Des McAnuff, the only remaining member of the festival’s much-trumpeted three-person artistic direction team, directs Shakespeare’s ode to (ill-fated) young love, Romeo and Juliet. Talent scouts, take note: big things are expected of Quebec native Gareth Potter and young American Nikki M. James, the actors who portray the star-crossed pair. To Nov. 8. Festival Theatre.

Those seeking an even more wrenching dose of tragedy need look no further than Hamlet. Adrian Noble, ex–artistic director of Britain’s venerable Royal Shakespeare Company, puts his considerable weight behind Shaw veteran Ben Carlson, who’s been spirited away from the Niagara fest to play the falling-apart-at-the-seams prince. To Oct. 26. Festival.

Shakespeare sure found a doozy of a heroine in Katherina (Irene Poole), The Taming of the Shrew’s barb-tongued protagonist. That’s not to say she emerges unscathed: there’s a reason the comedy has the title it does—and it’s Petruchio (Evan Buliung). Peter Hinton helms. To Oct. 25. Festival.

The fairer sex fares even worse in Euripides’ anti-war piece The Trojan Women. After a decade of battle, Troy is in the hands of the Greeks, and the vanquished city’s women are being divvied up among the conquerors. Marti Maraden has assembled a staggering cast (headed by the formidable Martha Henry as Hecuba) that includes powerhouses Kelli Fox, Yanna McIntosh, Seana McKenna and Nora McLellan. To Oct. 5. Tom Patterson Theatre.

Fast-forward about 3,000 years and land in the very different—but also soon-to-be-besieged—metropolis of 1930s Berlin. American scribe Clifford Bradshaw has made his way to the decadent capital for work, but gets more than he bargained for when he takes up with spirited nightclub chanteuse Sally Bowles (Trish Lindström). Amanda Dehnert directs Bruce Dow as Cabaret’s scene-stealing MC. To Oct. 25. Avon Theatre.

Broadway fave Susan H. Schulman has been brought on to direct Stratford’s other musical, Meredith Willson’s The Music Man. A Midwestern town’s collective naiveté—and desire for a marching band—leaves its citizens vulnerable to the charms of the titular showman-shyster, Harold Hill (Jonathan Goad). But not everyone is ready to succumb to his charms: as it turns out, Marian the Librarian (Leah Oster) is nobody’s fool. To Nov. 1. Avon.

A young Egyptian queen learns of her own bargaining power when she meets a senior statesman in Shaw’s Caesar and Cleopatra. Des McAnuff directs Captain Von Trapp himself, Christopher Plummer, as the titular Roman invader who never saw it coming, and Nikki M. James as the bewitching teenage ruler. To Nov. 8. Festival.