Lance Avery Morgan
Expect Broadway Musicals, a Regional Premiere & A ZACH360 Immersive Family Favorite
By Lance Avery Morgan Photography courtesy of ZACH Theatre
We love that ZACH Theatre, Central Texas’ premier professional producing theatre, just announced its 2024-25 Season with five Mainstage and three Family Series productions along with Austin’s hottest holiday tradition, A Christmas Carol as a season add-on.
The 2024-25 Mainstage Season will kick off with Jersey Boys, the Grammy, Olivier, and four-time Tony Award winner, including Best Musical. This international musical phenomenon tells the story of the 1960s rock ’n ’ roll band, Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons through each group member’s eyes with dramatized stories covering the band’s climb to success with a high-energy evening that will have everyone singing the night away.
In Spring 2025, the Mainstage Season continues with the regional premiere of Bob & Jean: A Love Story, the stirring and romantic new play by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award®-winning playwright Robert Schenkkan. Based on recently discovered correspondence between Schenkkan’s parents during WWII, Bob & Jean tells the remarkable story of a tumultuous courtship and complexities of the human heart. The central character, Bob, has a decades-long tie to Austin, including the start of KUT and KLRU so no surprise as a native Austinite, Schenkkan brings his newest work home.
What the Constitution Means To Me, Obie Award winner Heidi Schreck’s hilarious, hopeful, and “achingly human” (Exeunt Magazine) exploration, will run in the Topfer at ZACH April-May 2025. This boundary-breaking play breathes life into the Constitution to create a timely conversation that is deeply personal.
“I’m ecstatic to be one of two theatres premiering Bob & Jean by Robert Schenkkan who has deep ties to Austin; and the remarkable and timely play What the Constitution Means To Me which is funny, thoughtful and extremely inspiring,” said Producing Artistic Director Dave Steakley. “We look forward to entertaining audiences with one of the most fun nights to be had with Jersey Boys, the perfect kind of musical for ZACH to create crowd-pleasing panache featuring the best voices.”
In an immersive ZACH360 experience, the Topfer at ZACH will transform with yellow brick roads for the journey to see the wonderful The Wizard of Oz directed by Producing Artistic Director Dave Steakley. Performed in the round with actors playing instruments, Dorothy and friends from L. Frank Baum’s classic novel come to life Summer 2025.
“I’m also very excited to create a new fully immersive ZACH 360 The Wizard of Oz experience for families and the young-at-heart. Inspired by our recent production of Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet…, the Topfer will reconfigure again into theatre-in-the-round, as we take it to the next level with the story set in Depression-era Kansas, a singing cowboy and cowgirl band greeting audiences with musical arrangements that spring out of the western heartland,” continues Steakley about the 2024-25 Season.
August 2025 will bring a soon-to-be-announced “Director’s Choice” production to the stage.
The ZACH Family Series includes Luna, running September 24 – November 17 written by Ramón Esquivel, this magical play for all ages reminds everyone they are not alone and how to reach out to build community. Based on the award-winning children’s book, audiences can hop on board for an unforgettable ride with Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! The Musical!, February – May, originally commissioned by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and first performed at the Kennedy Center during the 2019-20 season; and back by popular demand for the 2024 season, ZACH family favorite, the return of Holiday Heroes this holiday season.
Sold out five years in a row, the holiday season add-on returns with Dave Steakley’s modern hit musical and family-friendly adaptation of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens including new songs and surprises for the season. To sign up for updates on subscriptions, season info or general on sale, visit ZachTheatre.org/SeasonPreview.
