The Legacy Theatre in Branford has announced its three-play 2026 season, which starts in April 2026 and runs through October.
The comedy-heavy season features the popular musical “Nunsense,” a stage version of the classic MGM movie musical “The Wizard of Oz” and Neil Simon’s immortal play about male bonding, “The Odd Couple.”
The Legacy Theatre is a professional theater company founded five years ago at the historic theater building on Branford’s Thimble Islands Road. In the 1920s, the theater was run by the local Parish Players who are credited with presenting the world premiere of one of the biggest hits of that time, “Death Takes a Holiday.” In the ‘30s, Orson Welles and his Mercury Theatre company used the theater for a pre-Broadway run of “Too Much Johnson,” for which Welles made his first experiments in filmmaking. From the 1960s into the 1990s, the building was known as The Stony Creek Puppet House as it housed a set of ornate Sicilian marionettes.
Until now, Legacy Theatre seasons have consisted of four plays not three. The new model will allow each production to have 20 performances rather than the 15 they had previously. The last two shows of the current season, the musical “Sweeney Todd” (which closed in late August) and “Noises Off” (which runs Sept. 18 through Oct. 12) had to extend their runs. Even though it hasn’t opened yet, “Noises Off” is already practically sold out.
The fourth show in the mainstage season subscription lineup has traditionally been a premiere of a new play, including Gabe McKinley’s “Long Days” this year and Laurence Davis’ “Masters of Puppets” in 2023. Jeffrey Zeitlin, who has been named the Legacy’s new managing director after serving as its house manager for years, said the theater’s commitment to new works hasn’t wavered but those shows will likely be given shorter runs and not as part of the mainstage season.
A balcony view of the Legacy Theatre stage. The 2026 season will include “Nunsense,” “The Wizard of Oz” and “The Odd Couple.” (Christopher Arnott/Hartford Courant)
To ease the transition from a four-show to a three-show season, the Legacy Theatre is giving subscribers a 20% discount (the same amount they save on a subscription versus single ticket prices) for any other show at the theater, including concerts or special events.
The Legacy Theatre has a variety of events that are not part of the mainstage theater subscription season, including the Sunday Broadway Concert Series featuring major Broadway stars, readings, concerts, local events and more.
The theater also offers a full production of a holiday show that is not part of the subscription season. For the first four seasons it was the Legacy’s own adaptation of Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” This year, it will be another variation on the same material, “Scrooge & Marley.” The 2026 holiday show has yet to be determined.
“Nunsense,” which opens the 2026 season April 23 through May 17, was an off-Broadway sensation in the 1990s, spawning numerous sequels from the same creator, Dan Goggins. “Nunsense” has had productions at small theaters throughout Connecticut and most of the major tours of the shows have visited the state as well. Waterbury native Semina DeLaurentis, founder of Seven Angels Theatre, originated the role of Sister Amnesia in the show’s original production. “Nunsense” concerns a convent of Catholic nuns who are holding a talent show benefit to offset the damage done when they inadvertently poisoned much of the congregation.
“The Wizard of Oz,” running July 9 through Aug. 2, 2026, is a stage version of the classic 1939 film version of L. Frank Baum’s novel. It uses the Harold Arlen/Yip Harburg score including the famous songs “Over the Rainbow,” “Follow the Yellow Brick Road” and “If I Only Had a Brain.” This version was created by England’s Royal Shakespeare Company in 1987 and was the basis of a Broadway production in 1988. Zeitlin says the theater is pleased to have a family-friendly show in the main season again after successes with “The Great American Mousical” (directed by Julie Andrews) in 2024, “Beauty and the Beast” in 2023 and “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” in 2022.
“The Odd Couple,” Sept. 10 through Oct. 4, 2026, is the most successful play by Neil Simon, one of the most successful American playwright of the 20th century. It’s a comic study of two men — one who’s divorced and one whose wife has just left him — who share an apartment despite some glaring incompatibilities. The original 1965 play was a long-running hit. The success led to a movie with a decades-later sequel, several TV series, a female version of the play and countless star-studded revivals. A different Simon comedy from the 1960s, “Barefoot in the Park,” was the first play in Legacy Theatre’s inaugural season in 2021.
For more information on the Legacy Theatre’s 2026 season, go to legacytheatrect.org.
