Broadway Shows to See in Wisconsin this Year
This morning I had the privilege of being interviewed by Kate Archer Kent on Wisconsin Public Radio about Broadway shows coming to Wisconsin in the coming year, following a half hour discussion about the “state-of-the-art” from American Players Theatre’s Artistic Director Brenda DeVita and Forward Theater’s Artistic Director Jen Uphoff Gray. (To listen, check out the interviews here.)
After a bit of research, I was delighted to see that there are a lot of great examples coming up, both on national tours and in locally produced professional shows. So, of course I prepared for about three hours worth of conversations and ended up cramming just a few points into a 26 minute segment . . . which is the way radio goes. The time goes so quickly! There’s always more to talk about!
Since I had already compiled thoughts about these shows , I decided to share the entire list here. This is in no way comprehensive — we are fortunate to have many theater options in Wisconsin in the coming year. These are simply the shows that are top of mind for me. I hope you’ll check them out.
Broadway Shows Coming to Wisconsin Theaters this Fall
Grease
Fireside Dinner Theater, Fort Atkinson
September 15 – October 30
Everyone has probably seen this musical, either the iconic movie featuring John Travolta and Olivia Newton John or the stage musical, which has been standard fare for high schools and community theaters for decades. There is renewed interest in this show right now because of the recent passing of Olivia Newton John. It’s a fun flashback to the 1950s, great songs, and it will be interesting to see the Fireside do it in the round.
Titanic
The Milwaukee Rep, Milwaukee
September 20 – October 23
This lesser-known musical was actually the Milwaukee Rep’s season finale last spring, but because COVID spread through the large cast during the run, many of the performances were canceled. The theater had planned to begin this season with the musical Ragtime, which they mounted in 2013, but decided to bring this production back, since so many ticket holders did not get the chance to see it.
It’s a great period piece, which means beautiful costumes, lots of drama amongst the very rich and the very poor, and a tragedy of such proportion that it still captivates us. Based on the production photos The Rep has posted from last spring, it looks like a sumptuous visual experience and most of the cast is returning to their roles – including some well known Milwaukee performers such as Matt Daniels, Max Pink, Andrew Verala, and Rana Roman.
Mama Mia
Skylight Music Theater, Milwaukee
September 23 – October 16
The ABBA musical. It’s been around since 1999, a perennial audience favorite and one of the best jukebox musicals ever created, in my opinion. It weaves 23 ABBA songs into an original story about a young woman who invites three men to her wedding, unsure of which one is her father. Meanwhile, her free-spirited mother reunites with two old friends who used to have a singing group together.
The musical features great leading roles and character parts for women over 40, lots of energetic dancing, and the kind of plot that musicals have been built on since the genre was invented – unlikely love stories, reunions, reversals, and a big happy ending. Skylight’s production will actually be directed and choreographed by Monica Kapoor, who was in the Broadway cast of the show for seven years, so I’m looking forward to a big, beautiful take on the Greek island romance with the ‘70s sound.
Come From Away
Overture Center, Madison
November 15-20
Buried in the horrifying details and images of 9/11, there were a few stories of courage and simple kindnesses that helped us all weather the tragedy. They included an obscure, human interest piece about a small town in Canada whose citizens unexpectedly hosted 7,000 air passengers from all over the world, after the US airspace was closed and dozens of planes were forced to land at the nearest airport -- an outdated stopover in Gander, Newfoundland.
This event inspired the surprise Broadway hit “Come from Away,” which was nominated for seven Tony Awards in 2017. The folksy, Canadian-nice characters, many based on actual Gander residents, are paired with the Celtic-inspired music of Newfoundland and a fluid, minimalist production style that depends much more on the artistry of the ensemble than on elaborate sets and costumes. The result is an absolutely stunning -- and mostly true -- testament to the extreme lengths people will go to, to help their fellow men in a crisis.
This production was first scheduled to come to Overture in 2020, then again in 2021 but it was postponed due to COVID. This November Madison residents can finally be officially “welcomed to the rock.”
Looking Ahead to Next Year
Hadestown
Overture Center, Madison; January 24 – 29
Marcus Center, Milwaukee; May 2-7
This unusual musical retelling of two ancient Greek myths won eight Tony Awards when it debuted in 2019, including outstanding featured actor in a musical for Wisconsin’s Andre DeShields. With book, music and lyrics by singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell, it is a modern, very stylized look at hell and the souls who are trapped there. Overlapping stories of Orpheus and Eurydice with King Hades and his wife Persephone, the musical examines what lovers will do to be with one another. With onstage musicians, an atmosphere somewhere between a vaudeville show and a revival meeting, narration and commentary from Hermes and the trio of Fates, Hadestown is like nothing you’ve ever seen before.
Six
Fox Cities Performing Arts Center, Appleton; January 17-22
Marcus Center, Milwaukee; March 7-12
Overture Center, Madison; August 1-6
A reimagined history of the lives of the six wives of Henry VIII, Six is presented as a pop concert where the Queens take turns singing and telling their story of romantic woe and death, to compare their suffering. It’s decided that the queen who suffered the most will become the singing group’s leader. Silly? Yes. High energy dancing and over-the-top costumes? Also yes.
Six was actually created by Cambridge University students and first staged at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2017, it has since gone on to successful runs in London’s West End, on Broadway and touring around the world.
This is a musical that is big, bright, brassy and ridiculous, with music that sounds like any number of girl supergroups. It very much appeals to younger audiences, especially tween and teen girls, but it’s also gotten some good critical reviews. Time to see what everyone is talking about.
To Kill a Mockingbird
Fox Cities Performing Arts Center, Appleton
February 21-26
The Fox Cities Performing Arts Center is the first venue in Wisconsin to host Aaron Sorkin’s insightful new adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. This is the beloved story of Jem and Scout Finch, their lawyer father Atticus, and the rape trial of Tom Robinson that rocks the Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930s. An important discussion of racism that has deadly consequences, the reimagined stage version could not be more timely.
Before COVID shuttered all the Broadway theaters in 2020, this production set a new record for never playing to an empty seat. I’ve seen it twice – once in New York and an updated version post-lockdown in London. And yes, it’s that good.
The Spongebob Musical (For Young Audiences)
First Stage, Milwaukee
March 3 - April 2
Yes, it’s that cute yellow sponge who lives in a giant pineapple under the sea! He’s back in a slightly shorter, kid-sized package! First Stage is bringing a 70-minute version of the almost inexplicably charming, inventive and socially aware musical featuring Nickelodeon’s Spongebob Squarepants to the Todd Wehr Theater. The modern musical score is filled with songs by Cindi Lauper, David Bowie, John Legend, Steven Tyler, Sara Bareilles, the Flaming Lips, and more. As First Stage is committed to using young people in every show, they will be using youth performers to fill several main roles, among the cast of sea creatures in Bikini Bottom.
Come see what happens when SpongeBob’s home is threatened with total annihilation by a volcano called Mt. Humongous. Hint: just when all hope seems lost, a most unexpected hero rises up and takes center stage, along with his friends; a slothful starfish, a the karate-chopping, Texas-twanging squirrel who excels in science, and a gloomy, worst-case-scenario, clarinet-playing octopus.
And finally. . . here are two musicals that I wish were coming to Wisconsin soon.
The moody period piece The Girl From the North Country features the music of Bob Dylan and a book by Irish playwright Conor McPherson. It's set in a boarding house in the 1930s in Duluth, where Dylan was born. The show was playing on Broadway just before the pandemic shut everything down, and then it came back briefly in 2021, but I didn't get to New York in time to see it. According to the show’s website, it looks like the national tour doesn't start until the fall of 2023.
The other musical that EVERYONE is talking about is A Strange Loop by Michael R. Jackson. It won the Pulitzer Prize in 2020, two Tony's and so many other awards. . . I have a few friends who have seen it and they said it blew their minds. I'm hoping to get back to New York so I can see it, but it would be great if it toured here! It focuses on a man working as an usher on Broadway for The Lion King, while struggling with a chorus of self-doubting voices in his head, his judgemental parents, societal prejudices and expectations, and his journey through the world “in a fat, Black, queer body.”