Audra & Will in the Berkshires, Betty Buckley as Big Edie & More Theater Road Trips You Must Take This Summer

New York City is the center of the universe, but let's face it—in the summer, there’s nothing better than getting out of the concrete jungle for the day to enjoy some fresh air that doesn’t smell like car exhaust and soft pretzels. Luckily, a few of our Broadway favorites are starring in some amazing shows outside the city this summer, so we’re planning day trips to the Berkshires, Vassar College, Sag Harbor and more. Jump in the Broadway.com station wagon and let’s go!

Bells Are Ringing
July 9 through 26
The Colonial Theatre, Pittsfield, MA (3 hours from NYC)
Love is in the air in the Berkshires this summer, as real-life Broadway couple Kate Baldwin and Graham Rowat headline the Berkshire Theatre Group revival of Bells Are Ringing. The musical comedy by Betty Comden, Adolph Green and Jule Stein tells the story of Ella Peterson (Baldwin), who falls head over heels for her customer Jeff Moss (Rowat). We’d listen to Baldwin sing the phone book, but hearing her sing “It’s a Perfect Relationship” will be an extra special treat. Click for tickets!

Rain & Noir
July 10 through August 2
Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY (1 1/2 hours from NYC)
We’re always on the hunt for the next big musical—see two new in-the-works tuners from celebrated composers at Vassar and New York Stage and Film’s Powerhouse Theater workshop series. Rain, a new musical composed by Michael John LaChiusa (The Wild Party, Giant), featuring a book by Sybille Pearson (Giant, Baby), and based on the short story by Somerset Maugham, tells the story of a two couples quarantined on a small South Pacific Island during a storm. Noir, a new musical about a reclusive man who eavesdrops on the couple next door, features music by Duncan Sheik (Spring Awakening) and a book by Kyle Jarrow (Whisper House). Click for tickets!

Oklahoma
Through July 19
Fisher Center, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY (2 hours from NYC)
Have you ever seen a production of Oklahoma and thought, “This is nice, but I want to have an actual hoedown with the cast and eat chili and cornbread with them,” you’re in luck. The new interactive chamber production of the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic stars Damon Daunno as Curly, Amber Gray as Laurey and Mary Testa as Aunt Eller. This revival reinvents “dinner theater” as you sit at communal picnic tables and eat supper with the stars. Click for tickets!

My Paris
July 23 through August 16
Goodspeed Opera House, East Haddam, CT (2 1/2 hours from NYC)
What do you get when you take the life of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, music and lyrics of legendary French performer Charles Aznavour, English lyrics by Tony winner Jason Robert Brown, a book by Pulitzer Prize winner Alfred Uhry, direction and choreography by Kathleen Marshall and the star power of Bobby Steggert, Mara Davi and Greg Hildreth? The new musical My Paris, a magnifique excuse for a road trip to Connecticut if you ask us. Click for tickets!

Grey Gardens
August 4 through 30
Bay Street Theater, Sag Harbor, NY (2 1/2 hours from NYC)
It’s a goddamn beautiful day in Sag Harbor, shut up! Tony-winning Cats and Sunset Boulevard favorite Betty Buckley is tackling the role of eccentric Big Edie (even with a broken spine from a recent horse riding injury) alongside Broadway alum Rachel York as little Edie in the new production of Grey Gardens, directed by Michael Wilson. Need we say more? We needn’t, but will: The Book of Mormon alum Matt Doyle plays Joe/Jerry. Click for tickets!

A Moon for the Misbegotten
August 5 through 23
Williamstown Theatre Festival, MA (3 hours from NYC)
Broadway’s most adorable power couple Audra McDonald and Will Swenson are leaving the woods of Eggfartopia to take on a new summer adventure: Headlining A Moon For the Misbegotten at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Directed by Gordon Edelstein, the Eugene O’Neill sequel to A Long Day’s Journey Into Night follows sharp-tongued Josie (McDonald), who attempts to seduce him family’s landlord, James Tyrone, Jr. (Swenson) and blackmail him. Luckily, life isn’t imitating art in the McDonald-Swenson household. (Well, as far as we know.) Click for tickets!