By Chip Chandler — Digital Content Producer
Stage adaptations of beloved movies, one of the most popular musicals of all time and one banging, explosive dance show: These are the shows on tap for the 2017-18 Broadway Spotlight Series season.
The season — a joint venture for Civic Amarillo and Celebrity Attractions — will offer four major musicals and at least two add-on shows between November and May in the Amarillo Civic Center Complex Auditorium, 401 S. Buchanan St., and in the Globe-News Center for the Performing Arts, 500 S. Buchanan St.
Season ticket packages run from $108 to $266, plus fees. Single tickets, which generally go on sale about a month before each show opens, will range from about $35 to about $65, plus fees.
The season opens with one of the add-on shows — Menopause the Musical, returning for a one-night-only performance at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 24 in the Globe-News Center. Tickets, which are on sale now, range from $41 to $46, plus fees.
Now 13 years old, the musical revue embraces women — on stage and off — who are "on the brink of, in the middle of or have survived 'the change'," according to a news release. Four women meet during a department store lingerie sale and wind up bonding over their hot flashes, mood swings and other symptoms.
The season proper opens with Stomp, the high-energy dance show that features an eight-person troupe using a host of unconventional objects as percussion instruments in a propulsive, unique show. It'll be performed at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 14 and 15 in the Civic Center Auditorium.
"There are always new things they add to it, that they plug in to keep it fresh," said Celebrity Attractions spokesman Randy Cole.
Up next is another add-on — a return of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Musical at 7 p.m. Dec. 19 in the Globe-News Center. The family-friendly show is a direct adaptation of the popular 1964 animated TV special. It was last staged here in 2015.
The season continues with The Wizard of Oz at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 14 and 15 in the Civic Center Auditorium.
Based on the Royal Shakespeare Company's 1987 adaptation of the beloved 1939 film, the musical is heavy on special effects and the iconic Harold Arlen songs "Over the Rainbow," "Ding Dong the Witch Is Dead" and more.
"We try to bring a strong family show every year," Cole said.
Up next is another adaptation of a popular movie — Dirty Dancing: The Classic Story Live on Stage. As the lengthy title implies, it's a direct transfer of the 1987 movie (not a new version like the recent Lifetime movie).
"It is the movie on stage, and the energy in the audience from the minute the house goes dark and you hear ('Be My Baby'), the audience goes crazy," Cole said. "Johnny and Baby don't sing. ... There's a band on stage that provides the soundtrack, and the dialogue and dance sequences and songs are from the movie."
It'll be staged at 7:30 p.m. March 7 and 8 in the Civic Center Auditorium.
And the season closes with Chicago, the official Broadway tour of the insanely popular 1997 revival of the cynical, razzle-dazzle musical.
The musical, based on the 1975 Bob Fosse show, is now the longest-running musical revival and the longest-running American musical in Broadway history, helped in no small part by a rotating cast of celebrities — a practice also mostly true of its touring version.
"It's an Equity tour, but we won't know who's in the tour, if they have a star or who it would be until closer to the date," Cole said. "They rotate the star casting out so much that we won't know ... til closer to when we announce the on-sale date."
It'll close out the season with 7:30 p.m. April 30 and May 1 performances in the Civic Center Auditorium.
Previously:
- Amarillo Museum of Art
- Amarillo Symphony
- Amarillo Little Theatre
- Chamber Music Amarillo
- Lone Star Ballet
- Friends of Aeolian-Skinner, Opus 1024
- Amarillo Opera
Chip Chandler is a digital content producer for Panhandle PBS. He can be contacted at Chip.Chandler@actx.edu, at @chipchandler1 on Twitter and on Facebook.
