Parson's Nose Theater opens fall season with 90-minute musical history sprint

Nine singers, one pianist and 200 years of American musical theater crammed into 90 minutes. That's the pitch for "A Complete History of The American Musical… in 90 minutes or less," which opens Parson's Nose Theater's new season on Saturday, Sept. 12, inside the company's roughly 50-seat stage one block from Pasadena City Hall.

Co-artistic director Barry Gordon co-wrote the show with fellow co-artistic director Gary B. Lamb, who directs. Gordon handles musical direction and plays the professor who narrates the whirlwind trip from George M. Cohan and Irving Berlin through Rodgers and Hammerstein to Stephen Sondheim. Lloyd Cooper accompanies on piano and arranged the score.

Six performances run across three weekends: Saturdays, Sept. 12, 19 and 26 at 7 p.m., and Sundays, Sept. 13, 20 and 27 at 3 p.m.

Gordon first conceived the show in 2018, when co-founders Lance Davis and Mary Chalon were traveling and needed something on the stage. An earlier version opened with ancient Greece and ran all the way past "Hamilton." The current edition tightens the scope to two centuries of distinctly American work.

The show has history here. In a January 2023 interview quoted in Pasadena Now's preview of the new season, Gordon described his lifelong obsession with the genre: "I've been a musical theater junkie since I was seven years old." He added that the production balances laughs with education, promising audiences would "learn a little bit about the history of this incredible genre."

Davis and Chalon founded Parson's Nose in May 2000 and stepped down when Season 26 closed in May 2026. Gordon and Lamb now lead the nonprofit company, which has performed in a restored 1922 mortuary chapel at 95 N. Marengo Ave. since 2015. The building was designed by Pasadena architectural firm Marston, Van Pelt & Maybury, and the intimate space seats 40 to 60 depending on configuration, according to a California Arts Council grant listing. The company pays actors above Actors' Equity scale.

Tickets are available through Tix.com; orders confirm automatically and are held at the door. The entrance is on Holly Street. Parking at 150 E. Holly St. and a second lot 50 yards west is free on Sundays and after 6 p.m. on Saturdays; earlier Saturday arrivals pay $10. For information, call (626) 345-5116 or visit parsonsnose.com.

Coming up at Parson's Nose Theater: