Asolo Rep has announced its play lineup for 2026-27, modestly crafting it as “The Greatest Season on Earth.”

OK, the company isn’t necessarily bragging. That handle comes as a tribute to the longtime branding of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus as “The Greatest Show on Earth,” because the theater season is tied in a number of ways to the year 1927. That’s the year John Ringling brought his circus winter quarters to town, also making his home here at the mansion he and wife Mable dubbed Ca’d’Zan.

At the Monday afternoon unveiling of the shows slated for next season, producing artistic director Peter Rothstein noted the importance of that year to the community, not only for the benefits to the economy the circus brought, but for the museum that Ringling founded in his name that really marks the beginning of Sarasota’s arts reputation.

To celebrate the centennial, Asolo Rep is debuting a world premiere production of The Day the Circus Came to Town, devised by Rothstein along with Carla Noack (lately seen in the play The Unfriend at Asolo Rep) and composer-lyricist David Darrow. Rothstein says the creators have conducted dozens of interviews with circus artists in the area to gather material for the show, developed in partnership with the Ringling Museum and Circus Arts Conservatory. It’s the reason for the season, you might say.

More on that in a minute, but first, here’s the lineup of shows in order. Drumroll, please… (Or should that be, cue the calliope?)

Opening the mainstage season in the Mertz Theatre: the iconic American musical Singin’ in the Rain, based on the classic MGM film starring Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds and Donald O’Connor. The play happens to be set in 1927, when talkies were about to take over Hollywood moviemaking, and it features songs by Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown, including, of course, the title tune. Frequent Asolo Rep director-choreographer Josh Rhodes (Evita, Cabaret, Jesus Christ Superstar) will be back to handle the stage incarnation here, playing Nov. 18 through Jan. 2, 2027.

That’s followed by August Wilson’s 1927-set Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, part of the playwright’s 10-play Pittsburgh Cycle chronicling different decades in African American history. It’s based on the true story of Mother of the Blues Rainey, at work with musicians in a Chicago recording studio, and it’s directed by Chuck Smith in a partnership with Chicago’s Goodman Theatre. Smith, whose direction has often been seen at Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe, too, has a history of working with Wilson’s plays; this production will run Jan. 13 through Feb. 4.

For a lighter touch, turn to The Royal Family, by Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman, which debuted in 1927. Director Peter Amster will helm this comedy about a theatrical family (think the Barrymores) led by the actress matriarch and complete with a leading lady daughter and matinee idol son. How do their public and private lives collide, and is there any chance for them to be “normal?” The classic comedy will take the Mertz stage Feb. 10 through March 4.

Next up is that world premiere about the circus, featuring a cast of actors, acrobats, aerialists and a singing ringmaster accompanied by a circus band. Take a peek behind the canvas at the back lot, clown alley, and life on the road, one train stop at a time. Past attempts by companies here to dramatize Sarasota’s famous circus history have been, well, uneven, let’s say, but here’s hoping the 100-year anniversary deserves its slot in the center ring. Onstage in the Mertz March 21 through April 24.

The final show in the Mertz Theatre brings back playwright Ken Ludwig, whose Murder on the Orient Express and Lady Molly of Scotland Yard have also been staged there. This time around, Ludwig tackles Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, whose last short story featuring his private detective, Sherlock Holmes, was published in 1927. Ludwig’s work, though, really centers on an earlier Holmes case and one of his most lasting, The Hound of the Baskervilles, with Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery, onstage May 5 through 30. Knowing Ludwig’s earlier shows here, it seems fair to say that he’ll be adding some humor to the mix, with five actors racing around the stage to portray more than 40 characters. Directed by Chari Arespacochaga, whose work on Primary Trust earlier in the current season was a standout.

You may have noticed from these show dates that Asolo Rep is not producing the rotating repertory of past decades, instead opting for straight runs for each production. That’s not the only change; the company will also be presenting not one, not two, but three plays in the smaller Cook Theatre, which will offer its own separate subscription options.

The first of these shows arrives during the holidays, as director Scott Keys, his cast and some talented sound effects work combine for It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, written by Joe Landry. Here again, just five actors will bring to life dozens of characters we all know from the classic film starring Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey, a man who faces a critical moment in his life as Christmas approaches. Onstage Dec. 2 through Jan. 3.

The Cook season continues with another world premiere, this one by Jennifer Maisel and directed by Casey Stangl. Provenance, winner of the 2025 Jewish Plays Project, centers on the life of a single painting, a portrait, from its creation through its theft by the Nazis and all the lives shaped by both acts. Spanning a century and crossing continents, the drama asks if what was lost can ever truly be recovered. A co-production with Palm Beach Dramaworks, this one will run in Sarasota Feb. 24 through March 21.

The third show in the Cook takes us back to 1927 at the Four Fives Club (think Asolo Rep’s address, at 5555 N. Tamiami Trail) with Bootleg: America Sings 1927. Curated by Cat Brindisi, Terrance Jackson, James Monaghan and Rothstein (and directed by Rothstein), Bootleg invites the audience into a speakeasy, a wild party, while featuring words by Langston Hughes, Dorothy Parker and more along with songs by Fats Waller, Irving Berlin, Duke Ellington and others. Running April 21 through May 16.

That’s not quite all; Asolo Rep is also presenting The Wizard of Oz: Youth Edition for its summer children’s musical, July 8 through Aug. 27, 2026, in the Cook Theatre, and takes shows on the road with Shakespeare45: Rom-Com and Beanstalk, The Adventures of Jack and the Giant in Asolo Rep On Tour, playing to students and schools.

For more on those shows, and all of the ones mentioned above, visit asolorep.org.