Theatre Raleigh’s 2024 Main Stage Season
Tick, Tick…Boom!
April 10th – 21st, 2024 | De Ann S. Jones Theatre
Before Rent, there was Tick, Tick… Boom! This autobiographical musical by Jonathan Larson, the Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning composer of Rent, is the story of a composer and the sacrifices that he made to achieve his big break in theatre. His girlfriend wants to get married and move out of the city, his best friend is making big bucks on Madison Avenue and, yet Jon is still waiting on tables and trying to write the great American musical. Set in 1990, this compelling story of personal discovery is presented as a rock musical filled with instantly appealing melodies and a unique blend of musical theatre styles.Everyone will love this youthful, endearing, and thoughtful piece, and will surely embrace the universal ideal of holding onto your dreams through life’s most difficult challenges. Tick, Tick… Boom!
Jane Eyre
May 29th – June 9th, 2024| De Ann S. Jones Theatre
Nominated for five Tony Awards, Jane Eyre explores religion, sexuality and proto feminism, all while enchanting audiences with a timeless love story.
Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
July 17th – 28th, 2024| De Ann S. Jones Theatre
Winner of the 2013 Tony Award® for Best Play. Winner of the 2013 New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Play, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play, Drama League Award for Outstanding Production of a Play.
Middle-aged siblings Vanya and Sonia share a home in Bucks County, PA, where they bicker and complain about the circumstances of their lives. Suddenly, their movie-star sister, Masha, swoops in with her new boy toy, Spike. Old resentments flare up, eventually leading to threats to sell the house. Also on the scene are sassy maid Cassandra, who can predict the future, and a lovely young aspiring actress named Nina, whose prettiness somewhat worries the imperious Masha.
Bull Durham, A New Musical
Sep 10th – 22nd, 2024|Duke University, Reynolds Industries Theater
Bull Durham, A New Musical is based on the classic MGM film, tells the story of three lives brought together by America’s two favorite pastimes: baseball and love. Veteran catcher ‘Crash’ Davis has been brought to the Durham Bulls to prepare rookie Ebby Calvin ‘Nuke’ LaLoosh, a hot rod pitcher with a ‘million dollar arm and a five cent head! for the majors. Annie Savoy, self-appointed high priestess and muse of the Bulls, has a hard decision to make – every season she transforms one lucky player from an also-ran to an all-star by sharing with them her wisdom, experience, and bed. The love triangle heats up quickly as each character struggles with their own desires and hopes for what the future holds. Bull Durham is a pitch perfect blend of comedy, drama, and steamy romance. Bull Durham, A New Musical is written by the film’s original screenwriter, Ron Shelton (writer and director of Bull Durham, White Men Can’t Jump and Tin Cup), who has adapted his screenplay for the musical, which has music and lyrics by Susan Werner.
Curse of the Starving Class
Nov 6th – 17th|De Ann S. Jones Theatre
The setting is a farmhouse in the American West, inhabited by a family who has enough to eat but not enough to satisfy the other hungers that bedevil them. The father is a drunk; the mother a frowzy slattern; the daughter precocious beyond her years; and the son a deranged idealist. As the family decides to sell the house to raise money, the mother talks of running off to Europe or Mexico; the father sobers up and tries to take control; the daughter is blown up in the family car; and the son is left brutalized and bloodied. In the end the characters become a metaphor for the underside of American life—benighted innocents pursuing a dream that remains beyond their reach. Winner of the 1977 Obie Award for Best New American Play.