Summer stages: This year’s best theater festivals

Shakespeare in the Park

New York

(212) 539-8500

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Now in its 56th year, this Central Park institution will present The Merchant of Venice with Al Pacino in the role of Shylock. Much of the rest of the cast, which includes Jesse L. Martin (Law & Order) and Marianne Jean-Baptiste (28 Days), will do double duty, performing in The Winter’s Tale on alternating days (through Aug. 1).

Festival of New American Musicals

Various California theaters

(310) 827-2850

More than 30 theaters in Southern California, from Santa Monica to San Diego, will host shows as part of this festival. Productions include the Marx Brothers–inspired It’s Top Secret at North Hollywood’s NoHo Arts Center (through July 11) and Robin & the Seven Hoods at San Diego’s Old Globe Theatre (July 14–Aug. 22). One musical, Jordan Beck’s The Sunset Players, exists only on YouTube.com (through Aug. 21).

Shaw Festival

Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario

(905) 468-2172

Comedies predominate this year at the popular festival, situated in a picturesque town just beyond the U.S.-Canada

border. Works by George Bernard Shaw himself include his class-conscious ­satires The Doctor’s Dilemma (through Oct. 30) and John Bull’s Other Island (through Oct. 9). Even Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard, as adapted by Irish playwright Tom Murphy, highlights the comic elements of the characters’ behavior (through Oct 2).

National Music Theater Conference

Westport, Conn.

(860) 443-5378

The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center has hosted this festival for more than 30 years. Among the offerings this year are Clear, with music by Tony Award winner Stew (July 3–9), and Eden, a musical about Hurricane Katrina and the Iraq war by Jonathan Levi (July 10–16).

East to Edinburgh

New York

(212) 753-5959

Twelve shows destined for Edinburgh’s world-renowned Fringe Festival will first make an off-Broadway stopover at 59E59 Theaters. Penny Pollak’s solo show No Traveler adopts an incongruously vaudevillian tone to recount an attempted suicide, while Scout Durwood’s Hi, How Can I Help You? explores the world of contemporary New York call girls (July 14–16).

Ravinia Festival

Highland Park, Ill.

(847) 266-5100

Performances by Patti LuPone will bring Broadway firepower to the summer home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. She’ll share the stage with Audra McDonald and other stars at a tribute to Stephen Sondheim (July 31), and later will play Annie Oakley in a concert version of Annie Get Your Gun (Aug 13–15).