Name: Water for Elephants
Start: 2026-06-07T00:00:00
Location: The Bushnell

Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts

The critically acclaimed bestselling novel comes to “thrilling, dazzling” life (Time Out New York) in a unique, spectacle-filled new musical! Hailed as a Critic’s Pick, iThe New York Times calls it “stunning, emotional, heart-filled and gorgeously imaginative.” 

Water for Elephants

The Bushnell

A season finale of bold contrasts and artistic innovation, The Rite of Spring On-Screen brings music, film, and dance together in a dynamic conclusion. The program opens with Strauss’ Death and Transfiguration, a profound depiction of life’s final journey. We welcome back Curtis Stewart, the 2025\2026 Joyce C. Willis Artist in Residence to perform The Famous People, his reimagination of Dvorák’s Slavonic Dances through African American musical traditions, creating a bold fusion of styles.

HSO Masterworks Series: The Rite of Spring On-Screen

Maxwell M. & Ruth R. Belding Theater

Oh, Mary! is a dark comedy about a miserable, suffocated Mary Todd Lincoln in the weeks leading up to Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. Unrequited yearning, alcoholism, and suppressed desires abound in this 80-minute one-act play that finally examines the forgotten life and dreams of Mrs. Lincoln, through the lens of an idiot (playwright Cole Escola).

Declared “one of the best comedies in years” by The New York Times, Oh, Mary! received two Tony Awards including Best Direction of a Play (Sam Pinkleton), Drama League Awards for Outstanding Play and Outstanding Direction of a Play, as well as a special citation from the New York Drama Critics’ Circle. It was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.