Blumenthal Performing Arts announced the lineup for its 2023–’24 theatre season on Tuesday, with upcoming productions including Broadway hits like the Tony Award-winning Moulin Rouge!, film-to-stage adaptations such as Mrs. Doubtfire, returning favorites like Lion King, a pre-Broadway tour stop for The Wiz, and plenty of others.
Among Tuesday’s announcements: Charlotte is one of the first three cities in North America to feature the 2022 Olivier Award–winning Best New Musical Back to the Future: The Musical. Charlotte will also be the only regional stop for a number of productions including Company, Back to the Future, The Wiz, Clue, Message in a Bottle, and Cookin’.
“In Charlotte, audiences are coming back in droves and there is high demand for top quality entertainment,” said Blumenthal President and CEO Tom Gabbard in a release on Tuesday. “As a top 10 market, we are thrilled to present the largest Broadway season in the region, including several first national tours that won’t be seen anywhere else in the area for some time.
“Fans from across the Carolinas and Tennessee will have the opportunity to travel to Charlotte for the chance to see these exclusive Broadway shows, further establishing Charlotte as a cultural destination in the region,” Gabbard continued. “The local economic impact of this type of tourism will be significant, as we’ve seen with our other major cultural initiatives like Immersive Van Gogh, the Charlotte International Arts Festival, and others.”
As has been the case in past years, Blumenthal will offer a choice of season-ticket packages for patrons, including the PNC Broadway Lights Series (seven- or eight-show package available), the Equitable Bravo Series (six shows) and Broadway Extras, tickets for which are sold separately.
Below, we’ll give a quick rundown of what shows Blumenthal will host chronologically during the upcoming season, beginning in October, and which package each one is included in.
Jesus Christ Superstar
Oct. 13-15, 2023 | Belk Theater | Broadway Extras
This year marks the 50th anniversary for the iconic musical phenomenon. Originally staged by London’s Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre and helmed by director Timothy Sheader (Crazy for You, Into the Woods) and cutting-edge choreographer Drew McOnie (King Kong, Strictly Ballroom), this production won the 2017 Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival.
Funny Girl
Oct. 17-22, 2023 | Belk Theater | PNC Broadway Lights
This Broadway revival dazzles with one of the most celebrated musical scores of all time, composed by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill, including classic songs “Don’t Rain On My Parade,” “I’m the Greatest Star,” and “People.”
Cookin’
Nov. 3-5, 2023 | Knight Theater | Broadway Extras
Working against the clock to prepare a wedding feast, four zany chefs make a manic menu of nonstop, high-speed action that whips up into an all-you-can-eat frenzy of martial arts and Korean samul nori drumming.
The Wiz
Nov. 7-12, 2023 | Belk Theater | PNC Broadway Lights
This groundbreaking twist on The Wizard of Oz changed the face of Broadway — from its iconic score packed with soul, gospel, rock, and finger-snapping ’70s funk to its stirring tale of Dorothy’s journey to find her place in a contemporary world. The Wiz returns “home” to stages across America in an all-new Broadway-bound tour, the first one in 40 years.
Company
Nov. 21-26, 2023 | Belk Theater | PNC Broadway Lights
Winner of five Tony Awards including Best Revival of a Musical, Company “strikes like a lightning bolt. It’s brilliantly conceived and funny as hell,” writes Variety. Three-time Tony Award–winning director Marianne Elliott (War Horse, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Angels in America) helms this revelatory new production of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s groundbreaking musical comedy.
Beetlejuice
Dec. 26-31, 2023 | Belk Theater | Equitable Bravo Series
Beetlejuice the musical jettisons the plot of the iconic Tim Burton film that made Michael Keaton a star. Instead, the plot focuses on an alliance between goth tween Lydia, who is mourning her deceased mom, and the titular “ghost with the most,” who is less seedy than Keaton’s version. Despite a sentimental streak, the show is a madcap carnival funhouse where the jokes fly as fast as bats from a belfry.
Mean Girls
Feb. 13-18, 2024 | Belk Theater | Broadway Extras
Written by SNL’s Tina Fey, the 2004 teen flick Mean Girls starring Lindsay Lohan defied critical expectations by being genuinely funny. Everything that clicked in the movie is retained in the 2018 musical adaptation. Fey is back on board as scripter, and her off-the-cuff remarks hit dead center, even though Nell Benjamin’s lyrics aren’t nearly as witty. Best of all, despite glitzy costumes and bouncy numbers, the show still retains the undying theme of high-school-as-living-hell.
Peter Pan
March 5-10, 2024 | Belk Theater | Equitable Bravo Series
This high-flying musical is approaching 70 years in production, and is now being brought back to life in a new production directed by Emmy Award-winner Lonny Price, with additional book by celebrated playwright Larissa FastHorse.
Moulin Rouge! The Musical
March 19-31, 2024 | Belk Theater | PNC Broadway Lights
Baz Luhrmann’s iconic 2001 film comes to life onstage, remixed in a new musical mash-up extravaganza directed by Tony Award-winner Alex Timbers.
Message In a Bottle
April 2-7, 2024 | Knight Theater | PNC Broadway Lights (eight-show package only)
Message In a Bottle is a spectacular new dance-theatre show from three-time Olivier Award-nominee Kate Prince, inspired by and set to the iconic hits of 17-time Grammy Award–winning artist Sting, including “Every Breath You Take,” “Roxanne,” “Walking On The Moon,” and more.
Mrs. Doubtfire
April 30-May 5, 2024 | Belk Theater | PNC Broadway Lights
Based on the beloved film and directed by four-time Tony Award-winner Jerry Zaks, Manchester Evening News called this new hit musical “wonderful, heart-warming, and laugh-out-loud funny” while The Hollywood Reporter wrote that it’s “a feel-good, family-friendly comedy that delivers.”
Hadestown
May 7-12, 2024 | Belk Theater | Equitable Bravo Series
Winner of eight 2019 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and the 2020 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album, this acclaimed show from celebrated singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell and director Rachel Chavkin (Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812) is a love story for today … and always, featuring a mix of jazz, blues, Appalachian folk and Southern Gothic sounds that play perfectly to the Industrial Age take on the Ancient Greek legend of Orphus and Eurydice.
MAMMA MIA!
Jun 18-23, 2024 | Belk Theater | Equitable Bravo Series
Set on a Greek island paradise where the sun always shines, a tale of love, friendship, and identity is beautifully told through the timeless hits of ABBA. On the eve of her wedding, a daughter’s quest to discover the father she’s never known brings three men from her mother’s past back to the island they last visited decades ago.
Back to the Future: The Musical
July 9-21, 2024 | Belk Theater | PNC Broadway Lights
The beloved, cinematic classic is now a Broadway musical — and winner of the 2022 Olivier Award for Best New Musical, at that — with its destination set for Charlotte in 2024.
Disney’s The Lion King
Aug. 8-Sept. 1 | Belk Theater | Equitable Bravo Series
More than 100 million people around the world have experienced this phenomenon. Winner of six Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Tony Award–winning director Julie Taymor brings to life a story filled with hope and adventure set against a backdrop of stunning visuals.
Clue
Oct. 8-13 | Knight Theater | Equitable Bravo Series
The internationally popular game is now an interactive musical that brings the world’s best-known suspects to life and invites the audience to help solve the mystery: Who killed Mr. Boddy, in what room, and with what weapon? The audience receives forms to help them deduce the solution from clues given throughout the fun-filled evening. Three audience members choose from cards representing the potential murderers, weapons and rooms — with 216 possible solutions.
Blumenthal also teased a final production as part of the PNC Broadway Lights package that will run from Oct. 22-27, 2024 but has not yet been named. Visit the Blumenthal Arts website for more ticketing information.
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