Performing Arts❯Musicals

From the celebrated and award-winning composer Dave Malloy comes Natasha, Pierre and The Great Comet of 1812, an electropop opera based on a scandalous slice of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace. Young and impulsive, Natasha Rostova arrives in Moscow to await the return of her fiancé from the front lines. When she falls under the spell of the roguish Anatole, it is up to Pierre, a family friend in the middle of an existential crisis, to pick up the pieces of her shattered reputation. Following a critically exalted premiere at Ars Nova in New York City, a subsequent off-Broadway transfer and an acclaimed run on Broadway, this award-winning musical expands the possibilities for the genre with its daring score and bold storytelling.

Music and Lyrics By Dave Malloy

Join scholars Dr. Lindsey Mantoan, author of It's All Happening: How Musical Theater Does High School (Oxford, 2026), and Dr. Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, author of Lin-Manuel Miranda: The Education of an Artist (Simon & Schuster, 2025) for a free conversation about high school on the musical theater stage. This evening will feature performances by PSU students from some favorite high school musicals--come to sing, chat, and cheer along!

Books will be available for purchase and signing.

Learn more about theTheater Arts program at PSU's School of Music & Theater.

Portland premiere of the new 4k restoration and special shadowcast performance by The Denton Deliquents!

A worldwide epidemic encourages a biotech company to launch an organ-financing program similar in nature to a standard car loan. The repossession clause is a killer, however.

Come in costume and plan to sing-along!

• Director: Darren Lynn Bousman
• Year: 2008
• Country: United States
• Runtime: 98 minutes

Join Columbia Slough Watershed Council and Bird Guide Ryan Gilpin, from Nidus Consulting for a morning of Birding at Blue Lake Regional Park. Explore the beautiful Blue Lake and discover what birds may be flying, as we walk and practice identifying birds! This is a rain or shine event. All ages are welcome. Participants under the age of 18, will need to be accompanied by a parent, adult, or legal guardian.

What to bring: Dress for the weather and bring water. Snacks and drinks will be available. We will have extra binoculars. Bring yours, if you have them! Dogs are not allowed in this park because they can damage sensitive habitat and threaten wildlife.

See map below for meeting point and ideal parking location, circled in red. We will meet at Celilo Shelter. Metro kindly reserved this shelter for us from 9am-11am.

Metro has also granted us with 15 parking passes, free of charge. These passes are reserved on a first come, first serve basis. If you reserved a parking pass ticket - once you have arrived, drive past the kiosk, and check in with Liz at the welcome table to claim your pass. All passes need to be displayed in your windshield of your vehicle. Please attempt to carpool.

Parking passes are $5 per car, and can be purchased at Blue Lake. If you would like to attend and seeking no barrier to entry, please reach out.

By Bus: Take Bus line 21 to NE Sandy & 223rd, then walk about 1 mile up 223rd to Blue Lake Park.

By bike: Use bike lanes east on Marine Drive to Blue Lake Road or east on Halsey to 223rd Avenue and follow the signs north to the park. Bicycles are welcome inside the park on paved paths.

There are a couple of restrooms and water fountains located inside the park. The route will have mostly paved, flat trails with little gravel.

Questions or need a parking pass? Reach out to Liz Coll, [email protected]

Join scholars Dr. Lindsey Mantoan, author of It's All Happening: How Musical Theater Does High School (Oxford, 2026), and Dr. Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, author of Lin-Manuel Miranda: The Education of an Artist (Simon & Schuster, 2025), for a free conversation about high school on the musical theater stage. This evening will feature performances by PSU students from some favorite high school musicals — come to sing, chat, and cheer along.

Sylva Ridge, Tennessee, is known for one thing during the holiday season: its Christmas pageant. When Oralene, the guiding force behind the production, suddenly passes away, the tight-knit group of women she left behind—known as the Silver Belles—must step up to save the show. As they fumble through rehearsals and face old wounds, they rediscover their voices, their strength, and their deep bond with one another. With twangy new country tunes, holiday classics, and plenty of Southern charm, The Silver Belles rings in the season with community and the kind of chosen family that helps us find our place—even when we feel a little lost.

Book by Allyson Currin
Music by Matt Conner
Lyrics by Stephen Gregory Smith
Based on an idea by Cathy Alter and Sandra Johnson

Co-directed and choreographed by Dan Murphy and Clara-Liis Hillier

This show is presented without intermission.

Wizard of Floyd is a dark reimagining of The Wizard of Oz, where the familiar journey through Oz is told through the lyrics of 21 iconic Pink Floyd songs, with a live Pink Floyd cover band creating an immersive soundtrack that drives the characters’ journey from Kansas to the far reaches of Oz.

Part theater, part rock concert, and part psychedelic fever dream, Wizard of Floyd is a dance and musically spectacular journey into a world where nothing is quite what it seems.

The Understudies, Portland’s hottest new musical improv group, is debuting their one-hour fully improvised musical, The Understudies: A Fully Improvised Musical. It’s curtain time, but the musical’s principal cast has all mysteriously fallen ill! Can the Understudies fill in and perform a show they’ve never even heard of, much less practiced? Come enjoy a fully improvised musical comedy filled with drama, epic songs, joy, dance, and a heaping helping of laughs.

21Ten Theatre is a cozy 40-seat black box theater in Southeast Portland, providing an up close and personal experience with some of Portland's most talented performance artists.

The Understudies are Sean Arlo (Dropped Notes, Curious Comedy), Whitney Kemper (Mouth Stuff, Kickstand Comedy, Curious Comedy), Lydia Manning (Slydia, Bike Play, Kickstand Comedy), Heather Riggs (Mouth Stuff, Kickstand Comedy), Megan Monroe (Kickstand Comedy, Curious Comedy), Wren Reynolds (Kickstand Comedy), Brantley Bacon (pianist extraordinaire, No Soap Radio, Los Mal Hablados), and Bloom Davis (Kickstand Comedy).

Speed Dating Tonight!
Music & Libretto by Michael Ching
Based on a concept by Dean Anthony

Portland State University’s Opera program kicks off its 50th anniversary season with Michael Ching’s “Speed Dating Tonight!” (2013). Set over the course of a single evening at a local bar, this clever, heartwarming opera follows a revolving cast of singles searching for that elusive spark. There's the dreamer, the hopeless romantic, the bashful, the over-sharer, the chronically distracted, and everyone in between, each getting their moment in the spotlight through music that is equal parts tender, heartbreaking, and hilarious.

Written with duets and ensembles for up to 45 voices, “Speed Dating Tonight!” has a flexible modular structure that can be customized to fit any cast size, voice type, or gender identity. PSU Opera’s version of “Speed Dating Tonight!” features 35 song selections and arrangements specifically chosen to reflect the unique assortment of voices in the 12-member cast.

At its heart, this is a show about the universal human longing to be seen and cherished by another person. Woven through the interactions is another question: can a genuine connection actually happen in five minutes or less? With Michael Ching’s delightful opera, the answer is decidedly yes.

Visit the Speed Dating Tonight! web page to learn more about this production, including additional dates, cast and crew information, photos, and more as we get closer to opening night.

Learn more about the Opera program at Portland State University's School of Music & Theater.