Photo credit: Matthew Murphy & Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade

Written by Patrick Chavis

Yes, it’s summer, and you could go to the beach. Although, it will to be crowded, and you’ll have to find parking. How about going to the theater instead? It’s air conditioned—at least it should be. Here’s a quick round-up of the upcoming events in Orange County in no particular order.

1. In the Heights @ The Electric Company Theatre June 3 – 25, 2025.

Before, Lin-Manuel Miranda put on a powdered wig as Alexander Hamilton. He wrote and acted in In the Heights, a musical about the community of Washington Heights and its hopes and aspiration, with a hip-hop lyrics and music as the soundtrack of the city. Not only did it win multiple Tony Awards. It was also made into a major motion picture in 2021. Directed by 2024 OCR Best Director Brian Johnson, this show might be hotter then a summer in Washington Height. – Click here to learn more…

2. World Premiere: Peril in the Alps: A New Hercule Poirot Comic Mystery @ Laguna Playhouse June 11 – 29,2025.

Hercule Poirot (Omri Schein), the ace detective with the mustache in many of Agatha Christie’s most famous plays, lives on in this new work from Playwright Steven Dietz. Now the famed detective must travel to the Alps and find a missing person before it becomes a murder mystery. – Click here to learn more…

3. Life of Pi @ Segerstrom Center of the Performing Arts June 3 – 15, 2025.

A decade later after it’s successful film debut in 2013 and multiple Academy Awards, Life of Pi thrilled audiences on Broadway, winning an impressive, three Tony Awards for its wildely inventive and technical stage adapation. This tale about a young boy named Pi’s journey of survival in the ocean with his animals companions, while toted as being visually stunning, also tells a very cerabal story about human perserverance and a hopeful spirit. Click here to learn more…

4. American Coast Theatre Company presents: Death of a Salesman @ Vanguard University June 20 – 29,2025.

Arthur Miller was known for more then just marrying Marilyn Monroe, though good for him.  In Miller’s prolific career as a playwright, Death of a Saleman is often cited as his most famous work, winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1949. This play about a depressed, down on his luck salesman in 1940s New York, though very much a product of its time, holds up a powerful mirror on capitalism and the human condition. This time with direction from 2019 OCR Best Director Oanh Nguyen from the Chance Theater. Click here to learn more…

5. Dana Point Shakespeare Festival –  July 11 -12, 2025.

They will perform Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night at the Dana Point Shakesphere Festival. The festival is completely free, but it is recommended to RSVP and bring a comfortable chair. This romantic comedy centered around deception is a very popular Shakespeare entry and appropriate  for the entire family. Click here to learn more…

6. Something Rotten @ Rose Center Theatre. – June 27 – July 20, 2025.

Shakespeare strikes again. No, this isn’t some clever Star Wars-Shakespeare riff. It’s an original musical not only about the bard but also his fictional competition, Nick and Nigel Bottom, who find it hard to compete with Shakespeare. Wait, there may be hope in this new play format called a musical. Oh, that will never work! Click here to learn more…

7/8. Much Ado About Nothing @ New Swan Shakespeare Festival July 9 – August 30, 2025. All’s Well That Ends Well @ New Swan Shakespeare Festival July 2 – August 29, 2025.

On the UCI campus in Shakespearean circle in the round, the New Swan Shakespeare Festival has been around since 2012, putting on a variety of Shakespearean inspired shows for the community.  Whether a Shakespeare fan or just looking for an interesting date idea, New Swan Shakespeare Festival is the light bulb you need. This year, we have a production of Much Ado About Nothin, a fun rom-com about four couples, two that detest each other in a romantic way and the others who are in love, but its complicated.  New Swan spices up the story this year by seating it in the old west, YE HAW!  All’s Well That Ends Well, is another Shakespearian play, but not as well know or as popular as the Much Ado. In short, its a comedy about a woman of lower status in love with a man in higher status and the lengths she will go to be with him, this one is set during Romantic Era in Europe. Click here to learn more…

9. Spring Awakening @ Chance Theatre – July 11 – August 10, 2025.

If you were to look up Rock musicals and Spring Awakening is nowhere on that list, don’t trust it! It is incredibly well-known and up there with Rent and Rock of Ages, to name a few. And with that popularity comes a tremendous challenge to anyone who wants to put on the show, and do it justice, at the helm with direction from 2024 Best Actress in musical Jocelyn A. Brown, some veteran actors, and fresh faces—this musical about young adoloscene discovering their sexuality and the society that wants to repress it. The Chance has shown over the years to do more than take a Chance on these more ambitious musicals and deliver. Last year’s Sweeney Todd was proof of that. Click here to learn more…

10. Dial M for Murder @ Newport Theatre Arts Center – June 27 – July 20, 2025.

A suspenseful crime drama so popular when it hit the stages, it caught the eye of the Master of Suspense himself, Alfred Hitchcock, and would later become a major motion picture. This stage version, written by playwright Frederick Knott, brings us into the twisted world of an ex-tennis player who plots to kill his wife. Click here to learn more…