Every summer, Tara McDonough makes a plan.

For more than a decade, McDonough has been involved in one way or another with PortFringe, an annual theater festival that pushes the boundaries of performing arts. This year, the program will include more than a dozen shows across four venues in a little more than a week. McDonough is on the planning committee, but she usually has to get organized to make sure she sees everything she wants to see during the whirlwind.

“The way I love to experience the Fringe is just to have a gigantic spreadsheet,” she said with a laugh.

Any theater fan in Maine might want to take the same approach this year. The season is full of plays, musicals, opera, festivals and live performances. Here are just a few from the calendar.

MONTHS OF MUSICALS

A sure sign of summer is the opening of the Ogunquit Playhouse.

“The shows that we selected are all shows that have high entertainment value,” managing director Deborah Warren said. “It hits every single emotion.”

“Come From Away” (May 15-June 14) tells the story of 7,000 passengers diverted to a town in Newfoundland when their planes made emergency landings in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Then “Guys and Dolls” (June 19-July 19) is what Warren described as a Golden Age favorite about gamblers in New York City in the 1950s. Then the playhouse will revive the musical version of “High Society” (July 24-Aug. 23) based on the 1956 movie starring Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly. Then the playhouse will present a brand new work that tells the story in its title — “When Elvis Met the Beatles” (Aug. 28-Sept. 27).

Tickets cost between $40 and $120. For the first time, the playhouse will offer $40 rush tickets for Maine residents two hours prior to any show on a first-come, first-served basis, and free tickets for anyone under 25. For more details, go to ogunquitplayhouse.org or call 207-646-5511.

Maine State Music Theatre in Brunswick will open the mainstage season with “Anastasia” (June 4-21). Artistic director Curt Dale Clark said the musical has all the grandeur that audiences expect from the story of the lost Russian princess. Next up is “Tootsie” (June 25-July 12). This stage adaptation of the Dustin Hoffman comedy explores themes of identity and gender roles. Another classic comes off the screen with “Footloose” (July 16-Aug. 2), and Clark said the musical has the same energy and dance numbers as the iconic movie. The last show of the summer is “West Side Story” (Aug. 6-23), which Clark described as both Shakespearean drama and modern sensibility.

All four shows this year have film versions. Clark said that trend wasn’t intentional but reflects a desire to bring the stories audiences love to the stage. He said the entire season will offer audiences a chance to escape — into the opulence of “Anastasia” or the Shakespearean drama of “West Side Story.”

“Each one of them allows the audience to live in whatever they’re giving us,” he said.

Ticket prices range between $107 and $167. For more information, visit msmt.org or call 207-725-8769.

Portland Stage will also present a musical this summer. “Murder for Two” (July 31-Aug. 17) follows a small town cop who dreams of becoming a detective and jumps into action when a novelist is struck dead at his own birthday party. Just two actors play 13 roles — and the piano. Artistic director Anita Stewart described it as “a great little wacky murder mystery story.”

“They are singing,” Stewart said. “They are playing. They are acting. They are being everybody. It’s a tour de force.”

Tickets are $20 to $73. For more, visit portlandstage.org or call 207-774-0465.

And the music doesn’t stop there.

The Public Theatre in Lewiston will partner with Maine State Music Theatre to present “The Irish… And How They Got That Way” (Aug. 27-Sept. 14). This irreverent history was written by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Frank McCourt. Tickets are $35 to $60. For more information, visit thepublictheatre.org or call 207-782-3200.

Footlights Theatre in Falmouth is going back to the 1960s this summer with two musical tributes: “With A Little Help From My Friends” (June 4-21) and “Feelin’ Groovy!” (July 29-Aug. 28). Tickets are $25 for all seats. More information is available at thefootlightstheatre.com or 207-747-5434.

City Theater in Biddeford will present a new Broadway adaptation of the classic “Cinderella” (July 18-Aug. 3). The show will include beloved songs by Rodgers and Hammerstein. Single tickets are $25 to $30. For more information, visit citytheater.org or call the box office at 207-282-0849.

Hackmatack Playhouse in Berwick has three musicals and one play in the summer stock lineup: “Big Fish” (July 11-26), Neil Simon’s “Barefoot in the Park” (July 30-Aug. 2), “Grease” (Aug. 8-23) and “Once” (Sept. 5-20). Tickets are $15 for youth, $25 for students, $35 for seniors and $40 for adults. The walk-up box office will reopen in June, but more information and tickets can be found at hackmatackplayhouse.org or by calling 207-698-1807.

TIME TO PLAY

City Theater in Biddeford is running the Agatha Christie classic “Murder On the Orient Express” until May 25. Single tickets are $25-$30. For more information, visit citytheater.org or call the box office at 207-282-0849.

“The Legend of Georgia McBride” is on stage at Mad Horse Theatre Co. in South Portland until May 25. An Elvis impersonator is fired from his job at a small-town bar and replace by a drag show. He realizes that he has a lot to learn about show business — and himself. Mad Horse operates on a pay-what-you-decide model with a $4 fee to reserve a seat. For more information, visit madhorse.com or call 207-747-4148.

The current show at Portland Stage is “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” until June 1. This Tony Award-winning play takes place at a faculty party as a marriage unravels and explores themes of truth and disillusionment. Stewart said this version casts Black actors in all four roles and feels just as relevant today as when it premiered in the 1960s. Tickets cost $20 to $73. For more, visit portlandstage.org or call 207-774-0465.

Again this year, the Portland Theater Festival will stage three plays in three venues:

•  The season will begin with “Primary Trust” (June 26-July 13) at O’Maine Studios on Danforth Street in Portland. The play won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2024 and follows a man whose quiet life is upended when he unexpectedly loses his job at a bookstore.

•  Then “Make Believe” (July 24-Aug. 10) will transform the Portland Stage studio theater on Forest Avenue into something that feels like an attic playroom. The play starts with four siblings who will be played by children in the first half and adults in the second.

•  And “Deep Blue Sound” (Aug. 28-Sept. 14), a play set on an island, will take place at the Maine Educational Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing on Mackworth Island in Falmouth. The residents of the island are grappling with the disappearance of a group of whales that for generations passed by their shores.

This season will be the fifth for Portland Theater Festival. Register said this year’s plays not only reflect the present moment, but also possibly offer a path to healing.

“It seems like a cliché that we are more united in our humanity than we are different,” Register said. “And yet every which way you turn in our present times seems to remind us of the contrary, that we’re divided more than we are united. What I love about these plays is that these characters make choices to invest in each other, to invest in others in meaningful and loving ways, and in doing so, find the answers that they’re looking for that they can’t find alone.”

Ticket prices range from $10 to $50. For more information, visit portlandtheaterfestival.com.

PortFringe (June 20-28) will also cover a lot of ground in Portland. This year’s venues are Mechanics’ Hall, the Portland Stage studio theater, Rising Tide and Freedom’s Edge Cider. The festival scaled back in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic but will finally welcome touring artists in addition to local performers. Tickets are $20 per show with discounts and passes available. (McDonough said PortFringe is also looking for volunteers, a potential opportunity for folks who want to see more shows.) The number of options can be daunting, but she encouraged people to just take a leap.

“Something that I love about Fringe is that we’re creating this space for artists to tell stories that maybe there’s not another place for,” she said. “You might not be able to afford to rent out a space and do all your marketing and get an audience and rehearse the show and put up the show. It’s a chance to be experimental and push the edges of what performance is or what it could be.”

For more information, visit portfringe.com.

THE BARD IS BACK

The Theater at Monmouth will present two works by Shakespeare: “Twelfth Night” (July 10-Aug. 24) and “Cymbeline” (July 31-Aug. 23). The summer calendar also includes two plays inspired by other notable writers. Kate Hamill’s “Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson — Apt. 2B” (July 17-Aug. 22) puts a twist on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s sleuth and sidekick. “The Complete Works of Jane Austin, Abridged” (July 24-Aug. 23) is a romp through the writer’s masterpieces for both fans and newcomers. Single tickets are $28 for students, $38 for seniors and $43 for general admission; subscriptions are available. For more information, visit theateratmonmouth.org or call the box office at 207-933-9999.

Shakespeare in the Park returns. Fenix Theatre will present “As You Like It” in Deering Oaks Park in Portland from July 10 to Aug. 2. The company operates on a donate-what-you-can model rather than charging a ticket fee. For more information, visit fenixtheatre.com.

OPERA IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Opera in the Pines had adapted “The Barber of Seville” for Maine with “The Barber of the Cape.” The production is set and staged at Cape Neddick Lobster Pound in York and reimagined the classic opera in a busy restaurant preparing for tourist season. Shows are May 16, 17 and 18 during lunch and dinner at the lobster pound. Most tickets include a meal and cost $95; a limited number are available for $15 without a meal. For more, visit operainthepines.org.

Opera Maine stage two shows this summer. The Studio Artist Program, which offers opportunities for young professionals in the field, will present “Paul’s Case,” a two-act opera based on the short story by Willa Cather. Those shows will be June 28-29 at Stevens Square in Portland. This year’s mainstage production will be “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” on July 24 and 27 at Merrill Auditorium. Tickets start at $35, and anyone 21 or under gets in free. For more information, visit operamaine.org or call the PortTix box office at 207-842-0800.

The flagship show at Hogfish this year will be Ana Sokoloviç’s “Svadba” on July 26 and 30 at Thompson’s Point in Portland. “Svadba” means “wedding,” and this Serbian a cappella opera will invite the audience into the rituals of a bride and her friends the night before her marriage. The show is inspired by Balkan folk music and will be followed by a dance party with Balkan Brass Band Conical Cacophony. Tickets range from $20 to $150. For more information, visit hogfish.org.