Submitted by Goodspeed Musicals
(March 25, 2025) —- Two-time Tony Award-winning Goodspeed Musicals has announced a season of two new musicals at the Terris Theatre in Chester. One is the latest from a Tony-, Oscar- and Grammy Award-winning songwriting team who have a long history with the theatre; the other is a new musical, homegrown through Goodspeed’s Festival of New Musicals.
Both shows are at the early stages of their lives, and the teams will focus on developing the work throughout their time at The Terris. With audience feedback, changes will be made to both the book and score, which is a hallmark of the Terris Theatre. To allow as much flexibility for change as possible, the set and costumes will be kept simple so the show can change daily if necessary.
The season will open with the heartfelt new musical revue About Time, which will run from May 24, 2025 to June 15, 2025. At first, they were Starting Here, Starting Now. After a few years, they were Closer Than Ever. Now, decades later, the legendary award-winning writing team of Richard Maltby, Jr. and David Shire complete the trilogy they didn’t know they were creating…About Time. From long-ago love affairs and ambitions of the past to tech-savvy grandkids and lost keys, this funny and touching revue features all new songs about people navigating the joys and challenges of growing older while staying young in spirit.
The season will conclude with a new “EMUsical” comedy The Great Emu War, which will run from October 3, 2025 to October 26, 2025. Remember that one time that the Australian government sent their army with machine guns to wage war on emus in Western Australia? Neither do most people…but when Edith, the headstrong warbler, and her flock begin to feed on the wheat of local farmers—the humans take up arms against Australia’s favorite feathered friends. Think of it as Cats, but with emus.
The Great Emu War features a book by Cal Silberstein, a West-Australian writer, performer, producer and dramaturg. Music and lyrics are by Paul Hodge, an award-winning writer-composer from Brisbane. It’s the most “emusing” ninety minutes you’ll have in any theatre…don’t miss it!
For more information, visit www.goodspeed.org, or call the Goodspeed Box Office at 860-873-8668. The Box Office is open weekdays from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
