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Anything Goes

Lauren K. Woods Theatre

The classic American musical by Cole Porter is the first musical presented this fall at historic Woods Theatre by Monmouth University’s Department of Music and Theatre Arts.

$25$20$10Free

Broadway’s Next H!t Musical

Pollak Theatre

Every song is fresh. Every scene is new.
Every night is different. The hilarious Broadway’s Next H!T Musical is the only unscripted theatrical awards show. Master improvisers gather made up, hit song suggestions from the audience and create a spontaneous evening of music, humor, and laughter. The audience votes for its favorite song and watches as the cast turns it into a full-blown improvised musical – complete with memorable characters, witty dialogue, and plot twists galore. BNHM has been seen recently at The Triad, Tribeca Film Festival, and at the New York Musical Theater Festival, among many others.

$25; $35; $45

Indian Ink’s The Elephant Wrestler

Pollak Theatre

The contradictions of modern India with its iPhones and ancient gods come alive in this outrageously funny and heartbreakingly beautiful romantic thriller. A poor chaiwallah (tea seller) has his life changed forever when a young girl is abandoned at a busy railway station and brings the place to a standstill with the beauty of her singing. With a few well-chosen words, actor and playwright Jacob Rajan paints a rich visual tableaux full of arresting detail and displays a remarkable ability to dive into the emotional heart of an ever-changing parade of characters.

$35; $45; $55

MET OPERA: Otello (Encore)

Pollak Theatre

Verdi’s masterful Otello matches Shakespeare’s play in tragic intensity. Director Bartlett Sher probes the Moor’s dramatic downfall with an outstanding cast: tenor Aleksandrs Antonenko plays the doomed Otello; new soprano star Sonya Yoncheva sings Desdemona, Otello’s innocent wife and victim; and baritone Željko Lučić plays the evil Iago, who masterminds Otello’s demise. Dynamic maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts.

Tickets on sale Friday, July 24

$23

MET OPERA: Tannhäuser (Encore)

Pollak Theatre

James Levine conducts Wagner’s early masterpiece in its first return to the Met stage in more than a decade. Today’s leading Wagnerian tenor Johan Botha takes on the daunting title role, opposite soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek as Elisabeth, adding another Wagner heroine to her Met repertoire after her acclaimed Sieglinde in the Ring a few seasons ago. On the heels of his recent triumph in Parsifal, baritone Peter Mattei sings Wolfram, and mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung is the love goddess, Venus.

Tickets on sale Friday, July 24

$23

MET OPERA: Lulu (Encore)

Pollak Theatre

Acclaimed artist and director William Kentridge (The Nose) applies his unique theatrical vision to Berg’s notorious femme fatale who shatters lives, including her own. Musically, the masterful score is in the sure hands of Met Music Director James Levine. Soprano Marlis Petersen has excited audiences around the world with her portrayal of the tour-de-force title role, a wild journey of love, obsession, and death. Susan Graham joins a winning cast, including Daniel Brenna and Johan Reuter.

Tickets on sale Friday, July 24

$23

LA Theatreworks: Dracula

Pollak Theatre

After wowing audiences with their unique live radio theater style in last year’s adaptation of “In the Heat of the Night”, L.A. Theatre Works returns to the Pollak stage in Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Count Dracula slips quietly into Victorian London with a cargo of his native Transylvanian soil, necessary for rest between his victims. The city seems helpless against his frightful power, and only one man, the smart and resourceful Dr. Van Helsing, can stop the carnage. But to do this, he must uncover the vampire’s lair and pierce Dracula’s heart with a wooden stake- setting up an epic confrontation of good vs evil. Over the years, the story of Dracula has been used as commentary in modern studies of psychology, women’s issues, and colonialism, while never losing its place as one of the greatest horror stories ever told. This gothic horror is a classic for all time and has spawned hundreds of spin-offs in popular culture from Twilight to True Blood.

$38; $48; $58

National Theatre Live: Hamlet (Encore Screening)

Pollak Theatre

Academy Award® nominee Benedict Cumberbatch (BBC’s Sherlock, The Imitation Game, Frankenstein at the National Theatre) takes on the title role of Shakespeare’s great tragedy. Directed by Lyndsey Turner (Posh, Chimerica) and produced by Sonia Friedman Productions, National Theatre Live will broadcast this eagerly awaited production live to cinemas. As a country arms itself for war, a family tears itself apart. Forced to avenge his father’s death but paralysed by the task ahead, Hamlet rages against the impossibility of his predicament, threatening both his sanity and the security of the state.

$22

MET OPERA: Les Pêcheurs de Perles (Encore)

Pollak Theatre

Bizet’s gorgeous opera of lust and longing set in the Far East returns to the Met stage for the first time in 100 years. Soprano Diana Damrau stars as Leïla, the beautiful Hindu priestess pursued by rival pearl divers competing for her hand. Her suitors are tenor Matthew Polenzani and baritone Mariusz Kwiecien, who sing the lilting duet “Au fond du temple saint,” which opera fans know and adore. Director Penny Woolcock explores the timeless themes of pure love, betrayal, and vengeance in a production that vividly creates an undersea world on the stage of the Met. Conductor Gianandrea Noseda brings his romantic flair to the lush score from the composer of Carmen.

$23

MET OPERA: Turandot (Encore)

Pollak Theatre

Nina Stemme, one of opera’s greatest dramatic sopranos, takes on the title role of the proud princess of legendary China. Tenor Marco Berti is Calàf, the brave prince who sings “Nessun dorma” and wins her hand. Franco Zeffirelli’s golden production is conducted by Paolo Carignani.

Tickets on sale Friday, July 24

$23