By Odin Rasco<\/p>\n
December is the time for lists \u2014 wish lists (to be strategically sent to every friend, relative and North Pole dweller just in time for the holidays), grocery lists in preparation of big family gatherings, best-of-the-year lists and lists of resolutions for New Year\u2019s Day (to be forgotten or ignored in short order).\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the spirit of the list-making season, I\u2019ve compiled one of my own in the hopes that it may prove a useful resource for you, dear reader; consider it an early gift for the holidays. Compiled here (in convenient chronological order) is a short lineup of five shows set to hit the stage in the Sacramento area in 2026 that I cannot wait to see.<\/p>\n
For those of you who know me \u2014 and to those of you who don\u2019t, hello, nice to meet you, I\u2019m\u00a0 Odin, I review theater in the area \u2014 you might notice the list includes a few more musicals than I\u2019d normally include. Though I love music and theater, it\u2019s a lot harder to sell me on a show when it\u2019s a combination of both (sacrilege, to some of you in the theatre world, I know). That being said, it\u2019s hard to say no to \u201cLittle Shop of Horrors\u201d or an opportunity to see a staging of Brecht.<\/p>\n
Please note that this list is far from comprehensive: Some theatre troupes have yet to publicize or announce their upcoming seasons, so do make sure to keep your eyes peeled for the dozens of shows sure to be on their way next year.<\/p>\n
1. Misery<\/a><\/p>\n Jan. 21 through Feb. 15<\/p>\n B Street Theatre is poised to start the new year with horror by bringing Stephen King\u2019s \u201cMisery\u201d to The Sofia. After novelist Paul Sheldon is pulled from the wreckage of a terrible car crash by his \u201cnumber one fan\u201d Annie Wilkes, he soon finds the wreckage may have been the better place to rest. Wilkes reads an unpublished draft of Sheldon\u2019s upcoming novel, but when she doesn\u2019t like what she sees, she demands a rewrite. A story already packed with dark humor, suspense and tension, the stage adaptation is sure to have audiences nailed to the edge of their seats as the story hurtles toward its conclusion.<\/p>\n 2. Romeo and Juliet<\/a><\/p>\n Feb. 6 through March 8<\/p>\n The second production by California Volunteer Theater will bring a classically styled performance of \u201cRomeo and Juliet\u201d to California Stage. Though many theater troupes look to add something fresh to Shakespeare through reinterpretation or modernizing, this show is taking a different approach. Rather than add something new, California Volunteer Theater is reintroducing something very old, claiming it will be \u201cthe first production of \u2018Romeo and Juliet\u2019 staged with the original music from Shakespeare\u2019s production in at least 300 years.\u201d This show sounds like a must-see, if only to see a musical rendition of one of the Bard\u2019s most-loved plays not done by Baz Luhrmann.<\/p>\n 3. Little Shop of Horrors<\/a><\/p>\n March 6-29<\/p>\n When the meekest man imaginable \u2014 floral assistant Seymour Krelborn \u2014 crosses paths with a peckish plant with big plans and a bigger mouth, something more than Miracle-Gro is going to be spilled.\u00a0<\/p>\n A classic musical (and, full disclosure, one of my all-time favorites) featuring rock \u2018n\u2019 roll, doo-wop and R&B stylings, \u201cLittle Shop of Horrors\u201d is the kind of show that will leave songs stuck in your head for a month after seeing it. I\u2019ve more than once gone into an internet deep dive just to see the myriad of ways productions have portrayed the gargantuan man-eating plant Audrey II, and cannot wait to see how Davis Musical Theatre Company goes about it when this show comes around in March.<\/p>\n 4. Threepenny Opera<\/a><\/p>\n March (dates unannounced)<\/p>\n A dark and gritty musical that pushed the entire genre into strange new places when it was first performed after World War I, \u201cThreepenny Opera\u201d is a satire that bites at both the criminal underworld and high society (while illustrating how blurry the line between the two can be). Light Opera Theatre of Sacramento will be staging a new English translation\/adaptation of the show in a cabaret style this March, and I am eager to see it; at present, this is my most-anticipated show for the first half of 2026. A smattering of the show\u2019s songs have found lives of their own in popular culture, with crooner-lovers sure to recognize \u201cMack the Knife,\u201d while fans of the Doors might be surprised to hear \u201cAlabama Song.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n 5. Fat Ham<\/a><\/p>\n March 18 through April 19<\/p>\n In mid-March Capital Stage will present the Sacramento premiere of the 2022 Pulitzer Prize-winning \u201cFat Ham.\u201d Juicy, a queer Southern college kid, finds a new level of difficulty in his life when his father\u2019s ghost appears in his backyard and demands he avenge his murder. If you think this sounds a bit familiar, don\u2019t worry \u2014 Juicy does, too. But Juicy isn\u2019t Hamlet \u2014 he\u2019s more interested in breaking cycles of trauma and violence than his Shakespearean counterpart. A story in conversation with its literary legacy while confronting new questions, it seems like a sure bet that \u201cFat Ham\u201d will move audiences with its mix of love, loss, pain and joy.<\/p>\n 6. Don\u2019t Touch My Hair<\/p>\n June 12-28<\/p>\n Celebration Arts will play host to the West Coast premiere of Douglas Lyons\u2019 bold new comedy, \u201cDon\u2019t Touch My Hair,\u201d once the summer rolls around. When Eemani turns to her best friend Jade after an upsetting job interview, the two decide to de-stress with some hits of a \u201cuniquely potent blunt,\u201d according to the Los Angeles Times<\/a>. The pair find the blunt so potent that they soon are launched back in time to an active plantation. Part of a trilogy of stories by Lyons that centers on Black womanhood and self-discovery, the show promises to be funny and eye-opening in equal measure.\u00a0<\/p>\n This story was funded by the City of Sacramento\u2019s Arts and Creative Economy Journalism Grant to Solving Sacramento<\/a>. Following our journalism code of ethics and protocols, the city had no editorial influence over this story and no city official reviewed this story before it was published. Our partners include California Groundbreakers, CapRadio, Hmong Daily News, Russian America Media, Sacramento Business Journal, Sacramento News & Review and Sacramento Observer. Sign up for our \u201cSac Art Pulse\u201d newsletter here<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Odin Rasco December is the time for lists \u2014 wish lists (to be strategically sent to every…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":126408,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[47110,121,123,122],"class_list":["post-126407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-celebration-arts","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126407\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}