Claybourne Elder-Directed SPELLING BEE and More Set For Cape Playhouse 2026 Season

The Cape Playhouse has announced its 2026 summer line-up, in advance of its centennial on July 4, 2027. The lineup will include a production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, directed by Claybourne Elder. The Playhouse has seen a renaissance since the pandemic and is offering its largest season in its 99th year history.

“A 100th birthday is extremely rare for any theater company, but for The Cape Playhouse, where Broadway legends have shaped its history beginning with Bette Davis’s debut, there’s much to celebrate. That’s even more true with the extraordinary growth the theater has seen over the past few years,” said Artistic Director Eric Rosen, now in his third season. “This summer, we can’t wait to greet over 50,000 audience members with a season of joy and celebration in the way that only great musical theater can create.” 

The season kicks off on June 3 with Nat Zegree’s MOZART TO POP CHART, a blockbuster theatrical event that explores and explodes the musical traditions that give contemporary music its beating heart.

Next, Artistic Director, Eric Rosen will direct the Playhouse premiere of Stephen Sondheim classic, INTO THE WOODS - one of the most beloved musicals in the canon. Into the Woods evokes the classic Grimms Brothers fairy tales - Little Red, a baker and his wife, Jack and a certain beanstalk, and a certain princess with a lost slipper - and, with a brilliant score by our best composer, weaves a story that is surprising, harrowing, and ultimately joyful.  

In July, Playhouse audiences will experience a wild romp through the early 1960s with HAIRSPRAY, the Tony Award–winning Best Musical, directed by Meredith McDonough.  The show takes us back to the post-war moment in which music led the way for a cultural transformation led by teenagers dancing the Madison. In August, the beloved Broadway smash hit, MEAN GIRLS, Tina Fey’s genre defining comedy about what some girls will do to fit in, and what happens when they break free. Mean Girls will be directed and choreographed by Playhouse favorite, Al Blackstone.

The summer season will conclude in September with the Tony Award®–winning Best Musical, THE 25th ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE, directed by The Gilded Age’s Claybourne Elder. One of the funniest, most heart-warming musicals in recent memory, Spelling Bee takes us back to the world of hyper-competitive awkward adolescents vying for a dream - in a show that is pure musical-comedy heaven. 

The Cape Playhouse 2026 summer season will run June 3 to September 19 at the historic Cape Playhouse in Dennis, MA.

Nat Zegree’s MOZART to POP CHART

Directed by Kenneth Ferrone
June 3-20

Nat Zegree has wowed Playhouse audiences with phenomenal sold-out performances in Million Dollar Quartet and The History of Rock ‘n Roll. He’s back with his biggest triumph yet - a fully realized theatrical concert exploring and exploding the musical traditions that give contemporary music its beating heart. With musical performances by Nat and a cast of Broadway singers and musicians, this thrilling entertainment will have audiences dancing in the aisles, thanks to his unparalleled showmanship and joyful expression of the canon - both historical and of the current moment. 

INTO THE WOODS

Music by Stephen Sondheim
Book by James Lapine
Directed by Eric Rosen
Choreographed by Betty Weinberger
June 24 - July 11

Take a journey this summer into the genius of the greatest musical theater composer of the last century, Stephen Sondheim, with his most popular and beloved classic. Into the Woods starts with fairy tales we all know from childhood - that hungry girl with the red cape on her way to grandma’s, the boy with the axe and dream of felling a giant, a baker and his wife longing for a child, a secret princess with a missing shoe – and explores the mysteries of the fairy tale in a powerful, thrilling, and ultimately joyful examination of the myths that teach us how to be human.  Beloved for nearly 40 years, this is the first time the Playhouse has journeyed into the woods. 

HAIRSPRAY

Music by Marc Shaiman and Scott Whitman
Book by Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meahan
Based on the film by John Waters
Directed by Meredith McDonough
Choreographed by Felicity Stiverson
July 15-August 8

The 1950s are out, and change is in the air! Hairspray, winner of eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical, is a joyful romp through the early 1960s - a time in which traditional roles were about to clash with counterculture, yielding a whole new way of being a community. Based on Cape Cod’s beloved John Waters’ iconic film, Hairspray is filled to the brim with laughter, romance and deliriously tuneful songs.

It's 1962 in Baltimore, and the lovable plus-size teen, Tracy Turnblad, has only one desire – to dance on the popular "Corny Collins Show." When her dream comes true, Tracy finds herself in a struggle for integration that pits her against the reigning Teen Queen. Full of period charm and dance that will take you back in time, it reminds us of the power of music to change the world for the better - because, after all, you can’t stop the beat!

MEAN GIRLS

Music by Jeff Richmond and Nell Benjamin
Book by Tina Fey
Directed and Choreographed by Al Blackstone
August 12-August 29

Mean Girls is the rare gem of a story that has delighted audiences for the last 20 years - from Tina Fey’s breakout film in 2004 that brought Regina George and the Plastics to life, to the beloved Broadway smash hit-- this show is a wonderfully relatable examination of stereotypes and roles and the ability to influence culture. Cady Heron may have grown up on an African savanna, but nothing prepared her for the wild and vicious ways of her strange new home in the American suburbs. With her singular wit, both loving and acerbic, Fey conjures a classic underdog story with characters that are now part of our cultural fabric - and the musical version brings that dynamic energy crashing onto the Playhouse stage. Directed and choreographed by Playhouse favorite Al Blackstone (Anastasia, An American in Paris), there is something for everyone in this production, from the popular to the outcast and everyone in between.

THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE

Book by Rachel Sheinkin
Music by William Finn
Directed by Claybourne Elder
September 2-September 19

Six awkward spelling champions learn that winning (and losing) isn't everything.