A Christmas Story, The Little Mermaid and the dark comedy Heathers: The Musical among the titles that the company will produce at Cohoes Music Hall this season.
Cohoes, N.Y. (September 19, 2024) – This year, Playhouse Stage Company marks its 37th Season presenting professional and youth musical theatre to Capital Region audiences. In a video released Wednesday, the Playhouse announced five new productions that will play at Cohoes Music Hall this season. Plans for the company’s free outdoor summer theatre will be announced early in 2025. Playhouse Stage Company has been producing free, outdoor summer musicals at Albany’s Park Playhouse since 1989, and has been presenting musicals year-round at the historic Cohoes Music Hall since 2016. In 2024, the company also began an additional short summer residence at Guilderland Performing Arts Center in Tawasentha Park.
“Our theme for this season’s lineup is Coming of Age, from the Screen to the Stage” said Playhouse Stage Co. Producing Artistic Director Owen Smith. “We’re presenting a series of dynamic musical adaptations of film classics and cult hits, all of which tell stories of growing up and discovering the world around us. Building on the success of this past season, we will once again feature the region’s most talented young performers across all of our productions. Our fantastic Playhouse Stage Academy students and graduates will appear in age-appropriate roles alongside local and regional professional actors and musicians, with world-class design and creative teams guiding them. We’ll continue to work hard to prove to audiences why we were dubbed ‘Broadway in the Capital Region’s backyard’ when our organization was founded in 1989,” Smith continued.
The Playhouse’s 37th Season will kick off just in time for the holidays with the festive musical adaptation of the beloved Christmas movie, A Christmas Story: The Musical, running December 4 – 22, 2024 at Cohoes Music Hall. A hilarious and heart-warming crowd pleaser, the show tells the story of nine-year-old Ralphie Park, who has pinned his hopes on getting a “Red Rider Carbine Action BB Gun” for Christmas. The musical features all the iconic moments from the film, from the leg lamp award, to the bunny suit, to Ralphie’s friend Flick getting his tongue stuck to a frozen metal pole. It boasts a soaring, energetic score by Pasek and Paul, known for their work on Dear Evan Hansen, The Greatest Showman and more. Tickets for A Christmas Story will be available October 1.
Next up at Cohoes Music Hall, the Playhouse will present the darkly delicious musical adaptation of the hilarious, homicidal ‘80s cult classic, Heathers, with performances running February 21 through March 9, 2025. Like the film, which starred Christian Slater and Winona Ryder, Heathers: The Musical takes audiences deep into the halls of Westerburg High, where misfit Veronica Sawyer finds herself entangled with the school’s most popular—and dangerous—clique, the Heathers. The edgy black comedy, which will feature the Playhouse’s advanced teen students, explores important themes related to bullying, teen suicide, gun violence, and sexual assault.
From March 12 through April 4, 2025, the Playhouse will present daily schooltime performances of Schoolhouse Rock Live, the musical adaptation of the popular ‘70s cartoons. Teaching lessons on scholastic subjects ranging from grammar, to civics, to mathematics, Schoolhouse Rock Live features more than a dozen classic tunes, including “I’m Just a Bill,” “Conjunction Junction,” “Unpack Your Adjectives,” and more. 10:00AM performances will be held on weekdays throughout the run for school field trips, daycare centers and homeschool groups. Public, ticketed performances will be presented at 11:00AM and 3:00PM on Saturday, March 29, 2025, and 3:00PM on Sunday, March 30, 2025.
Summer at Cohoes Music Hall will see the Playhouse producing new productions of two beloved Disney musical adaptations. First up, from July 17 through August 11, is the spectacular underwater adventure Disney’s The Little Mermaid. The show tells Hans Christen Andersen’s timeless tale of Ariel, a curious mermaid who longs to discover a world beyond the sea. The 1989 award-winning film classic launched the “Disney Renaissance,” a new era of animation for the company. Like 2024’s Legally Blonde, the production will feature a large cast of the company’s advanced teen students working alongside local and regional professionals, including PSC veterans Molly Rose McGrath as the Sea Witch Ursula, and Brandon Jones as Sebastian the Crab. The show features all of Alan Menken and Howard Ashman’s songs from the film, including “Under the Sea,” “Part of Your World,” and “Kiss the Girl,” as well as new tunes written for the 2008 Broadway adaptation.
The season will close with Playhouse Stage Academy’s younger students performing the youth adaptation of Disney’s modern hit Moana. Featuring original songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Moana Jr. tells the story of a brave young girl in the Pacific Islands, who journeys to discover the truth about her heritage. The production will play at Cohoes Music Hall from August 20-24, 2025.
In addition to productions at Cohoes Music Hall, during the summer season, the company will return to Park Playhouse in Albany’s Washington Park, and Guilderland Performing Arts Center in Tawasentha Park to present free, outdoor summer musical theatre for the community. Details about title selection and schedule will be announced in early 2025.
Season 37 Memberships are now on sale online via playhousestage.org, by phone at (518) 434-0776, and in person at the Cohoes Music Hall box office. Memberships are $50 per household for the season, and give patrons two weeks early access to tickets ahead of the general public for each production, 30% off ticket purchases for the season, and the ability to exchange tickets between performances and productions. For more information, audiences can visit www.playhousestage.org.