VALDOSTA – Country singers, talking plants and wizards … oh, my!

Peach State Summer Theatre has packed its 2025 season with three musicals that organizers hope will attract big audiences.

“It’s going to be big. It is big. It’s exciting,” said H. Duke Guthrie, PSST! managing director.

The 2025 PSST! season shows are “A Closer Walk with Patsy Cline” by Dean Regan, “Little Shop of Horrors” with book and lyrics by Howard Ashman and music by Alan Menken, and “The Wizard of Oz” by L. Frank Baum with music and lyrics by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg.

Guthrie said PSST! had information booths at the Azalea Festival and the Valdosta Bluesberry Festival. Booths at both events attracted strong interest in the 2025 season, he added.

“We had a great response to all three shows,” Guthrie said. “We expect all three shows to sell well. ‘Patsy’ will have their audience. ‘Little Shop’ will have their audience. ‘Oz’ should have its people. And some people hopefully will like all three.”

Peach State Summer Theatre has been presenting professional Broadway-style musicals for nearly two decades in Valdosta. PSST! is the official musical theatre of Georgia.

“Patsy Cline” opens the season June 7. “Little Shop” opens June 14. “Oz” opens June 27. All three shows continue in rotating repertoire through July 19. All performances play at Sawyer Theatre inside the Valdosta State University Fine Arts Building at the corner of Oak and Brookwood.

Guthrie said “Patsy Cline” has a modest cast of six actors, “Little Shop” has a 12-member cast, “Oz” has a 23-member cast.

Here’s a look at the season shows:

A Closer Walk with Patsy Cline. The show is sanctioned by the Patsy Cline Estate. Jenna Najjar returns to PSST! to play Cline, Guthrie said. She played the Lady in the Lake in the 2023 PSST! production of “Spamalot” and the teacher in the 2024 production of “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” and Miss Hannigan last year in “Annie.” 

The Patsy Cline Estate must approve performers selected to play Cline in this show. PSST! had to submit a video of Najjar performing four Cline songs, Guthrie said. Najjar had performed Cline songs in past work. The estate approved her.

PSST! show synopsis: “Follow the story of Patsy Cline from her Virginia hometown to the Grand Ole Opry, Las Vegas and Carnegie Hall. Patsy’s enduring musical legacy is witnessed by the fact that she is the number one juke-box play in the world. Her ‘Greatest Hits’ album sold over 9 million copies and was ranked number one for over 200 weeks of the 700 weeks it was on Billboard’s Top Country Catalog Albums. Audiences will hear our Cline-estate approved-Patsy sing, among others, ‘I Fall to Pieces,’ ‘Sweet Dreams’ and ‘Crazy.’”

Megan Wheeler, a long-time PSST! regular on stage and behind the scenes, returns to direct the show. The show is appropriate for general audiences and families.

Little Shop of Horrors. This live musical is based on a 1960 black-and-white horror movie directed by B-movie king Roger Corman and features a young, then-unknown Jack Nicholson. The movie became a successful live musical that was, in turn, made as a movie musical in 1986.

Andrew Rowell returns to PSST! to play Seymour in the show. He played the Boy Scout in “Spelling Bee” last season.

The PSST! synopsis: “A deviously delicious Broadway and Hollywood sci-fi smash musical, ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ has devoured the hearts of theatre goers for decades. The show, currently running in New York, has recently celebrated the fifth anniversary of its Off-Broadway run. The meek floral assistant Seymour stumbles across a new breed of plant he names ‘Audrey II’ – after his coworker crush. The foul-mouthed R&B singing carnivore promises unending fame and fortune to the down-and-out Seymour as long as he keeps feeding it blood. Over time, though, Seymour discovers Audrey II’s out-of-this-world origins and intent towards global domination. Songs include: ‘Somewhere That’s Green,’ ‘Be a Dentist,’ ‘Git It (Feed Me)’ and ‘Suddenly Seymour.’”

Hank Rion, who is PSST! artistic director, directs the show. Blair Andersen is choreographer. The show is appropriate for many audiences with parental discretion for children younger than 13.

The Wizard of Oz. This is the show that puts the “big” in the 2025 season. And while “Wicked” may have audiences rethinking “Oz,” one should remember, there would be no “Wicked” without “The Wizard of Oz.”

PSST! show synopsis: “Follow the yellow brick road in this delightful stage adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s beloved tale, featuring the iconic music score from the MGM film. The timeless tale, in which young Dorothy Gale travels from Kansas over the rainbow to the magical Land of Oz, continues to thrill audiences worldwide. Our production was adapted from the film by the Royal Shakespeare Company. It is a faithful adaptation of the film. Songs included are ‘Munchkinland (Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead),’ ‘We’re Off to See the Wizard’ and ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow.’”

Tim Goins, who directed “Five Guys Named Moe” last season, directs “Oz.” Sarah Wildes Arnett is choreographer. The show is appropriate for all audiences.

Season memberships and patronages are available via the online box office through June 7 only. The in-person box office (beginning May 17) is open 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Tuesdays through Saturdays, and noon-2 p.m., Sundays. The in-person box office opens one hour before announced start times for walk-up sales in the VSU Fine Arts Building.

More information: Visit http://www.valdosta.edu/psst.