HOUSTON – After much anticipation, Theatre Under The Stars (TUTS) announces Jerome Robbins’ Broadway as the final show of its 50th Anniversary Season! The epic musical anthology that honors the career highlights of Tony Award®-winning director and choreographer Jerome Robbins will run May 28 through June 9 at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts.
“Over the course of our 50-year history we’ve done many of these classic musicals that were so beautifully choreographed by Jerome Robbins,” said Dan Knechtges, Artistic Director for Theatre Under The Stars. “To cap off this celebratory season, we couldn’t choose just one – so we’re doing them all!”
Jerome Robbins’ Broadway encompasses 10 shows, 13 musical numbers, a large, diverse cast, and countless character changes — all on one stage. The show features mesmerizing production numbers from some of Robbins’ biggest hits, including West Side Story, On the Town, Peter Pan, Gypsy and Fiddler on the Roof.
The TUTS production of Jerome Robbins’ Broadway will be directed by Cynthia Onrubia, who was Robbins’ assistant on the original production. Because of the complexity of arranging the rights to the multiple shows featured in the production, Theatre Under The Stars follows the MUNY as the only other theatre company in the world to get the rights to perform this musical since the original 1989 Broadway production and the subsequent national tour.
Tickets will go on sale for Jerome Robbins’ Broadway on Monday, Jan. 28 at 10AM at TUTS.com. Season tickets for all six productions in the 2018/19 season are available now at TUTS.com or by calling 713-558-8887.
Billed as “a salute to the best of musical theatre,” the 2018/19 season is the first season that TUTS has self-produced every musical in the line-up since it moved into the Hobby Center.
“For this milestone, it was important for TUTS to return to our roots and build all of the musicals here at home,” said Knechtges. “By doing our own productions of classic Broadway shows, we have the opportunity to work with some of the theatre’s leading artists to explore these musicals through fresh eyes. We’re excited to offer Houston audiences a truly unique season that can only be experienced here.”
Additional productions in the Theatre Under The Stars 2018/19 Season are:
ROGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN’S OKLAHOMA!
September 11 – 23
Tickets go on sale Monday, July 16 at 10AM
Theatre Under The Stars opens its 50th Anniversary Season in September with a brand new production of a timeless classic, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!.
The first collaboration by Rodgers and Hammerstein, Oklahoma! is often considered the single most important work in the musical theatre canon. The original production was a smash hit on Broadway running for an unprecedented 2,212 performances. It’s had countless revivals, national tours, an Academy Award-winning film adaptation, and won a special Pulitzer Prize for Rodgers and Hammerstein in 1944.
Based on Lynn Riggs’ play, Green Grow the Lilacs, with music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, Oklahoma! centers on life in the early 1900s in the rural farmland of Oklahoma, and the love story between Curly and Laurey.
TUTS’ production of Oklahoma! will be directed by Dallas Theater Center’s Artistic Director, Kevin Moriarty. The production, which is an artistic collaboration with Houston Ballet, will be choreographed by Stanton Welch AM, Artistic Director of Houston Ballet. Broadway conductor Kimberly Grigsby will be conducting the show. Joining them on the production are Andrew Harper as Sound Designer, Jason Lyons as Lighting Designer, and Karen Perry as Costume Designer.
THE WIZ
October 23 – November 4
Tickets go on sale Monday, July 16 at 10AM
In October, TUTS reimagines the The Wiz! A beloved Broadway gem, The Wiz infuses L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz with a dazzling mix of rock, gospel, and soul music.
With music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls, and book by William F. Brown, the original production won seven Tony Awards when it opened on Broadway in 1975, including Best Musical. The Wiz was one of the first Broadway musical with a majority African-American creative team and producer.
The musical tells the story of thirteen-year-old Dorothy, who lives with her Aunt Em, Uncle Henry, and her dog, Toto. After a cyclone hits her house, Dorothy is transported to the magical land of Oz where she meets the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Lion who help her on her journey to defeat the wicked Evillene, and find her way home.
The TUTS production of The Wiz will be directed by acclaimed director and playwright, Robert O’Hara, and choreographed by renowned choreographer, Byron Easley. Joining them on the production will be Darryl Ivey as Music Director, Alex Jainchill as Lighting Designer, Andrew Harper as Sound Designer, Dede Ayite as Costume Designer, Aaron Rhyne as Projection Designer, and Jason Sherwood as Set Designer.
DISNEY’S BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
December 11 – 23
Tickets go on sale Monday, Aug. 27 at 10AM
Twenty-five years ago, Theatre Under The Stars helped usher in a new musical era by launching Disney ‘s Beauty and the Beast right here in Houston! The landmark musical subsequently opened on Broadway and ran for 13 years, becoming the Great White Way’s tenth longest-running production ever.
Just in time for the holiday season, this “tale as old as time” comes home to Theatre Under The Stars with a brand new production. Based on the Academy Award-winning animated feature, the stage version includes all of the wonderful songs written by Alan Menken and the late Howard Ashman, along with new songs by Menken and Tim Rice.
The classic story tells of Belle, a young woman in a provincial town, and the Beast, who is really a young prince trapped under the spell of an enchantress. If the Beast can learn to love and be loved, the curse will end and he will be transformed into his former self. But time is running out. If the Beast does not learn his lesson soon, he and his household will be doomed for all eternity.
MAMMA MIA!
February 19 – March 3
Tickets go on sale Monday, Nov. 12 at 10AM
Over 60 million people worldwide have fallen in love with the characters, the story and the music that make Mamma Mia! the ultimate feel-good show! In this brand new production directed by TUTS Artistic Director Dan Knechtges, Houston audiences will get to fall in love all over again with this raucous, hilarious musical about a wedding on a Greek island.
Mamma Mia! is a juke box featuring all the hits you know and love from ABBA. Written by British playwright, Catherine Johnson, with music and lyrics by Benny Anderson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, Mamma Mia! is the ninth longest running show on Broadway, and the longest running jukebox musical in Broadway history.
RAGTIME
April 16 – 28
Tickets go on sale Monday, Jan. 28 at 10AM
Based on E.L. Doctorow’s powerful book about immigrants and the fight for the American soul in the early twentieth century, Ragtime is a magnificent and deeply moving musical. Featuring a Tony Award-winning score and book, Ragtime is set at a time when worlds and cultures are colliding on issues of race, class, gender equality, and politics.
Ragtime, with book by Terrence McNally, music by Stephen Flaherty, and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, opened on Broadway 20 years ago in January of 1998 and ran for two years at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts. It was nominated for 13 Tony Awards, of which it won four including Best Original Score. This will be the first time that TUTS will stage the ground-breaking musical.
The plot of Ragtime shows the intersection of three groups of people in the United States – African-Americans, represented by Harlem musician, Coalhouse, upper-class suburbanites, represented by Mother, and Eastern European immigrants, represented by Tateh – and the struggles each face as their worlds collide during this time.
Theatre Under The Stars is grateful for our 50th Anniversary Season Sponsors: Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital, United Airlines, Phoenicia Specialty Foods, KTRK, and the Four Seasons Hotel Houston. Theatre Under The Stars is supported in part by the City of Houston through the Theater Districtand Texas Commission on the Arts.
Watch the Facebook Live announcement with KUHF’s Ernie Manouse and Artistic Director Dan Knechtges.
THEATRE UNDER THE STARS (“TUTS”) – (Dan Knechtges, Artistic Director; Hillary J Hart, Executive Director) – was founded by Frank M. Young in 1968 and is Houston’s leading musical theatre company for performance, arts education and professional theatrical training; ranging from the classics to new work development. As a 501c3 performing arts organization, TUTS is dedicated to breaking down barriers to access by focusing on inclusivity, education, and community engagement through a commitment to artistic excellence, programs in the community, technique-based curriculum at the Humphreys School of Musical Theatre, and explorative, creative life-skills at The River Performing and Visual Arts Center. For more information, visit www.tuts.com.