Goodspeed Opera House

Goodspeed mounts both new and newly revived musicals each year on our main stage at the Opera House and on our second stage in Chester – a total of more than 400 performances during the April to December season attracting 130,000 patrons to the Connecticut River Valley. We stand at the forefront of producing and preserving the American musical, simultaneously reinventing the classics and inventing new ones. We attract well-known icons of the theatre world and foster emerging talent among composers, lyricists, and librettists. Each year, thousands of actors, directors, choreographers, and technicians aspire to come to Goodspeed to practice their craft. Among millions who know and love this art form – and those who appreciate its history and enduring appeal – Goodspeed is widely recognized as “The Home of the American Musical.”

Throughout the year, and intensively during the winter months, Goodspeed addresses issues unique to the field by offering innovative and highly-sought after programs through our Max Showalter Center for Education in Musical Theatre, including the celebrated Musical Theatre Institute providing programs for aspiring musical theatre professionals. The Arts Education Collaboration provides art-education programs for underserved Connecticut youth. The Festival of New Musicals features students from the Hartt School and the Boston Conservatory performing staged readings of three brand new musicals, industry-related seminars, a symposium and cabaret performances.  Each winter, Goodspeed also hosts the Johnny Mercer Foundation Writers Colony that invites musical theatre writing teams to retreat from daily life for a four week residency and concentrate solely on writing new musicals.  In addition, Goodspeed serves as a resource for the preservation of the art form through our Scherer Library of Musical Theatre, the second most extensive musical theatre research library in the United States.