The Valley is rich in many well-known blessings including, by a Lehigh Valley Stage count, 40 local and regional theatre producing companies, large and small, who this year are offering more than 140 plays and musicals.
Lehigh Valley Stage has gathered these shows into a single listing, month by month, to help theatre-lovers choose what they want to see this year. To help you make arrangements, each show is linked to a calendar giving the days, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers and other information you need to order tickets.
We have included theatres in an area roughly bounded by Reading, Phonexville, Belvedere, N.J., Bangor and Jim Thorpe. If we have missed any, it is unintentional and we would appreciate hearing from you.
JANUARY 2020
While everyone else was enjoying the 2019 holiday bustle, theatre people were twiddling their thumbs waiting for the stroke of 2020 so they could resume rehearsals for a year’s worth of comedy, drama and music. This January, it seems, is the month for comedy and we can all certainly use a good laugh.
Pines Theatre has whipped up a tale around the idea of the ‘60s TV show “Mission Impossible” Jan. 18-March 7 with "Mission Improbable". As all Pines programs, this is a PG show of old and new songs would around a storyline. Patrons have complimented the dinners, especially since some of the actors and singers may be the ones serving.
There’s still time to catch the hilarious farce “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder” running through Jan. 26 at the Forge Theatre in Phoenixville. Marsha Amato-Greenspan directs this modern-day romp about a chap who’s killing off his relatives so he can inherit the family fortune. This 2014 musical was nominated for all the major awards during its 2014 Broadway run and is still tickling funnybones.
For a change of pace, Mike Fegley will present his one-man show, 'JETBLACK SUNRISE' at The IceHouse January 24-25-26. 'JETBLACK SUNRISE' is a theatrical presentation which brings to life the soaring, enigmatic work of America's greatest poet, Walt Whitman.
For more laughter, catch one of the weekend performances of “Cheers to Murder” starting Jan. 17 at Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre in Peddler’s Village, Lahaska.
On Jan. 30, veteran actor Renee Taylor brings her autobiography to the Bucks County Playhouse stage, New Hope, PA in “My Life on a Diet.” Taylor is known for her many comic stage, TV and film performances, including a role in Mel Brooks’ “The Producers.” She was writer of Broadway’s “Lovers and Other Strangers” and other shows on and off Broadway. “My Life on a Diet” covers her experience as a “diet junkie” and her life with husband and co-writer Joseph Bologna.
The fun continues in “Calendar Girls,” a look at what happens when a group of British women decide to raise charity funds by posing in sexy photos for a calendar. It’s, on view at DCP Theatre in Telford beginning Jan. 31. (The good sports at DCP also produced an actual calendar featuring the women of DCP in evocative but, of course, in family-friendly poses.
Neil Simon’s autobiographical “Biloxi Blues” also opens Jan. 31 at Pennsylvania Playhouse. This Tony-winner tells of young soldiers at basic training in Biloxi, Mississippi, and is part two of Simon’s “Eugene trilogy” wedged between “Brighton Beach Memoirs” and “Broadway Bound.” This play covers Eugene Jerome (famously played in the film version by Matthew Broderick) as he learns about life and love while in the Army during World War II.
Also opening Jan. 31 is “Sweat” at Genesius Theatre in Reading. The Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Lynn Nottage was inspired by interviews of some of Reading’s working class residents following the economic downturn in the 2000s. The powerful drama takes place in a fictional bar in downtown Reading and examines the issues of poverty, job loss and the fragility of friendship.
Also on Jan. 31, Steel River Playhouse in Pottstown will open the Tony-nominated musical “Fun Home” about a young girl’s experiences coming out as a lesbian and learning she’s the daughter of a gay father.