Priority list includes Joshua Bell, obscure Sondheim, and an American classic

“Fences”

August Wilson’s 1987 Pulitzer-winning play, perhaps the best known of his cycle of 10 plays, each set in a different 20th-century decade, gets a revival at IRT. Its focus is a former Negro League baseball star working as a garbage man in 1950s Pittsburgh. The cast includes David Alan Anderson.

March 9-April 3.  Indiana Repertory Theatre  Details

Joshua Bell and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields

It’s easy to take for granted that one of the world’s leading violinists is right down the road in Bloomington. So I’m including him a second time in this season preview in hopes that, eventually, his live music will find your ears. Here, he teams with the British conductor-less ensemble.

March 13 Palladium Details

“Passion”

If you like your musicals edgy, consider a visit to this show which, as far as I can tell, is the first local production of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Tony-winning tale. It concerns a non-traditional love triangle of sorts involving a soldier, his married lover, and an obsessive, sickly, filter-free woman he’s attracted to/repulsed by while stationed at an isolated military camp.

March 11-26 Theatre on the Square Details

Also this week

The Phoenix Theater opens its latest thriller, Steven Dietz’s “On Clover Road,” March 10-April 10, featuring Rob Johansen, Jen Johansen, and Bill Simmons,

The new “Alien Worlds and Androids” exhibit lands at the Children’s Museum March 12.

The Music for All 25^th Annual National Festival welcomes students musicians from around the country for performances at Clowes Hall March 10-12.

Brian McKinght plays the Murat Theatre while Melanie Martinez takes over the Egyptian Room March 12.

The Warehouse hosts Jon McLaughlin March 9.

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band performs at the Palladium March 11. Angela Brown joins the Carmel Symphony Orchestra there on March 12.