Legends are coming to life in Philadelphia this theater season, with a slate of productions that focus on historical figures from the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (The Mountaintop) and Zora Neale Hurston (Fire!!), to rock and roll king Elvis and country star Johnny Cash (Million Dollar Quartet).
Among forthcoming crowd-favorite musicals are Back to the Future: The Musical, Falsettos, Kimberly Akimbo, and The Rocky Horror Show.
New drama will arrive, too, with contemporary shows like Job and Wishing to Grow Up Brightly, interrogating the terrifying potential of unfettered technology.
Here are 11 shows we can’t wait to watch this fall, paired with drink and dining recommendations near each theater.
‘Falsettos’
Sept. 25-Oct. 26, Arden Theatre
Messy relationships and big feelings collide in this beloved Tony-winning musical that debuted on Broadway in 1992. Music, lyrics, and book writer William Finn — working with Into the Woods writer James Lapine — leaned into his experiences as a gay Jewish New Yorker for a story centered on the charming-yet-neurotic star Marvin, who leaves his wife for his lover Whizzer.
But he still has his son’s bar mitzvah to plan, and life gets even more complicated when Whizzer contracts AIDS and lands in the hospital. It’ll make you laugh (just hear “Four Jews in a Room Bitching”) and cry (“What More Can I Say?”) before reminding everyone of the heartwarming power of family, both literal and chosen.
Dinner rec: In Old City, Royal Boucherie offers classic French cuisine just a block from the Arden Theatre — perfect for a preshow dinner. Try escargot, steak frites, or branzino, and finish with crème brûlée. After the show, unwind at the loungey, neon-lit Bleu Martini, where you can sip on fruity, buzzy cocktails like a blueberry schnapps and floral vodka mix or a vanilla, cherry, and orange Bulleit cocktail. Or, if you’re craving pizza, head to Angelo Pizza.
Arden Theatre, 40 N. Second Street, Phila., 215-922-1122 or ardentheatre.org
‘Million Dollar Quartet’
Sept. 30-Nov. 2, Walnut Street Theatre
Most biographical musicals focus on a single artist’s life, but Million Dollar Quartet transports audiences into the room where music legends met for one night only. It was Dec. 4, 1956, in Memphis, Tenn., when Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins entered Sun Records Studios — entirely by chance.
The musical celebrates this major moment in rock and roll history with a lean cast performing classics from the jam session, from “Blue Suede Shoes” to “I Walk the Line” to “Hound Dog.”
It ends, fittingly, with the signature line: “Elvis has left the building.”
Dinner rec: Fuel up for the dancing with an Italian meal at Giorgio on Pine, which has a dedicated gluten-free menu. If you’re looking for seafood, head to Oyster House for oysters Rockefeller and chilled ceviche. End the evening with a nightcap at Dirty Franks. And if you’re looking to shake things up, consider Stephen Starr’s new Borromini.
Walnut Street Theatre, 825 Walnut St., Phila., 215-574-3550 or walnutstreettheatre.org
‘Tommy and Me’
Oct. 7-19, People’s Light
For both theater and sports nerds,Tommy and Me returns to Malvern following a sold-out run in January. Longtime commentator Ray Didinger penned this autobiographical play about his lifelong passion for the Eagles and, specifically, wide receiver Tommy McDonald.
Tom Teti will reprise his role as the star athlete. Didinger, who grew up in Folsom, idolized McDonald and developed an obsessive love for football; his play bounces between childhood flashbacks in the 1950s to his successful push to get McDonald into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1998. It’s probably the most Philly play of the season.
Dinner rec: Enjoy fresh pastas like spaghetti with clams and rigatoni with beef rib at Restaurant Alba, or indulge in beef Wellington, snapper soup, and pretzel-crusted chicken schnitzel at General Warren. Either way, finding fine dining before or after the show isn’t hard in Malvern.
People’s Light, 39 Conestoga Rd., Malvern, Pa., 610-644-3500 or peopleslight.org
‘Fire!!’
Oct. 8-Nov. 2, Quintessence Theatre
Actor/playwright Paul Oakley Stovall may still live in Chicago, but many of his plays open in Philadelphia. Fresh off the sold-out world premiere of Giovanni’s Room earlier this year, which he cowrote and directed, Stovall is back at Quintessence focusing on a revolutionary literary magazine that only published one issue in 1926: Fire!! A Quarterly Devoted to the Younger Negro Artists.
Harlem Renaissance writers including Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes contributed to Wallace Thurman’s Fire!!, which counted three Pennsylvanians among its first patrons. But after a single printing, its offices burned down and the publication ceased operations. Hughes and Hurston come to life in this play, which Stovall cowrote with Marilyn Campbell-Lowe; Azuka Theatre founder Raelle Myrick-Hodges will direct this world premiere.
Dinner rec: Vegans, head over to the Nile Cafe for plant-based versions of jerk chicken legs, stewed fish, and pepper steak. Zsa’s Ice Cream is also nearby on Germantown Avenue for house-made flavors.
Quintessence Theatre at the Sedgwick Theater, 7137 Germantown Ave., Phila., 215-987-4450 or quintessencetheatre.org
‘The Rocky Horror Show’
Oct. 10-Nov. 2, Bucks County Playhouse
Celebrate Halloween in New Hope with the playhouse’s annual production of this crass cult favorite. Broadway and reality TV actor Frankie Grande — whose pop star sister Ariana appears in another musical, Wicked, part two of which opens this fall — is back for a third year in a row to perform the iconic role of Dr. Frank-N-Furter. Directed again by Hunter Foster (another talented brother, of theatrical powerhouse Sutton Foster), the musical follows one crazy, campy, and riotous night at the Transylvania home of a flamboyant, Frankenstein-like doctor. Audience members can join the fun with prop bags and get onstage for the finale to do the “Time Warp” agaaaaain.
Dinner rec: Order handhelds such as steak house burgers or entrees like crab cakes at Playhouse Deck Restaurant and Bar, adjacent to the playhouse — all proceeds benefit the theater. Or head to Stella of New Hope for wild mushroom dumplings and house-made lobster ravioli.
Bucks County Playhouse, 70 S. Main St., New Hope, Pa., 215-862-2121 or bcptheater.org
‘Kimberly Akimbo’
Oct. 21-Nov. 2, Academy of Music
Kim is new to her high school in Bergen County, N.J., but making friends and getting to an amusement park isn’t all that she’s worried about ahead of her 16th birthday: She has a genetic condition that causes her body to age more rapidly than normal and the average life expectancy is 16. The relentlessly optimistic teen looks more like a grandma, but she befriends a group of outcasts who help her navigate her dysfunctional family and possibly criminal high jinks with heartfelt, and often surprising, humor. Despite the tragic premise, the Tony-winning musical won’t leave you in despair — it just might make you want to go to Six Flags.
Dinner rec: Center City is brimming with great options for pre- and postshow dining. At Little Nonna’s, enjoy a cozy, low-lit space while savoring plates of bucatini cacio e pepe, and pan-seared gnocchi. And at Stephen Starr’s new Borromini, there’s a 100-layer lasagna to enjoy.
Academy of Music, 240 S. Broad St., Phila., 215-893-1999 or ensembleartsphilly.org
‘The Mountaintop’
Oct. 30-Dec. 14, Arden Theatre
Playwright Katori Hall couldn’t find a U.S. venue for her play about the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s final night alive — named for his famous last speech, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop.” So she took it to London instead, to major success. It led her to make history, too, as the first playwright of color to win the Laurence Olivier Award for best new play in 2010. When it opened on Broadway the following year, Samuel Jackson played King, who spends his last hours in Memphis’ Lorraine Motel talking to a fictional maid (Angela Bassett), a mysterious character who’s more than she seems. In this production, popular Arden actor Akeem Davis will take on the challenge of King.
Dinner rec: Venture to Ellen Yin’s Fork for braised pork shank and roasted lamb or Jose Garces’ Amada for squid ink paella and steak à la plancha before the show. And Sassafras Bar for a nightcap after.
Arden Theatre, 40 N. Second St., Phila., 215-922-1122 or ardentheatre.org
‘Job’
Oct. 30-Nov. 23, Theatre Exile
Welcome to therapy, Black Mirror style. Jane is a Gen-Z workaholic at a major tech company in California, but when a video of her office meltdown goes viral, she’s sent to see Loyd, a hippie boomer therapist who has final say in whether she can return to work. Determined and unhinged, Jane starts the session pointing a gun at his head. The next 80 minutes deliver a stomach-turning psychological thriller about the horrors of the internet age and entrenched generational divides told through smart, passionate arguments. Theatre Exile’s producing artistic director Deborah Block directs, with Arianna Gayle (an understudy for the 2023 Broadway production) and Scott Greer starring.
Dinner rec: Grab a glass of wine — think French rosé or German Riesling — and tapas such as gazpacho, grilled oysters, and spiced beef empanadas at Barcelona Wine Bar. Feast on biryani, samosas, and gulab jamun at Tiffin. Or gnocchi and rigatoni at Burrata.
Theatre Exile, 1340-48 S. 13th St., Phila., 215-218-4022 or theatreexile.org
‘Wishing to Grow Up Brightly’
Nov. 5-23, Theatre Horizon
Musical director Amanda Morton typically works behind the scenes of productions, from KPOP to Gutenberg! The Musical!, to the forthcoming Broadway adaptation of Crazy Rich Asians. This season, she’s putting her own story center stage in the world premiere of this semiautobiographical musical that she cowrote with Theatre Horizon cofounder Matthew Decker, composer Josh Totora, and actor/writer Brenson Thomas. The comedy follows a Korean adoptee returning home after her father’s death and discovering that his voice and memories have been preserved by a company called reMemorex. But the surreal technology doesn’t assuage her grief, it only unearths complicated and painful truths about why she was taken from her home in the first place.
Dinner rec: Norristown offers plenty of options just a four- to nine-minute drive from the venue. For a quick, light bite, try a zep — a hoagie without lettuce — at Eve’s Lunch. Craving Mexican? El Limon serves up al pastor tacos and chorizo enchiladas. And if it’s tomato pie you’re after, Corropolese Bakery & Deli is a must visit before or after the show.
Theatre Horizon, 401 DeKalb Street, Norristown, 610-283-2230 or theatrehorizon.org
‘Back to the Future: The Musical’
Nov. 18-30, Academy of Music
The DeLorean lands in Center City in the Tony-nominated musical adaptation of the 1985 classic Back to the Future, with a book written by co-screenwriter Bob Gale. Unforgettable needle drops from the film — including “Johnny B. Goode,” “Earth Angel,” and “Back in Time” — remain part of the story, accompanying original songs from Back to the Future composer Alan Silvestri and Jagged Little Pill lyricist Glen Ballard. When wacky Doc Brown creates a time-travel machine, he gets sick in the process, so his young friend Marty McFly jumps in the car with hopes of finding a futuristic cure, until it backfires and he winds up in 1955. It only gets hilariously more complicated from there.
Dinner rec: For $40, get a three-course prix fixe pretheater dinner (think spanakopita, moussaka, salted caramel baklava) at Estia Restaurant. Head to Oyster House for oysters Rockefeller, chargrilled whole Maine lobster, chilled ceviche, sautéed mussels, and other seafood dishes.
Academy of Music, 240 S. Broad St., Phila., 215-893-1999 or ensembleartsphilly.org
‘Little Women’
Nov. 26, 2025-Jan. 4, 2026, Hedgerow Theatre
Prolific playwright Kate Hamill has frequently adapted literary classics for theater, from Pride and Prejudice to The Scarlet Letter to Dracula, with a focus on feminist retellings and women-centered stories. In Little Women, based on Philadelphia-born author Louisa May Alcott’s 1868 novel, Hamill puts a modern twist on the tale of four tightly bound yet very different sisters in the March family. In this version, Jo, the fearless writer who chafes at the constraints of the patriarchy, becomes a genderqueer main character with a penchant for swashbuckling. Hamill herself has played Meg in previous productions, though at publication time, we don’t yet know if she’ll reprise the role once more.
Dinner rec: Media has plenty of restaurants to choose from. Restaurant critic Craig LaBan says “some of the best Shanghai-style dim sum in the region” are at Dim Sum-Mania. For French fare, reporter Stephanie Farr recommends La Belle Epoque, which she calls “fantastic” for its wine menu and praises for its onion soup and other classic dishes.