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Performance preview: Musical Theatre Southwest Day will feature a sneak peek at its 2025 season
The cast of Musical Theatre Southwest’s production of “Kinky Boots.” Past cast members will be performing songs from previous productions and sneak peeks at upcoming shows during Musical Theatre Southwest Day on Sunday, Feb. 2.
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Celebrate more than 65 years of performance during Musical Theatre Southwest Day.
The production company formerly known as the Albuquerque Civil Light Opera Association will host the event from 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 2.
In 2019, MTS celebrated its 60th year. Mayor Tim Keller commemorated the milestone by declaring Feb. 2 as Musical Theatre Southwest Day, according to Andy Boehnlein, MTS president of the board of directors and showcase series producer.
“We’ve celebrated a few different ways over the years,” Boehnlein said. “But this year we’re doing a little kind of gathering at the theater to kind of celebrate the past.”
The Albuquerque Theatre Guild recently came out with the Orley Awards, which “promote, uplift and recognize” the outstanding work of theatrical artists in the greater Albuquerque area, according to the guild’s website. A few performers from MTS’ past season won Orley Awards.
“They’re going to be performing a few songs from the past seasons,” Boehnlein said. “And then, we’re going to have some exciting sneak peeks for the upcoming season with our upcoming ‘Man of La Mancha’ show and a new logo reveal.”
“Man of La Mancha” will open MTS’ 2025 season and will run from Feb. 28 through March 23.
“‘Man of La Mancha’ is the story, essentially of Miguel de Cervantes’ ‘Don Quixote,’ kind of set during the Spanish Inquisition,” Boehnlein said. “He and his fellow prisoners basically perform kind of a play within the play as he goes on this quest trying to right all the wrongs.”
The season also will include “Dogfight” from May 23 through June 15, “Bare: A Pop Opera” from Aug. 8 through Aug. 31, “Evil Dead: The Musical” from Oct. 3 through Oct. 26, and “The Light in the Piazza” from Dec. 5 through Dec. 28.
“We like to do kind of a little mix of some family favorites, some cult classics, and then some kind of lesser known powerful shows that kind of need to be seen,” Boehnlein said.
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MTS opened up the process of selecting productions for the 2025 MTS season to local directors.
“This past year, we decided to basically open it up to directors in the community to kind of submit some passion projects for shows they want to put on our stage,” Boehnlein said. “And then our team kind of went through all of these submissions and picked some family favorites, some cult classics, some kind of lesser known shows, and figured out the season (of) what should be on the stage this year.”
This season’s productions will feature local talent from the Duke City and beyond.
“We’ve got people from the Albuquerque community, people from kind of further out in the Santa Fe community,” Boehnlein said. “There is such incredible talent in this area. Just kind of community performers looking to give back and shine on the stage.”
