Wednesday, March 11, 2026

Eight PUSD Campuses Stage Spring Musicals From March Through May

[photo credit: Pasadena Unified School District]

Student performers across Pasadena and Altadena will present shows ranging from Fiddler on the Roof to Ride the Cyclone

Every middle and high school in the Pasadena Unified School District will stage a full musical this spring, with eight productions running from March 19 through mid-May across campuses in Pasadena and Sierra Madre. The district serves students from Pasadena, Altadena, and Sierra Madre.

The season opens next week at Thurgood Marshall Secondary School with Alice By Heart, running March 19–21, and continues through May 15 when Octavia E. Butler Middle School closes the schedule with Disney’s Alice in Wonderland, Jr. The lineup spans classic and contemporary titles, according to a PUSD district announcement.

The full schedule, according to the district:

Thurgood Marshall Secondary School presents Alice By Heart, March 19–21. Eliot Arts Magnet stages Bring It On!, March 26–28. John Muir High School performs Ride the Cyclone, March 27–29. Sierra Madre Middle School presents Seussical, April 1–2. Pasadena High School stages Fiddler on the Roof, April 23–25. Blair High School performs Something Rotten!, April 24–25 and May 1–2. McKinley School of the Arts presents Little Mermaid, Jr., May 1–2. Octavia E. Butler Middle School stages Disney’s Alice in Wonderland, Jr., May 14–15.

The annual spring musical season is a longstanding feature of the district’s performing arts program. All PUSD middle and high schools present full musicals each spring, according to the district’s Performing Arts Education department. The program is part of a broader PreK-12 arts curriculum that includes instruction in visual arts, music, dance, and drama.

The district’s performing arts efforts have included collaborations with Pasadena Playhouse, which partnered with PUSD on a production of Into the Woods in 2023. In 2025, the district mounted Hadestown: Teen Edition as its All Star Musical, drawing student performers from across PUSD campuses.

Two of the participating schools house arts-focused academies: John Muir High School is home to the Arts, Entertainment and Media Academy, and Marshall Fundamental hosts the Academy for Creative Industries, according to the PUSD website.

California’s Proposition 28, approved by voters in 2022, directs additional state funding to arts education programs in public schools, including PUSD. The district has cited the measure in connection with its arts programming.

Tickets and additional details for all productions are available at pusd.us/arts.

The first production, Alice By Heart at Marshall, opens in eight days. Blair High School’s Something Rotten! has the longest run of the season, spanning two weekends in late April and early May.