Blumenthal Performing Arts unveils new season, hopes to be ‘catalyst’ for the community

Believe it or not, the biggest news about the 2020-21 season of Broadway tours at Blumenthal Performing Arts Center is not the return of “Hamilton.”

Yes, that’s a coup, and more people will be able to see it on its second visit: roughly 80,000, during its four-week run at Ovens Auditorium. And this time, season ticketholders will be able to swap seats to other shows to take friends to “Hamilton” or see it more than once. (We’ll get to that in a minute.)

But the biggest news is this: So many Broadway shows have hit the road that Blumenthal president and CEO Tom Gabbard could turn some down, hoping to get them another time, or create a second series to augment PNC Broadway Lights. He did the latter, which means “Hamilton” can be seen not only in the Broadway Lights lineup but also the new Equitable Bravo! package. (There’s even more Lin-Manual Miranda in the Extras lineup, where tickets are sold individually.)

“Right now, Bravo is a one-year project,” says Gabbard. “With all these great options on tour, we didn’t want to say no to them, but continuing Bravo (depends on) how many high-quality shows go out. It’s a perfect way for people who haven’t bought season tickets to subscribe to a smaller number of shows.”

You may be wondering why this season announcement comes in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Blumenthal hasn’t re-opened yet; it’s being guided by government recommendations. But Gabbard expects the whole 2020-21 season to take place because it starts in November.

“We’ve made a strong commitment to retaining our staff, which is about 120 people,” he says. “Fortunately, we developed the capacity for ticket people to work from home a couple of years ago, after a wicked ice storm. We have a labor force primed to deliver top customer service and handle any questions about renewals and new subscriptions.

“The crisis will likely get worse before it gets better, but it will get better and will end. So we decided it’s time to share the news we’ve been holding. When it’s safe for people to return to venues, given the number of jobs that rely on us — restaurants, hotels, musicians — we’ll be a catalyst that helps the community spring back to life.”

The Blumenthal has always had one of the most liberal ticket-swap policies in the country, maybe the most liberal: You can exchange tickets not only for any Broadway tour (if there are seats) but for anything the facility produces. Broadway Lights subscribers get four swaps for each season ticket they buy; Bravo subscribers get two.

Is your head spinning already? Let us explain, and get those wallets out: Season tickets are on sale now through May 31. They range from $272 to $923.50 for eight Broadway Lights shows, $304 to $1,030 for the same eight plus an optional ninth, and $197.50 to $668.50 for the five Bravo productions, plus taxes and fees in each case. You’ll get details at 704-372-1000 or blumenthalarts.org.

Broadway Lights

“Tootsie,” Nov. 10-15 (Belk Theater) – You won’t see Tony-winning actor Santino Fontana as the out-of-work actor who successfully reinvents himself as “Dorothy Michaels,” but you’ll get the score by David Yazbek (“The Band’s Visit”) and a Tony-winning book by Robert Horn. They worked from the 1982 Dustin Hoffman film comedy.

“1776,” Jan. 5-10, 2021 (Belk) – Two months after the 2020 election, here comes the musical about a time when a (much smaller) Congress believed in principles, intelligent compromises and the greater good of the country. Director Diane Paulus, a master of reinvention – as anyone knows who saw her eye-popping adaptation of “Pippin” – is entrusted with the national tour.

“Hamilton,” Jan. 26–Feb. 21, 2021 (Ovens) – To answer your three main questions: 1) It’s at Ovens not because of higher seat capacity but because local performing arts groups can’t stay out of Belk Theater that long, except in summer. 2) If the Broadway Lights and Bravo series sell out, that leaves roughly 64,000 tickets unaccounted for. 3) Season ticketholders are limited to a maximum of 8 add-on tickets to “Hamilton,” subject to availability.

“Oklahoma!,” Feb. 9–14, 2021 (Knight Theater) – New York critics dubbed the show that won a 2019 Tony for best musical revival “Wokelahoma,” not only for its newness (orchestrations, choreography and staging) but for blowing cobwebs off a seemingly sentimental story and finding sexiness and darkness within. Gabbard warns this won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but the people who took to it on Broadway raved.

“To Kill A Mockingbird,” March 23–28, 2021 (Belk) – Richard Thomas, whom Charlotteans will remember from tours as principled Juror No. 8 in “Twelve Angry Men” and a troubled father in “The Humans,” steps into iconic suspenders as attorney Atticus Finch. Adults play the Finch children in Aaron Sorkin’s interpretation of Harper Lee’s novel.

“Ain’t Too Proud,” April 27–May 2, 2021 (Belk) – Speaking of beloved icons, does anyone not like The Temptations? Choreographer Sergio Trujillo earned a Tony for capturing their signature footwork; Dominique Morrisseau’s book shows cracks in the façade of joy at the top – 42 hits, 14 reaching No. 1 – as personal and political problems rocked them during the Civil Rights Era.

“The Cher Show,” June 8–13, 2021 (Belk) – Jukebox musicals, back to back. In this one, three actresses play Cher from her teenaged years with Sonny Bono through a financial crash to the career that goes on today. (She’ll turn 75 exactly 19 days before the tour gets here.) Rick Elice (“Jersey Boys”) wrote the book, and Bob Mackie (who else?) designed the costumes.

“Mean Girls,” July 6–11, 2021 (Belk) – Charlotte’s Reneé Rapp, the 2018 Blumey Awards winner who’s making her Broadway debut in this show, probably won’t tour as nasty Regina George. But director-choreographer Casey Nicholaw (“Aladdin”) will still be at the helm, and Tina Fey’s book (which adapts her screenplay for the 2004 film) will still sting.

“Aida,” Sept. 7–12, 2021 (Belk) – Disney has hired scenery and costume designer Bob Crowley and lighting designer Natasha Katz to rework their Tony-winning contributions to this 2000 musical, which set most of the plot of Verdi’s opera to music by Elton John and Tim Rice. Director Schele Williams (who understudied the title role in the 2000 production) and choreographer Camille A. Brown are also freshening up the project.

Bravo!

“Wicked,” Dec. 9-Jan. 10 (Ovens) – What can you say about a show that premiered in 2003 and still demands four weeks at the city’s biggest auditorium? How many musicals have a cast recording, a fifth-anniversary cast recording, a German cast recording, and a Japanese cast recording? This one does.

“Hamilton,” Jan. 26 – Feb. 21, 2021 (Ovens) – Your other chance to be in the room where it happens.

“Pretty Woman,” March 2-7, 2021 (Belk) – Speaking of lasting brands, you have to give props to a show that reached Broadway in 2018, 28 years after the film opened. Fans still loved the “millionaire and hooker fall in love” scenario, though the music comes not from “La Boheme” (as in the movie) but Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance – plus the Roy Orbison hit, of course.

“Rent,” April 13 – 18, 2021 (Ovens) – Speaking of “Boheme,” it has now been 24 years since composer-lyricist-author Jonathan Larson opened his updating of Puccini off-Broadway, died at 36 and then posthumously won two Tonys and a Pulitzer Prize. This is reportedly your last chance to see “Rent” before it stops touring.

“Dear Evan Hansen,” Aug.10–15, 2021 (Belk) – In this company, the winner of six 2017 Tony Awards seems like a newbie. A high school kid allows peers to think he was the close friend of a boy who committed suicide, which makes him a fraudulent hero … for a time. The score comes from Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (“La La Land,” “The Greatest Showman”).

Extras

“Potted Potter,” Nov. 24-29 (Ovens) – Daniel Clarkson and Jefferson Turner condense parts of all seven books (including a Quidditch game) into an evening of madcap humor dubbed “The Unauthorized Experience.” The website says the show is aimed at ages six through Dumbledore, and you know how old he is.

“Hairspray,” May 14–16, 2021 (Ovens) – Hard to believe that 17 years have passed since this coming-of-age musical set in racist, weight-conscious Baltimore of the 1960s won seven Tony Awards. Original director Jack O’Brien and original choreographer Jerry Mitchell have freshened it for a new national tour.

“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” May 21-23, 2021 (Ovens) – If a full-length musical adaptation of Roald Dahl’s whimsically dark novel is on your Charlie Bucket list, here you go. The “Hairspray” team of director O’Brien and composer-lyricists Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman have kept four songs from the 1971 film about Willy Wonka and fleshed out the score with a dozen of their own. (This was originally scheduled for December 2019, but the producers took it off the road awhile.)

“Freestyle Love Supreme,” May 18 – 23, 2021 (Knight) – “Hamilton” writer Miranda and director Thomas Kail collaborated with improvisation specialist Anthony Veneziale on this phenomenon, where six performers spin cues from the audience into humorous bits, instantaneous songs, and fully realized musical numbers. The vocals, backed by keyboards and human percussion, vary from singing to rapping to beat-boxing.

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This story was originally published April 5, 2020 at 12:30 AM with the headline "Blumenthal Performing Arts unveils new season, hopes to be ‘catalyst’ for the community."