APA Theatre Guild Fundraiser and Dinner Show
APA Studio Theater (Black Box)

It’s a big evening for the nervous, plain librarian Cinnamon Schmidt. She has invited her fiancé Hobart over for dinner so their mothers can meet. Her friend Dee Dee arrives to see if Cinnamon needs any help, only to find out that Cinnamon has witnessed a bank robbery! Dee Dee is shocked, but Cinnamon doesn’t want her mother to find out. What Cinnamon doesn't know is that her mother has been winning money at the racetrack and signing Cinnamon’s name on the receipts. Joe, a federal agent, arrives to inquire about the unpaid taxes on the gambling cash, only to get word of the bank robbery. Joe thinks Dee Dee is Cinnamon, which begins an evening of mistaken identities and confusion. Soon, the bank robber’s lewd lady friend turns up to warn Cinnamon that the robber is coming to kill her. When the robber arrives, things really kick into high gear—including an out-of-control vacuum cleaner and more fast-paced dialogue in this wildly funny farce!

Presented through special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc.

OPENING NIGHT: Saturday, October 19

Speculated by many to be the greatest American musical of all time, Gypsy tells the story of the dreams and efforts of one hungry, powerhouse of a woman to get her two daughters into show business. Based on the 1957 memoirs of dancer Gypsy Rose Lee, the musical focuses on the story of Gypsy’s mother, Rose, and her efforts to raise two daughters to perform onstage in the 1920s Vaudeville circuit. Solidifying Ethel Merman’s Broadway Career, and with some of the most beloved songs in Musical Theater History - “Everything’s Coming Up Roses,” “Some People,” and “Let Me Entertain You” - Gypsy is considered one of the crowning achievements of the 20th century's conventional musical theatre art form.

Based upon Gypsy: The Memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee
Music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by Arthur Laurents

MMET Department Fundraiser and Show
First Christian Church of Huntington Beach

In this fifth and final installment of a series celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Beatles, we will look at every song they wrote and recorded in 1969. Never ones to rest on their laurels, even in the throes of breakup, the Beatles kept working on new material. They spent nearly every day of January 1969 amassing a pile of media that would eventually become the album and film Let It Be. The project culminated in their last live performance on the rooftop of their office building. A few months later they reconvened in EMI studios, working harder than ever before to create what they knew to be their swan song. They named the album after the studio - Abbey Road.

Fall Play

Fifteen-year-old Christopher Boone is phenomenal at math, but has a lot more difficulty in dealing with people. He would rather be alone since he finds people confusing and dislikes being touched. Late one evening, he discovers his neighbor’s dog, Wellington, has been murdered. Christopher sets out to solve the mystery even though his father has forbidden it. Seen though Christopher’s video-game-like view of the world, this funny and moving story leads him to a horrifying revelation that changes his world forever. Mark Haddon’s award-winning novel inspires this play about difference, being an outsider, and seeing the world in a surprising and revealing way.

A drama based on the novel by Mark Haddon, adapted by Simon Stephens
Presented through special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service

Holiday Celebration Show Presented by APA Orchestra Department
Please bring a new, unwrapped toy for our annual Toys for Tots Drive!

HO! HO! HO! Plan to spend a little time away from the modern-day holiday grind as the APA Orchestra Department presents their annual celebration of winter-holiday cheer. In addition to the festive sounds of the APA Orchestra, the evening will feature special guest performances by APA's Musical Theatre Department, Music Media and Entertainment Technology Department (MMET), Surf City Singers, and the Huntington Beach High School Band and Color Guard. We may not have snow and mistletoe, but there will be plenty of joy in this holiday show. Come start a new family tradition with your musical friends at APA!

Musical Theatre Department Fundraiser and Show
APA Studio Theater (Black Box)

The rare instance of a musical thriller, Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s chilling, suspenseful, heart-pounding masterpiece of murderous barber-sim and culinary crime tells the infamous tale of the unjustly exiled barber who returns to 19th-century London seeking revenge against the lecherous judge who framed him and ravaged his young wife. His thirst for blood soon expands to include his unfortunate customers, and the resourceful proprietress of the pie shop downstairs soon has the people of London lining up in droves with her mysterious new meat pie recipe. Sophisticated, macabre, visceral and uncompromising, Sweeney Todd nevertheless has a great sense of fun, mixing intense drama with howlingly funny moments of dark humor: audiences find themselves laughing hysterically one moment and gasping in surprise the next.

Based upon Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street by Christopher Bond
Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by Hugh Wheeler

Dance Concert

The APA Dance Department invites you to experience the past, present, and future of movement at their faculty-choreographed dance concert Fusion 2020. APA’s talented dancers bring to life the vision of the Academy’s dance mentors as they display a dizzying blend of works covering the complete spectrum of dance. The evening will be a fusion of hip-hop, jazz, ballet, tap, and modern dance styles, so join us in celebrating movement in its infinite form as our esteemed faculty create unique works that showcase APA’s unrivaled talent. Whether you are an experienced dance connoisseur or new to the dance world, Fusion 2020 will move you.

Contemporary Rock Concert

Playlist is the purest distillation of our purpose and mission at APA. It is a souped-up support vehicle that transports students to creative places they could never reach on their own. It’s a big rock & roll festival show full of our students’ latest creative work in original music and film, paired with the best in contemporary music. Since Playlist always seems to land on Valentine’s Day, we thought to lean into that as a theme. So bring your sweetie to see what the MMET kids have concocted in the eighth iteration of this classic concert. It will be exciting, full of discovery and hope, and probably equal measures of pleasure and pain...just like love.

Spring Musical

Based on the timeless French fairy tale and Disney’s beloved smash movie hit, Beauty and the Beast tells the story of Belle, a beautiful, intelligent young woman who feels out of place in her provincial French village. When her father is imprisoned in a mysterious castle, Belle’s attempt to rescue him leads to her capture by the Beast, a grisly and fearsome monster, who was long ago trapped in his gruesome form by an enchantress. The only way for the Beast to become human again is if he learns to love and be loved in return. There is a time limit, however: once a magical rose loses all of its petals, all hope will be lost and he will stay a Beast forever. The Beast’s enchanted household watches anxiously as Belle and the Beast grow to understand and befriend one another. Their feelings grow ever deeper as the clock ticks and petals continue to fall off the enchanted rose, but will they confess their love for one another before it’s too late?

Based on the Disney's Beauty and the Beast (1991), adapted from story by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont
Music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice, book by Linda Woolverton
Produced Under Licence from Musical Theatre International

Spring Play

Follow Alice down the rabbit hole to the marvelous world of Wonderland! In this fast-paced series of 14 episodes from Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, Lewis Carroll's colorful and comic world comes to life onstage. Alice is a remarkable heroine as she travels through this unusual land in a quest to find her way back home. Join her in this timeless patchwork of action and amusement that brings all of her quirky friends to life!

Based upon works by Lewis Carroll, adapted by Brainerd Duffield
Presented through special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc.

Classic Rock Concert

Like the moon landing, the Kennedy assassination, or the Beatles on Ed Sullivan, most musicians alive in the fall of 1991 can recall the first time they heard or saw “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” Everyone instantly knew that the game had changed. Suddenly, everything was Seattle, Starbucks, flannel, and grunge music. But ‘90s music was so much more than grunge, numetal, and refried punk rock. There was a ribbon of musical beauty and fun underneath all the sludge. In the truest spirit of snarky ‘90s whatever-ness, we’ll give you the big musical moments of the decade, while exposing you to other delightful gems that may have escaped your notice the first time around. Coffee isn’t allowed in the theater, so you may have to pre-game on this one.

Spring Music Concert

Entertain your brain and get a little culture if you dare...at Fanfare! The APA Orchestra Department celebrates timeless music from the Baroque period to today with exceptional student performances. You'll hear the APA Festival Orchestra, Select Wind Ensemble, Chamber Ensembles of woodwinds, saxes, brass, strings, percussion and keyboard instruments, and the winners of the APA Concerto Competition. This is a night of beautiful music performed by outstanding young artists, so come elevate your evening with our APA Orchestra Department.

MMET Media Team's Screening of Student Films
APA Studio Theater (Black Box)

When not filming live performances and concerts, the MMET Media Team’s true passion is filmmaking. APA has a great stable of screenwriters, directors, cinematographers, and editors that produced short films all year long. Join them in this special screening of their work in an intimate and informative environment. After each film, there is a brief Q&A with the students that created them. You are invited to be entertained and learn a few things about the filmmakers’ art.

Dance Concert

(sin·er·jee) / noun. 1. Combined action or operation 2. A mutually advantageous conjunction or compatibility of distinct participants 3. A mainstage dance show of spectacular movement and dedicated dancers. This evening includes works by APA faculty, special guest choreographers, and collaborative numbers. Centered around APA’s Dance Ensembles, this show will make for an unforgettable evening of groundbreaking dance showcases.