Music, mirth and mystery are on the bill as Peninsula theaters open their first productions of the 2023-24 season.
Palo Alto Players, Los Altos Stage Company and Pear Theatre all open their first fall productions on Sept. 8.
PAP’s 93rd season begins with the hit Broadway musical “Matilda” based on the well-known book by Roald Dahl. The 29-member cast of both adults and children are under the direction of Janie Scott.
“Matilda” runs for 10 performances through Sept. 24 the Lucie Stern Theater in Palo Alto. Tickets are $30-$60 at www.paplayers.org or 650-329-0891. PAP recommends “Matilda” for ages 8 and older.
LASC opens with the lesser-known play “Significant Others” by Joshua Harmon. The company staged Harmon’s “Admissions” a few years ago.
The comedy centers on Jordan, a single young professional who has a lot of close female friends who slowly drift away after getting married He searches for his own Mr. Right, recognizing that he’s lonely and not getting any younger.
The show runs through Oct. 1 at Bus Barn Theatre in Los Altos. Tickets are $22-$45 at www.losaltosstage.org or 650-941-0551. This production is for mature audiences.
“Noises Off,” arguably one of the funniest comedies ever written, will run from Sept. 8-Oct. 1 at The Pear Theatre in Mountain View.
The farce-within-a-farce is about a menagerie of itinerant actors rehearsing a flop called “Nothing On”that has young girls running around in their underwear, old men dropping their trousers and doors that continually bang open and shut. Katie O’Bryon directs the show, which is rated PG-13 for language, sexuality and partial nudity. Tickets run $20-$40 at www.thepear.vbotickets.com or at 650-254-1148.
Three other Peninsula theatre companies start their seasons in October.
Hillbarn Theatre in Foster City is staging “Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery” Oct. 6-22. In this classic story, Holmes and Watson are tasked with breaking a family curse before it dooms its newest heir. Playwright Ken Ludwig transforms Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic into a murderously funny adventure under the direction of Leslie Martinson.
Tickets run $34-$62 at www.hillbarntheatre.org or 650-349-6411.
TheatreWorks Silicon Valley kicks off its 53rd season with the West Coast premiere of “Mrs. Christie,” by playwright Heidi Armbruster, on Sat., Oct. 7, at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts.
Considered a “madcap mystery,” it involves the unsolved 11-day disappearance of Agatha Christie in 1926. Giovanna Sardelli, TheatreWorks’ new artistic director, directs this production. Sardelli also directed Dorset Theatre Festival’s world premiere of “Mrs. Christie.”
Tickets start at $30 at www.theatreworks.org or 877-662-8978.
“Seussical,” this year’s musical production by Woodside Musical Theater, runs Oct. 13-22 at the Woodside Performing Arts Center.
“Seussical” is written by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, the Tony Award-winning team who created “Ragtime” and “Once on This Island.” Tanika Baptiste directs, with Justin Pyne taking on the roles of both music and vocal director.
Tickets are $30-$57 at www.woodsidetheatre.com or 650-206-8530.
