CLEVELAND — Just announced!
Playhouse Square has revealed its lineup for the 2023-2024 KeyBank Broadway Series, which includes seven shows coming to Cleveland throughout the months ahead.
"Among the many highlights of the season, Playhouse Square will host the official North American tour opening of Back To The Future: The Musical," Playhouse Square officials announced. "The tour will launch in June 2024, less than 12 months after the show’s Broadway opening, which is scheduled for August 2023."
Cleveland will also be one of the first cities in the country to experience a pre-Broadway stop of The Wiz, which Playhouse Square officials say will begin touring ahead of a limited Broadway run in the spring of 2024.
Season tickets for this lineup are now available by phone at 216-640-8800 or online HERE. Prices range from $160 to $750 per seat with monthly payment plans available.
So what's the full lineup? Check out all the details below with descriptions as provided by Playhouse Square...
THE WIZ
Oct. 3-22, 2023
This groundbreaking twist on The Wizard of Oz changed the face of Broadway -- from its iconic score packed with soul, gospel, rock and finger-snapping 70s funk to its stirring tale of Dorothy’s journey to find her place in a contemporary world. Audiences get to enjoy the epic grooves of such beloved, timeless hits as “Ease on Down the Road,” which became the show’s break-out single, and the bona fide classic “Home” in this spectacular revival.
Featuring a book by William F. Brown and a Tony Award-winning score by Charlie Smalls (and others), director Schele Williams (The Notebook, revival of Disney’s Aida), choreographer JaQuel Knight (Beyonce’s “Single Ladies”), Amber Ruffin (additional material), and Joseph Joubert (music supervision, orchestrations, & music arrangements) conjure up an Oz unlike anything ever seen before.
The Wiz design team will include scenic design by Academy Award-winning Hannah Beachler (Black Panther, Beyonce’s Black is King and Lemonade), costume design by Emmy Award-winning and two-time Academy Award-nominated Sharen Davis (Ray, Dreamgirls), lighting design by Barrymore Award-winning Ryan J. O’Gara (Thoughts of a Colored Man) and wig design by Academy Award-winning Mia Neal (Ma Rainey's Black Bottom).
A dynamite infusion of ballet, jazz, and modern pop brings a whole new groove to easing on down the road.
So everybody rejoice! An all-new 21st-Century WIZ is sliding into an Emerald city near you.
GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY
Oct. 31 - Nov. 19, 2023
Girl From the North Country is the Tony Award-winning new musical that the Chicago Tribune declares is “a Broadway revelation!” It’s 1934 in Duluth, Minnesota. We meet a group of wayward travelers whose lives intersect in a guesthouse filled with music, life and hope. Experience this ‘profoundly beautiful' production (The New York Times) brought to vivid life by an extraordinary company of actors and musicians.
Written and directed by celebrated playwright Conor McPherson and featuring Tony Award-winning orchestrations by Simon Hale, Girl From the North Country reimagines 20 legendary songs of Bob Dylan as they’ve never been heard before, including “Forever Young,” “All Along The Watchtower,” “Hurricane,” “Slow Train Coming,” and “Like A Rolling Stone.”
MRS. DOUBTFIRE
Jan. 9-28, 2024
Everyone’s favorite Scottish nanny is headed to Cleveland in an internationally acclaimed new hit musical critics call “wonderful, heart-warming, and laugh-out-loud funny” (Manchester Evening News) and “a feel-good, family-friendly comedy that delivers” (The Hollywood Reporter). Based on the beloved film and directed by four-time Tony Award winner Jerry Zaks, Mrs. Doubtfire tells the hysterical and heartfelt story of an out-of-work actor who will do anything for his kids. It’s “the lovable, big-hearted musical comedy we need right now,” raves the Chicago Tribune -- one that proves we’re better together.
FUNNY GIRL
Feb. 20 - March 10, 2024
Featuring one of the greatest musical scores of all time, including classic songs “Don’t Rain On My Parade,” “I’m the Greatest Star,” and “People,” this letter to the theatre is the story of the indomitable Fanny Brice, a girl from the Lower East Side who dreamed of a life on the stage. Everyone told her she’d never be a star, but then something funny happened -- she became one of the most beloved performers in history, shining brighter than the brightest lights of Broadway.
COMPANY
April 30 - May 19, 2024
Winner of 5 Tony Awards including Best Revival of a Musical, Company “strikes like a lightning bolt. It’s brilliantly conceived and funny as hell.” (Variety). Helmed by three-time Tony Award-winning director Marianne Elliott (War Horse, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Angels in America) this revelatory new production of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s groundbreaking musical comedy, at once boldly sophisticated, deeply insightful, and downright hilarious.
It’s Bobbie’s 35th birthday party, and all her friends keep asking, Why isn’t she married? Why can’t she find the right man and isn’t it time to settle down and start a family? As Bobbie searches for answers, she discovers why being single, being married, and being alive in the 21st-century could drive a person crazy.
Company features Sondheim’s award-winning songs You Could Drive a Person Crazy, The Ladies Who Lunch, Side by Side by Side and the iconic Being Alive. Let’s all drink to that!
BACK TO THE FUTURE: THE MUSICAL
June 11 - July 7, 2024
Great Scott! Back to the Future, the beloved, cinematic classic is now a Broadway musical with its destination set for Cleveland in 2024. When Marty McFly finds himself transported back to 1955 in a time machine built by the eccentric scientist Doc Brown, he accidentally changes the course of history. Now he’s in a race against time to fix the present, escape the past, and send himself... back to the future. Winner of the 2022 Olivier Award for Best New Musical, when Back to the Future hits 88mph, it’ll change musical theater history forever.
MJ
July 16 - Aug. 11, 2024
The music. The moves. The icon. Now, the unparalleled artistry of the greatest entertainer of all time comes to Cleveland as MJ, the multi Tony Award-winning new musical centered around the making of the 1992 Dangerous World Tour, begins a tour of its own. Created by Tony Award-winning Director/Choreographer Christopher Wheeldon and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage, MJ goes beyond the singular moves and signature sound of the star, offering a rare look at the creative mind and collaborative spirit that catapulted Michael Jackson into legendary status. MJ is startin’ somethin’ as it makes its Cleveland premiere at Playhouse Square in the summer of 2024.
Editor's note: Video in the player above was originally published in a previous Playhouse Square story on Oct. 3, 2022.