As the days grow shorter and the weather (hopefully) cools, it’s time to make those dinner reservations and book a sitter because the fall theater season is starting. With nearly two dozen companies and almost 30 productions to choose from this autumn, there’s a musical, play or revue for every theater fan, and plenty of opportunities for the theater curious to try something new.
The 2025-26 season starts strong for musical theater audiences of every taste. There are classics and new works, and comedies and musicals of every style gracing stages this fall. Hairspray at the Warsaw Federal Incline Theater (Aug. 20-Sept. 14) goes back to the ‘60s with big hair and bigger songs to wrap up their summer season. The Carnegie celebrates the now-shortening summer nights with Grease (Aug. 15-24) featuring Paige Davis of Trading Spaces. For fans of folkier music, Where the Mountain Meets the Sea at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park (Aug. 30-Sept. 28) uses music by The Bengsons to explore themes of love and family.
Cincinnati Music Theatre’s Studio Series starts with a musical revue, What Happens in Vegas, which features songs associated with Sin City (Sept. 5-13). For a dose of 1980s nostalgia, take a musical ride Back to the Future with Broadway in Cincinnati (Sept. 9-21). Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati kicks off their 40th anniversary season with the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning rock musical Next to Normal (Sept. 13-Oct. 5) about a family’s struggle with a mother’s bipolar disorder. Mythic, a new pop-musical comedy comes to Playhouse (Sept. 20-Oct. 19), offering a reinterpretation of the Greek story of Persephone with the gods as pop stars and politicians.
Cincinnati Arts Association offers a show for the kiddos with Dog Man: The Musical, about a crime-fighting canine (Oct. 4-5). The Covedale Center for the Performing Arts starts its season of classic musicals with the matchmaking antics of Hello, Dolly! (Oct. 9-Nov. 2). Cinematic tearjerker turned musical The Notebook comes to Broadway in Cincinnati (Oct. 14-26) before they wrap up the year with a little show called Hamilton (Dec. 16-Jan. 4). Last, but not least, country music fans get a revue of their own with Because You’re Mine at Playhouse with love stories and songs about country greats Johnny Cash and June Carter, George Jones and Tammy Wynette, John Prine and Iris Dement, and more (Dec. 3-23).
It may be a surprise to musical lovers, but not everyone loves it when the cast breaks into song. Luckily, there are also plenty of plays in production this fall. Up the road in Dayton, The Human Race Theatre Company launches their 40th anniversary season with a world premiere comedy, Dad’s Place – A Farce (Sept. 3-14), about a writer helping his dad declutter. Mariemont Players kicks off their season with a romantic drama, The Rainmaker (Sept. 4-21). Cincinnati Shakespeare Company mixes classic and contemporary with Amy Herzog’s Tony Award-winning adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People (Sept. 5-20) about the consequences of integrity.
Sports can compete for theatergoers’ time, but if you’re already disillusioned by fall football and longing for March Madness, Know Theatre has the solution with King James, a comedy about basketball and LeBron James (Sept. 11-27). Cincinnati Playwrights Initiative starts its 30th anniversary season with the comedy road trip Hollywood Masala (Sept. 16). Across the river in Newport, Falcon Theatre opens its season with an offbeat comedy, The Secretary (Sept. 19-Oct. 4).
After back-to-back musicals, Playhouse stages The Heart Sellers, a moving new comedy (Oct. 25-Nov. 23) set during Thanksgiving 1973. Mariemont Players pivots to a thriller with I’ll Be Back Before Midnight (Nov. 6-23). Cincy Shakes’ production of Love’s Labour’s Lost (Nov. 14-Dec. 6) brings the Bard to the Breakfast Club with an ‘80s high school setting for this classic comedy.
Cincinnati Playwrights Initiative features a night of four short plays — Thanks for Calling, Stillwater Depot, Center Street and Sgt Skinner Goes for Coffee — in the Kaplan Theater at the Aronoff (Nov. 18). Darkening days bring darker subjects as Falcon’s Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons explores censorship (Nov. 7-22).
If you’re interested in seeing the next generation of actors and performers before they take on local, regional and national stages, Greater Cincinnati universities are bringing the drama, singing and fun to college stages this fall. Northern Kentucky University kicks the student season off with the iconic musical Oklahoma! (Sept. 26-Oct. 5) and wraps up 2025 with a trio of performances: the comedy play At the Wedding (Oct. 24-Nov. 2), an Emerging Choreographers’ Showcase (Nov. 23-24) and a First Year Showcase (Dec. 7-8). Xavier University students are featured in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, a musical comedy (Oct. 16-19), and in Arthur Miller’s classic play The Crucible (Nov. 14-22). The University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music’s 2025-26 season includes vibrant adaptations of Pride & Prejudice (Oct. 2-4) and The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical, along with Cendrillon, a Cinderella fairy tale with music by Jules Massenet and libretto by Henri Caïn, and Just Desserts: Selections from The Nutcracker & Faculty.
But wait! Where are the Halloween and Christmas shows? Surely, area theaters are doing something to celebrate those end-of-year holidays? They are! But you’ll have to wait for those dedicated previews coming soon to a CityBeat issue near you. Until then, get more information on the fall theater schedule and tickets by visiting theater websites.
This story is featured in CityBeat’s Aug. 20 print edition.
This article appears in Aug 20 – Sep 2, 2025.