As we enter the new year, a new announcement season is upon us and boy has it been pretty good so far! There’s a ton of new information, so let’s get right to it!
January Season Announcements
January saw 12 seasons announced and some of them revealed the first locations for the new shows touring the nation next season. Here’s a summary, brief analysis and my personal rating for those locations from my top 50 venues as well as a other few notable announcements.
Fort Lauderdale, FL
- Announced: 11 January 2019
- Shows: Les Misérables, Escape to Margaritaville, Aladdin, Mean Girls, Come From Away, Bandstand [6 total, 3 new]
- Analysis: Kicking off announcement season, the Broward Center’s new season is a little bit of everything for everybody. Because it was the first announcement, we got the first stops for Bandstand. Escape to Margaritaville will work well within the demographics. Les Mis is definitely a crowd-pleaser, but Aladdin and Mean Girls are definitely the shows that stand out.
- Overall grade: B-
Baltimore, MD
- Announced: 18 January 2019
- Shows: The Phantom of the Opera, Aladdin, Jesus Christ Superstar, Cats, Wicked, The Band’s Visit, Summer, Dear Evan Hansen, Miss Saigon [9 total, 3 new]
- Thoughts: Another season with a mixed bag of new, second-year, and returning favorites, Baltimore’s season has a lot to offer for everyone. Highlighting the season are the presentations of the past two Tony Award winners for Best Musical in The Band’s Visit and Dear Evan Hansen.
- Overall grade: B+
Las Vegas, NV
- Announced: 29 January 2019
- Shows: The Book of Mormon, Anastasia, Wicked, Jesus Christ Superstar, How The Grinch Stole Christmas, Escape to Margaritaville, SpongeBob SquarePants, Once On This Island, Mean Girls, The Band’s Visit [10 total, 6 new]
- Thoughts: The Smith’s Center’s new season is one of the reasons why it is so highly ranked. They not only are presenting this past season’s winner for Best Revival (Once On This Island), they are also presenting the winner for Best Musical (The Band’s Visit). Add to that returning favorites, and a couple of new commercially-popular shows, and they’ve got the makings of a terrific season.
- Overall grade: A+
Minneapolis, MN
- Announced: 31 January 2019
- Shows: Rent, Mean Girls, The Phantom of the Opera, The Band’s Visit, Jesus Christ Superstar, My Fair Lady, Anastasia, Frozen, Summer, Come From Away [10 total, 6 new]
- Thoughts: Rounding out the month, the Hennepin Theatre Trust’s season was another announcement met with excitement. They are presenting a good amount of new productions, which includes the first announced stop for My Fair Lady. Also highlighting the season is the Tony Award winner from last year in The Band’s Visit and other popular movie-to-stage crossovers including Mean Girls, Anastasia, and Frozen.
- Overall grade: A
Notable Announcements:
- Tulsa’s season announcement included the first scheduling of Frozen. Since we also know it’s playing in Minneapolis, it appears it will in the Midwest around late spring/early summer.
- Although the show is scheduled to play in West Palm Beach, we now know that Summer will also play in Miami–perhaps a way to indicate that it will play in several more stops in Florida.
- It appears that cities associated with the American Theatre Guild will be featuring a combination of Bandstand, Beautiful, and Waitress.
- Austin announced the first stop of Jesus Christ Superstar (8-13 October). Several cities have since added the show to their upcoming seasons.
- Denver also announced the return of Hamilton for their 2019/2020 season. It will run from 12 August-4 October 2020.
- Once On This Island will be presented at Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theatre and Houston’s Theatre Under The Stars during their upcoming seasons.
Future Season Announcements
Looking ahead into February, we’re anticipating announcements from the following:
- Tuesday, February 5:
- Los Angeles, CA [Pantages & Dolby Theatres]
- San Antonio, TX
- Thursday, February 7: Louisville, KY
- Monday, February 11:
- Milwaukee, WI
- West Palm Beach, FL
- Tuesday, February 12: Austin, TX
- Thursday, February 14: Orlando, FL
- Tuesday, February 19: Oklahoma City, OK
- Monday, February 25:
- Omaha, NE
- Memphis, TN
- Also expect announcements from: Kansas City, MO; St. Paul, MN; Fort Worth, TX; Costa Mesa, CA; Grand Rapids, MI; Dayton, OH; Lincoln, NE; and Tucson, AZ
Be sure to stay updated with the season announcement schedule on the Calendar page.
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As we’re getting ready to enter the meat of announcement season, I’ll make sure to keep you all posted with any season or show announcements by posting updates on my Twitter and Instagram. Thank you for stopping by!