The Playback: August 2023

The company in Lincoln Center Theater's production of CAMELOT. Photo: Joan Marcus.

From the Tony Award winners to new tours being announced and long-time tours ending, this edition of The Playback will provide the details and much more.

IDEAS

Contents

NEW TOUR ANNOUNCEMENTS

LIFE OF PI - Hiran Abeysekera, Richard Parker (Fred Davis, Scarlet Wilderink, Andrew Wilson). Photo: Matthew Murphy & Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade.

Since our last edition, three new shows have officially announced their plans for touring in an upcoming season.

First announced in conjunction with the show’s closing date, Camelot, is currently in the planning stages of a national tour as well as a West End production. The revival was recently nominated for five Tony Awards, but went home empty handed. This will be the first tour of this production since 2008.

Also announced alongside its closure notice, Life of Pi, a play based on Yann Martel’s 2001 novel, will begin a North American tour in the fall of 2024. Winner of three Tony Awards, Life of Pi tells the story of a sixteen-year-old boy named Pi who is left stranded on a lifeboat with the most unlikely of companions: a Royal Bengal tiger. With time and nature against them, the two must learn to trust one another if they are to survive.

Lastly, followers of this site will know that Clue, a stage play based on the popular board game and the 1985 movie, will begin touring in early 2024 in Minneapolis, MN. More information, as well as the current tour route, can be found here. As this is a North American tour, and no Canadian stops announced as of yet, the production will most likely extend into multiple season.

Outside of Clue, this brings the list of new shows coming in the 2024/2025 season to around 10. As it is still quite early, more can be added, so stay tuned.

WEBSITE UPDATES

We’re excited to share some news and updates regarding Tours To You that hopefully you’ll enjoy.

First up, we are officially a publisher with Google News. Now, in addition to being able to view the latest updates on our homepage and via notifications, you can see all of the latest news curated onto a single page via Google News. And, you can even follow us for a quick way to filter the news we share. To do so, click here and thanks for giving us a follow!

Next, we are also excited to share that we have recently acquired an affiliation with Shop PBS, bringing our total list of affiliations to six. As this is still a new affiliation, more information about it will come in our next edition of The Playback. As with all of our affiliations, we thank you for your kind support.

Lastly, with the 2023/2024 season upon us, we are happy to introduce the Show Score feature. As implied by the title, this simple yet powerful feature allows patrons to provide a score to a show that they have seen. Efforts had been made in the past to introduce a way for site visitors to leave a review, but we believe that this method will be able to help fellow visitors in a much more concise and comfortable manner.

To score a show, you can either click the link in the 2023-2024 season tab in the menu (as seen below),

or you can go to a show’s individual page and click the Show Score.

After doing so, a simple form will appear, prompting you to score the show on a scale from 1 (poor) to 10 (excellent). After doing so, hit the submit button and voila! Score averages will begin to appear after the first score is provided.

As a courtesy, please only provide a score for those shows that you have seen in person, and supply a score for any show you have seen starting from July 2023 (i.e. no retroactive scores from shows seen prior to July 2023).

New Surveys (part 1)

As organizations begin planning their 24/25 seasons, new surveys were distributed to gauge an individual’s level of interest in a variety of shows. These surveys also provide interesting insight as to what could possibly be coming on tour in an upcoming season, as well as those current shows that may be returning. Results from the surveys can also carry a certain amount of weight in determining the makeup of a given season.

The first was a post-Tony Award survey conducted by Broadway Across America (BAA), which emailed surveys to patrons in the locations where they present a Broadway series. One of the goals of this survey was to find out whether the minds of those who watched the ceremony might have been influenced by the shows that performed during the telecast. This survey was structured much like their pre-Tony Awards survey, but with a few categories not being present, including Continuing Favorites, Holiday Shows, and Shows In Development. Rather, this survey focused on gauging surveyees’ interests in New Musicals, Plays, and Revivals.

The show options within these categories went unchanged from their initial survey. So, as a refresher, here’s a sampling of those shows:

NEW MUSICALS

Shows in orange have already announced a tour.

Notes: As with my previous analysis, it appears at this point that Almost Famous and Bad Cinderella will not go on tour given their poor reception on Broadway, and their lack of recognition by the Tony voters. I do highly expect Shucked to go on tour, with an announcement coming very soon.

PLAYS

  • Fat Ham
  • Good Night, Oscar
  • Grey House
  • Life of Pi
  • Peter Pan Goes Wrong

Notes: At this time, only Life of Pi has announced a tour, but I suspect that Peter Pan Goes Wrong will announce a tour sometime after their engagement in Los Angeles. My apprehension regarding Good Night, Oscar is that the show heavily leans on its star actor (newly-minted Tony Award winner Sean Hayes). So if it does tour, it may require him to be part of the show, which may limit the number of locations in which it would appear. Fat Ham already has post-closing performances in regional theatres and recently-closed Grey House may also follow suit.

REVIVALS

  • Bob Fosse’s Dancin’
  • Camelot
  • Company
  • Disney’s Aida
  • Disney’s Beauty and the Beast
  • Disney’s Mary Poppins
  • Disney’s Newsies
  • Funny Girl
  • Hairspray
  • Kinky Boots
  • Mamma Mia!
  • Matilda the Musical
  • Parade
  • Peter Pan
  • Sweeney Todd
  • The Music Man
  • The Secret Garden
  • The Sound of Music
  • The Who’s Tommy
  • The Wiz

Shows in orange are currently on tour or will begin in the 23/24 season. Shows in blue have already announced plans for a tour to start in the 24/25 season.

Notes: Outside of the shows that are currently on tour or will begin touring in the future, it’s anyone’s guess whether or not any of these revivals will tour in the 24/25 season. Some momentum does seem to be picking up for Parade, 2023’s Tony winner for Best Revival, and there have been some whispers for The Music Man. However, given the current economic climate for touring Broadway shows, and the large cast and crew involved, the latter may not come to fruition without some modifications.

New Surveys (part 2)

The second survey distributed was from the American Theatre Guild, which oversees the Broadway series in 15 locations across the US. Although its largest market is shared with BAA (Kansas City), most of the markets tend to present shows that are in their second-plus year, or touring revivals. While this survey contained a handful of categories, we’ll only focus on the ones that could have major implications.

NEW MUSICALS

  • & Juliet
  • A Beautiful Noise
  • Shucked
  • Mrs. Doubtfire
  • New York, New York
  • MJ
  • Mystic Pizza
  • Some Like It Hot

Shows in orange will begin touring in the 23/24 season. Shows in blue have already announced plans for a tour to start in the 24/25 season.

PLAYS

  • Life of Pi
  • Clue
  • Peter Pan Goes Wrong
  • The Shark is Broken
  • To Kill A Mockingbird
  • The Cottage

Shows in orange are either currently on tour or will begin touring in the 23/24 season.

Notes: Although an official announcement hasn’t been made, the booking company for The Shark is Broken has stated that it is representing the upcoming tour, which will take place in the 24/25 season. In addition, the production company for The Cottage primarily deals with touring shows; so a forthcoming tour will most likely happen.

REVIVALS

  • Annie
  • Camelot *
  • Chicago
  • Company *
  • Dirty Dancing
  • Disney’s Beauty and the Beast *
  • Disney’s Newsies *
  • Disney’s The Little Mermaid
  • Funny Girl *
  • Hairspray *
  • Kinky Boots *
  • Les Misérables
  • Mamma Mia *
  • Matilda the Musical *
  • Parade *
  • Peter Pan *
  • Shrek the Musical
  • Sweeney Todd *
  • The Addams Family
  • The Secret Garden *
  • The Sound of Music *
  • The Who’s Tommy *
  • The Wiz *

Shows in orange are currently on tour or will begin in the 23/24 season. Shows in blue have already announced plans for a tour to start in the 24/25 season. Shows with an asterisk (*) are also found in the BAA survey.

Notes: With a majority of shows also being found in the BAA survey, this bring a certain sense of optimism regarding the possibility of a handful of revivals potentially coming back on tour. Although plans could change, the only confirmed, but un-announced tour expected to begin in the 24/25 season is The Addams Family. In addition, it would be expected that The Secret Garden would fulfill its Broadway-expected run at some point, and The Who’s Tommy, given its recent sold-out success, might transfer to Broadway–meaning a tour could be a few seasons away for both shows.

Should additional surveys from other organizations become available, they’ll be part of our upcoming season preview, which will be released later this year.

IATSE Updates

As reported in June’s edition, negotiations between the The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) and several major production companies were being worked out to better the working conditions and benefits for touring crew members. These negotiations caused a slight delay in the Come From Away tour; however, a new contract was overwhelmingly ratified before any additional changes would have become necessary.

According to the IATSE, the ratified agreement includes “crucial improvements such as single occupancy housing, a critical change from previous terms requiring touring crew members to share rooms. The agreement also includes additional compensation for moving shows between cities more than twice per week and for load-ins on the same day as a matinee performance.”

Additional agreements were made with regards to guaranteed rest days, and improved financial stability for members.

“The ratification of this agreement reflects the importance of persistence and solidarity in securing improved conditions for entertainment workers,” says Matthew D. Loeb, International President, IATSE. “Despite the challenges, we have achieved an agreement with gains that respect the skilled and tireless work of our members.”

While this crisis was averted, negotiations are underway between the IATSE, Broadway League and Disney Theatrical. A possible delay may occur should the new contract not be ratified. A tentative agreement was reached on July 20; however, ratification of the new contract is still pending. Any updates regarding this will come shortly.

Closing Curtain

Last, but not least, it’s time to bid a fond adieu to handful of touring shows.

A Soldier’s Play, which began in late 2022, wrapped up its 10-city tour in Los Angeles in late June. Also finishing its tour is the Broadway-studded cast of Into the Woods, which also played in 10 cities. 

Multi-season tour Tootsie, which was initially expected to start in late 2020, but was subsequently delayed due to the Broadway shutdown, ended its tour after 70 engagements. And, after 1,200 performances in 104 cities, Dear Evan Hansen has closed. It, too, was affected by the shutdown, but rebounded after returning in late 2021.

We also have companies of currently-running tours that have ended–the first being the Angelica company of Hamilton. Although not technically the first touring company of the show (Eliza opened in 2016), the Angelica company was the first to tour extensively across North America. Begun in 2017, the company played to sold-out crowds in over 60 locations, including its final stop in Puerto Rico. And now, with the And Peggy tour also closed, the remaining touring production in North America is the Philip company. The show is expected to remain with just one tour for the upcoming season.

Next, the Aragon tour of SIX ended its nationwide run in Portland this past weekend, having played in 16 cities. The Boleyn touring queens are still going strong and have engagements already lined up in the 24/25 season.

Thank you for taking the time to read this issue of The Playback. As we enter the start of a new touring season, we’re going to be taking a bit of a break, but hope to be back later this fall with more information and updates.

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