Romeo and Juliet. Gatsby, Daisy, and Nick. Tevye and Jean Valjean, Michelangelo statues come to life and a 77-year-old women who wants to learn to surf.

This summer theater season has all your favorite characters (and some that soon will soon be). Between choreographer Ken Ossola drawing inspiration from renaissance masters to the Actors’ Shakespeare Project’s twist on star-crossed lovers to straight-up blockbuster musicals, Massachusetts stages will offer changeling works and comfortable classics.

Spring Experience

Citizens Opera House, May 9 – 19

The Boston Ballet caps an excellent season with a wildly diverse program. William Forsythe returns to the Opera House with “Blake Works III (The Barre Project),” a piece debuted by the Boston Ballet in 2022 and set to the music of composer James Blake. Jiří Kylián’s “Bella Figura” also comes back to town to once again explore the human form beside Baroque classics. Ken Ossola brings a world premiere to the city based on Michelangelo’s “non-finito” sculptures Prisoners. bostonballet.org

“Romeo & Juliet”

The Roberts Studio Theatre at the Calderwood Pavilion, May 10 – June 2

The Actors’ Shakespeare Project winds down its season with love and blood. It’s been a decade since the company took us through this tale of forbidden romance. Directed by resident artist company member Marianna Bassham this production ends badly, as it must, but enjoy the love, lust, humor, and passion between the bloody bits. actorsshakespeareproject.org

“Gatsby”

Loeb Drama Center, Cambridge, May 23 – Aug. 3

The Great American Novel gets reworked by a Great English Rock Star. The American Repertory Theater reinvents F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel with a score from Florence Welch of Florence + the Machine and Oscar and Grammy Award nominee Thomas Bartlett, plus a book by Pulitzer Prize winner Martyna Majok, oh, and direction from Tony Award winner Rachel Chavkin. americanrepertorytheater.org

“Fiddler on the Roof”

North Shore Music Theatre, Beverly, June 4 – June 16

Tradition! It’s the first lyric in “Fiddler on the Roof” and a cornerstone of the epic 1964 Broadway blockbuster. But there is more nuance in “Fiddler.” It’s tradition and balance that play against each other in the story of Tevye, a poor milkman determined to find good husbands for his five daughters in a Jewish community in a Russian village in 1905. Full of old wisdom, modern aspirations and signature songs, the show won an astounding 10 Tonys during its ’60s run. Nsmt.org

“Wipeout”

Gloucester Stage, Gloucester, July 5 – 28

A world premiere, Aurora Real de Asua’s “Wipeout” features big dreams, big laughs, and a dose of reality. Gary, 77, wants to try surfing for her birthday — never mind that she’d never even dipped a toe in the ocean. With a couple of pals and cowabunga teenage surf instructor, Gary sets out to hang ten. Gloucesterstage.com

“Winter’s Tale”

Parkman Bandstand on the Boston Common, July 16 – Aug. 4

Previously on “Days of Our Lives”: King Leontes has accused wife Hermione of sleeping with his best friend. Wait, this isn’t a soap, it’s a masterpiece from the Bard. Shakespeare’s “The Winter’s Tale,” with all its betrayal, redemption, death, and hope, will be brought to the park by the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company. Commshakes.org

“Les Misérables”

Citizens Opera House, Aug. 13 – 25

“Les Misérables” perfected the Broadway blockbuster. Nothing matches the epic sweep of the operetta (please see the pathos and glory of “One Day More.” That’s it, that’s the whole blurb. boston.broadway.com