Season to feature a mix of recent hits, perennial favorites
The Broadway season in West Palm Beach kicks off in November with a slate of shows that includes new-ish popular titles and long-time favorites.
In addition to recent hits such as “Dear Evan Hansen,” “Come From Away,” “Summer: The Donna Summer Musical” and “Anastasia,” there will also be perennials, “Cats” and “My Fair Lady.” And then there’s “An Officer and a Gentleman,” which is an import from Australia that never had a New York City run.
But hold on. While the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts has announced its list of Great White Way musicals, if you want to buy a subscription, they won’t be available to the general public until June.
Look for updates and additional information at Kravis.org/ broadway.
Subscriptions to the seven-show series will start at $268 and go up to $658.
Beginning in March, you can reach the box office at 561-832-7469 (MondaysFridays, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.). The Kravis Center is located at 701 Okeechobee Blvd., in West Palm Beach.
Here is a breakdown of the stage musicals making up the Kravis On Broadway Series.
Nov. 16-21 — ‘Come From Away’
This musical follows the stories of passengers on a plane that was suddenly grounded because of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Stranded in a small town in Newfoundland (doubling the population), the townsfolk take the strangers into their homes and, amid frazzled nerves and culture clashes, dash off some critically acclaimed folk/maritime infused songs.
Dec. 15-19 — ‘Dear Evan Hansen’
This is this generation’s other Broadway phenomenon. Yes, “Hamilton” may be a culture-shifting juggernaut, but “Dear Evan Hansen” beats to the pulse of contem
porary society. Hashtag meta musical. The story centers on a high schooler with social-anxiety disorder who begins to connect with his classmates after telling little lies about a deceased student that balloon out of control. “Dear Evan Hansen” won six Tony Awards in 2017, including best musical. The score is by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (“La La Land,” “The Greatest Showman”).
Jan. 5-9, 2022 — ‘Summer: The Donna Summer Musical’
The late, great disco diva Donna Summer gets her life turned into a jukebox musical complete with her chart toppers such as “Love to Love You Baby,” “I Feel Love,” “MacArthur Park,” “No More Tears (Enough is Enough),” “On the Radio,” “Bad Girls” “She Works Hard for the Money,” “Dim All the Lights,” “Hot Stuff ” and “Last Dance.”
Feb. 8-13, 2022 — ‘Cats’
Yes, the movie version was ... um ... not for every taste and didn’t manage to land on its feet when it came out in 2019. But the stage version is beloved and a consistent money-maker since it bowed in London’s West End in 1981 (running for 21 years) and then on Broadway a year later (going on to run for 18 years). For those unfamiliar, the musical is a series of vignettes with songs by Andrew Lloyd Webber based on T.S. Eliot’s poetry collection “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats.” This tour is a refurbished production with new lighting, sound and choreography.
March 9-13, 2022 — ‘Anastasia’
This show is based on the 1997 animated movie of the same name that opened on the Great White Way in 2017 and was nominated for two Tony Awards: best costume design and best featured actress. The story, which has had a few iterations, follows a young amnesiac showing up in Paris in the 1920s, knowing little of her past save for a few hazy memories and a keepsake that suggests she might be Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia, who escaped the assassination of the Imperial Romanov family in 1918.
April 19-24, 2022 — ‘My Fair Lady’
This production of the Lerner and Lowe classic is a bit of a Pygmalion story itself (the musical is based on George Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion”), mirroring the main plot of the show about a Cockney flower seller being transformed into a lady by a linguistics professor in Edwardian London. The show was a hit when it bowed on Broadway in 1956, making Julie Andrews a star. It was also a hit film in 1964 with Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison repeating his role from the stage version. This tour is based on a 2018 revival by the Lincoln Center Theater, which brought in a who’s who of a creative team to dust off the ol’ chestnut: director Bartlett Sher, choreographer Christopher Gattelli, scenic designer Michael Yeargan, costume designer Catherine Zuber and lighting designer Donald Holder.
May 3-8, 2022 — ‘An Officer and a Gentleman’
The 1982 box-office-gold movie that starred Richard Gere, Louis Gossett Jr. (who won an Oscar for his performance) and Debra Winger is now a stage musical. Technically speaking, this isn’t a Broadway show but a 2012 Aussie import. And the score doesn’t borrow from the movie’s legendary soundtrack, with the exception of the mega hit song, “Up Where We Belong.” What you do get is the recognizable story of a young, headstrong candidate trying to become a Navy aviation officer named Zack. Zack runs up against a Marine sergeant during training who could permanently ground his plans.