Theater simmers with inspiration during the summer months. Warm temperatures open up outdoor stages. Festival season sends artists to refreshingly remote locales. And while the spring and fall offer a spate of touted openings, the lull in between proves ripe for experimentation. Consider, for example, that Shakespeare in the Park is becoming Shakespeare in the Parks and the buzziest new show on Broadway is a farce about a cabaret-crooning Mary Todd Lincoln. So peruse our picks, and ponder rolling the dice on some of this summer’s more offbeat offerings.
‘The Comedy of Errors’
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The Public Theater’s long-running free Shakespeare in the Park programming is on the move this year: Amid renovations to Central Park’s Delacorte Theater, the Public will stage “The Comedy of Errors” at parks across New York’s five boroughs. After launching in late May at Bryant Park, the production will migrate to venues including Hudson Yards in Manhattan, A.R.R.O.W. Field House in Queens and Maria Hernandez Park in Brooklyn. And that’s not the only twist for a staging that will be performed in Spanish and English and feature original songs by Julián Mesri and Rebecca Martínez. Ongoing through June 30 as produced by the Public Theater, 425 Lafayette St., New York. publictheater.org.
American Players Theatre season
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Located among rolling hills and lush landscapes two hours west of Milwaukee, the American Players Theatre campus will again host a slew of productions at its indoor Touchstone Theatre and outdoor Up-the-Hill Theatre. Among this year’s offerings: the world-premiere play “The Virgin Queen Entertains Her Fool”; Nick Payne’s ethereal romance “Constellations”; the poetic Irish memory play “Dancing at Lughnasa”; and outdoor stagings of “Much Ado About Nothing,” “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” and “King Lear.” June 8-Nov. 10 at American Players Theatre, 5950 Golf Course Rd., Spring Green, Wis. americanplayers.org.
‘Cats: The Jellicle Ball’
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Society’s collective attempt to erase all memory of 2019’s retina-scorching “Cats” movie continues off-Broadway, where co-directors Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch have reinvented Andrew Lloyd Webber’s madcap musical as an immersive competition inspired by New York’s ballroom culture. Broadway icon André De Shields — an Emmy, Grammy and Tony winner celebrated for “The Wiz” and “Hadestown” — plays Old Deuteronomy in a cast that also includes “A Strange Loop’s” Antwayn Hopper, “Evita’s” Shereen Pimentel and ballroom staple “Tempress” Chasity Moore. June 13-July 14 at the Perelman Performing Arts Center, 251 Fulton St., New York. pacnyc.org.
The Muny’s 106th season
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The Muny, a nearly 11,000-seat amphitheater nestled in Forest Park on the outskirts of St. Louis, bills itself as the nation’s oldest and largest outdoor musical theater. This summer’s slate presents the usual slew of crowd-pleasing musicals peppered with Broadway talent, kicking off with a staging of “Les Misérables” featuring 2023 Tony nominee Jordan Donica (“Camelot”) as Javert. From there, the season progresses to productions of “Dreamgirls,” “The Little Mermaid,” “Fiddler on the Roof,” “Waitress,” “In the Heights” and “Anything Goes.” June 17-Aug. 25 at the St. Louis Municipal Opera Theatre, 1 Theatre Dr., St. Louis. muny.org.
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‘Oh, Mary!’
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Cole Escola penned this subversive historical comedy, in which the playwright also stars as a stir-crazy Mary Todd Lincoln struggling to make it as a cabaret singer. And “Fire Island” actor Conrad Ricamora inhabits Abraham Lincoln — or, as the character is formally billed, “Mary’s Husband” — as a closeted gay man using his wife to shield his sexuality. Set in the days before the 16th president’s assassination, the modestly staged, gleefully inaccurate one-act farce was a hit in New York downtown before earning a summer transfer to Broadway. June 26-Sept. 15 at the Lyceum Theater, 149 W 45th St., New York. ohmaryplay.com.
Broadway in the Park
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Tony winner Laura Benanti (Max’s “The Gilded Age”) and fellow Broadway star Jordan Fisher (the current Orpheus in “Hadestown”) headline Wolf Trap’s annual evening of show tunes under the stars. The performance, co-presented by Signature Theatre, also includes a slew of musical theater standouts with D.C. ties: Felicia Curry, Rayanne Gonzales, Katie Mariko Murray, Kevin McAllister, Tracy Lynn Olivera, Matthew Scott and Tobias A. Young. June 29 at Wolf Trap’s Filene Center, 1551 Trap Rd., Vienna, Va. wolftrap.org.
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‘The Colored Museum’
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Before George C. Wolfe directed the original Broadway production of “Angels in America” or helmed the film adaptation of “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” he made a name for himself by writing this provocative 1986 satire, which is framed as a tour of 11 “exhibits” encapsulating the African American experience. Psalmayene 24, the D.C. director fresh off an inventive staging of “Metamorphoses” at the Folger Theatre, oversees a Studio Theatre revival that the company bills as “an innovative environmental production.” The cast will include Kelli Blackwell and Matthew Elijah Webb, both of whom appeared in Studio’s acclaimed “Fat Ham” production last fall. July 3-Aug. 11 at Studio Theatre, 1501 14th St. NW, Washington. studiotheatre.org.
Olney Outdoors
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Olney Theatre Center is offering a third straight summer of programming on its open-air Root Family Stage. First on the docket: a July 25 concert from Norm Lewis, a velvet-voiced Broadway veteran renowned for his performances in “Phantom of the Opera” and “Les Misérables.” The subsequent six weeks are packed with cabaret shows, tribute band concerts, drag performances, comedy nights and more. If you’re looking to escape the heat, Olney also is staging “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” on its indoor main stage from July 3 to Aug. 25. July 25-Aug. 31 at Olney Theatre Center, 2001 Olney Sandy Spring Rd., Olney, Md. olneytheatre.org.
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‘Nine’
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Andy Blankenbuehler, the Tony-winning choreographer of “Hamilton,” directs the latest installment of the Kennedy Center’s Broadway Center Stage series, in which starry casts and creative teams mount ambitious musicals with expedited rehearsals. Steven Pasquale, who appeared in the series’ heralded production of “Guys and Dolls,” returns to headline Maury Yeston and Arthur Kopit’s 1982 show about a famed Italian director simultaneously struggling to finish his latest film and save his flailing marriage. The supporting cast includes Tony nominees Elizabeth Stanley and Carolee Carmello. Aug. 2-11 at the Kennedy Center, 2700 F St. NW, Washington. kennedy-center.org.
‘Soft Power’
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Steven Eng will star in Signature Theatre’s revival of this 2018 fantasia, in which a playwright falls victim to a random assault, then hallucinates a Golden Age musical about a Chinese theater producer romancing Hillary Clinton. Intriguingly, that fever dream of a premise is rooted in reality: The Pulitzer Prize-shortlisted show was inspired by a 2015 incident in which playwright David Henry Hwang was stabbed in Brooklyn. Hwang, the Tony-winning playwright of “M. Butterfly,” and Jeanine Tesori, the Tony-winning composer of “Fun Home” and “Kimberly Akimbo,” are planning updates and revisions for this Ethan Heard-directed production. Aug. 6-Sept. 15 at Signature Theatre, 4200 Campbell Ave., Arlington, Va. sigtheatre.org.
