Hamilton among season’s shows at Robinson Center
The national tour of Hamilton is coming to the stage of Little Rock’s Robinson Center Performance Hall on June 29-July 11, 2021, the concluding show in Celebrity Attractions 2020-21 season.
The Tulsa-based presenter announced the season schedule Thursday morning at the Robinson Center.
“Little Rock continues to support Broadway in such an incredible way,” said Kristin Dotson, Celebrity Attractions’ CEO, citing strong backing by sponsors, the staff at the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau, and patrons.
Hamilton, the long-running Broadway hit, has been doing land-office business in long-term sit-downs in major cities, including Chicago and Los Angeles, and on tour. The book, music and lyrics are by Lin-Manuel Miranda, who played the title role on Broadway — American founding father Alexander Hamilton.
The production ran for three weeks in Tulsa in the summer of 2019, and “it was a huge success,” Dotson said. “It’s one of the few Broadway shows that actually live up to the hype, and it’ll be super awesome to have it in Little Rock.”
At that point in its tour, while still doing longer “sitdowns” in big cities, it will primarily have two-week engagements in smaller cities, including Little Rock. Dotson said the best way to ensure access to Hamilton tickets will be to become a season subscriber. Celebrity Attractions has yet to hammer out its 2020-21 season-ticket or single-ticket details; current subscribers will receive their renewal forms in April. Visit CelebrityAttractions.com.
The rest of the touring production lineup (all shows at Robinson Center Performance Hall):
■ Oct. 9-11: Fiddler on the Roof (music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, book by Joseph Stein, based on the stories of Sholom Aleichem), with a full orchestra and new staging by Israeli choreographer Hofesh Shechter.
■ Jan. 8-10: Blue Man Group.
■ Feb. 12-14: Anastasia (music by Stephen Flaherty, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, book by Terrence McNally).
■ April 16-18, 2021: Hairspray (music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Scott Wittman and Shaiman, and a book by Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan, based on John Waters’s 1988 film).
Dotson says she feels the season is well-balanced.
“It’s a good mix,” she said. “Of course, Hamilton elevates it to a whole ’nother level.
“We cast a wide net. There’s a classic [Fiddler]; Anastasia is brand new and good for the family.”
She also noted that area patrons have been inquiring about when Hairspray would be back on the road.
Celebrity Attractions has been able to attract more blockbuster shows based on patron support and following the two-year-plus rebuilding of Robinson Center, which has made it possible to attract physically large shows like The Lion King and The Phantom of the Opera, which the theater space could not previously accommodate. Those, in turn, have increased the patron base.
“And the more subscribers we have, the more attention we get from producers in New York,” she said.