Congratulations San Francisco, you don’t have to make the trip to New York City to have access to top-tier theater. That’s because there are a slew of Broadway (and Broadway hopeful) shows in San Francisco and the Bay Area this summer courtesy of companies like BroadwaySF, ACT and more. And while you’ll still have to head to New York City to see buzzy Broadway shows like Sufjan Stevens’ Illinoise, and you’ll have to wait until early 2025 before Back To The Future The Musical arrives in the city, these nine productions are ready to rock in and around San Francisco this summer.
Mrs. Doubtfire at The Orpheum
July 2 – July 28
Hellooooo! Is there a more appropriate Broadway show for San Francisco than one based on one of the most notable movies set in the city? It really is hard to believe that it’s taken this long for the musical adaptation of Mrs. Doubtfire to grace the stage in the city, but BroadwaySF’s production is storming the Orpheum like a cross-dressing Robin Williams racing out of the bathroom at Bridges after sipping one too many Scotches. Rob McClure reprises the title role that he played on Broadway, wherein divorcee Daniel Hillard disguises himself as an eccentric Scottish nanny so he can spend more time with his Alamo Square-living kids. Enjoy, poppets!
Evita at SF Playhouse
June 27 – September 7
Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s iconic musical gets its turn in San Francisco courtesy of the San Francisco Playhouse company. The Tony Award-winning show tracks the ascent from poverty of former Argentine first lady Eva Peron before her untimely death of cancer at the age of 33 in 1952. While the Madonna-starring film gave Evita widespread notoriety, the musical is a bombastic experience that documents the triumphant life of a Latin American hero in Peron.
Girl From The North Country at Golden Gate Theatre
July 30 – August 18
Bob Dylan fans rejoice! Girl From The North Country is a Tony Award-winning musical from playwright Conor McPherson. The BroadwaySF production features 20 reimaginings of songs by Dylan like “Hurricane” and “Like A Rolling Stone.” The story is set in the midst of the Great Depression when a cast of characters all find their way to a guesthouse in Minnesota filled with different stories to tell of where they’ve been and how they got there.
Wicked at The Orpheum
August 28 – October 13
At this point, Wicked is not just a classic musical, but a must-see for anyone who is a fan or is simply interested in musical theater. It’s an origin story of sorts about the Wizard of Oz’s “Wicked” Witch of the West and the “Good” Witch of The North. Considering the show first debuted in San Francisco in 2003 before it ever hit the Broadway stage, this is a special locale to see it in, to say the least.
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Feed your eyes and mind at these top spotsRide the Cyclone at Decker Theatre
September 20 – October 20
An off-Broadway hit, Ride The Cyclone is the second installment of playwright Jacob Richmond’s “Uranium City” trilogy, taking place in the eponymous, fictitious fantastic Canadian city. Ride The Cyclone tells the story of members of a high school choir who perish on a wild roller coaster ride, only to wake up at the gates of the afterlife and get the chance to plead their case to be brought to life by a cyborg-like fortune teller. NCTC’s production is the SF debut of the show.
Legally Blonde: The Musical at Victoria Theatre
September 7 – September 29
Move over Reese Witherspoon, here comes Majesty Scott starring in Ray of Light Theatre’s production of Legally Blonde: The Musical. Telling the story of a sorority girl who enrolls at Harvard Law, the show actually premiered in San Francisco in 2007 before moving to Broadway. With Ray of Light’s new interpretation, you can experience Legally Blonde in the Mission District’s Victoria Theatre — away from the downtown hoopla and in one of the most diverse and exciting parts of San Francisco, it’s the oldest operational theater in the city.
Broadway in Sonoma at Field of Dreams
June 20 – September 22
Want to get out of the city to see a musical outdoors in a bucolic wine country setting? Transcendence Theater Company has you covered. Presenting four original productions for the 2024 season, Broadway In Sonoma takes place at the Field of Dreams in Fazio Field with a cast that includes Broadway alums and locals alike. Just a short walk from Sonoma’s charming Downtown Plaza, this is a wonderful Broadway-themed excursion into a California wine paradise.
Mother Road at Berkeley Rep
June 14 – July 21
What if John Steinbeck’s fixture of Americana storytelling, The Grapes of Wrath, focused instead on a Mexican-American protagonist? This is the world that playwright Octavio Solis imagines on Mother Road, which while not quite a Broadway production, is nonetheless a hotly anticipated one in the Bay. The title references Route 66 and instead of going out west, it sees a migrant worker journeying from California to Oklahoma to claim inherited land. “That was the American family then, but we’re building a new American family now,” Solis told the San Francisco Chronicle about his play.
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