Which Way To The Stage?

It’s long been said that expensive Broadway musicals lose up to 80% of their initial investment, alarming dedicated theater fans. Smaller productions don’t always gain the traction to become long-running hits. However, we here in Tallahassee are awash in wonderful musical productions. Both professionals and skilled amateurs are getting ready to wow audiences with tender lyrics, belted bravado, or dance numbers involving a dozen swirling forms. In short, Tallahassee is in for a season of talent.

Let’s have a look at some of the ambitious theatrical selections into which four theater groups have poured their energies for the 2025/26 season and learn something about the dedicated people who are able to “put on a show.”

Photo by Dave Barfield

Theatre Tallahassee

Since 1949, Theatre Tallahassee (TT) is perhaps the region’s longest continually performing theater group. Brian Davis, the artistic director, notes its large brick building was “designed as a theater” with its sweeping main stage, 250-seat auditorium, as well as a black box space. “We’ve always been a ‘community’ theater, meaning, anyone can audition and if chosen, perform.”

Theatre Tallahassee puts on two musicals and three stage plays each year, plus two smaller works in their studio theater. “There is a group of us who examines an Excel sheet of possible productions and then sets up calls for auditions,” laughs Davis, who himself as directed 13 TT shows. With such ambitious schedules, there are opportunities for dancers, actors, and production staff from all over the community.

In January 2026, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?—
an intense, darkly comedic play—will recall some of the rapid dialogue of the Taylor/Burton movie. February brings The Mountaintop, a play with two actors depicting Martin Luther King’s last night alive at the Lorraine Motel. “It shows MLK not as just a hero to his cause, but also … a man … a mortal. And it is riveting.”

Photo by Paul Allison Grimes / Courtesy of Young Actors Theatre

Young Actors Theatre

Established in 1975, the Young Actors Theatre (YAT) remains the premier acting showcase for Tallahassee youth. Sarah Doolin Roy, chief executive officer of the YAT, says that 500 young thespians participate in the summer programs, 300 in programs during the school year, and that their standing company has 125 young actors. 

YAT productions feature youth from fourth grade through high school who audition for their parts and, as Doolin Roy says, “begin on a journey of self-discovery.”

This year’s fall-winter production, Honk! Jr., tells the musical story of the Ugly Duckling and his journey of discovery. Featuring 40-50 students, Honk! Jr. is what Doolin calls a “sweet show for families.” She adds, “What I can tell you is that there will be lots and lots of feathers.”

Photo by Carlin Trammel

Godby High School’s Fine Arts Program

Beginning its eighteenth year with a uniquely focused curriculum for instruction in the fine arts, Godby High School continues to earn top honors in state thespian competitions. Producing both musicals and straight stage plays, students study theater production, direction, acting, set design and construction, costuming, as well as writing some of their own material. 

District Teacher of the Year Randi Lundgren is the director of theater arts at Godby. She says that last year for Black History Month, students delighted the community with their production of Motown. The spring 2026 season features a production of Hadestown, inspired by Greek myths that tell us that hope and belief are necessary to build a better world. She also shares that Godby’s final 2025/26 production will be a “kind of variety show … an awards show … that features lots of individual performances. It should be fantastic.”

Photo by Michael Rivera

The Quincy Music Theatre

Facing the Quincy Courthouse is another newer but still “classic” building. Once a thriving movie house, the 1949-built theater is now home to a unique company of thespians and musicians that put on only musicals. And even more fascinating, this quasi-traditional troupe invites the community to audition for stage roles, pit instrumentalists, and other important behind-the-scenes jobs—like director. 

Following two earlier 2025 productions (Chicago and Merrily We Roll Along) the Quincy Music Theater (QMT) is set to bring Oliver to the stage in February. Former Executive Director Olga Connolly says that each show posts audition material online for potential actors to examine, including preparing a song or monologue. Connolly says that callbacks and selection hopes draw applicants from local colleges, as well as “adults with day jobs, like teachers, and lay-people with talent.” And don’t forget the children.

Oliver is a musical modeled on Dickens’ Oliver Twist and will need dozens of young people to fill the roles of little pickpockets and scamps. Perhaps conveniently, Teylor Park, the show’s director is also a theater instructor at Robert F. Monroe School and might know a few. In the meantime, a glance online tells us that audience raves are not rare at the Quincy Music Theatre. Their productions  have been delighting viewers for the last 41 years.

Each of these theatrical magicians invites you to come out and see an incredible production with your own eyes. Turn your phones off, and give yourselves a living treat. With such a thriving arts community in our backyard, it would be a shame to miss out. As the actors in the musical Pippin sing, “We’ve got magic to do!” 

Mark your calendar

Oliver 

Feb. 27-March 8

Honk! Jr.

Feb. 20-March 1

Hadestown 

Dates TBD

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? 

Jan. 15-Feb. 1

The Mountaintop 

Feb. 26-March 15