Theatre Jacksonville kicks off its 104th regular Mainstage season with the delightful comedy Just Desserts: A Musical Bakeoff, opening on Nov. 3. This story of five strangers competing in a bake-off at a county fair will have audiences humming along and clapping for more as the characters’ charming back stories come to life through their battles to be prize baker.

“Just Desserts is a lighthearted way to start our Mainstage season and give audiences a sweet and savory treat with our Northeast Florida premiere of this wonderful new show,” said Theatre Jacksonville Executive Director Sarah Boone.

“This musical has all the right ingredients to stir up a little mystery, romance and comedy.”
Under the direction of creative team Ron Shreve, Erin Barnes and Theresa Pazanowski, Just Desserts stars Amy Allen Framer, Matt Barnes, Aly Blakewell, Rachel Johns, Blake Michael Osner, Richie Rosado and Hayley Smith. It will run from Friday, Nov. 3 through Sunday, Nov. 19. All evening shows will be at 7:30 p.m., and there will be two Sunday matinees on Nov. 12 and 19 at 2 p.m. Tickets are included with Gold All-Access Season Membership and Silver Season Subscription packages. Bronze single tickets are $31.

In addition to Just Desserts, the Mainstage 104th season includes:

¨     On the Market, opening January 12 – Premiering for the first time due to Theatre Jacksonville’s relationship with talented writer Jason Odell Williams, this modern romantic comedy deals with love, loss, and finding your “forever home.” It follows a former singer, now realtor, struggling with the modern dating scene after two years of being a widow. When she receives a mysterious note from her dead husband telling her it’s time to “move on,” her life is turned upside down.

¨     Alabama Story, opening March 8 – Inspired by true events in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1959, this play contrasts two simultaneous stories. As the Civil Rights movement is brewing, a children’s book about a black rabbit marrying a white rabbit stirs the opposing passions of both a segregationist state senator and a no-nonsense state librarian. At the same time, childhood friends – an African American man and a woman of white privilege – are reunited in adulthood, providing a private counterpart to the public events swirling in the state capital. This production is both thought-provoking and a cautionary tale for the world we are currently living in.

¨     Picasso at the Lapin Agile, opening April 19 – In this absurdist comedy written by Steve Martin (yes, THAT Steve Martin), Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso meet in a Parisian café in 1904, just before the Theory of Relativity and Cubism transformed the science and art worlds, respectively. With ridiculously engaging merriment, the two spar with each other and café regulars about art, science, inspiration, love and the promise of the 20th century (even including a visitor time-warped in from a later era).

¨     SHOUT! The Mod Musical, opening June 7 – With its irresistible blend of hip-swiveling hits, far-out fashions and fab dance moves, this groovy musical takes audiences back to the music style and freedom of the 1960s through five gals coming of age during the dawning liberation of women and glorious days that made England swing. With such international favorites as “To Sir With Love,” “Downtown,” “Son of a Preacher Man” and “Goldfinger,” this smash hit is entertaining and downright fun.

The season will also include quarterly presentations of Stories on Stage. The next offering in the series is a performance of Odd Rod – The Journey on November 12 at 7:30 p.m. Odd Rod received a standing ovation after he spoke at a TEDxJacksonville event, and his use of authenticity in poetry, storytelling and multimedia provides a dynamic engaging performance.

Ticket packages are available at three levels:
·      Gold All-Access Memberships include the entire Theatre Jacksonville season, including Mainstage productions, Stories on Stage and all Extra productions.
·      Silver Season Subscriptions include tickets to the five Mainstage productions. Tickets will be extra for other special productions.
·      Bronze single tickets are offered on a show-by-show basis and will be $31 each.

For more information about the 104th season lineup, ticket packages, Just Desserts or Stories on Stage, visit www.theatrejax.com.