New Performing Arts Seasons Debut in Long Beach

Get ready for a bustling new season of arts and entertainment in Long Beach as our local performing arts organizations roll out their new programs for 2025-26. Whether you love Beethoven and Shakespeare or Andrew Lloyd Webber and Broadway, there is a show for you in Long Beach. From incredible live music to thought-provoking theater, you can experience moving performances on stages across the city.

LONG BEACH SYMPHONY

The Long Beach Symphony feeds your soul and mind with major works by the great composers, from Mozart to Bernstein during their 2025-26 season. The Classical Series concertgoing experience includes a pre-concert talk, firepits and bars on the Terrace Theater Plaza, and the opportunity to bring your drink into the theater during the concert. The symphony will also offer its popular POPS Series at the Long Beach Arena, including tributes to Journey, Prince, Whitney Houston, and Michael Jackson, closing with an Earth Wind & Fire dance party. For the full calendar, visit the Long Beach Symphony webpage.

MUSICA ANGELICA BAROQUE ORCHESTRA

Live out your period piece fantasies and experience music the way people did before the internet, before radios, before electricity—when chamber music played in intimate spaces served as a primary form of social gathering and entertainment. Now in its 33rd season, Musica Angelica performs early music on period instruments at the First Congregational Church of Long Beach (241 Cedar Ave). This season features such programs as A Baroque Christmas in Germany, a Valentine to the Viola da Gamba, and the ensemble’s annual performance of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. For dates, details and tickets, visit the Musica Angelica website.

LONG BEACH CAMERATA SINGERS

Long Beach Camerata Singers is celebrating its 60th season, which kicks off on October 4 with a chance to join the choir! The Big Sing 2025 features the chance to rehearse and perform some of the most popular choral works, including the Hallelujah Chorus, with Camerata for a one-day concert. The group will also perform Handel’s Messiah and Mozart’s Requiem this season. Its chamber group Catalyst will offer holiday concerts including Nightmares on Elm and Candlelight Christmas, plus a spring concert of Baroque composer Monteverdi’s Selva Morale e Spirituale. For details, visit the calendar page on their website.

Credit: Long Beach Camerata Singers

INTERNATIONAL CITY THEATER

International City Theater finishes up its 2025 season with the world premiere of Masala Dabba by Wendy Graf, a family drama centered around memories of food and cooking, followed by the Southern California premiere of Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson–Apt. 2B, described as “cheerfully desecrating the stories of Arthur Conan Doyle.” ICT, which stages its productions in the Beverly O’Neill Theater (330 E Seaside Way), will follow up with a 2026 season focusing on overcoming adversity, with plays like I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, a musical comedy revue about modern love, and the world premiere of Warsaw, a new drama by Paul Webb, the screenwriter of feature film Selma. For a full lineup and tickets, visit their website.

LONG BEACH PLAYHOUSE

With two stages, Long Beach Playhouse (5021 E Anaheim St) hosts more than a dozen productions each year, including an annual staging of A Christmas Carol in December. The 2025-26 season includes a range of shows, from Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Neil Simon’s Plaza Suite on the Mainstage this fall to Agatha Christie’s Go Back for Murder and August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean at the start of 2026. Productions of Harvey, The Lion in Winter, and Godspell round out the Mainstage season. The smaller Studio Theater hosts Veronica’s Room and Heathers: The Musical, this fall. See the full schedule and details on their website.

CREDIT: Long Beach Playhouse

MUSICAL THEATER WEST

Musical Theater West puts on classic Broadway shows and newer hits at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center (6200 E Atherton St) on the campus of Cal State Long Beach. The company will debut its 2026 season, The Season of Dreams, with the story of Don Quixote, the ultimate dreamer, in Man of La Mancha, followed by Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and Little Women: The Musical. For tickets and subscriptions, visit the MTW website.

Credit: Musical Theater West

About the Author

Claire Atkinson

Claire Atkinson is a Southern California native who has lived in Long Beach for over 20 years. She spends her free time visiting local parks, farmers markets, and museums, and loves learning about Long Beach history and culture.