Children’s Theatre Company Reveals 2025-2026 Season Featuring THE WIZARD OF OZ and More

Children’s Theatre Company has revealed its 2025-2026 Season, the first season programmed by CTC Artistic Director Rick Dildine. The 2025-2026 Season will feature the swashbuckling adventure Treasure Island; the U.S. premiere of the smash hit U.K. musical Roald Dahl’s The Enormous Crocodile The Musical; the return of the beloved holiday favorite Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas!; the bilingual spectacle Go, Dog. Go! • Ve Perro ¡Ve!; the interactive experience Forts! Build Your Own Adventure; the prehistoric journey Dinosaur World Live; and a magical stage adaptation of The Wizard of Oz, based on the classic motion picture. 
 
The season begins with Treasure Island, the swashbuckling adventure in which gold-hungry pirates and not-so-noblemen are repeatedly outwitted by one clever boy. Sail the open seas, explore a remote island, and search for buried treasure alongside young Jim as he navigates overheard schemes and ever-shifting alliances. Is Long John Silver an unlikely friend, or a treacherous villain? In between sword fights and rounds of live music, you can decide for yourself! Adapted for the stage by Stuart Paterson and directed by CTC Artistic Director Rick Dildine, Treasure Island runs September 9-October 19, 2025 on the UnitedHealth Group Stage. This production is recommended for everyone 8 and up.
 
Next, Roald Dahl’s The Enormous Crocodile The Musical is weaving his way through the jungle with his tummy rumbling…  Only the other jungle creatures can foil his secret plans and clever tricks, but they’re going to have to find a large amount of courage to stop this greedy brute. Get to know all of the creatively puppeted creatures—from frogs and birds to hippos and monkeys—in the U.S. premiere of the smash U.K. hit. You’ll go from the jungle into outer space and back again, just in time for a wild dance party! Roald Dahl’s The Enormous Crocodile The Musical runs October 1-November 23, 2025 on the Cargill Stage and is best for all ages.
 
This mischievous musical based on Roald Dahl’s snappy book has toe-tapping tunes by Ahmed Abdullahi Gallab, a rib-tickling book and lyrics by Suhayla El-Bushra, and additional music and lyrics by Tom Brady. Developed and directed by Emily Lim, it features puppets by co-director and puppetry designer Toby Olié, with set and costume design by Fly Davis and puppetry co-designed and supervised by Daisy Beattie.
 
Next, CTC’s beloved holiday favorite Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas! returns this holiday season after last year’s sold-out run. A miserly and miserable, ever-so-cantankerous Grinch has observed the despicable Christmas joy of the Whos with disdain, from a distance, for decades. Enough! In this holiday favorite filled with music and Seussian rhymes, he plots the greatest heist imaginable—stealing the very thing they love the most! Until, that is, the smallest of the Whos, tiny Cindy Lou, extends a hand. Through the combination of kindness and community, we witness not only a change in the course of Who-History, but the size and capacity of the old green guy’s heart. Directed by CTC Company Member Dean Holt, this musical favorite runs November 4, 2025-January 4, 2026 on the UnitedHealth Group Stage.
 
The new year begins with Go, Dog. Go! • Ve Perro ¡Ve! P.D. Eastman’s classic book lands onstage with roller-skating, bike-riding, and scoot-scootering dogs! Over here a dog plays baseball; over there a dog prances about in a funny hat; everywhere dogs swim underwater, drive race cars to fiestas en los árboles, and speak—in both Spanish and English! Soon, you’ll be singing along with this bilingual spectacle that makes no sense (and TOTAL sense), all at the same time! Go, Dog. Go! • Ve Perro ¡Ve! runs January 20-February 22, 2026 on the UnitedHealth Group Stage, and is best for younger audiences.
 
Up next is Forts! Build Your Own Adventure, an interactive experience! Pull back the curtains and there you are—surrounded by old sofas, crazy lampshades, piles of blankets, and towering towers of cardboard boxes! It’s like the coolest attic you’ve ever seen, where everything’s up for grabs. Use whatever you want to build…whatever you want—the tallest fort, the longest fort, tons of cozy little forts… Quick, someone hands you a flashlight—what will you do? In Forts! you make it all happen. Best for all ages, Forts! runs February 13-April 5, 2026 on the Cargill Stage.

Minneapolis / St. Paul Awards - Live Stats

Best Musical - Top 3

1. 9 TO 5: THE MUSICAL (Eagan Summer Theatre)

14.2% of votes

2. URINETOWN (Buffalo Community Theatre)

9.7% of votes

3. CHURCH BASEMENT LADIES (Rags to Rags Productions)

8.3% of votes

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