Book and Lyrics by María Irene Fornés
Music by Al Carmines
March 5-28, 2026
PROMENADE
Buy Tickets Here!
“It is a triumph. A wickedly amusing musical. A great show. A joy from start to finish. . .
A protest musical for people too sophisticated to protest.”
– Clive Barnes, New York Times
“In its odd way it's an exquisite piece of musical theater."
– Stphen Holden, New York Times
“Promenade is zany. It is lumpy. It is also gorgeous.”
– Laura Collins-Hughes, New York Times
The Seriously Hilarious 1969 Experimental Musical Comedy! Come for the Party! Stay for the War!
New Line Theatre continues its 34th season with the uproarious 1969 experimental musical comedy PROMENADE at the Marcelle Theater in the Grand Center Arts District.
One of the biggest off Broadway hits of 1969, this show boasts a wild, absurdist story, a diverse cast, and features a script and lyrics by Latina playwright-director María Irene Fornés, the “mother of avant-garde theatre,” with music by gay minister Al Carmines. With a tiny budget, PROMENADE premiered at the Judson Poet's Theatre in New York City in April 1965, before trasnferring off-Broadway to the Promenade Theatre in June 1969, where it became the surprise smash hit of the season. María Irene Fornés earned a 1965 Obie Award for Distinguished New Play or Musical, for PROMENADE. There was an off Broadway revival in 1983, a one-night concert at New World Stages in 2010, and the show returned for the Encores Off-Center Series at City Center in 2019.
Beneath its dizzying comedy and catchy songs, PRMENADE explores the ways in which social class can both liberate and imprison us, exploring some big issues along the way, like wealth inequality, law and order, war, corruption, body image, gender, sexuality, and more. PRMENADE follows the exploits of two escaped prisoners taking an unexpected tour of Capitialism and The Big City, where the poor and homeless mingle with the Idle Rich. With many of these same issues still deeply relevant today, this show has grown powerfully relevant again.
In a review in The New York Times for the 1983 New York revival, Stephen Holden wrote, "This work, which suggests a mixture of Candide and Samuel Beckett viewed through Lewis Carroll's looking glass, is a little too avant-garde and absurdist to appeal to mainstream tastes. But in its odd way it's an exquisite piece of musical theater." Village Voice critic Ross Wetzsteon writes, “María Irene Fornés’ work is like a cross between Brecht and Midsummer Night’s Dream, with Eric von Stroheim and Gertrude Stein standing in the wings.”
The New Line cast includes Tawaine Noah (as 105), Ronmal Mottley (as 106), Ian McCreary (Jailer), Stephanie Merritt (Servant), Kathleen Dwyer (Miss I), Benni Jilette (Miss O), Chelsie Johnston (Miss U), Zack Huels (Mr. R), Kent Coffel (Mr. S), Robert Doyle (Mr. T), Lauren Tenenbaum (Miss Cake), Bee Mecey (Mother), Joshua Phipps (Mayor), Nathan Mecey (Waiter/Soldier/Driver), and Michael Kramer (Dishwasher/Soldier/Injured Man). New Line's production will be directed by Scott Miller and Chris Moore, with music direction by Jason Eschhofen, costume design by Becca Rose Bessette, sound design by Ryan Day, scenic design by Dr. Rob Lippert, and lighting design by Eric Wennlkund.
This show contains adult content. PROMENADE is produced by arrangement with Samuel French, New York.
Want to explore more?
We recommend:
The original
1969 off Broadway cast album
The Promenade script, in the collection Promenade and Other Plays by María Irene Fornés
The documentary The Rest I Make Up, about María Irene Fornés; and her website The Fornés Institute.
The Bible of Absurdism, Martin Esslin's iconic 1961 book, The Theatre of the Absurd; and also The Cambridge Introduction to Theatre and Literature of the Absurd by Michael Y. Bennett
-- and a trailer for the film version of Eugene Ioensco's absurdist masterpiece, Rhinoceros, starring Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder
Some great books about off off Broadway and the Sixties:
● Playing Underground: A Critical History of the 1960s Off-Off-Broadway Movement by Stephen J. Bottoms
● Off-Off-Broadway Explosion: How Provocative Playwrights of the 1960's Ignited a New American Theater by David A. Crespy
● Modern American Drama: Playwriting in the 1960s: Voices, Documents, New Interpretations by Mark Sell
● The Theater Is in the Street: Politics and Public Performance in 1960s America by Bradford D. Martin
● Restaging the Sixties: Radical Theaters and Their Legacies edited by James M. Harding and Cindy Rosenthal
Some great books about bookwriter María Irene Fornés:
● María Irene Fornés: Routledge Modern and Contemporary Dramatists by Scott T. Cummings
● The Theater of María Irene Fornés, edited by Marc Robinson
● María Irene Fornés In Context edited by by Brian Eugenio Herrera and Anne García-Romero
● Fornes: Theater in the Present Tense by Diana Moroff
● Conducting A Life: Reflections on the Theatre of Maria Irene Fornes ediyted by by Caridad Svich and Maria Delgado
● The Fornés Frame: Contemporary Latina Playwrights and the Legacy of María Irene Fornés by Anne García-Romero
TICKET INFO
PROMENADE runs March 5-28, 2026, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, all at 8:00 p.m., at the Marcelle Theater, 3310 Samuel Shepard Drive, three blocks east of Grand, in the Grand Center Arts District. March 5 is a preview.
To purchase tickets, click here. Tickets are $35 for adults, $30 for seniors, and $25 for students. For the March 5 preview performance, tickets are $30 for adults, $25 for seniors, and $20 for students. To charge single tickets by phone, call MetroTix at 314-534-1111 or visit the Fox Theatre box office or the MetroTix website.
PREVIEW NIGHT: Thursday, March 5, all tickets $5 off the regular price
OPENING NIGHT AFTER-PARTY: Friday, March 6, our audience is invited to stay after the performance to meet the cast and staff
BOHEMIAN NIGHT: Thursday, March 12, all tickets $20, for all the starving artsies out there
POST-SHOW TALK-BACK: Saturday, March 21, Q&A with the cast and staff, after the performance
COLLEGE FREE SEATS: Ten free seats set aside for every performance, open to any college student with a valid student ID.
HIGH SCHOOL DISCOUNT: Any high school student with a valid school ID can get a $10 ticket for any performance, with the code word, posted only on New Line's Facebook page.
EDUCATORS & MILITARY DISCOUNT: New Line offers all currently employed educators and active duty military personnel half price tickets on any Thursday night, with work ID or other proof of employment.
All offers not valid in connection with other discounts or offers, available only at the door, and subject to availability. All programs subject to change.
