News on your favorite shows, specials & more!

CHANCE THEATER


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A Fantabulous Holiday Musical
12/6 - 12/22/2024


» A Holiday Musical for the Whole Family Returns! Stay tuned for the announcement of a second holiday musical that is back by popular demand ...

Jane Austen's Emma
11/29 - 12/22/2024


Herberger Theater Center: - book: Paul Gordon; lyrics: Paul Gordon; music: Paul Gordon; dir: David Ira Goldstein, Stephen Wrentmore....

Jane Austen’s Emma, The Musical


On the Cripe Stage…  Jane Austen’s enduring love story is brought to life as a romantic-comedy musical. The story revolves around Emma, a well-meaning, but ...


RELATED STORIES

SPRING AWAKENING; TICK, TICK...BOOM!; and More Set For the Chance Theater 2025 Season


by Stephi Wild - November 12, 2024

Chance Theater has announced its 2025 season, featuring bold, groundbreaking musicals, regional premieres, a world premiere from the company's inaugural resident playwright, and beloved holiday and family classics....

FANCY NANCY SPLENDIFEROUS CHRISTMAS Set for Chance Theater This December


by Blair Ingenthron - November 02, 2024

Chance Theater, Anaheim's official resident theater company, will present the encore presentation of Fancy Nancy, Splendiferous Christmas, the delightful stage adaptation of the beloved book series by Jane O'Connor, illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser, from December 6, 2024 — December 22, 2024....

EMMA THE MUSICAL Comes to Chance Theater


by Stephi Wild - October 29, 2024

Chance Theater has announced the highly anticipated return of Jane Austen’s Emma, The Musical, directed by Chance Theater Founding Resident Artist Casey Long. This enchanting adaptation by Paul Gordon brings Austen’s timeless tale of romance and matchmaking to life on the Bette Aitken theater arts C...

Review: Chance Theater Presents OC Premiere of Dark Comedy GLORIA


by Michael Quintos - October 11, 2024

Offering a sharp and multi-layered commentary on modern workplace culture, unchecked ambition, and the public-stoked commodification of trauma, playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' intriguing play GLORIA—a riveting new dark comedy that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize—is currently having its OC p...

GLORIA to Headline Chance Theater Beginning in September


by Blair Ingenthron - August 24, 2024

Chance Theater, Anaheim's official resident theater company, has announced the Orange County Premiere of Gloria, the provocative and darkly comedic play by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. Directed by the award-winning Marya Mazor, Gloria will run at the Bette Aitken Theater Arts Center from September 27 to ...

Chance Theater Presents SWEENEY TODD, THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET


by A.A. Cristi - August 08, 2024

Chance Theater in Anaheim extends its run of SWEENEY TODD through August 18th. Don't miss this thrilling production of the classic musical....

Photos: First Look At SWEENEY TOOD At Chance Theater In Anaheim


by A.A. Cristi - July 18, 2024

Chance Theater has released production photos of 'Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street,' directed by Chance Theater Literary Manager, James Michael Mchale. ...

Staged Redaing of TENDERNESS AND GRATITUDE NUMBER FOUR Comes to the Chance Theater


by Stephi Wild - June 21, 2024

Chance Theater will host a special staged reading of 'Tenderness and Gratitude Number Four,' a poignant new play written by the acclaimed Enid Graham. This event is part of Chance Theater's 'On the Radar' (OTR) series....

Chance Theater Participates in the impACT Anaheim Giving Day


by Stephi Wild - May 31, 2024

 Anaheim’s official resident theater company has announced its participation in the impACT Anaheim Giving Day, a community-wide event dedicated to supporting local nonprofits and their impactful initiatives....

Review: Chance Theater Stages OC Premiere of ALMA


by Michael Quintos - May 24, 2024

Having its OC Premiere at Chance Theater in Anaheim, CA through May 31, ALMA—the touching, poignant, and very timely play written by Benjamin Benne—delves dramatically into the complex, sometimes contentious, but achingly relatable relationship between a struggling single immigrant mother and her sm...

Past Shows

Gloria
Gloria
9/27 - 10/20/2024


On the Cripe Stage… Style. Status. Success. A group of twentysomething editorial assistants are pursuing it all at one of New York’s most esteemed cultural ...


From the writer of last season’s Colonialism is Terrible, But Phở is Delicious comes a brand new play that is so new that we don’t ...

A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream
9/27 - 10/6/2024


Experience the Magic of Shakespeare's Enchanted Comedy! Dive into the whimsical world of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," where love, magic, and mischief collide under ...

Sweeney Todd
7/12 - 8/18/2024


Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler, is a darkly gripping musical thriller that has garnered numerous accolades, ...

Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street


On the Cripe Stage… In a barber shop above Mrs. Lovett’s struggling pie shop, Sweeney Todd plots revenge on the lecherous judge who wronged him ...

OTR: Tenderness and Gratitude Number Four


OTR New Play Staged Reading

Fancy Nancy, The Musical
Fancy Nancy, The Musical
5/24 - 6/9/2024


On the Cripe Stage… This TYA favorite returns to the Chance for the seventh time. Bring the family and watch as Fancy Nancy and her ...

OTR: Boat Show


Staged reading of a new play by 2024 Resident Playwright Dustin H. Chinn

Alma
Alma
5/3 - 5/26/2024


On the Fyda-Mar Stage… Alma and her daughter, Angel, made sixteen wishes long ago: good health, love, carne asada every day, perfect SAT scores, and ...

Tiny Beautiful Things
Tiny Beautiful Things
4/5 - 4/28/2024


On the Cripe Stage… Based on the best-selling book by Cheryl Strayed (now a Hulu series, starring Kathryn Hahn), Tiny Beautiful Things follows the relationships ...

OTR: Call Your Mother


This new play will be presented as a reading. Readings are an essential part of the play development process. We are proud to offer this ...

Hedwig and The Angry Inch
Hedwig and The Angry Inch
1/26 - 2/25/2024


On the Cripe Stage… This groundbreaking Obie-winning Off-Broadway smash that took Broadway by storm tells the story of “internationally ignored song stylist” Hedwig Schmidt, a ...

OTR: Lipstick Lobotomy


This new play will be presented as a reading. Readings are an essential part of the play development process. We are proud to offer this ...

Fancy Nancy Splendiferous Christmas


What could be fancier than Christmas? Presents with elegant wrapping paper, festive decorations, Christmas cookies with sprinkles – and who could forget the tree? After ...

The Secret Garden, The Musical
The Secret Garden, The Musical
11/24 - 12/23/2023


Based on the popular children’s book of the same name,  The Secret Garden  follows the story of Mary Lennox, a young British girl born and ...

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time


Fifteen-year-old math whiz Christopher Boone lives with his divorced dad in Swinton, a working-class town west of London. After being falsely accused of killing a ...

OTR: Such Small Hands


Long-married couple Paul and Marie are the center of this moving new play about love, aging, selfishness, and selflessness. As Paul’s illness progresses, he can ...

OTR: Norine & the King of Swatsville


In July of 1903, famed baseball player Edward “Big Ed” Delahanty was found dead at the base of the Niagara Falls gorge. Now, Ed’s widow, ...

OTR: The Bed Trick
OTR: The Bed Trick
8/23 - 8/26/2023


College freshmen Lulu and Marianne test their limits as they party through the school year, in search of their place in the world. Marianne, newly ...

RENT
RENT
7/21 - 8/20/2023


“VIVA LA VIE CHANCE” “extraordinarily well-cast” “the characters are all well-lived-in and the troupe’s chemistry shines with love, giving us many compelling moments” “Director Matthew ...

Rent
7/21 - 8/20/2023


RENT: DOWNTOWN LA takes place in a warehouse in industrial downtown Los Angeles, where an artistic renaissance is underway in the vein of 1990s Alphabet ...

Fancy Nancy The Musical
Fancy Nancy The Musical
5/26 - 6/17/2023


This TYA favorite returns to the Chance for the sixth time. Bring the family and watch as Fancy Nancy and her friends Bree, Rhonda, Wanda, ...

Matinicus: The Story of Abigail Burgess


Based on the true story of Abigail Burgess, a young lighthouse keeper’s daughter, living on a rock 25 miles off the coast of Maine, this ...

Colonialism is Terrible But Phở is Delicious


WORLD PREMIERE! This biting comedy spans centuries, continents, and cultures in its three-part vignette structure. Beginning in 1880s Hanoi, the capital city of French Indochina, ...

Stand-Up Tuesdays


Get ready to laugh your Chance off at Stand-Up Tuesdays! Host Mark Christopher Lawrence taps into his extensive list of talented comedian friends and shares ...

Cheese, The Musical - Staged Singing


This new play will be presented as a reading. Readings are an essential part of the play development process. We are proud to offer this ...

Ride the Cyclone - Extended through March 5 by Popular Demand!


When life goes off the rails, we discover what really matters. Chance Theater’s critically-acclaimed California premiere of the bracingly funny, supremely inventive musical journey with ...

Exotic Deadly, or The MSG Play - Staged Reading


It’s 1999, and Ami is an awkward, Japanese American high school girl, just trying to stay as invisible as possible. But her world comes crashing ...

Fancy Nancy Splendiferous Christmas


What could be fancier than Christmas? Presents with elegant wrapping paper, festive decorations, Christmas cookies with sprinkles and who could forget the tree? After all, ...

Little Women
11/25 - 12/23/2022


Little Women, the beloved coming-of-age story by Louisa May Alcott, bursts onto the stage in this heartwarming and captivating full-length musical. Follow the adventures of ...

Little Women
11/25 - 12/23/2022


Little Women, the beloved coming-of-age story by Louisa May Alcott, bursts onto the stage in this heartwarming and captivating full-length musical. Follow the adventures of ...

Little Women - The Broadway Musical


From the novel that holds a special place in the heart of American literature, comes a new musical that proves this timeless story is still ...

The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity


Experience pro wrestling in a whole new light or perhaps for the first time in Kristoffer Diazs Pulitzer Prize-nominated play. Chad Deity follows the life ...

A Thousand Maids: OTR Reading


In every artistic context, the imagery of a woman of color in a maids uniform will immediately spark controversy. A Thousand Maids looks at this ...

A Thousand Maids: OTR Reading


In every artistic context, the imagery of a woman of color in a maids uniform will immediately spark controversy. A Thousand Maids looks at this ...

We Ain't Ever Gonna Break Up - The Hymon & Parfunkle Story


We Aint Ever Gonna Break Up: The Hymon & Parfunkel Story is the first jukebox musical about, and featuring the songs of, a band that ...

American Idiot
7/15 - 8/21/2022


American Idiot is a sung-through rock musical based on the concept album of the same name by rock band Green Day. After a run at ...

American Idiot
7/15 - 8/14/2022


American Idiot is a sung-through rock musical based on the concept album of the same name by rock band Green Day. After a run at ...

Green Day's American Idiot
Green Day's American Idiot
7/15 - 8/14/2022


Slinging razor guitars, thundering drums, and an anti-hero named Johnny. Not the prelude of typical entries in the canon of musical theatre. But these elements ...

HONGO: OTR Staged Reading
HONGO: OTR Staged Reading
8/3 - 8/7/2022


Gifted scientist Dr. Mirian Reyes has discovered a method of using mycelium cells to heal damaged brains. So when her radically progressive son, Dagoberto, is ...

Fancy Nancy The Musical
Fancy Nancy The Musical
5/27 - 6/19/2022


This TYA favorite returns to the Chance for the fifth time. Bring the family and watch as Fancy Nancy and her friends Bree, Rhonda, Wanda, ...

Matinicus: A Lighthouse Play


Matinicus: A Lighthouse Play is based on the true story of Abigail Burgess, a young lighthouse keepers daughter, living on a rock 25 miles off ...

Cry It Out
Cry It Out
4/1 - 5/1/2022


Dirty diapers, breast pumps and 2 a.m. feedings, are enough to give anyone sleepless nights Not to mention the need for a strong cup of ...

Crimson Lit - Scarlet Letter Setlist


You’re not going to want to miss the staged reading of the updated version of this brand new pulpy riot grrrl musical adaptation of The ...

The Empress of Oz
The Empress of Oz
4/13 - 4/27/2022


There’s no place like a  No MSG Added  sketch show where we seek to define the BRAIN, HEART, COURAGE, and HOME of being Asian American. ...

The Empress of Oz
The Empress of Oz
4/13 - 4/27/2022


There’s no place like a  No MSG Added  sketch show where we seek to define the BRAIN, HEART, COURAGE, and HOME of being Asian American. ...

Next To Normal
Next To Normal
1/28 - 3/6/2022


See the groundbreaking smash hit musical that won the Pulitzer Prize and three Tony Awards during its acclaimed run on Broadway. With a thrilling contemporary ...

They Could Give No Name: OTR Staged Reading


This new play will be presented as a reading. Readings are an essential part of the play development process. We are proud to offer this ...

Exotic Deadly, or The MSG Play - Staged Reading


It’s 1999, and Ami is an awkward, Japanese American high school girl, just trying to stay as invisible as possible. But her world comes crashing ...

A Charlie Brown Christmas
A Charlie Brown Christmas
12/3 - 12/19/2021


Everyones favorite holiday classic comes to life in the all-new stage adaptation! Join Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy, Linus, and the whole Peanuts gang as they ...

Striking 12
Striking 12
11/26 - 12/19/2021


Striking 12 is a unique hybrid of riveting musical theater and an electrifying pop-rock concert. It tells the story of a grumpy, overworked New Yorker ...

Actually
9/24 - 10/24/2021


Chance Theater Anna Ziegler...

Yellowman
Yellowman
9/24 - 10/24/2021


The Pulitzer Prize Finalist Yellowman makes its Orange County premiere this Fall at Chance Theater. A celebration of language and the human spirit, Yellowman is ...

The Queer Couch
The Queer Couch
8/19 - 8/22/2021


Zayn, Nola, and Tia are three friends at Kennedy College who are each having trouble moving past the misery and humiliation of their high school ...

Edges
Edges
7/9 - 8/8/2021


Before they wrote Dear Evan Hansen, La La Land, The Greatest Showman, Dogfight, and many other modern musical classics, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul wrote ...

Shooter!
Shooter!
8/4


Professor Leia is befuddled by the task of ushering undergrads into the dramatic principles of playwriting and life lessons simultaneously. When a student brings in ...

The Story of My Life
4/30 - 6/6/2021


Chance Theater has announced that the Orange County premiere of Neil Bertram and Brian Hill's musical, The Story of My Life will be the first ...


Chance Theater will be working with Aurora Theatre Company for the first time to produce a livestream staged reading of Dustin Chinn's Colonialism is Terrible, ...

Little Women
11/27


Little Women, the beloved coming-of-age story by Louisa May Alcott, bursts onto the stage in this heartwarming and captivating full-length musical. Follow the adventures of ...


Chance Theater has announced its next Chance Cyber Chat will be about the critically-lauded What The Constitution Means To Me, written and performed by Heidi ...

BILLY ELLIOT THE MUSICAL
6/19 - 7/19/2020


Billy Elliot the Musical is a joyous celebration of one young boy’s journey to make his dreams come true based on the smash-hit independent film ...

Yellowman
4/24 - 5/24/2020


A Pulitzer finalist, Yellowman is a powerful and fascinating drama about racial prejudice within the African-American Gullah/Geechee culture in the Sea Islands off South Carolina. ...

Fun Home
1/31 - 3/1/2020


Fun Home is a Tony Award-winning musical based on Alison Bechdel's 2006 graphic memoir of the same name. The musical features music by Jeanine Tesori ...

A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS
12/6 - 12/29/2019


All of your favorite peanut characters come to life in the this stage production of "A Charlie Brown Christmas". When Charlie Brown complains about the ...

Anne of Green Gables
11/22 - 12/22/2019


book: Joseph Robinette; lyrics: Evelyn D. Swensson; music: Evelyn D. Swensson; dir: Casey Long....

Goosebumps
10/4 - 10/27/2019


book: John Maclay; lyrics: Danny Abosch, John Maclay; music: Danny Abosch; dir: Darryl B. Hovis....

The Vandal
9/20 - 10/20/2019


Hamish Linklater Atlantic Beach Experimental Theatre...

RAGTIME
6/28 - 8/11/2019


Written by the award-winning composer/lyricist team of Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens (Once on This Island, Seussical and Lucky Stiff), noted playwright Terrence McNally, and ...

Tigers Be Still
5/3 - 6/2/2019


by Kim Rosenstock TIGERS BE STILL is a comedy that follows the misadventures of Sherry Wickman, a young woman who has recently earned her masters ...


Roald Dahl's fantastical tale of a boy, his insect friends and their amazing journey across the ocean on a giant piece of fruit. (One-Act Version)...

A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS
12/7 - 12/23/2018


All of your favorite peanut characters come to life in the this stage production of "A Charlie Brown Christmas". When Charlie Brown complains about the ...

BIG FISH SMALL CAST EDITION
6/29 - 7/29/2018


Based on the celebrated novel by Daniel Wallace and the acclaimed film directed by Tim Burton, BIG FISH centers on Edward Bloom, a traveling salesman ...

VIOLET
2/2 - 3/4/2018


Winner of the Drama Critics' Circle Award and Lucille Lortel Award for Best Musical when it premiered Off-Broadway in 1997, and then on to a ...

BILLY ELLIOT THE MUSICAL
6/30 - 7/30/2017


Billy Elliot the Musical is a joyous celebration of one young boy’s journey to make his dreams come true based on the smash-hit independent film ...

PARADE
6/30 - 7/30/2017


The Tony Award-winning musical drama Parade features the true story of Leo Frank’s trial and lynching in early 20th-century Atlanta. Ostracized for his faith and ...


Flat Stanley, the beloved children's book written by Jeff Brown in 1964 has become a literary and pop cultural phenomenon - delighting readers and travelers ...

LITTLE WOMEN
11/25 - 12/23/2016


Little Women, the beloved coming-of-age story by Louisa May Alcott, bursts onto the stage in this heartwarming and captivating full-length musical. Follow the adventures of ...

DOGFIGHT
2/5 - 3/6/2016


The hauntingly beautiful musical, Dogfight, by Pasek and Paul (Edges, James and the Giant Peach, A Christmas Story) and Peter Duchan, was praised by countless ...

SHE LOVES ME
11/28 - 12/28/2014


Set amidst the charming chaos of a 1930s Budapest perfume shop, She Loves Me blossoms with mistaken identities, witty banter, and heartwarming romance. We meet ...

In the Heights
In the Heights
7/3 - 8/3/2014


IN THE HEIGHTS tells the universal story of a vibrant community in New York Music and Lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda; Book by Quiara Alegr...


BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON  creators Michael Friedman and Alex Timbers cook up an alternate universe (and draw parallels to today's political/populist landscape) with their musical ...


BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON  creators Michael Friedman and Alex Timbers cook up an alternate universe (and draw parallels to today's political/populist landscape) with their musical ...

LITTLE WOMEN
11/16 - 2/28/2013


Based on Louisa May Alcott's own family experiences (and novel), LITTLE WOMEN , follows the adventures of Jo, Meg, Beth and Amy March as they ...

LITTLE WOMEN
11/16 - 12/23/2012


Based on Louisa May Alcott's own family experiences (and novel), LITTLE WOMEN , follows the adventures of Jo, Meg, Beth and Amy March as they ...


Little Women: The Broadway Musical brings the classic coming-of-age novel to the stage, filled with drama, romance, humor and song. Rambunctious Jo, practical Meg, sweet ...

Boom
9/21 - 10/21/2012


“Sex to change the course of the world…” With this line from a personal ad, marine biology grad student Jules lures journalism student Jo to ...

WEST SIDE STORY
7/6 - 8/13/2012


The world's greatest love story takes to the streets in this landmark Broadway musical that is one of the theatre's finest accomplishments. Shakespeare's Romeo and ...

West Side Story
7/6 - 8/12/2012


More than fifty years ago, a show about rival gangs in New York City changed musical theater forever. As powerful and timely today as ever, ...

Videos


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Leslie Odom, Jr. The Christmas Tour - Deck the Hall Holiday Concerts in Los Angeles Leslie Odom, Jr. The Christmas Tour - Deck the Hall Holiday Concerts
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School for Scandal in Los Angeles School for Scandal
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El Portal Theatre (11/16 - 11/17)
Four Top in Los Angeles Four Top
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