On June 5, the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts told Beverly Hills what its 2026-27 season would look like. In its June 5 report, MyNewsLA quoted Executive Director and CEO Jean Davidson describing the season as "rooted in Los Angeles and connected to the broader national and international arts community." The release named a jazz opener, a chamber orchestra residency, a season-closing ballet, and a scattering of solo shows and family festivals running clear through June 2027.
Ten weeks later, on August 14, the Wallis said more. A world premiere. Two comedy nights. A slate of National Theatre Live titles with recognizable names attached. None of it contradicted the June announcement. All of it landed in the same eight-week stretch the June release had already filled, which means the busiest run of dates in the entire season didn't exist as a complete picture until the middle of August, and the reader checking a fall calendar in September is working from a version of events that most listings still haven't caught up to.
What the June Release Actually Said
The season opened this past Friday, September 25, in the Bram Goldsmith Theater with the Joshua Redman Quartet, featuring pianist Paul Cornish, bassist Philip Norris, and drummer Nazir Ebo, joined by trumpeter and composer Skylar Tang. Two days later, on September 27, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra began its run of concerts under Music Director Jaime Martín. Laura Benanti's one-woman comedy "Nobody Cares" follows October 1 through 4, and drag artist Sasha Velour returns October 29 and 30 with "Travesty," a solo work moving through queer history in a series of performance personas.
The June release also carried the season's recurring commitments: LA Opera recitals with Jamie Barton on November 15, Erin Morley and Lawrence Brownlee in April, and Sondra Radvanovsky in May; family programming built around Mo Willems's "Leonardo! A Wonderful Show About a Terrible Monster" on November 20 and 21; and the center's free Family Fest series, opening with Día de los Muertos on November 1. The season closes next June with Alonzo King's LINES Ballet.
That is a full calendar on its own. It is also, as it turns out, half the story.
What August Added
In its August report, Beverly Press reported that the expanded announcement led with a world premiere: "Radio Galaxy," a new play by Michèle Aldin Kushner directed by Kimberly Senior, starring Joey McIntyre alongside Lesli Margherita, Callan Farris, Meera Simhan, and Bernard White. It runs November 6 through 22 in the Lovelace Studio Theater, the more intimate of the Wallis's two performance spaces, set against the 500-seat Goldsmith Theater where most of the June-announced shows play.
August also brought a comedy pairing presented with The Comedy Zone: Preacher Lawson, who broke out on "America's Got Talent," on November 13, and veteran comedian Rita Rudner on January 8. And it filled out the National Theatre Live series with three specific titles: Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest," featuring Sharon D. Clarke and "Doctor Who" star Ncuti Gatwa, on November 14; "The Audience," Peter Morgan's play starring Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II and the basis for "The Crown," on January 11; and "Les Liaisons Dangereuses," starring Lesley Manville, Aidan Turner, and Monica Barbaro, on April 29. A Pride comedy night called "Queerlarious," bringing together Alec Mapa, Jeffrey Jay, Jen Kober, Kristin Key, Rich Kiamco, and Sandra Valls, closes out June 2027 on the 11th, one day ahead of the Family Fest's own Pride celebration on the 12th.
Where the Two Announcements Land on the Same Calendar
Laid side by side, the pattern is specific rather than general. Here is the fall corridor, wave by wave:
| Date | Engagement | Announced |
|---|---|---|
| Sept 25 | Joshua Redman Quartet (season opener) | June |
| Sept 27 | LACO season begins under Jaime Martín | June |
| Oct 1-4 | "Nobody Cares," Laura Benanti | June |
| Oct 29-30 | "Travesty," Sasha Velour | June |
| Nov 1 | Día de los Muertos Family Fest | June |
| Nov 6-22 | "Radio Galaxy" world premiere, Joey McIntyre | August |
| Nov 13 | Preacher Lawson, comedy | August |
| Nov 14 | National Theatre Live: "The Importance of Being Earnest" | August |
| Nov 15 | Jamie Barton recital, LA Opera | June |
| Nov 20-21 | "Leonardo! A Wonderful Show About a Terrible Monster" | June |
Ten separate engagements across eight weeks, and three of them, Radio Galaxy's run, Lawson's set, and the National Theatre Live screening, only became public in August. That means anyone who built a fall calendar off the original release would have had no reason to expect anything happening November 13 or 14. As written now, those two dates sit back to back with a third engagement, the Barton recital, the day after.
How the Two Announcements Differ
The June release set out the season's arc, while the August announcement added individual performances featuring recognizable names, a premiere, or titles people may know from elsewhere. Radio Galaxy's casting, the National Theatre Live titles built around Mirren and Gatwa, and two stand-up comedy dates fit that description. Those additions also give readers more to consider when buying single tickets once the season is running.
The Wallis itself is a building that has always operated as two things at once. Its main entrance is the restored 1933 Italianate post office, designed by architect Ralph C. Flewelling and decorated by Charles Kassler, dedicated in 1936 under the Roosevelt administration. Its stage is the contemporary Bram Goldsmith Theater, added when the center opened in 2013. A season presented in two announcements, first setting out its arc and then adding individual performances, is consistent with a venue that has never presented itself as one continuous thing.
The Practical Shape of This Fall's Density
For anyone tracking a personal calendar rather than a subscription series, the season's density is front-loaded in a way the spring months are not. After November 22, the next engagement is Rita Rudner on January 8, roughly seven weeks later. From there the season settles into something closer to once a month: the National Theatre Live "Audience" screening January 11, the Lunar New Year Family Fest January 23, Lightwire Theatre's "Tortoise and Hare" sequel February 20, Hershey Felder's "The Piano & Me" March 11 through 21, the Nowruz Family Fest March 20, "The Shot" starring Sharon Lawrence April 10 through 25, the Morley and Brownlee recital April 22, the "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" screening April 29, Radvanovsky's recital May 22, LINES Ballet in early June, and the two Pride events closing the year.
That leaves the run from late September through late November as the one stretch where a resident deciding between two same-week options is a real possibility rather than a hypothetical one. The two-night Velour engagement and the single-evening Barton recital have far less available inventory than a four-day run like Benanti's or a three-week run like Radio Galaxy's. For anyone weighing which date to commit to first, the shorter runs are the ones with less room to wait.
The Wallis is located at 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd. Full listings and ticket availability for both the June and August additions are posted on the Wallis's own season page.
Beverly Hills is full of details like this one, small enough that they never make it into a general guide, specific enough that they change how a week actually gets planned. Jonas Heller works this neighborhood closely enough to notice when a season, or a market, arrives in more than one piece. If you would like to talk through what else about living here doesn't show up in the first announcement, request a private consultation.
