Victoria plans to reveal its next season of Broadway shows in March
Mark your calendars! The Victoria Theatre Association will announce its highly anticipated 2020-2021 Premier Health Broadway Series on Tuesday, March 10.
In a save-the-date message sent to patrons last week, the organization is billing the event as an Open House Party slated to “reveal our new name and look.” Attendees will also be able to “go backstage and hop onstage” at all VTA venues. Food, drinks and entertainment will be provided. Stay tuned for more details.
Dare to Defy announces season, restructuring
Dare to Defy Productions’ 2020-2021 season consists of Andrew Lloyd Webber, Julian Fellowes, Glenn Slater, and Mike White’s “School of Rock — The Musical” (Sept. 4-5, 2020); Michael Gore, Dean Pitchford and Lawrence D. Cohen’s “Carrie — The Musical” (Oct. 29-Nov. 1, 2020); Scott Ferguson, Kyle Hall and George Keating’s adaptation of “Schoolhouse Rock Live! Jr.” (Nov. 20-21, 2020); Chris D’Arienzo’s “Rock of Ages” (Feb. 4-7, 2021); Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater’s “Spring Awakening” (April 15-18, 2021); and Gerome Ragni, James Rado and Galt MacDermot’s “Hair” ( June 11-14, 2021).
In related news, the organization has transitioned into an ensemble theater featuring Jamal Cann, Naman Clark, Allie Haines, Abigail Hoggatt, Brent Hoggatt, Brett Norgaard, Brennan Paulin, Danielle Ruddy, TC Schreier, Lindsay Sherman, and Garrett Young. Phillip Drennen and Mackensie King have also been named co-associate artistic directors.
Cincinnati Opera finds its ‘Castor and Patience’
Bass-baritone Kevin Short and soprano Latonia Moore, both seen recently in the Metropolitan Opera’s acclaimed production of “Porgy and Bess,” will respectively star in the titular roles of the Cincinnati Opera production of composer Gregory Spears and librettist Tracy K. Smith’s new opera “Castor and Patience,” which will have its world premiere July 16-26, 2020 at the Corbett Theatre in Cincinnati’s School for Creative and Performing Arts.
Set during the mortgage crisis of 2008 with flashbacks to 1966 as well as to the 19th Century, “Castor and Patience” tells an original story of African-American cousins at odds over the fate of land owned by members of their family since Reconstruction. The two-act opera, running more than two hours, will feature a cast of 12 and a 36-piece orchestra.
“Castor and Patience” is Spears’ second work for Cincinnati Opera following the acclaimed 2016 production of his gorgeous political romance “Fellow Travelers” with librettist Greg Pierce. Smith, a recent Poet Laureate of the United States, won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for her collection “Life on Mars.”
For more information, visit cincinnatiopera.org.
Broadway League releases 2018-2019 statistics
The Broadway League’s 20182019 Demographics of the Broadway Audience report released many notable findings including a record-high number of 3.8 million admissions by non-Caucasian theatergoers and over 3 million admissions under the age of 25. The report also revealed:
■ Broadway shows welcomed 14.8 million admissions.
■ 65 percent of admissions were made by tourists.
■ 68 percent of audiences were female.
■ Average age of Broadway theatergoer was 42.3 years old.
■ More theatergoers preferred plays to musicals.
■ Theatergoers paid an average of $145.60 per ticket.
■ 59 percent of respondents said they purchased their tickets online.
■ Google was the most common initial source named by theatergoers when asked where they looked for information about Broadway shows. Ticketmaster and Broadway. com followed Google.
■ 22 percent of respondents said they relied primarily on word-of-mouth from people they knew when selecting shows.
■ Most theatergoers attended in pairs or small groups of family or friends.
■ The majority of current theatergoers had some connection to theatergoing as a child.
The Griswolds are Broadway-bound
The holiday road and a certain iconic metallic pea station wagon is pointing toward the Great White Way. Having already taken Wally World, Europe and Las Vegas by storm, Clark, Ellen, Rusty, and Audrey Griswold have their eyes set on Broadway as “Broadway Vacation — The Musical” is set to have its world premiere at Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theatre in fall 2020.
Produced in association with Tony winner Ken Davenport (“Once on This Island”), “Broadway Vacation” will feature book, music and lyrics by David Rossmer and Steve Rosen (“The Other Josh Cohen”). The show will be directed and choreographed by Donna Feore, whose consistently fantastic work at Canada’s Stratford Festival includes “A Chorus Line,” “Billy Elliot,” “Crazy for You,” “Guys and Dolls,” “Little Shop of Horrors,” and her particularly dynamic, Broadway-worthy versions of “The Music Man” and “The Rocky Horror Show.”
The 5th Avenue Theatre has a strong track record as a haven for pre-Broadway tryouts. “Hairspray,” “Jekyll and Hyde,” “Memphis,” “The Wedding Singer,” “Shrek,” and “A Christmas Story” are just some of the successful musicals developed there. This season, the troupe offered the Broadway-bound “Mrs. Doubtfire,” written by the collaborators of “Something Rotten!,” which is slated to open in April at New York’s Sondheim Theatre.