The Rogue, Arizona Repertory theaters announce 2019-20 seasons

Theater offerings for next season just got more intriguing.

The Rogue Theatre and Arizona Repertory Theatre have announced their 2019-20 offerings and among the plays are Eugene O’Neill’s riveting “Long Day’s Journey into Night,” the gorgeous musical “The Light in the Piazza,” and an adaptation of Herman Melville’s whale of a story, “Moby Dick.”

Here’s what’s coming up:

The Rogue Theatre

“Long Day’s Journey Into Night” opens the season (Sept. 12-29). The O’Neill drama takes us into the home of the volatile, often drunk and always passionate Tyrone family. O’Neill doesn’t get staged much in Tucson; that’s a shame. He is, well, brilliant.

“Blithe Spirit” (Nov. 7-24) will lighten things up; we’ll need it after the O’Neill. Nöel Coward’s comedy centers on the mistaken summoning of the ghost of novelist Charles Condomine’s first wife. He can see her, but his new wife can’t. Coward’s play is packed with wit.

Rogue co-founder Cynthia Meier is taking on a big task: She will adapt Melville’s “Moby Dick” for the stage (Jan. 9-26). She has adapted works by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Virginia Woolf and Thornton Wilder for the Rogue. We suspect she’ll impress us with this adaption as much as she did with those.

Martin McDonagh’s dark and funny “The Beauty Queen of Leenane” (Feb. 27-March 15, 2020) takes us to rural Ireland and introduces us to a nasty mother and her unmarried daughter. It is a play that’s nearly impossible to shake.

And the company brings us out of McDonagh’s dark space with its season closer, Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” (April 23-May 10, 2020). It involves cross-dressing, shipwrecks, love, deception and, most of all, laughter.

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Season tickets are $195. 344-8715 or theroguetheatre.org.

Arizona Repertory Theatre

The University of Arizona theater opens its season with “The Legend of Georgia McBride” (Sept. 21-Oct. 6). The Matthew Lopez comedy is about an Elvis impersonator who finds drag is much more lucrative. Arizona Theatre Company stages the play later in its 2019-20 season; it’s a good chance to see how two companies approach the same material.

Next up is the oh-how-I-love-it musical “Pippin” by Roger O. Hirson and Stephen Schwartz (Oct. 19-Nov. 3). The story centers on the young prince, Pippin, who longs for adventure. And brother, does he find it.

Following that is Alfred Uhry’s comedy-laced drama “The Last Night of the Ballyhoo” (Nov. 9-24). Hitler is invading Poland while Atlanta’s Jewish community plans for a fancy cotillion ball, the social event of the year, Ballyhoo. The war halfway around the world is cause for some serious self-examination.

Sarah DeLappe’s “The Wolves” takes the Feb. 8-23 slot. The story is about a high school female soccer team as they prepare for the last few games of the season. These are teens, so no doubt there will be lots of angst. The play was a finalist for the 2017 Pulitzer Prize.

Prepare to laugh with Shakespeare’s comedy “The Two Gentlemen of Verona” (March 16-29, 2020). Two young men, besties, fall for the same woman. It’s one of the Bard’s early works and it’s got two of his greatest clowns, Launce and Speed.

The season ends with the Tony-winning musical “The Light in the Piazza” (April 11-26, 2020) by Craig Lucas and Adam Guettel. Based on the Elizabeth Spencer novella, the tender story is all about love and happiness while a woman and her daughter are touring Italy.

Season tickets are $112-$166 and are available starting March 25 at 621-1162.