Psst. Call it a well-kept secret if you like, but Norfolk, Virginia is home to more historic theaters and high-quality stage productions than nearly anywhere else in the Commonwealth. Now, the Norfolk Theatre Festival aims to make that a commonly-known fact.
This year’s festival brings a virtual gumbo pot of artists and productions to the city’s historic theaters and venues, from a classic Broadway musical to a post-modern cabaret diva to tales of justice, a spine-chilling true story of Victorian murder and much more to Mermaid City.
According to organizers, the festival’s aim is to deliver engaging theater, “produced by great local companies performing in beautiful venues that include some of the city’s architecturally and historically significant spaces – as well as spectacular touring Broadway companies.”
Headed up by Virginia Arts Festival, the annual event kicked off in 2019 but was sidelined by the COVID pandemic. In 2024, it made its return with the idea of presenting a variety of performances in Norfolk’s historic venues. The current partnership includes productions from Virginia Arts Festival, Rouge Theatre Reinvented, the Norfolk State University Theatre Company, Core Theatre Ensemble and Broadway in Norfolk (Seven Venues).
Norfolk State University Theater Director Anthony Stockard, who heads up the festival, says, “Norfolk is uniquely situated with the highest concentration of arts organizations. This is unique for any region in America.”
Stockard says, “this is a huge collaborative effort and this year will be the largest in history in terms of participants. We’re really happy to see it growing.”
Among the venues hosting Theatre Festival performances are the historic Wells Theatre, home to Virginia Stage Company productions; the Attucks Theatre, the oldest theater built by African-Americans; Chrysler Hall, home to the annual Broadway in Norfolk shows; the Harrison Opera House, home to the Virginia Opera; the Hermitage Museum & Gardens; the Brown Memorial Hall Mainstage Theater to HBCU Norfolk State University; the Robin Hixon Theater; and the Hunter House Victorian Museum.
In short, a ticket to the Norfolk Theatre Festival is a chance to see some of Virginia’s top performing arts venues in a historic city.
Here’s a closer look at the lineup
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
March 20 – 29
The Wells Theatre
This beloved musical reimagines the Biblical story of Joseph, a magical tale packed with adventures, beguiling characters (like the Elvis-inspired Pharoah), and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s brilliant score, full of catchy songs from country-western (“One More Angel in Heaven”) to Caribbean (“Benjamin Calypso”), along with the unforgettable classics “Any Dream Will Do” and “Close Every Door.”
What Remains
March 20 – April 4 (Thursdays – Saturdays)
The Hermitage Museum & Gardens
Step into What Remains—an immersive, audio-guided journey through a house alive with memory and myth. Guests witness a magical dinner, taste elixirs, and descend into a dark night of the soul, guided by light, sound, and story. Created by ROŪGE—the team behind Dream Clinic, Gretels, and Pride & Prejudice & Dragons—this reimagined Victorian fable rises from the ether, where invention meets possession and the past refuses to stay buried.
Primary Trust
March 27 – 29
NSU Brown Memorial Hall Mainstage Theater
This 2024 Pulitzer Prize winner is a touching comedic drama about a young man named Kenneth and his journey towards new beginnings as he finds the courage to really enter the world for the first time. Primary Trust contains adult content.
Love, George & Ira: The Gershwins on Broadway with Rob Fisher
March 28
Robin Hixon Theater, Clay & Jay Barr Education Center
Rob Fisher, piano and music director
Patti Murin, vocalist
Ross Lekites, vocalist
Famed Broadway music director and the Festival’s Goode Family Artistic Advisor for Musical Theater and the American Songbook, Rob Fisher cut his musical teeth on Gershwin. The uniquely American music that George and Ira Gershwin created fused classical, Broadway, jazz and Tin Pan Alley to form an exhilarating new kind of music for the 20th century and beyond, conquering stage and screen with enduring classics like “Embraceable You,” “Summertime,” “Love is Here to Stay,” and “Rhapsody in Blue” a favorite for audiences and orchestras. Rob Fisher curated the Carnegie Hall Gershwin Centennial celebrations of Ira’s in 1996 and George’s in 1998. The Gershwin brothers’ timeless songs explore the joys and disappointments of love, brought vividly to life by Ross Lekites (Brigadoon, Frozen) and Patti Murin (Frozen, Wicked). In this must-hear concert, Fisher gathers Broadway singers and a swinging quartet for a trip down a memory lane of greatness, courtesy of the immortal Gershwin brothers.
All Things Equal: The Life & Trials of Ruth Bader Ginsburg
March 29
Robin Hixon Theater, Clay & Jay Barr Education Center
Written by Tony Award-winning playwright RUPERT HOLMES
Starring Michelle Azar as Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Directed by Laley Lippard
In this moving, inspiring play, Supreme Court Justice “RBG” welcomes a friend of the family to her cozy chambers to convey fascinating and often funny moments of her life and its many trials: losing her mother the day before she graduated as valedictorian of her Brooklyn high school … being one of only nine young women studying law at Harvard while also raising a daughter and helping her husband battle cancer … fighting for women’s rights in the 1970s… and taking courageous stands for human rights as a voice of reason amid a splintering and increasingly politicized Supreme Court. An evening with a great and compassionate icon of American justice–an RBG who is not only “notorious” but victorious as she takes a stand for ordinary people facing the many challenges of a changing world.
Meow Meow
March 30 – 31
Robin Hixon Theater, Clay & Jay Barr Education Center
An experience you will never forget, this internationally acclaimed cabaret star draws fans from every continent. As critics note in swooning reviews, “There are not many women who can stun an audience into pin-drop silence with an exquisitely delivered torch song one moment and rock the rafters with laughter the next” (The Evening Standard UK). “The voice alone is glorious in its range and texture. But combine it with carefully chosen songs, superb comic timing, improvisational wit, and some engaging audience participation so cannily conducted that you suspect a degree in psychology, and you have an evening that demonstrates that Meow Meow really is the cat’s whiskers” (The Guardian).
Mrs. Doubtfire
March 31 – April 5
Chrysler Hall
Everyone’s favorite Scottish nanny is headed to Norfolk in this internationally acclaimed hit musical critics call “wonderful, heart-warming, and laugh-out-loud funny” (Manchester Evening News) and “a feel-good, family-friendly comedy that delivers” (The Hollywood Reporter). Based on the beloved film, MRS. DOUBTFIRE tells the hysterical and heartfelt story of an out-of-work actor who will do anything for his kids. It’s “the lovable, big-hearted musical comedy we need right now,” raves the Chicago Tribune – one that proves we’re better together.
Malcolm X & Redd Foxx Washing Dishes at Jimmy’s Chicken Shack in Harlem
April 8 – 26
The Wells Theatre
1943. Two young Harlemites form a friendship over leftover fried chicken and dirty dishwater. But a long, hot summer of heartbreak, betrayal, and racial uprisings moves them closer to the men they will become and farther from each other. This electrifying world premiere blends sharp humor with raw humanity, revealing the laughter, struggle, and brotherhood that shaped two legends.
40 Whacks: The Nightmare of Lizzie Borden
April 9 – 12
The Hunter House Victorian Museum
In the extremely intimate setting of the historic Hunter House Victorian Museum (Norfolk, VA), Core Theatre Ensemble will showcase their award-winning production like never before. The Lizzie Borden murder case captivated the nation over one hundred years ago and is still considered “one of the most dastardly and diabolical crimes that was ever committed.” Andrew and Abby Borden’s bodies were found axed to death in their home in August 1892; their daughter Lizzie was arrested and charged days later. The case was surrounded by a passionately divided public. The opinion of women and the extent of their capabilities fueled an intense debate concerning her guilt or innocence. Lizzie was ultimately acquitted of all charges due to circumstantial evidence, incompetent prosecution, and the pervading delusion that a “woman is incapable of doing so foul a deed.”
Trouble, Struggle, Bubble, & Squeak
April 10 – 11
Robin Hixon Theater, Clay & Jay Barr Education Center
Edinburgh Fringe favorite Victoria Melody returns to Virginia Arts Festival after her successful wildly witty tale Major Tom. Who really shapes history? While spending weekends with a historical re-enactment society, award-winning theatre maker and “Fringe legend” (Time Out) Victoria Melody uncovered the story of a group of 17th-century radicals called The Diggers—and began a quest to find the Diggers of today. Blending storytelling and stand-up, this wildly entertaining show celebrates ordinary people still making history.
Dear Evan Hansen
April 24 – 26
NSU Brown Memorial Hall Mainstage Theater
This 6X Tony Award-winning best musical introduces us to Evan, who writes a letter that was never meant to be read. It finds its way into the hands of a grieving mother who thinks her son wrote the letter to Evan before taking his own life. She refuses to believe her son didn’t write the letter, so Evan goes along with it and creates a story that changes everyone’s lives forever. Dear Evan Hansen contains strong profanity, adult situations, conversations about suicide and dark comedy.
