‘Shadowland’ one of many highlights of CCA’s 2017–18 season

“Shadowland” — a multimedia, projected shadow play with acrobatic dance and an original score — will launch the Collins Center for the Arts’ 2017–18 season at 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 16.

This year’s gala presentation by Pilobolus is the dramatic story of a young girl’s sensational world as she comes of age.

“Shadowland” will be one of 20 live performances on the main stage. There will be Tony Award-winning and Grammy Award-winning shows, an illusionist, a comedian, marionettes, American country singers, an Irish musical quintet and Japanese drummers.

“The 2017–18 season includes something for everyone, including music, theater, family shows, holiday concerts and the extremely popular Broadway musicals,” says Danny Williams, CCA executive director.

“It is our pleasure to provide a beautiful venue where our patrons can see performers up close and personal. Of course, parking is a breeze and everyone can take treats straight to their comfortable seats.”

“Shadowland” will be followed by the “Million Dollar Quartet” on Sept. 26. The Tony Award-winning Broadway musical was inspired by the famed, and only, recording session that brought together Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins.

The fall 2017 slate also includes Aquila Theatre’s “Hamlet” on Oct. 12; comedian Bob Marley on Oct. 14; The Cashore Marionettes on Oct. 15 (in Minsky Recital Hall); illusionist Jason Bishop on Oct. 27; British a cappella vocal ensemble The King’s Singers on Nov. 5; the jaw-dropping beatboxing show “Gobsmacked!” on Nov. 16; fiddlers Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy’s “A Celtic Family Christmas” on Dec. 5; Broadway musical “Kinky Boots” on Dec. 7; and the Oak Ridge Boys’ “Christmas Celebration Tour” on Dec. 19.

The new year starts with the Yamato Drummers from Japan on Jan. 18, 2018. They will be followed by child prodigy jazz pianist Joey Alexander on Jan. 25; Erth’s Dinosaur Zoo Live on March 4; Cirque Éloize’s “Saloon” on March 11; Irish musical quintet Goitse on March 14; The Reduced Shakespeare Company’s “The Bible (abridged)” on March 24; the 2014 Tony Award-winning Best Musical “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder” on April 4; the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain on April 13; the Steep Canyon Rangers, who won a 2013 Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album, on April 21; and “Cabaret” on May 15.

The John I. and Elizabeth E. patches Chamber Music Series concerts, held in Minsky Recital Hall, include: The Escher String Quartet on Sept. 24; Dutch vocal ensemble Cappella Pratensis on Oct. 13; pianist-composer Dan Tepfer on Dec. 10; Vienna Piano Trio on Feb. 18; and Palaver Strings, the musician-led string orchestra with Maine connections, on April 22.

In addition to the live performances, the broadcast season will return with offerings from the Metropolitan Opera of New York (Met Opera HD Live) and National Theatre of London (NT Live).

In Metropolitan Opera’s Peabody and Emmy Award-winning series The Met: Live in HD, as many as 12 cameras capture the onstage drama and backstage action. It’s all transmitted from New York City to the Collins Center for the Arts.

Broadcasts will include: “Norma” on Oct. 7; “Die Zauberflöte” on Oct. 14; “The Exterminating Angel” on Nov. 18; “Tosca” on Feb. 3; “L’Elisir d’Amore” on Feb. 10; “La Bohéme” on March 3; “Semiramide” on March 10; “Così fan tutte” on March 31; “Cendrillon” on April 28; and “Luisa Miller” on June 2.

National Theatre Live transmits the best of British theater via satellite to the CCA, which is projected onto a high-definition screen. Performances will include: “Twelfth Night” on Sept. 8; “Yerma” on Sept. 28; “Peter Pan” on Oct. 29; “Follies” on Dec. 1; “Salomé” on Jan. 12; Parts 1 and 2 of “Angels in America” — about New Yorkers grappling with life and death, love and sex, heaven and hell during the AIDS crisis — on Feb. 2 and Feb. 9, respectively; “Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead,” featuring Daniel Radcliffe and Joshua McGuire, on March 2; “Young Marx” on March 22; “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” on April 20; and “Julius Caesar” on June 1.

For more details and to purchase tickets, visit the CCA website.