JELLY'S LAST JAM And More Annouced For Pasadena Playhouse 2023-24 Season

Pasadena Playhouse has announed its five mainstage productions for the 2023/2024 season, plus a new holiday tradition!

The season includes the world premiere of a new play by Gloria Calderón Kellett, One Of The Good Ones and the Los Angeles premiere of Adam Rapp’s The Sound Inside.

The season will also include a fresh take on Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee’s timeless classic Inherit the Wind and a new production of the Tony Award winning musical Jelly’s Last Jam, featuring a book by George C. Wolf, music by Jelly Roll Morton, and lyrics by Susan Birkenhead with musical adaptation and additional music composed by Luther Henderson.

Celebrated comedian Kate Berlant will also join the season with her acclaimed one woman tour de force KATE, direct from its smash New York engagement. There will also be an additional add-on offering from acclaimed theater maker, director and choreographer Sam Pinkleton, who will return to the Playhouse with the Pasadena Playhouse Holiday Variety Show. Creative teams and casting for all productions will be announced at a later date.
 
“Pasadena Playhouse continues to deliver a season full of bold theatrical adventures. At times suspenseful, hilarious, and always riveting, these extraordinary productions will give you a reason to leave the house and stay with you long after the curtain comes down” said Danny Feldman. He continues, “This season has it all: a masterfully written thriller, a classic courtroom drama for today, a one-woman show like you’ve never seen before, a world premiere comedy, and a wildly entertaining and powerful classic musical reborn. And a holiday show like no other you’ve seen. We can’t wait for everyone to join us!”
 
Memberships are now available at pasadenaplayhouse.org, or by calling 626-356-7529.  
 

The Sound Inside

 

September 6 – October 1, 2023

By Adam Rapp
 
Not everything is as it seems behind the ivy-covered walls of Yale, where an unlikely bond leads to an unthinkable favor. Writing professor Bella Baird is looking for answers, but a fateful encounter with a mysterious student could lead to life-changing consequences for both of them. Nominated for six Tony Awards, including Best Play, Pulitzer Prize finalist Adam Rapp’s haunting 90-minute thriller will leave you wondering who you can trust and remind you everyone has a story — the question is how it ends. Recipient of the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Broadway Play.
 

Inherit the Wind 

 

(November 1– November 26, 2023) 

By Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee
 
Two of the nation’s leading lawyers go head-to-head in the ultimate battle of wit, wisdom, and will in this powerful drama. With freedom of speech hanging in the balance, will this small-town courtroom bring us together or tear the nation apart? In a fresh production boldly reimagined for today, Inherit the Wind will make you rethink what you know and dare you to question just how much society has evolved.
 
“The subject of teaching evolution and religion in public schools is even more topical than it was when Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee’s worthy war horse first galloped onto Broadway more than half a century ago” (New York Times)
 

KATE  

 

(January 17 – February 11, 2024) 

Written and Performed by Kate Berlant
 
In her widely celebrated one-woman show, revered comedian Kate Berlant explores the events of her life that have brought her to this moment. Embodying many characters in this tour de force performance, she expertly morphs before our eyes and exposes a truth she has, until now, kept hidden. Originally directed by Bo Burnham.
 
Named a New York Times Critic’s Pick and one of the “Best of the Year” by the New York Times, Vanity Fair, Variety, Theatrely and more, Kate Berlant is KATE is “the one-woman show to end all one-woman shows” and “a dazzling hall of mirrors, a head-spinning exploration of narcissism, main character syndrome and our culture’s insatiable appetite for trauma. It’s also an undeniable celebration of Berlant’s Big Brain Energy” (The Guardian)
 

One Of The Good Ones

 

March 13 – April 7, 2024

By Gloria Calderón Kellett
 
The ultimate family showdown is on in the world premiere of this new comedy commissioned by Pasadena Playhouse. When the "perfect" Latina daughter brings her boyfriend home to meet the parents, her family's biases and preconceptions are put on full display. As tensions run high and hilarity ensues, everyone must navigate the ins and outs of family dynamics and the boundaries of acceptance — all while tackling the age-old question: what does it truly mean to be an American? Meet your new favorite family in this laugh-out-loud, heartfelt story from Gloria Calderón Kellett, the co-creator and showrunner of Netflix’s One Day at a Time.
 
Recipient of the Alma Award for Outstanding Writing for a Television Series (How I Met Your Mother) and the Image Award for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series (One Day at a Time), Gloria Calderón Kellett “has built a career making stories about Hispanic characters that lead with joy — notably, as a showrunner of the critically adored reboot of One Day at a Time…she has the kind of big den-mother energy that makes you want to go out and sell a shipping container’s worth of Girl Scout cookies and also become a slightly better person.” (New York Times)
 
 

Jelly’s Last Jam

 

May 28 – June 23, 2024

Book by George C. Wolfe

Music by Jelly Roll Morton

Lyrics by Susan Birkenhead

Musical Adaptation and Additional Music Composed By Luther Henderson
 
When legendary musician Jelly Roll Morton’s soul is forced to face the music, the self-proclaimed “inventor of jazz” is left at the ultimate crossroads. Follow Jelly from the back alleys of New Orleans to the sparkling stages of New York, as his remarkable journey unfolds in a stunning display of song, dance, and music. With soulful melodies, electrifying tap dancing, and fiery tunes that will leave you breathless, get your groove on with this dazzling musical masterpiece.
 
Recipient of three Tony Awards, six Drama Desk Awards, and three 1992 Outer Critics Circle Awards including Best Broadway Musical, Jelly’s Last Jam “makes the invention of jazz a miraculous, eruptive theatrical event… not merely an impressionistic biography of the man who helped ignite the 20th-century jazz revolution, but also a sophisticated attempt to tell the story of the birth of jazz in general and, through that story, the edgy drama of being black in the tumultuous modern America that percolated to jazz's beat” (New York Times)
 

Pasadena Playhouse Holiday Variety Show

 

December 9 – 23, 2023

Created by Sam Pinkleton
 
You better watch out, you better not cry, because something magical is coming to the Playhouse this holiday season. Sam Pinkleton, the creative mind behind 2021’s production of Head Over Heels, returns to the Playhouse to sleigh audiences with a brand-new holiday show that’s sure to leave you feeling merry and bright. So get ready to jingle all the way and join us for a holly jolly spectacular you'll never forget.
 
Tony Award Nominee for Best Choreography (Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812) and Co-director of Pasadena Playhouse’s acclaimed production of Head Over Heels,  Sam Pinkleton, as he told American Theatre, is “kind of only interested in theater that is also an event, where, when you leave, if you think you just saw a concert or you think you just saw a play or you think you just went to a party—you did, right?” 
 
Membership is our form of Subscription. It is the best and most cost-effective way to celebrate the season at the Playhouse and includes tickets/access to The Sound Inside, Inherit the Wind, Kate Berlant is KATE,  Jelly’s Last Jam, One Of The Good Ones, and discount and advance access to Pasadena Playhouse Holiday Variety Show.  With options starting at $150 for the PlayhousePass, there are packages for everyone. Members receive advanced access to tickets, significant discounts on tickets, waived fees and unprecedented flexibility, allowing patrons to experience live theater on their terms.
 

• Traditional Subscription/Classic Memberships: Receive tickets to all 5 mainstage productions with preassigned seats for the entire season. Packages start at $350.
• Dynamic Memberships: Prepaid access to all 5 mainstage productions, allowing you to pick your seats as you go (before tickets are available to the general public). Packages start at $300. 
• PlayhousePass: $150 annual membership fee unlocks access to $65 tickets for the best available seats to any production you want to attend, with advanced access to tickets before they go on sale to the public. (available Summer 2023)

 
More information on all these packages, or higher-level Memberships, can be found at pasadenaplayhouse.org/membership.
 
Pasadena Playhouse, the official State Theater of California and recipient of the 2023 Regional Theatre Tony Award, is one of the most prolific theaters in the country. The Playhouse has staged thousands of original productions since its founding in 1917 including premieres of works by Tennessee Williams, Eugene O’Neill, Suzan Lori Parks and hundreds more. For decades, its pioneering School for Theater Arts was a training ground for actors and theatermakers who went on to make significant contributions to the entertainment industry. Under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director Danny Feldman since 2016,  Pasadena Playhouse’s productions and community programs are centered on its founding idea of being a living force in its community, making theater for everyone.