KENNEDY-MCILWEE STUDIO THEATRE

by Jeffrey Kare - December 17, 2025

Based on Sara Gruen’s 2006 novel of the same name. Water for Elephants follows Jacob Jankowski, a Polish-American college student who during the Great Depression, loses both of his parents in a car accident. As a result, he jumps on a moving train unsure of where the road will take him. Yet, he find...

by Jeffrey Kare - December 07, 2025

Based on Michael Curtiz’ 1954 Academy Award nomination film musical of the same name. Irving Berlin’s White Christmas follows veterans Bob Wallace and Phil Davis who have formed a successful song-and-dance act after World War II....

by Jeffrey Kare - December 03, 2025

Based on S. E. Hinton’s 1967 novel of the same name as well as Francis Ford Coppola’s 1983 film adaptation. The Outsiders is set in Tulsa, Oklahoma in the 1960s. The story follows Ponyboy Curtis, his best friend Johnny Cade, and their Greaser family of ‘outsiders’ as they battle with their affluent ...

by Jeffrey Kare - November 13, 2025

Based on Rosa Guy’s 1985 novel, My Love, My Love; or, The Peasant Girl, a Caribbean-set retelling of the original fairy tale of The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen....

by Jeffrey Kare - October 19, 2025

In June 2016, my mom and I went to New York during Tony Awards weekend. On the day of the telecast, we both walked all the way to the Beacon Theatre (where the ceremony was taking place) while rehearsal was going on...

by Jeffrey Kare - October 08, 2025

Based on Maria von Trapp’s 1949 memoir titled The Story of the Trapp Family Singers. The Sound of Music tells the true story of Maria Rainer, a young, free-spirited, but troublemaking postulant at a convent in Salzburg, Austria. Knowing how irresponsible she is, the Mother Abbess sends her to Salzbu...

by Jeffrey Kare - September 25, 2025

What We Leave Behind is a completely original musical that explores the impact of chronic illness on a family. When Jenny, a musical theatre composer is diagnosed with breast cancer, it seems as though her world has come crashing down around her....

by Jeffrey Kare - September 04, 2025

Based on Disney's 1991 Academy Award-winning animated film musical of the same name as well as Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont’s classic French fairy tale. Beauty & the Beast follows Belle, a bright, beautiful young woman who doesn't seem to fit in with her village....

by Jeffrey Kare - August 06, 2025

The Wiz is an all-Black musical reimagining of L. Frank Baum’s 1900 classic children’s novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The story follows Dorothy, a young girl who lives on a farm in Kansas, until a cyclone arrives, picks up her house, and blows her away to the fantastical land of Oz....

by Jeffrey Kare - July 16, 2025

Based on Victor Hugo's 1862 novel of the same name. Les Misérables follows Jean Valjean, an ex-convict who after serving nineteen years in prison for stealing a loaf of bread, goes on a quest for redemption. When a kind bishop inspires him by a tremendous act of mercy, Valjean breaks his parole as h...