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amanda.murphy@tn.gov
615-741-9010
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TPAC is bringing Broadway ‘Roaring Back’ with 21-22 Broadway lineup featuring Disney’s THE LION KING and seven Nashville premieres
May 3, 2021 - NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Celebrating a return to performances after an extended intermission due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the nonprofit Tennessee Performing Arts Center (TPAC) is bringing the best of Broadway “Roaring Back” to Nashville with its 2021-22 HCA Healthcare/TriStar Health Broadway at TPAC Season, featuring a multi-week return engagement of Nashville’s best-loved Broadway musical, Disney’s THE LION KING.
The 2021-22 Broadway at TPAC season lineup includes the Nashville premieres of THE BAND’S VISIT, the critically acclaimed smash-hit musical winner of 10 Tony Awards including Best Musical; the remarkable true story and The New York Times Critics’ Pick, COME FROM AWAY; MEAN GIRLS, the hilarious hit musical from the award-winning creative team of Tina Fey, Jeff Richmond, Nell Benjamin and Casey Nicholaw; THE PROM, a new musical comedy about big Broadway stars on a mission to change the world, and a newly reimagined OKLAHOMA! for the 21st century - the Tony Award-winner for Best Revival of a Musical.
Two more productions will make their Nashville premieres as special presentations, including WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME, the 2019 Tony-nominated Best Play and Pulitzer Prize finalist by famed writer Heidi Schreck, and SUMMER: THE DONNA SUMMER MUSICAL, a joyous celebration for the voice that defined a generation.
Called a “cultural phenomenon” by the LA Times, DEAR EVAN HANSEN is back by popular demand March 2-6, 2022. Winner of six 2017 Tony Awards including Best Musical and the 2018 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album, the audience favorite returns to Nashville after a sold-out premiere in the 19-20 Season.
MAY WE ALL, the highly anticipated country music musical from Lively McCabe Entertainment and CuzBro Productions – founded by Brian Kelley of the multi-platinum duo Florida Georgia Line – will make its world premiere in June 2022. The musical, featuring a score that includes hits from country greats Kenny Chesney, Florida Georgia Line, Miranda Lambert, Tim McGraw, Kacey Musgraves, Dolly Parton, Chris Stapleton, The Chicks and Keith Urban and other artists, will have a multi-week residency at TPAC before departing on a 2022-23 National Tour.
"All of us at TPAC are grateful for the tremendous support the organization has received from our loyal season ticket holders, patrons, and arts lovers across Tennessee during this unprecedented intermission,” says Jennifer Turner, TPAC President and CEO. “Thanks to this vibrant arts community that TPAC calls home, we were able to provide innovative virtual programming during the pandemic and prepare for the safe return to the joy and healing power of live theater. We can’t wait to bring people together again and raise the curtain on a spectacular new Broadway season.”
Setting the stage for a safe return to performances this year, TPAC has developed a multi-year health and safety partnership with HCA Healthcare, one of the nation’s leading providers of healthcare services, and its Nashville-based TriStar Health affiliate to guide TPAC’s reopening.
As TPAC’s Official Health and Safety Partner, HCA Healthcare/TriStar Health experts will work with TPAC on best practices for safely reopening TPAC venues and provide access to personal protective equipment (PPE) and rapid testing for the nonprofit’s community of performers, staff and other personnel.
The partnership builds on a decades-long relationship between the organization and HCA Healthcare/TriStar Health, which has sponsored TPAC’s annual Broadway at TPAC series for 14 years and supported the presentation of more than 70 Broadway productions to 1.5 million people.
The health and safety partnership helps to ensure audiences can safely return to the incomparable excitement of live performances. A full list of reopening protocols is at TPAC.ORG/PatronHealth, but here are a few things patrons can expect when they return:
- Patrons will be required to wear a mask at all times
- Updated air filtration systems to improve ventilation in public spaces
- Enhanced hygiene and cleaning protocols before and after performances
- Touchless hand sanitizer stations available throughout the building
- When feasible, a touchless environment for restrooms, concessions, and box office
Although the lobby and continental seating do not allow for social distancing during Broadway engagements, the venue will encourage physical distancing in restrooms, elevators, and other public areas where appropriate.
These guidelines were developed from recommendations by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA), local health officials, and TPAC’s official health and safety partner, HCA Healthcare/TriStar Health, and may be modified according to current public health and government directives.
Season ticket packages are available on Monday, May 3 at 10 a.m. A six-show season package starts at $259.50. Season ticket holders receive the best seats at the best price compared to purchasing shows individually, and are entitled to additional exclusive benefits, such as easy exchange privileges, flexible payment plans and savings on additional single tickets for any 2021-22 Broadway show at TPAC.
For more information on the 2021-22 HCA Healthcare/TriStar Health Broadway at TPAC Season, visit TPAC.ORG/Broadway, where season tickets may be purchased, or call TPAC Patron Services at 615-782-6560.
Media Assets for 21-22 Broadway Season include photos, captions, and B-Roll.
Full show descriptions of the season package and special presentations are included below from text provided by the producers of each show:
2021-22 HCA Healthcare/TriStar Health Broadway at TPAC Season:
THE BAND’S VISIT – October 19-24, 2021
Disney’s THE LION KING – January 6-23, 2022
(Subscriber Week: January 6 - 12, 2022)
MEAN GIRLS – February 8 - 13, 2022
THE PROM – February 22-27, 2022
COME FROM AWAY – April 19-24, 2022
OKLAHOMA! – May 3-8, 2022
NOTE: Season ticket holders and groups receive priority seating for the Broadway Special presentations, including:
2021-22 Broadway Special Presentations:
DEAR EVAN HANSEN – March 2-6, 2022
SUMMER: THE DONNA SUMMER MUSICAL – March 22-27, 2022
WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME – March 29-April 3, 2022
MAY WE ALL – June 7-July 17, 2022
THE BAND’S VISIT
Nashville Premiere
Oct. 19-24, 2021
https://thebandsvisitmusical.com/
The critically acclaimed smash-hit Broadway musical THE BAND’S VISIT is the winner of 10 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, making it one of the most Tony-winning musicals in history. It is also a Grammy Award winner for Best Musical Theater Album. In this joyously offbeat story, set in a town that’s way off the beaten path, a band of musicians arrive lost, out of the blue. Under the spell of the desert sky, and with beautiful music perfuming the air, the band brings the town to life in unexpected and tantalizing ways. Even the briefest visit can stay with you forever. With a Tony- and Grammy-winning score that seduces your soul and sweeps you off your feet, and featuring thrillingly talented onstage musicians, THE BAND’S VISIT rejoices in the way music makes us laugh, makes us cry, and ultimately, brings us together.
Disney’s THE LION KING
Broadway Blockbuster
Jan. 6-23, 2022
https://www.lionking.com/tour/
More than 100 million people around the world have experienced the phenomenon of Disney’s THE LION KING, and now you can, too, when Nashville’s best-loved musical returns to Tennessee Performing Arts Center. Winner of six Tony Awards, including Best Musical, this landmark musical event brings together one of the most imaginative creative teams on Broadway. Tony Award-winning director Julie Taymor brings to life a story filled with hope and adventure set against an amazing backdrop of stunning visuals. THE LION KING also features some of Broadway’s most recognizable music, crafted by Tony Award-winning artists Elton John and Tim Rice. There is simply nothing else like THE LION KING.
MEAN GIRLS
Nashville Premiere
Feb. 8-13, 2022
Direct from Broadway, MEAN GIRLS is the hilarious hit musical from an award-winning creative team, including book writer Tina Fey (“30 Rock”), composer Jeff Richmond (“Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”), lyricist Nell Benjamin (Legally Blonde) and director Casey Nicholaw (The Book of Mormon). Cady Heron may have grown up on an African savanna, but nothing prepared her for the vicious ways of her strange new home: suburban Illinois. Soon, this naïve newbie falls prey to a trio of lionized frenemies led by the charming but ruthless Regina George. But when Cady devises a plan to end Regina’s reign, she learns the hard way that you can’t cross a Queen Bee without getting stung. New York Magazine cheers, “MEAN GIRLS delivers with immense energy, a wicked sense of humor and joyful inside-jokery.” USA Today says, “We’ll let you in on a little secret, because we’re such good friends: Get Your Tickets Now!”
THE PROM
Nashville Premiere
Feb. 22-27, 2022
Everyone’s invited to the joyous Broadway hit that New York Magazine hails as “smart and big-hearted” while The New York Times declares it “makes you believe in musical comedy again!” Winner of the 2019 Drama Desk Award for Best Musical, THE PROM is a new musical comedy about big Broadway stars on a mission to change the world and the love they discover that unites them all. Variety raves, “It’s so full of happiness that you think your heart is about to burst.” And The Hollywood Reporter cheers, “It’s comic gold!” THE PROM features direction and choreography by Tony Award-winner Casey Nicholaw (Mean Girls, The Book of Mormon), a book by Tony Award-winner Bob Martin (The Drowsy Chaperone) and Tony Award-nominee Chad Beguelin (Aladdin), music by Tony Award-nominee Matthew Sklar (Elf) and lyrics by Tony Award-nominee Chad Beguelin. You belong at THE PROM!
COME FROM AWAY
Nashville Premiere
April 19-24, 2022
Broadway’s COME FROM AWAY is a Best Musical winner all across North America! This New York Times Critics’ Pick takes you into the heart of the remarkable true story of 7,000 stranded passengers and the small town in Newfoundland that welcomed them. Cultures clashed and nerves ran high, but uneasiness turned into trust, music soared into the night, and gratitude grew into enduring friendships. Don’t miss this breathtaking new musical written by Tony nominees Irene Sankoff and David Hein and helmed by Tony-winning Best Director, Christopher Ashley. Newsweek cheers, “It takes you to a place you never want to leave!”
On 9/11, the world stopped.
On 9/12, their stories moved us all.
OKLAHOMA!
Tony-Winning Revival – Nashville Premiere
May 3-8, 2022
“How is it that the coolest new show on Broadway is a 1943 musical?” says The New York Times. This is OKLAHOMA! as you’ve never seen or heard it before—reimagined for the 21st century, and now the Tony Award-winner for Best Revival of a Musical. Funny and sexy, dark and jolting, this acclaimed production of OKLAHOMA! “lets us experience Rodgers and Hammerstein’s greatness anew.” (The New Yorker). Stripped down to reveal the darker psychological truths at its core, Daniel Fish’s production tells a story of a community circling its wagons against an outsider, and the frontier life that shaped America. Upending the sunny romance of a farmer and a cowpoke, this OKLAHOMA! allows the classic musical – and our country – to be seen in a whole new light.
“This production shocked me and moved me,” raves Frank Rich of New York Magazine. “This is the OKLAHOMA! that was there all along.” The Daily Beast raves “Forget your traditional idea of Oklahoma! Daniel Fish’s daring, brilliant, utterly absorbing re-interpretation is dark and different—brilliantly so.”
Broadway Special Presentations:
DEAR EVAN HANSEN
Broadway Blockbuster
March 2-6, 2022
Winner of 6 Tony Awards including Best Musical, “the genius of DEAR EVAN HANSEN lies in its universality.” (Nashville Scene).
A letter that was never meant to be seen, a lie that was never meant to be told, a life he never dreamed he could have. Evan Hansen is about to get the one thing he’s always wanted: a chance to finally fit in. DEAR EVAN HANSEN is the deeply personal and profoundly contemporary musical about life and the way we live it. DEAR EVAN HANSEN has struck a remarkable chord with audiences and critics everywhere, including The Washington Post who says DEAR EVAN HANSEN is “one of the most remarkable shows in musical theatre history.” The New York Times calls it “a gorgeous musical for anyone with a beating heart.” And NBC Nightly News declares the musical “an anthem resonating on Broadway and beyond.” DEAR EVAN HANSEN features a book by Tony Award- winner Steven Levenson, a score by Grammy, Tony, Olivier and Academy Award-winners Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (La La Land, The Greatest Showman), and direction by four-time Tony Award-nominee Michael Greif (Rent, Next to Normal).
SUMMER: THE DONNA SUMMER MUSICAL
Nashville Premiere
March 22-27, 2022
She was a girl from Boston with a voice from heaven, who shot through the stars from gospel choir to dance floor diva. But what the world didn’t know was how Donna Summer risked it all to break through barriers, becoming the icon of an era and the inspiration for every music diva who followed. With a score featuring more than 20 of Summer’s classic hits including “Love to Love You Baby,” “Bad Girls” and “Hot Stuff,” this electric experience is a moving tribute to the voice of a generation.
WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME
Nashville Premiere
March 29 – April 3, 2022
https://constitutionbroadway.com/
Direct from Broadway, the 2019 Tony-nominated Best Play and Pulitzer Prize finalist, WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME, by famed writer Heidi Schreck, arrives in Nashville for a strictly limited engagement. Playwright Heidi Schreck’s boundary-breaking play breathes new life into our Constitution and imagines how it will shape the next generation of Americans. Fifteen-year-old Heidi earned her college tuition by winning Constitutional debate competitions across the United States. In this hilarious, hopeful, and achingly human new play, she resurrects her teenage self in order to trace the profound relationship between four generations of women and the founding document that shaped their lives. Schreck’s timely and galvanizing play, directed by Oliver Butler, became a sensation off-Broadway in NYC before transferring to Broadway where it received two Tony Award-nominations among countless other accolades. See the play The New York Times hails as “not just the best play on Broadway, but also the most important.”
MAY WE ALL
World Premiere
June 7, 2022 – July 17, 2022
Lively McCabe Entertainment and CuzBro Productions – the production company founded by Brian Kelley of the multi-platinum duo Florida Georgia Line – present the World Premiere of the highly-anticipated musical, MAY WE ALL, as a special presentation of the Broadway at TPAC series. MAY WE ALL is a story of disappearing small-town America as seen through the hopeful eyes of its youth. Jenna Coates, a fledgling Country singer, reluctantly comes home after a rough start in Nashville, ultimately to discover that her roots may take her a lot further than her dreams. A celebration of America’s heartland, MAY WE ALL features music from Country greats Tim McGraw, Sara Evans, Kenny Chesney, Keith Urban, Brooks & Dunn, Shania Twain, Kacey Musgraves, Chris Stapleton, Little Big Town, Miranda Lambert, Rascal Flatts, John Denver, Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, The Chicks, Old Dominion, Jessica Andrews, and LOCASH, among others. Two original songs co-written by FGL global superstars Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard are also featured in the score and will debut exclusively in the project. MAY WE ALL features a book by Troy Britton Johnson, Todd Johnson, and Eric Pfeffinger, with arrangements and orchestrations by Brian Usifer, and is directed by Shelley Butler.
Institutional sponsors for TPAC include Nissan North America, HCA Healthcare/TriStar Health and Coca-Cola. TPAC is funded in part by support from the Tennessee Arts Commission and the Metropolitan Nashville Arts Commission.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Tony Marks