WAITRESS, MARY POPPINS, and More Set For 5th Avenue Theatre 2024-25 Season

The 5th Avenue Theatre has announced its 2024/25 season. The six-show lineup includes five productions brand new to The 5th Avenue Theatre stage.

These five locally-produced productions celebrate the talent of Seattle's artistic community: Waitress, a musical mix of friendship, chosen family, and embracing the unexpected, tuned to a pop-rock score by Sara Bareilles; Disney and Cameron Mackintosh's Mary Poppins, a fantastically magical tale filled with wonder; Bye Bye Birdie, a classic, sparkling, high-energy musical with a fresh twist; After Midnight, a sultry Jazz jubilee featuring timeless standards set in 1930s Harlem at The Cotton Club; and The Last Five Years, an intimate window into the two perspectives of a relationship, a co-production with ACT Contemporary Theatre. The sixth offering from The 5th is the first national tour of the 2023 Tony Award-winning Best Revival of a Musical, Parade. With Parade and The Last Five Years, The 5th seeks to explore two sides of one of the most prolific living composers, Jason Robert Brown. Scaling from his most intimate to his most expansive orchestrations, these two add an interesting counterbalance in the season for patrons to enjoy. The 2024/25 season runs September 20, 2024 to June 29, 2025.

“This season is an exploration of the musical theater canon,” said Producing Artistic Director Bill Berry. “When selecting these shows, we really dove into a collective season experience that allows our patrons to travel through different landscapes and emotions with each new show. The result is a deliberate journey we think will resonate with Seattle audiences, allowing them to experience the heart of musical theater alongside the lavish and splashy production value The 5th is known for. The season was intentionally curated with titles new to The 5th, or not seen on our stage in over 20 years. Five titles in our six-show season are company debuts. Plus, the music in each of these shows is marvelous!” 

In an effort to make a full season of theater more accessible for audiences, The 5th has drastically increased season subscription savings, allowing audiences to see six shows for the price of four. Six-show season subscriptions will now cost $170 - $580 per person - a nearly 35% discount from the previous season subscription cost. Full season subscriptions include free parking, extra ticket discounts, and concession perks. 

To kick-off the announcement of the 2024/25 season, The 5th will be hosting its inaugural Subscriber Appreciation Month. During the run of Something's Afoot in March, current subscribers will be honored with a pre-show curtain speech and prizes at every performance.  

“Subscribers are and have always been a pillar of The 5th's sustainability and strength,” said Managing Director Katie Maltais. “Now more than ever, subscribers are critical to our mission and existence. Returning to a thriving subscription base is part of a comprehensive effort to ensure the vitality of large, spectacular shows on our stage.”

After Midnight

Conceived by Jack Viertel

Selected text by Langston Hughes

Directed by Jay Santos

Run: September 20 - October 13, 2024

Winner of the Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Awards

Immerse yourself in the sultry, swingin' Jazz Age of the Harlem Renaissance, where the Cotton Club is the place to be! Infused with the iconic tunes of Duke Ellington, Dorothy Fields, Harold Arlen, and more, After Midnight weaves groundbreaking jazz standards with rapturous dance and the rhythmic poetry of Langston Hughes in a jubilant production fit to blow the roof off the theater. Timeless songs like “Stormy Weather,” “On the Sunny Side of the Street,” and “It Don't Mean a Thing” will have you leaping to your feet to join the fun.

Mary Poppins

A Musical Based on the Stories of P.L. Travers and the Walt Disney Film

Original Music and Lyrics by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman

Book by Julian Fellowes

New Songs and Additional Music and Lyrics by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe

Co-Created by Cameron Mackintosh

Run: November 22 - December 22, 2024

Winner of the Tony Award for Best Musical

With a spoon full of sugar, Mary Poppins flies across the stage with the precocious Banks children in tow. Re-imagined as a brand-new production just for 5th Avenue Theatre audiences, this ageless tale set in a fantastically magical world reveals the wonder all around us.
The Last Five Years

A Co-Production with ACT Contemporary Theatre

Written and Composed by Jason Robert Brown

Originally Produced for the New York Stage by Arielle Tepper and Marty Bell

Originally Produced by Northlight Theatre Chicago, IL

Directed by Bill Berry

Run: February 8 – March 16, 2025

At ACT Contemporary Theatre 

700 Union St

Seattle, WA 98101

Winner of two Drama Desk Awards

This modern musical takes a devastatingly honest look at one couple's journey falling in and out of love. Through clever storytelling and sharp lyrics, Jason Robert Brown's cult favorite gives us a raw and intimate window into two souls and two perspectives of one relationship. Go on an unforgettable journey with The 5th and ACT through the joy and ache of love.

Waitress 

Music and Lyrics by Sara Bareilles

Book by Jessie Nelson

Based on the motion picture by Adrienne Shelly 

Directed and Choreographed by Lisa Shriver

Run: March 7-30, 2025

Jenna dreams of baking her way out of a small town to something more. Sara Bareilles's pop-rock score powers this story of friendship, chosen family, and embracing the unexpected. Filled with longing, desire, hope, and of course, pie—lots of pie—this new staging will leave you craving another slice.

Parade

Book by Alfred Uhry

Music and Lyrics by Jason Robert Brown

Co-conceived and originally directed by Harold Prince 

Directed by Michael Arden

Run: April 16 – May 4, 2025

Winner of the 2023 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical

Leo and Lucille Frank are a newlywed Jewish couple struggling to make a life in the old red hills of Georgia. When Leo is accused of an unspeakable crime, it propels them into an unimaginable test of faith, humanity, justice, and devotion. Riveting and gloriously hopeful, Parade reminds us that to love, we must truly see one another.

Bye Bye Birdie

A Musical Comedy

Book by Michael Stewart

Music by Charles Strouse

Lyrics by Lee Adams

Originally Produced by Edward Padula

Directed by Bill Berry and Jay Santos

Run: June 6-29, 2025

Winner of the Tony Award for Best Musical

Time for the telephone hour, call all your friends… Birdie shakes up The 5th for the first time! This sparkling, high-energy musical will leave you dancing up the aisles with our fresh twist on this classic Tony Award-winning rock-n-roll musical comedy.

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