LITTLE MISS PERFECT World Premiere & More Set for Olney Theatre 2024-25 Season

Olney Theatre Center will present Disney’s Frozen (October 24, 2024 - January 5, 2025) and Waitress (February 13 - March 30, 2025) as two exclusive regional premieres in its 2024-2025 season. Other highlights of the seven-show lineup include Little Miss Perfect (May 15 - June 22, 2025) a World Premiere musical by viral sensation Joriah Kwamé; an acclaimed solo performance by Tony Award-winner John Rubinstein in Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground (September 27 - October 20, 2024); the U.S. Premiere of Olivier Award-nominated London hit, Sleepova by Matilda Feyiṣayọ Ibini (March 26 - April 27, 2025); the original dramatic comedy that inspired the beloved Netflix series Kim’s Convenience by Ins Choi (June 25 - July 27, 2025); and the residency of the acclaimed Synetic Theatre and their multiple-Helen Hayes Award-winning wordless adaptation of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (July 17 - August 10, 2025).  Across the country, Olney Theatre’s production of Avaaz, written and performed by Michael Shayan, begins a national tour with stops at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts (October 4 – November 17, 2024) with other venues still to come in 2025. 

"The most dynamic and diverse season I've ever curated," said Olney Theatre’s Artistic Director Jason Loewith, “This is one of the most dynamic and diverse seasons I’ve ever curated, bringing together extraordinary presented work from around the country and close to home, resident premieres of the hottest Broadway shows in recent memory, and of course - so close to my heart - amazing new work.  Introducing our audiences to rising star Joriah Kwamé and British phenom Matilda Feyiṣayọ Ibini gives me particular pride.  It’s a season with almost 300 performances, and I can’t wait to hear what our audiences think of this incredibly eclectic lineup.” 
 
In addition to the seven-show member season, Paul Morella’s solo  A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas returns to the Mulitz-Gudelsky Theatre Lab (November 29 - December 29). This will be the 15th edition of the holiday favorite, a family tradition for many in the area, beloved for using the Victorian language of Dickens’ original story for over 99% of its script.

Kevin McAllister, Director of Curated Programs, also announced the lineup for the 3rd year of Olney Outdoors in the new Omi Pavillion on the Root Family Stage. Beginning with a concert featuring Tony Award-winner Norm Lewis (July 25), the summer program includes six weeks of entertainment under the stars with diverse acts ranging from acclaimed tribute bands like Better Off Dead (July 27), Eclipse - A Journey Tribute (August 3),  Rockabilly Rumble (August 10), Almost Queen (August 24), and Satisfaction (August 31); to comedy headliners including Glen Tickle (July 26), James Lawson (August 9), and Patrice DeVeaux (August 23); Sunday Drag Shows hosted by Evon Michelle Dior of SadBrunch (July 28, August 11, and 25),  Cabarets featuring popular local actors saluting the songs of Dolly Parton (August 2), Fleetwod Mac (August 8), Joni Mitchell (August 16), and Reba McEntire (August 30); and programs for kids. The full schedule is now available at olneyoutdoors.com. Tickets go on sale 
 
Curtain times for Olney Theatre productions are somewhat different for the 2024-2025 Season. Most evening performances will begin at 7:30 pm and matinees at 1:30 pm, except for Disney’s Frozen which will perform at 7:00 pm in the evening and at 1:00 pm for matinees. Also, select Sunday evening performances at 7:00 pm will be added to the schedule of each run. All opening night press performances are at 8:00 pm. Multi-play season memberships cost between $153 - $441. Single tickets go on sale later in the summer.
 

The New Los Angeles Repertory Company production of

Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground

by Richard Hellesen
Directed by Peter Ellenstein
September 27 - October 20, 2024
Press Night: September 28, 2024
The Mulitz-Gudelsky Theatre Lab
 
Tony Award winner John Rubinstein (Pippin, Children of a Lesser God) stars as President Dwight D. Eisenhower in this candid and fascinating fictional eavesdropping on the 34th President at his Gettysburg, Pennsylvania farm. It is 1962 and The New York Times Magazine has published its first list ranking the American Presidents in order of greatness, and poor Ike is ranked 22nd of 31. Enraged at being called “mediocre,” he mounts a defense of his life and career - his Kansas upbringing, his decorated Army career, his victories in World War II, and his two terms as President – contemplating the qualities and adversities that make an American President great. Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground is adapted from a vast array of General Eisenhower's memoirs, speeches, and letters animated by a bravura performance by one of our great actors.
Photos for this production are available here with the password: press
 

Disney’s Frozen

The Broadway Musical
Book by Jennifer Lee
Originally directed on Broadway by Michael Grandage
Based on the Disney film written by Jennifer Lee and directed by Chris Buck & Jennifer Lee
Originally produced on Broadway by Disney Theatrical Productions
Music Directed by Christopher Youstra
Choreography by Kelly Crandall d’Amboise
Directed by Alan Muraoka
October 24, 2024 - January 5, 2025
Press Night: October 27, 2024
Roberts Mainstage
 
Starring Awa Sal Secka as Elsa and Alex De Bard as Anna

Disney has asked a select few regional theaters to take a shot at their own productions of this animated classic, and it’s no surprise that Olney Theatre Center got the call! Just as we’ve done with other Disney favorites like Mary Poppins and Beauty and the Beast, our production will deliver everything families love about the adventures of Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, and Olaf, along with a unique production you won’t experience anywhere else. Sesame Street’s Alan Muraoka (proprietor of Hooper’s Store and director of Olney Theatre’s South Pacific and Once On This Island) directs our biggest musical ever. So get your tickets early; this promises to be a show so epic you won’t want to “Let It Go.”  

 
Waitress

Book by Jessie Nelson
Music and Lyrics by Sara Bareilles
Based upon the motion picture written by Adrienne Shelly
Music Directed by Christopher Youstra
Directed and Choreographed by Marcia Milgrom Dodge
February 13, 2025 - March 30, 2025
Press Night: February 16, 2025
Roberts Mainstage
 
The beloved musical by Grammy Award-winner Sara Bareilles (“Brave” “Lovesong”) is yet another Olney Theatre Center Regional Premiere. Tony-nominated director Marcia Milgrom Dodge returns to the Roberts Mainstage (Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Once) for a new serving of one of the most mouth-watering American musicals of the century. Jenna is stuck in a lousy marriage and dreaming of an escape while she bakes pies and waits tables at her small town’s local diner. But it “Only Takes a Taste” of something different to spark some drastic changes – but are they for better or worse? With the help of her fellow waitresses and a cast of colorful characters, Jenna learns the winning recipe’s been hers from the start.

 
AMERICAN PREMIERE

Sleepova

By Matilda Feyiṣayọ Ibini
Directed by Paige Hernandez
March 26 - April 27, 2025
Press Night: March 29, 2025
Mulitz-Gudelsky Theatre Lab
 
Nominated for an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Affiliate Theatre and Winner of the Critics’ Circle Award for Most Promising Playwright
This fringe hit from London makes its U.S. Premiere in the Mulitz-Gudelsky Theatre Lab! Whether or not sleepover parties with friends were part of your upbringing, you’re invited to join Elle, Shan, Funmi, and Rey at theirs. These four Black British teenagers are growing up fast, each coping with their unique challenges of disability, sexuality, religion, and family. Their sleepover parties are a complex dance of adolescent bluster and aspirational performance, interspersed with moments of intimate honesty that seem to take them all by surprise. Most of all, Sleepova is a testament to the joys of friendship, centering a quartet of young women tentatively making their way in the world.
 

WORLD PREMIERE MUSICAL

Little Miss Perfect

Book, Music, and Lyrics by Joriah Kwamé
Directed by Zhailon Levingston
May 15 - June 22, 2025
Press Night: May 18, 2025
Roberts Mainstage
 
In association with Straighten Your Crown
 
Joriah Kwamé became a viral TikTok star with his song “Little Miss Perfect,” which garnered over ten million views and launched this new musical with Broadway aspirations. High school kids today are under a lot of stress. Just ask Noelle, the daughter of a prominent local deacon who has lived up to local expectations of social and academic excellence all her life. But now it’s senior year, and she’s barely holding on. Her GPA is in the dumps, college applications are looming, and now an exchange student from the Philippines living under her roof has her questioning her sexuality. Can Noelle make it to graduation, achieve her dreams, and still stay true to herself? Can anyone? Little Miss Perfect distills her experience with earworms aplenty and genuine warmth for even its most calculating characters.  Along with the title song, Joriah's hit, “Ordinary,” figures in the show, and his newest songs - like "Black Girl Magic," "Built For You," and "Something Big" are sure to go just as big.
 

Kim’s Convenience

By Ins Choi
Directed by Aria Velz
June 25 - July 27, 2025
Press Night: June 28, 2025
Mulitz-Gudelsky Theatre Lab
 
The inspiration for the hit Netflix series of the same name, Ins Choi’s award-winning comedy, introduces us to the Kims, a Korean immigrant family whose foibles belie serious tensions between assimilated daughter Janet and her parents. Located in Toronto’s rapidly gentrifying Roger’s Park, Appa has been offered a lucrative buy-out for his store. With Janet more invested in her photography career and his son Jung long-estranged, it may be his only option. Choi leavens the clash of old ways and new opportunities with a heavy dose of humor as Appa, Umma, Jung, and Janet attempt to heal old wounds.
 
 
Olney Theatre Center Presents
The Synetic Theater production of

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

By William Shakespare
Adapted by Ben Cunis and Paata Tsikurishvili
Directed by Paata Tsikurishvili
Choreographed by Irina Tsikurishvili
July 17 - August 10, 2025
Press Night: July 18, 2025
Roberts Mainstage
 
For over twenty years, in-the-know DC audiences have thrilled to the magic of wordless Shakespeare from Synetic Theatre, called by the Washington Post “the region’s premier troupe for physical theater.” Now, Olney Theatre Center introduces Maryland audiences to Synetic's thrilling, kinetic performances with one of their most acclaimed, groundbreaking productions! Love-drunk teens stumble upon a troupe of wannabe actors and find themselves caught in a war between the Fairy King and Queen…and that’s before one wily sprite intent on mischief-making sprinkles a little fairy dust. What could possibly go wrong?! This playful adaptation of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream features Synetic’s trademark wordless storytelling and is the winner of two Helen Hayes Awards for Outstanding Resident Play and Outstanding Ensemble.
 
SPECIAL EVENTS IN OLNEY AND AROUND THE COUNTRY

A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas

By Charles Dickens
Adapted and Performed by Paul Morella
November 29 - December 29
Press Night: December 7, 2024
Mulitz-Gudelsky Theatre Lab

Every year since 2009, before the Thanksgiving dishes are even dry, audiences have flocked to Olney Theatre Center to see award-winner Paul Morella in his bravura one-person performance of A Christmas Carol.  What separates Paul Morella’s version from all others is its faith in Dickens’ singular genius, by sticking to his original text for 99% of this acclaimed solo performance. That’s why our audiences have made this Ghost Story of Christmas an Olney tradition now in its 15th year.
 

National Tour of Avaaz

Written and Performed by Michael Shayan
Directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel
Denver Center for the Performing Arts Theatre Company: Oct. 4 – Nov. 17, 2024
Chicago Venue TBA
 
After receiving universally glowing reviews, we’re sending Emmy-nominee Michael Shayan’s solo show about his mother’s journey from Tehran to Tehran-geles on the road! More dates are being added and will be shared as they become available.
 

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