Maine Theatre Newsroom

Portland Stage has announced the play CONSCIENCE, depicting the life of trailblazing Maine Senator Margaret Chase Smith.

Nominations are now open for the 2024 BroadwayWorld Maine Awards. The 2024 Regional Awards honor productions which had their first performance between October 1, 2023 through September 30, 2024.

The Jesup Memorial Library in Bar Harbor, Maine has announced that Lawrence Schulman, the award-winning music producer, critic, translator, and author of the recently published book FREE: Words on Music by a Hi-Def Critic in an MP3 World.

Opening Next Week at the Waterville Opera House: Miss Holmes Returns!

The 39th season of Mad Horse Theatre will include three Maine Premieres and a Pulitzer Prize winning American Theater Classic. Learn more about the lineup here!

With their concert subscription series such a huge success this season, Maine State Music Theatre scheduled one final treat for fans of historic rock ‘n’ roll. On August 19 Pink Floyd tribute band, Floydian Trip, took the stage at the Pickard Theater to present two concerts combining many of Pink Floyd’s signature hits into one single event. The seven musicians comprising the band led the audience on an explosive journey through pulsating sound, visual effects, and recreation of the era of psychedelic rock.

Curt Dale Clark and Seth Eliser joined Kathryn Boswell, Alfie Parker, Jr., Associate Choreographer/Dance Captain, and an actor playing one of The Drifters, for a panel discussion moderated by Broadway World’s Carla Maria Verdino-Süllwold on August 14th at the Curtis Memorial Library in Brunswick, Maine.

Hackmatack Farm and Playhouse has announced its upcoming production of Little Women: The Musical, running from August 15th to August 31st. 

Mad Horse Theatre Company revealed new leadership, marking a significant change in its organizational structure. Learn more about the changes.

Good Theater and Stevens Square at Baxter Woods have launched a new partnership aimed at transforming Portland's cultural landscape.

On August 14, the Brunswick Town Mall brimmed full with spectators, all eager to enjoy Maine State Music Theatre’s annual free Concert on the Mall, presented in collaboration with the Brunswick Downtown Association. For MSMT, the performance is a meaningful opportunity to give back to the community that has supported the theatre all summer. Stars of the final main stage show, BEAUTIFUL: THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL, together with the MSMT singers and several other favorite artists, treated the enthusiastic crowd of all ages to an evening of Broadway favorites and covers of popular standards.

Get a first look at Maine State Music Theatre's production of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, a captivating journey through the life of one of music’s most iconic songwriters. The production is now on stage through August 24th, 2024.

Theater at Monmouth will present ALWAYS... PATSY CLINE, a musical celebrating the heartfelt friendship between Patsy Cline and her biggest fan. Learn how to purchase tickets.

When Dorothy, swept away by the tornado, finds herself transported beyond the rainbow to a land of vibrant color, the audience at Maine State Music Theatre’s final Theatre for Young Audiences production gasps in wonder. The production of the children’s version of the Harold Arlen/Yip Harburg musical with a cast of young professionals and local youth, directed by Betsy Puelle, has transformed the Pickard Theater into a land of pure fantasy and imagination using all the theatrical elements at their disposal. MSMT serves up an evening of song, dance, puppetry, and visual wizardry that is one of the most stunning and enchanting TYA performances seen there in recent years.

Powered by poetry, fueled by raw and resilient emotion, and presented with passion and high voltage energy by a company committed to the music and message, BEAUTIFUL: THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL triumphantly takes the stage as the finale of Maine State Music Theatre’s 2024 season. Exploring the early life and creative journey of popular music’s living legend, Carole King, BEAUTIFUL is a biographical jukebox musical that plays like a top 10 hit parade, at the same time that it tells its disarmingly, immediate and vulnerable story. With the luminous Kyra Kennedy giving a deeply authentic, earthy, and uplifting performance in the title role, BEAUTIFUL offers both absorbing entertainment and inspiration.

Get a first look at Beautiful: The Carole King Musical at Maine State Music Theatre. Learn more and see how to purchase tickets.

Portland Stage Company will bring back the smash comic hit, THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG. 

MSMT presents BEAUTIFUL: The Carole King Musical

“I think Carole King is a poet. She paved the way for so many women who came after her in [popular music]. There is such a rawness and pure emotion in her music that feels like poetry to me,” declares actress Kathryn Boswell, who will play Cynthia Weil in BEAUTIFU: THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL at Maine State Music Theatre.  “When you don’t have the words to express what you feel, you write it in poetry or music because some of these emotions are just too big to hold.”  “Carole King writes about such universal themes, about love and humanness – emotions that are always relevant,” concurs Alfie Parker, Jr., who serves as Associate Choreographer and plays one of The Drifters in the show. The musical, which explores the rise to stardom of popular music legend, Carole King, runs at MSMT from August 7 -24 and concludes the company’s spectacular 2024 season.

Get a first look at MSMT's enchanting summer production of Irving Berlin’s timeless classic, Irving Berlin's White Christmas. Running from July 17 to August 3, this heartwarming musical promises to bring festive cheer to the Pickard Theatre with its captivating performances, dazzling choreography, and unforgettable melodies. 

Kyra recently completed a run of Beautiful at Papermill Playhouse - also playing the role of Carole King. Maine State Music Theatre (MSMT) is thrilled to announce its upcoming production of 'Beautiful: The Carole King Musical,' a captivating journey through the life of one of music’s most iconic songwriters. The production, a co-production with the Fulton Theatre, will run from August 7 to August 24.

Maine State Music Theatre’s third concert of the season features a wild roller coaster ride through the history of early rock and roll with Jason Cohen and his stellar bandmates paying tribute to the legendary pianist and songwriter, Jerry Lee Lewis and his contemporaries. In an evening that offers electrifying pianistic virtuosity and raw energy vocals, Cohen and company bring down the house and demonstrate the power and the revolution that early rock and roll was.

“It is perfect symmetry to utter the words ‘Curt Dale Clark’ and ‘Christmas’ in one sentence because no one does Christmas better than he and Marc Robin.”  These were my words as moderator of MSMT’s third Peek Behind the Curtain panel discussion as I introduced MSMT Artistic Director, (Curt Dale Clark) and his concept for the Christmas in July extravaganza currently providing context for the theatre’s spectacular production of WHITE CHRISTMAS, directed and choreographed by Robin. The panel of several of the show’s stars, Kerry Conte (Betty Haynes), Darien Crago (Judy Haynes), and David Girolmo (General Waverly) joined Clark and me to share with the audience their experience on stage in the beloved Irving Berlin classic now running at the Pickard Theater until August 3.

Director Jennifer McClure Groover has announced her cast for the upcoming production of the musical 'The Prom' at Community Little Theatre (CLT) in Auburn.

Hit The Lights! Co. will workshop their original shadow puppet musical ISLA at Mayo Street Arts in Portland, Maine, exploring themes of home, family, and political refugees. Learn how to purchase tickets.