Hamilton” is on its way to Pittsburgh, but you will have to wait until the 2018-19 PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh season.
Subscribers from the 2017-18 season will have first access to tickets for Broadway’s Founding Fathers blockbuster, which recently announced a second national touring company. Tour dates will be announced in the spring of 2018. But coming up in the not-so-distant future, the PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh series for 2017-18 features regional premieres of straight-from-Broadway musicals, including the season-opening “School of Rock,” “Waitress” and “Disney’s Aladdin,” along with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Love Never Dies: The Phantom Returns,” “The Bodyguard” and, for the first time in the Broadway series, “The Color Purple,” the Tony winner for best musical revival in 2016.
Also on the slate are the return of “Rent” in its 20th anniversary tour, “Motown the Musical,” “Wicked” and “Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella,” presented for the first time as part of the PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh series. The holiday offering brings back “Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas, the Musical.”
PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh 2017-18
All shows at the Benedum Center unless otherwise indicated.
Oct. 17-22: “School of Rock”— Andrew Lloyd Webber meets a bunch of rock ’n’ roll kids in the stage adaptation of the film of the same name. The new musical follows Dewey Finn (Jack Black in the film), a wannabe rock star posing as a substitute teacher who turns a class of straight-A students into a guitar-shredding, bass-slapping, mind-blowing rock band. The musical features an all-kids rock band and 14 new songs by Sir Andrew.
Nov. 14-19: “The Color Purple the Musical” — This reconceived staging by Tony-winning director John Doyle focuses on the emotional story of one woman’s epic struggle for love and independence. The revival introduced British star and now Tony winner Cynthia Erivo as Celie and gave Jennifer Hudson her Broadway debut.
Jan. 2-7, 2018: “Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Love Never Dies: The Phantom Returns” — It is 1907, 10 years after the Phantom’s disappearance from the Paris Opera House, and he has escaped to a new life in New York, among the amusement park rides and freak shows of Coney Island. Mr. Webber describes the production as, “Probably the finest one I could ever, ever hope for.”
Feb. 27-March 4, 2018: “The Bodyguard” — The musical that went from London’s West End straight to a U.S. tour adapts the Lawrence Kasdan film, in which sparks fly when former Secret Service agent Frank Farmer (Kevin Costner in the film) is hired to protect superstar singer Rachel Marron (Whitney Houston) from an unknown stalker. The musical features songs from the late Ms. Houston’s career, including “I’m Every Woman,” “Saving All My Love” and “I Will Always Love You.” R&B star Deborah Cox (Broadway’s “Aida,” “Jekyll & Hyde”) originated the role of Rachel on tour; Ms. Cox does not perform at Saturday matinee and Sunday evening performances.
March 6-11, 2018: “Waitress: — The new musical by pop singer Sara Bareilles (“Brave,” “Love Song”), with a book by screenwriter Jessie Nelson and direction by Diane Paulus, was inspired by Adrienne Shelly’s film about Jenna, a waitress and expert pie maker who dreams of a way out of her small town and loveless marriage.
March 27-April 1, 2018: “Rent 20th Anniversary Tour” (Heinz Hall) — The Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning musical returns to the stage in a new touring production.
Aug. 21-Sept. 9, 2018: “Disney’s Aladdin” — The blockbuster musical of the animated film is an ongoing Broadway success since hitting the Great White Way in 2014, and now it’s taking it to the road. The show includes new songs and favorites (“A Whole New World,” “Friend Like Me”) by Alan Menken, Howard Ashman and Tim Rice.
Season subscriptions: $175-$630. Single tickets go on sale approximately six to eight weeks before a show’s opening; 412-456-1390 or www.trustarts.org/Broadway.
Season specials: Nov. 21-26: “Motown the Musical”; Dec. 19-24: “Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas, the Musical” (Heinz Hall); Jan. 24-Feb. 11, 2018: “Wicked” (autism-friendly performance 2 p.m. Feb. 3); May 22-27, 2018: “Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella” (Heinz Hall).
Sharon Eberson: seberson@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1960. Twitter: @SEberson_pg.
First Published: March 21, 2017, 12:49 a.m.