Firehouse Theatre: Million Dollar Quartet, through Sunday.
Kitchen Dog Theater: Wakey, Wakey, through Sunday at Expo Park.
Lewisville Playhouse: Tigers Be Still, through Sunday.
Mesquite Arts Theatre: Harvey, through Sunday.
Onstage in Bedford: Proof, through Sunday.
Rockwall Community Playhouse: Lerner and Loewe’s Camelot, through Sunday.
Soul Rep Theatre Co.: The African Company Presents Richard III, through Sunday.
Theatre Arlington: In the Heights, through Sunday.
Theatre Coppell: You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown, through Sunday.
Theatre Denton: A Delicate Balance, through Sunday.
Uptown Players: we are continuous, through Sunday at Theatre Three.
Lakeside Community Theatre: God of Carnage, through March 1.
Ochre House Theatre: Fate Complete, through March 1.
Richardson Theatre Centre: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, through March 2.
Theatre Frisco: They’re Playing Our Song, through March 2.
Stolen Shakespeare Festival 2025: Twelfth Night, through March 9 at Arts Fort Worth.
Teatro Dallas: Nuevo Mundo: A New Directors Festival, through March 9 at the Latino Cultural Center.
Performing Arts Fort Worth brings a massive season of blockbusters to the 2025-26 Broadway at the Bass season
On Tuesday, Performing Arts Fort Worth, the nonprofit owner and operator of Bass Performance Hall, announced the 14 Broadway tours coming to Fort Worth as part of the 2025/26 Broadway at the Bass Season presented by PNC Bank. Yes. Fourteen!
“It looks like we did it again,” Performing Arts Fort Worth President & CEO Dione Kennedy said in the press release. “After setting the 2024-2025 Broadway Season as our biggest season yet, we wanted to raise the bar just a little bit higher with a record number of 14 shows for our 2025-2026 Broadway at the Bass Season presented by PNC Bank. As Fort Worth continues to grow, so does the variety of shows offered direct from Broadway and exclusive to the road. ”
The mega-season kicks off in September and runs through August 2026 with five add-on shows for subscribers.
“This season has something for everyone, from date nights to family fun, to seeing your first Broadway show or introducing loved ones to the magic of live theater. Whether you’re new to our great city or a Fort Worth native, we invite you to join us for this sensational season of Broadway,” Kennedy continued. “We are grateful to all of our sponsors, patrons and community for their continued support, allowing us to bring such a large and diverse selection of shows with so much representation to Fort Worth.”
Season ticket packages can be renewed now through March 31 on the Bass Hall site. New season subscriptons will be availble for purchase on May 1, but the waitlist is open for access. Individual ticket sales will be announced on later dates.
Here is the entire Broadway at the Bass season:
Aug. 8-10: The Book of Mormon. This outrageous musical comedy follows the adventures of a mismatched pair of missionaries, sent halfway across the world to spread the Good Word. Season add-on for subscribers.
Sept. 23-28: Life of Pi. After a shipwreck in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, a 16-year-old boy named Pi survives on a lifeboat with four companions — a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan, and a Royal Bengal tiger — in this story of hope, faith, and perseverance and told with innovative visuals, world class puppetry and imaginative stagecraft.
Oct. 24-26: The Addams Family. Wednesday Addams, the ultimate princess of darkness, has grown up and fallen in love with a sweet, smart young man from a respectable family. A man her parents have never met. And if that weren’t upsetting enough, she confides in her father and begs him not to tell her mother. Now, Gomez Addams must do something he’s never done before – keep a secret from his beloved wife, Morticia. Season add-on for subscribers.
Oct. 28-Nov. 2: A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical. Created in collaboration with the singer himself, this tells the untold true story of a Brooklyn kid who becamse a chart-busting, award-winning American icon.
Nov. 12-16: & Juliet. This jukebox musical tells the story of Juliet after her fateful ending with Romeo, only this time, she gets to choose her own path and does so through the pop hits of Max Martin.
Dec. 5-7: A Christmas Story: The Musical. Set in 1940s Indiana, a young Ralphie Parker schemes his way toward the holiday gift of his dreams, an official Red Ryder Carbine-Action 200-Shot Range Model Air Rifle. An infamous leg lamp, outrageous pink bunny pajamas, a maniacal department store Santa, and a triple-dog-dare to lick a freezing flagpole are just a few of the distractions that stand between Ralphie and his Christmas wish. Season add-on for subscribers.
Feb. 10-16: Six. From Tudor queens to pop icons, the six wives of Henry VIII take the microphone to remix 500 years of historical heartbreak into a euphoric celebration of 21st century girl power.
March 24-29: Back to the Future: The Musical. When Marty McFly finds himself transported back to 1955 in a time machine built by the eccentric scientist Doc Brown, he accidentally changes the course of history. Now he’s in a race against time to fix the present, escape the past, and send himself… back to the future.
April 14-19: Some Like it Hot. Set in Prohibition era, this fast-paced comedy follows two musicians who take up new identities by dressing as women and go on the run after witnessing a mob hit and brings them face to face with a dazzling singer with dreams of stardom and a wealthy suitor set on finding true love.
April 28-May 3: Monty Python’s Spamalot. The musical comedy lovingly ripped off from the film classic, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, has everything that makes a great knight at the theater, from flying cows to killer rabbits, British royalty to French taunters, dancing girls, rubbery shrubbery, and of course, the Lady of the Lake.
June 5-7: Hadestown. Two mythic tales — that of young dreamers Orpheus and Eurydice, and that of King Hades and his wife Persephone — come together on a hellraising journey to the underworld and back. Season add-on for subscribers.
June 23-28: The Notebook. Based on the best-selling novel that inspired the film, this tells the story of Allie and Noah, both from different worlds, who share a lifetime of love despite the forces that threaten to pull them apart.
July 15-26: Hamilton. The mega-hit saga follows the rise of founding father Alexander Hamilton as he fights for honor, love, and a legacy that would shape the course of a nation. Season add-on for subscribers.
Aug. 4-9: Suffs. Direct from Broadway, comes the acclaimed Tony Award-winning musical about the brilliant, passionate, and funny American women who fought tirelessly for the right to vote.
Hip Pocket Theatre reveals its 49th season’s lineup
It’s big theater news from Fort Worth as HPT also dropped the info on its upcoming season. The company revealed its 49th season over the weekend, highlighting an unprecedented lineup of all-female directors. This season will be fully performed on site at the Hip Pocket Amphitheatre.
“This season, we hone in on theatre artists and experimental practices that inspired Hip Pocket Theatre founders Johnny and Diane Simons and Douglas Balentine to forge their own rustic theatre path back in 1976,” Co-artistic Directors Lake and Lorca Simons said in the press release.
The two continued, “For the 49th season, we proudly bring together playwrights that have held a special place in the heart of Hip Pocket. Garcia Lorca, Sam Shepard, George Bernard Shaw and Mary Shelley represent our theatre’s long-standing interest in interpreting and adapting works for the stage. In the middle, we will present a legacy Simons/Balentine musical production complete with a live band and ensemble of performers. We feel deeply grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with such a stellar team of directors, composers, designers, musicians, actors and technicians.”
Season passes and individual ticket sales will be announced for purchase at a later date.
The season includes:
May 16-June 8: The Mad Dog Blues by Sam Shepard. This play focuses on Kosmo, a hard rocker, and his drug-dealing sidekick, Yahoodi, as they search for gold while learning their place in the world. Directed by Christina Cranshaw.
June 20-July 13: The Billy Club Puppets by Federico Garcia Lorca. This play for puppet theater centers on a heroine named Rosita who falls in love with a poor boy named Cocoliche, but has to marry Don Cristóbal, a rich old, lazy lump with a big billy club. Directed by Yvonne Duque-Guerrero
Aug. 1-24: Old Mother West Wind. This Johnny Simons and Douglas Balentine original musical features music direction by John Dyer and Joe Rogers. The show will be performed for the first time since its debut in 1978.
Sept. 5-28: Heartbreak House by George Bernard Shaw. The setting for the play is a wild dinner party filled with a comical web of love triangles and business dealings. Directed by Emily Scott Banks.
Oct. 10-Nov. 2: Frankenstein. This stage adaptation of the horror classic will be directed by Cranshaw.
New Texas Symphony Orchestra launches national search for Artistic Director and Conductor
NTSO has announced a nationwide search for a new Artistic Director and Conductor to lead the organization into its next chapter. As Dallas’s premier all-volunteer community orchestra, the NTSO is dedicated to enriching lives through music, fostering community connections, and providing opportunities for musicians of all skill levels.
This search follows the conclusion of Dr. Kathryn D. Brownlee’s tenure as conductor in 2025. Brownlee, who founded the organization more than 20 years ago, will shift into an advisory role through 2026 to ensure a smooth leadership transition. She will also continue to serve on the NTSO Board of Directors.
“We are seeking a visionary leader who will not only uphold the NTSO’s legacy of artistic excellence but also inspire our musicians and community as we enter an exciting new chapter,” said Steven D. Couch, chair of the search committee. “This is a rare opportunity for a conductor passionate about community engagement and the transformative power of music to make a lasting impact.”
The Artistic Director and Conductor will oversee the orchestra’s artistic vision and operational development. Responsibilities include conducting rehearsals and performances, designing concert seasons, and collaborating with local artists and organizations. The position also involves developing outreach programs that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion, ensuring the orchestra’s music is accessible to all.
Interested and qualified candidates can apply for the position here.
–Rich Lopez