Two remarkable stage productions at Riyadh Season

A clever comedy and a US-inspired musical were among the performances to enchant and entrance audiences in the Saudi capital in recent weeks

Two remarkable stage productions at Riyadh Season

Asmahan Al-Sha’abouni

last update on 06 Jan 2026

This year’s Riyadh Season presented two theatrical experiences. One arrived as a delightful surprise, the other as a showcase of refined perfection.

The surprise came in the form of the comedy Tal ‘Omrah, produced by Sela under the artistic supervision of Mohammed Al-Baz, and directed by Kuwaiti filmmaker Yousef Al-Baghli, known across Kuwait and the Gulf for his earlier comedic and musical works. Here, he delivers a performance driven by clever humour, brisk pacing, and boldness to tackle issues central to contemporary Saudi society.

The story revolves around a wealthy family in Riyadh living off the fortune and properties of a miserly grandfather. The elderly man is gravely ill but does not die, and each family member anxiously anticipates their share of the inheritance. The storyline comes from Saudi journalist and writer Badriya Al-Bishr, with quick-witted, light-footed dialogue crafted by Ahmed Al-Zahrani.

The cast features a constellation of celebrated actors, including Nasser Al-Qasabi, Fayez Al-Malki (in his beloved role as Abu Malha), Habib Al-Habib, Abeer Fahd, Waleed Qashran, Haifa Nasser, Ajeeba Al-Dossari and Nayef Al-Anzi. All are good, but Al-Qasabi in the lead role makes this a brilliant production.

He is astonishingly persuasive as the light-hearted father whose business ventures always fail, who flirts over the phone with a young lover, and who impatiently awaits his father’s passing. At 60, and with remarkable stage presence, Al-Qasabi moves with striking agility. He bends, leaps, and dances like a man in his 20s, sweeping across the stage with an energy that infects his fellow actors and the audience alike.

@foochia — Nasser Al-Qasabi in 'Tal 'Omrah'

Themes of relevance

At 2.5 hours, this play offers a family-friendly evening that drew a diverse audience to Bakr Al-Sheddi Theatre on Riyadh Boulevard, including mothers and daughters, newlyweds, and groups of young people. Following the familiar structure of beloved Arab comedies, applause greets each actor’s entrance. A largely static set depicts a family home, with moments of improvisation and laughter throughout an evening that includes a short intermission.

Its themes are far from superficial. On the contrary, they are strikingly relevant in a country undergoing a deep and transformative renewal. One issue tackled by the play is the rapid expansion of Riyadh and the impact of urban growth on quality of life. Al-Qasabi addresses this theme with deft, immediate humour, forging a strong connection with the city's audience from the off.

The cast features a constellation of celebrated actors, but it is Nasser Al-Qasabi in the lead role that makes this a brilliant production

The play also scrutinises the disparity in how society perceives and treats men and women. Scene after scene shows men entangled in awkward situations, often met with indulgence or even laughter, while women in similar predicaments are met with family outrage and calls for punishment. This contrast exposes the persistent social assumptions that continue to shape daily life.

The production even broaches the topic of the niqab with notable candour. It presents a dispute between the grandson and his wife regarding her choice to wear it, its impact on her professional life, and her freedom to decide. The father intervenes, advocating for the woman's right to make that decision for herself.

Reflecting society

In a country with deep commercial traditions, where many young people enhance their income through trade, the play addresses the subject of entrepreneurship and its inherent risks through humour and satire. This is personified in the son, who recklessly pursues ill-fated business ventures, leaving his father to face the consequences.

Tal 'Omrah also examines difference in its various forms, whether it be between residents of Riyadh and Jeddah, or between Saudis and foreign workers. The inclusion of a Filipina domestic worker, who speaks in the hybrid Arabic commonly used by many labourers in Saudi Arabia, adds a nuanced layer. This deliberate choice invites diverse interpretations without carrying a message.

The scenography throughout is executed with precision. The production makes thoughtful use of technology, such as the screen displaying the father's flirtatious phone calls and the remote-controlled mouse in the family's new home. The direction incorporates expansive physicality, notably in scenes where actors freeze in artfully arranged tableaux before resuming movement.

The swift pacing ensures ongoing engagement, and the performance is further enhanced by a graceful contemporary dance sequence featuring professional dancers of various nationalities. As director, Yousef Al-Baghli notes, the whole thing came together after just a month of rehearsals, which just reflects the high calibre of both the cast and the production team. They have created a work for a much wider audience.

Wicked, the Musical

It came as little surprise that the American musical Wicked—also featured as part of Riyadh Season—delivered a flawless performance on every front, from singing and choreography to the set design, scenography, and the seamless progression of scenes. It is a case study in meticulously crafted musical theatre, for which the US is celebrated.

The production first premiered in 2003 at the George Gershwin Theatre on Broadway, New York, born of a collaboration between Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman. It later moved to London's West End, where it secured lasting success and became one of the most commercially and critically acclaimed musicals of its generation.

As part of a collaboration between the Royal Commission for Riyadh City and Broadway Entertainment Group, the show's touring company brought the international production to the King Fahd Cultural Centre in Riyadh from December 2025 to 3 January 2026. Since its renovation last year, the venue has acquired a distinctive architectural identity, offering a contemporary interpretation of Najdi motifs. The design of the ticketing areas, cafés, and halls is inspired by the landscapes of central Arabia. The building is clad in compressed earth and offers a warm welcome.

Wicked was a flawless performance on every count, from singing and choreography to scenography, set design and the seamless progression of scenes

Wicked opens in the land of Oz, just after the announcement of the Wicked Witch of the West's death. Amid the public celebration, Glinda the Good Witch invites the citizens to turn back time and discover the hidden story behind a complex friendship. It is the story of Glinda—beautiful, sociable, ambitious, and able to navigate the rules of power and popularity—and of Elphaba, the green-skinned girl who is intelligent, sensitive, rebellious, and ostracised for being different.

The two meet at Shiz University, where an uneasy friendship begins to form, eventually evolving into a profound moral and political rift, heightened by their rivalry for the affections of the same young man, Fiyero, who vacillates between the two. Elphaba, born with advanced magical abilities, dreams of meeting the Wizard of Oz. When the opportunity finally arises, she discovers that the Wizard—both ruler and illusionist—derives his authority from manipulation, fear, and repressing those who are different.

Acceptance vs justice

Elphaba refuses to be complicit in this machinery of control. She is vilified by the media and branded a 'wicked witch,' while Glinda opts for compromise, aligning herself with power even at the cost of concealing part of the truth. Wicked is therefore a meditation on power, language, and the nature of evil. It draws from its literary lineage, rooted in children's fiction, and the musical is adapted from Gregory Maguire's 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, itself a reimagining of L. Frank Baum's 1900 classic The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

These works journeyed through a 20th century shaped by the traumas of Nazism, the Cold War, terrorism, and the rise of mass media as a powerful fourth estate. This adds a maturity that resonates throughout the performance, which lays bare how values are reconfigured until public approval becomes a virtue greater than truth. In one scene, Glinda says, "What I love is making people happy." It appears benign, yet it reveals how happiness is no longer aligned with integrity, but with popularity.

Before her later transformation, Glinda seeks nothing more than love, admiration, and social validation, even if that comes at the expense of substance. Elphaba, by contrast, is cast from birth into the role of the outsider. Born green, she is conditioned not to expect beauty or acceptance, but to uphold justice. She seeks neither applause nor belonging, but pursues what is right. From this contrast emerges the work's central insight: society punishes wickedness less than it punishes difference, and fears ugliness less than it fears those unwilling to conform.

This logic is especially evident in the treatment of animals within Oz. Once able to speak, study, and participate in public life, they are gradually silenced. The Wizard's assistant chillingly says, "Animals should be seen and not heard." There is also a recognition of how language and narrative can be distorted into instruments of propaganda, reshaped according to the will of the powerful. "In my country, we believe many things that are not true," the Wizard says. "We call it history."

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DR9ZoGPDDFo/

Choosing to be free

All this intellectual richness is carried by a production polished to the point of luxury. Each element functions with precision. The talent is unmistakable, the voices are powerful, the choreography is exact, and the rhythm remains steady. Eva Chano Wilson, who plays Glinda, fully embodies this harmony. A trained ballerina and accomplished actress, she adds luminosity and grace.

Talent is both a natural gift and the result of rigorous discipline, a truth the script itself quietly reinforces. Perhaps for this reason, its themes feel less unsettling than they might otherwise. When rebellion is staged within a flawless framework, it becomes tempered: its edges softened, its potential to disturb gently restrained. This is fitting for a production clearly created for adults, yet aimed primarily at younger audiences, in whom it seeks to plant a lasting sense of justice and truth.

One moment lingers in the mind: Glinda's ascent into the air as fellow performers fill the hall, pointing towards her while she sings the iconic Defying Gravity. It pierces the theatrical illusion and reaches directly into the audience's heart. It is a fleeting rupture in the order of things, a cry that echoes through a meticulously controlled space, and a reminder that perfection—no matter how dazzling—can never replace that rare and resolute moment when we choose not to be popular, but to be free.

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