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Paper Mill Playhouse (Mark S. Hoebee, Producing Artistic Director; Michael Stotts, Executive Director), recipient of the 2016 Regional Theatre Tony Award, is proud to announce its 2023–2024 season of five musicals, including a world premiere, a Tony Award winner, and an electrifying new musical inspired by real events in post-emancipation Texas.
Paper Mill Playhouse’s 2023–2024 lineup features The Great Gatsby (Oct 12–Nov 12, 2023), Fiddler on the Roof (Dec 6, 2023–Jan 7, 2024), After Midnight (Jan 31–Feb 25, 2024), Gun & Powder (Apr 4–May 5, 2024), and Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (June 5–30, 2024).
“We are thrilled to invite audiences to experience the variety of musicals that Paper Mill Playhouse has to offer in its 85th season,” said Mark S. Hoebee. “We launch our 2023–2024 season with the world premiere of a new musical based on one of the most widely read novels in the American canon, The Great Gatsby, with a Jazz Age–inspired score by a Tony Award–nominated team. The holiday season will find us with Tevye and his daughters of the beloved family classic Fiddler on the Roof on the Paper Mill stage for the first time in 40 years. We’ll kick off 2024 at the swinging Cotton Club with After Midnight, immersed in the sounds and eye-popping dance moves of the Harlem Renaissance. We can hardly wait to introduce audiences to the Clarke sisters of Gun & Powder, African American twins who defy racial boundaries to seize what is rightfully theirs. Finally, we close the season with the irresistible, uplifting music of an American icon in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.”
Michael Stotts commented, “This is a Paper Mill season with something for every theatergoer, as well as for people who may not think theater is for them. We aim to tell a variety of stories through many musical genres, from the legendary fortitude of two African American women after emancipation, to the traditions and warmth of a Russian Jewish family’s love, to the grandeur of the Jazz Age, all the way to Hall of Fame pop music. Patrons can dive even deeper into these stories through our behind-the-scenes audience enrichment programs, including cast Q&As, Paper Mill Prologues and The Director’s Viewpoint. This season exemplifies the rich history and significance of Paper Mill Playhouse through its 85 years.
Paper Mill Playhouse’s 2023–2024 Season
The Great Gatsby
October 12–November 12, 2023
Book by Kait Kerrigan
Music by Jason Howland
Lyrics by Nathan Tysen
Based on the Novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Music Direction by Daniel Edmonds
Choreographed by Dominique Kelley
Directed by Marc Bruni
A soul-stirring, glamourous, and sizzling world premiere musical. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby
Fiddler on the Roof
December 6, 2023–January 7, 2024
Book by Joseph Stein
Music by Jerry Bock
Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick
Original Choreography by Jerome Robbins
Directed by Mark S. Hoebee
This beloved classic is sure to charm and captivate the entire family. The Tony Award–winning musical is set in a Russian village in the home of Tevye, a Jewish husband and father striving to uphold his family’s religious and cultural traditions. Directed by Paper Mill Producing Artistic Director Mark S. Hoebee with the original choreography of Jerome Robbins, Fiddler on the Roof’s timeless score includes such favorites as “Tradition,” “Matchmaker, Matchmaker,” “If I Were a Rich Man,” “To Life (L’Chaim!),” and “Sunrise, Sunset.”
After Midnight
January 31–February 25, 2024
Conceived by Jack Viertel
Selected Text by Langston Hughes
Music by Duke Ellington, Jimmy McHugh, Harold Arlen and others
This electrifying musical revue transports you to the Cotton Club of the Harlem Renaissance, an unparalleled time in New York City when jazz and swing were king. After Midnight intertwines the poetry of Langston Hughes with songs from big-band legends Duke Ellington, Jimmy McHugh, Harold Arlen, Dorothy Fields, and more. The exhilarating set list features such hits as “I Can’t Give You Anything but Love,” “Stormy Weather,” “On the Sunny Side of the Street,” and “It Don’t Mean a Thing.”
Gun & Powder
April 4–May 5, 2024
Book and Lyrics by Angelica Chéri
Music by Ross Baum
Directed by Stevie Walker-Webb
Gun & Powder is a new musical inspired by the true story of Mary and Martha Clarke, African American twin sisters who take extraordinary measures to settle their mother’s sharecropper debt and save her home. In 1893 Texas, the Sisters Clarke—passing as white—embark on a remarkable Wild West adventure that examines race, family, and identity with two electrifying women who transformed from farm girls to outlaws to legends. Featuring book and lyrics by Angelica Chéri (a real-life descendant of Mary and Martha Clarke), music by Ross Baum, and direction by Obie winner Stevie Walker-Webb (Ain’t No Mo’).
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
June 5–30, 2024
Book by Douglas McGrath
Words and Music by Gerry Goffin & Carole King and Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil
Directed by Casey Hushion
This Tony-nominated musical follows the early life and career of Carole King on her journey from teenage songwriter to chart-topping solo artist. King wrote for many of the biggest names in music, often alongside her husband, but it wasn’t until she made the leap from the writer’s room to the stage that she truly found her voice. This inspiring story of love, heartbreak, and empowerment features over two dozen hits, including “One Fine Day,” “Will You Love Me Tomorrow,” and “Natural Woman.” Casey Hushion (Clue, A Jolly Holiday) returns to direct.
