2017-2018 Broadway Season at The Smith Center includes ‘Hamilton,’ ‘Rent,’ ‘The Little Mermaid,’ ‘The Color Purple’
Here is the 2017-2018 Broadway Season at The Smith Center for the Performing Arts:
Something Rotten! (Aug 8-13, 2017)
Travel back in time to the ’90s — the 1590s — long before the dawn of premium tickets, star casting and reminders to turn off cell phones. Two brothers are desperate to write a hit play but are stuck in the shadow of that Renaissance rock star known as William Shakespeare.
When a soothsayer foretells that the future of theater involves singing, dancing and acting at the same time, Nick and Nigel Bottom set out to write the world’s first musical. But amid the scandalous excitement of opening night, The Bottom Brothers realize that reaching the top means being true to thine own self … and all that jazz.
With its heart on its ruffled sleeve and sequins in its soul, “Something Rotten!” is an uproarious dose of Broadway fun and irresistible ode to musicals — those dazzling creations that entertain, inspire and remind us that everything’s better with an exclamation point! From the director of “Aladdin” and co-director of “The Book of Mormon,” “Something Rotten!” wound up a “big, fat Broadway hit.
Awards: Nominated for 10 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical and Best Direction of a Musical, and winner of the 2015 Tony for Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical
Fun fact: The showstopping number “A Musical” contains references to 15 Broadway shows.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime (Sept. 19-24, 2017)
Hailed as “one of the most fully immersive works ever to wallop Broadway” by The New York Times, this adaptation is the Tony-winning play by Simon Stephens adapted from Mark Haddon’s bestselling novel and directed by Tony winner Marianne Elliott (“Curious Incident,” “War Horse”).
Christopher, 15, has an extraordinary brain. He is exceptionally intelligent but ill-equipped to interpret everyday life. When he falls under suspicion for killing his neighbor’s dog, he sets out to identify the culprit, which leads to an earth-shattering discovery and journey that will change his life forever.
Awards: Winner of five 2015 Tonys, including Best Play
Disney’s The Little Mermaid (Oct. 3-8, 2017)
Call this Broadway’s “Under the Sea” spectacular. In a magical kingdom beneath the sea, beautiful young mermaid Ariel longs to leave her ocean home to live in the world above. Based on one of Hans Christian Andersen’s most-beloved stories, with music by eight-time Oscar winner Alan Menken, it’s a beautiful love story for the ages.
Fall in love with the magic for the first time — or all over again — with such classics as “Under the Sea,” “Kiss the Girl, “Part of Your World” and more. Visual effects and unique staging are used to make the audience feel like characters are really under the sea.
Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The King and I (Oct. 25-29, 2017)
Two worlds collide in the production of this “breathtaking and exquisite” musical directed by Bartlett Sher. One of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s finest works, it boasts a score that features such beloved classics as “Getting to Know You,” “I Whistle a Happy Tune,” “Hello Young Lovers,” “Shall We Dance” and “Something Wonderful.”
Set in 1860s Bangkok, the musical tells the story of the unconventional and tempestuous relationship that develops between The King of Siam and Anna Leonowens, a British schoolteacher whom the modernist king, in an imperialistic world, brings to Siam to teach his wives and children. “The King and I” is “too beautiful to miss.”
Awards: Winner of the 2015 Tony for Best Musical Revival
Fun fact: “The King and I” debuted on Broadway in 1951. Since then, there have been four Broadway revivals and three touring productions.
The Bodyguard the Musical (Nov. 21-26, 2017)
Based on the hit film, the musical stars singer Deborah Cox with the voice of an angel. A former Secret Service agent turned bodyguard is hired to protect a superstar singer from a stalker. Each expects to be in charge; what they don’t expect is to fall in love.
A romantic thriller, “The Bodyguard” features classics including “Queen of the Night,” “So Emotional,” “One Moment in Time,” “Saving All My Love,” “Run to You,” “I Have Nothing,” “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” and one of the biggest-selling songs of all time, “I Will Always Love You.”
“The Bodyguard” had its world premiere in London’s West End, where it was nominated for four Laurence Olivier Awards, including Best New Musical. It won Best New Musical at The WhatsOnstage Awards.
Rent 20th Anniversary Tour (Jan. 30-Feb. 4, 2018)
In 1996, an original rock musical by a little-known composer opened on Broadway … and forever changed the landscape of American theater. Two decades later, Jonathan Larson’s “Rent” continues to speak loudly and defiantly to audiences across generations and all over the world.
Now this Pulitzer Prize- and Tony-winning masterpiece returns to the stage in a vibrant 20th anniversary touring production. A reimagining of Puccini’s “La Boheme,” “Rent” follows a year in the lives of seven artists, many with AIDS, struggling to follow their dreams without selling out. With its inspiring message of joy and hope in the face of fear, this celebration of friendship and creativity reminds us to measure our lives with the only thing that truly matters: love.
Awards: 1996 Pulitzer for Drama and winner of four 1996 Tonys, including Best Musical
Fun fact: The original Broadway production ran for 12 1/2 years.
Love Never Dies (March 20-25, 2018)
Critics raved that “Phantom 2” was “the best thing Andrew Lloyd Webber has written in the quarter century since the original ‘Phantom of the Opera.’ ” Andrew himself described the production as “probably the finest one I could ever, ever hope for.”
The story of boundless love, full of passion and drama, follows the spotlight on one of the most successful musicals of all time, now seen by more than 130 million and winner of more than 50 awards. The ultimate love story continues in this spellbinding sequel.
The year is 1907. It is 10 years after The Phantom’s disappearance from The Paris Opera House, and he has escaped to a new life in New York where he lives among the screaming joy rides and freak shows of Coney Island.
In this new, electrically charged world, he has found a place for his music to soar, but he has never stopped yearning for his one true love and musical protegee, Christine Daae. Now one of the world’s finest sopranos, Christine accepts an invitation to travel from Paris to New York to perform at a renowned opera house.
Christine’s marriage to Raoul is suffering at the hands of his drinking and gambling, and they desperately need the financial rewards that America can give them. In a final bid to win back Christine’s love, The Phantom lures her, Raoul and their young son Gustave from Manhattan to the glittering and glorious world of Coney Island not knowing what is in store for them.
“Love Never Dies” is a dazzling production that takes audiences on a rollercoaster ride of intrigue, obsession and romance. Be seduced by the beautiful, magical, poetic, joyful and melancholic score. This is a magnificent continuation of one of the world’s greatest love stories making its premiere at The Smith Center.
The Color Purple (April 24-29, 2018)
The 2016 Tony winner for Best Musical Revival was hailed as “a direct hit to the heart” when the joyous American classic conquered Broadway in a new, “ravishingly reconciled production” directed by Tony winner John Doyle. A “glory to behold,” raved The New York Times.
With a soul-raising score of jazz, gospel, ragtime and blues, “The Color Purple” gives an exhilarating new spirit to the Pulitzer-winning story. It’s a stunning reimagining of an epic story about a young woman’s journey to love and triumph in the South.
Awards: 2016 Tony winner for Best Musical Revival
Hamilton: An American Musical (May 29-June 24, 2018)
The new Smith Center Broadway Season ends on the highest note possible with the much-anticipated “Hamilton” from the creative team behind the Tony-winning “In the Heights.” The musical tells the story of the scrappy young immigrant who forever changed America: Alexander Hamilton.
Tony and Grammy winner Lin-Manuel Miranda wields his pen and takes the stage as the unlikely founding father determined to make his mark on a new nation as hungry and ambitious as he. From orphan to Washington’s right-hand man, rebel to war hero, loving husband caught in the country’s first sex scandal to Treasury head who made an untrusting world believe in the American economy, “Hamilton” is an exploration of a political mastermind.
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Eliza Hamilton and lifelong Hamilton friend and foe Aaron Burr all attend this revolutionary tale of America’s fiery past told through the sounds of the ever-changing nation we have become.
Awards: In 2016, “Hamilton” received a record-setting 16 Tony nominations, winning 11, including Best Musical, and also won the 2016 Pulitzer for Drama and 2016 Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album.