Civic Theatre of Allentown will stage a concert version of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s hit musical about Argentinian first lady Eva Peron.

Civic presents “Evita In Concert,” Friday through Sunday, Nineteenth Street Theatre, Allentown.

The performance will have a 36-piece orchestra.

According to Civic Theatre of Allentown Artistic Director William Sanders, who is directing the concert, performers will “bring the story and music to life with scripts in hand, allowing the iconic score and sweeping orchestral arrangements to take center stage.”

“Evita” is a sung-through musical with music by Webber and lyrics by Rice that covers the early life, rise to power, charity work, controversies and death of the Argentine political leader Eva Perón (Jada Fontanez) the second wife of the Argentine president Juan Perón (Marquett Ferrell).

The musical began as a rock opera concept album released in 1976. Its success led to productions in London’s West End in 1978, winning the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Musical, and on Broadway on 1979, where it was the first British musical to receive the Tony Award for Best Musical.

“Evita” is filled with unforgettable melodies, dramatic storytelling, and some of musical theater’s most celebrated songs, including the hit song “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina.”

The performance has music direction by Steve Reisteter and choreography By Mariel Letouneau.

“Evita in Concert,” 7:30 p.m. Aug. 14, 15; 3 p.m. Aug. 16, Civic Theatre of Allentown, 527 N. 19th St., Allentown. 610-433-8903, https://civictheatre.com/

PA Shakespeare Festival has announced its 2027 season, May 26 to Aug. 8, Labuda Center for the Performing Arts, DeSales University, 2755 Station Avenue, Center Valley.

The season opens with Shakespeare’s “Othello” in the Schubert Theatre.

The musical on the Main Stage is “Hairspray,” the 1960s-inspired musical based on John Waters’s 1988 film of the same title with scenes filmed at Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom, South Whitehall Township.

In repertory on the Main Stage is Shakespeare’s “King Lear” and the backstage comedy “Noises Off.”

Playwright James Ijames, who directed this year’s “The Piano Lesson,” will bring “Fat Ham,” his Pulitzer-Prize-winning modern-day adaptation of “Hamlet,” to Schubert Theatre.

Finishing up the season is the “Extreme Shakespeare” production of “The Winter’s Tale” in Schubert Theatre.

PA Shakespeare Festival ticket information: https://pashakespeare.org/

Between The Lines Studio Theatre has announced it will close its theater at 725 N. 15th St., Allentown, at the end of 2026.

The company’s most recent performance was “Dead Man’s Cell Phone” in February and March.

“I am heartbroken,” says Rachel Williams, theater company founder and producing artistic director.

“Running and maintaining a theater is very expensive. The decision to close was purely a financial one that I fought so hard to not have to make. It simply became an impossible reality,” Williams says.

Williams says Between the Lines Studio Theatre will continue to produce theater in other locations.

Between the Lines moved into the Allentown location in 2018 when members took an empty building with concrete floors and made it into a black box theater.

The theater has been a venue for other theater troupes, including Crowded Kitchen Players and Star of the Day Event Productions.

Williams says there will be performances at the theater by Between the Lines and other theaters through the end of the year.

Upcoming Between the Lines performances at the theater include “Secrets Told: A Storytelling Event,” 7:30 p.m. Sept. 26, and Genia Miller’s “Christmas Eve in the Dunk Tank,” Nov. 27 to Dec. 6.

Between The Lines Studio Theatre information: https://betweenthelinestheatre.com/

“Curtain Rises” is a column about the theater, stage shows, the actors in them and the directors and artists who make them happen. To request coverage, email: Paul Willistein, Focus editor, pwillistein@tnonline.com