Broadway at the Bass

Bass Hall stocks 2016-17 season with mostly familiar titles

An unprecedented eight-show season is on tap for Performing Arts Fort Worth and its 2016-17 Broadway at the Bass season. Four of those shows will be co-produced with Dallas Summer Musicals.

It all begins with a quick stop November 22-23 from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. The annual tour has played Bass Hall quite regularly in the past, and it will be an add-on to the main season before flying over to Dallas immediately after.

The "holiday stage extravaganza" Cirque Dreams Holidaze is next, from December 3-4, and it's another add-on. Apparently, the equation here is a family holiday show, Cirque du Soleil magic, and a Broadway musical all in one, though this particular iteration never played the Great White Way.

With family fare still very much at the forefront, 2017 kicks off with an all-new production of Annie. It plays January 17-22 and is the official start of Bass Hall's subscriber season.

Perhaps the most anticipated of all next season is An American in Paris, the Tony Award-winning musical that recently ousted DSM president Michael Jenkins co-produced for Broadway. We knew long ago that this tour was coming, but it's still a bright spot in an otherwise lackluster lineup. Catch it February 14-19, right after it plays in Dallas.

The next show is a "time capsule" of the Beatles at the height of their popularity. Let It Be is "a reunion that never happened" because of, well, the group's breakup and John Lennon's murder and other unavoidable events. But in this fantasy, the Fab Four is back for one night only and performing all their greatest hits. Let It Be plays March 21-26.

Been-around-the-block-a-few-times Greater Tuna is the final add-on production, playing March 29-30. Two actors portray multiple residents of a zany small Texas town.

It was a bit of a garbled mess when it came to the Winspear in September 2015, but hopefully Matilda the Musical has worked out its pronunciation kinks since then. The magical little girl who loves to learn is fighting for what's fair in the charming musical, which is scheduled to end its Broadway run January 1, 2017. See the tour in Fort Worth June 13-18.

Even Broadway diva Heather Headley couldn't save the stage adaptation of The Bodyguard when it premiered in London. But, in the queasy tradition of Flashdance and Dirty Dancing, Bass Hall is bringing the movie-turned-musical to Fort Worth August 1-6. This tour is starring Deborah Cox, whom you may remember from the abysmal tour of Jekyll & Hyde that played the Winspear a few years ago and starred Constantine Maroulis. Cox proved then that she's adept at "park and bark" — planting yourself in one spot and singing for all you're worth — so perhaps that'll translate well to some of Whitney Houston's greatest hits.

Beautiful: The Carole King Musical is a jukebox show done right, and anyone who missed it in Dallas will get a second chance September 12-17. From being a gawky teenager penning pop songs to becoming one of music's performing legends, King has her remarkable and entertaining story told in sophisticated fashion.

It's been 20 years since Jonathan Larson revolutionized musical theater with Rent, and there's a tour commemorating that milestone. Catch the rock/pop musical October 17-22.

Wrapping up the season November 14-19 is the holiday favorite Irving Berlin's White Christmas. Based on the popular movie, it has all the singing, dancing, and snowflake-falling folks expect.

Dallas Summer Musicals' season will include Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (November 25-27), Broadway Christmas Wonderland (December 6-18), Cheers Live On Stage (January 6-8), An American in Paris (January 31-February 12), Stomp (February 14-19), The Illusionists (February 28-March 5), Let It Be (March 7-19), Kinky Boots (March 28-April 9), Circus 1903: The Golden Age of Circus (May 23-June 4), and The Bodyguard (July 18-30).

Tickets for Broadway at the Bass in Fort Worth are available over the phone at 817-212-4280, online, or in person at the Bass Hall box office.

Dallas Summer Musicals tickets are available by calling 214-346-3300; visiting the website; or in person at the box office, located at 5959 Royal Ln., Ste. 542 in Dallas.

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The children are coming with Matilda the Musical.

Photo by Joan Marcus

The children are coming with Matilda the Musical.

theater

Season Announcement

Fort Worth's Circle Theatre nabs 'A Strange Loop' + new venue for 2025

Photo by Sara Krulwich, The New York Times

"A Strange Loop" made waves on Broadway and across the pond.

The theme of Circle Theatre's 2025 season is "Ignite," and its lineup is certainly turning up the heat with three musicals on tap and a reimagined second performance space.

The big "get" of the season is Michael R. Jackson's A Strange Loop, which won not only the 2022 Tony Award for Best Musical but also the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2020. This will be the musical's regional premiere, following its runs on Broadway and in the West End that both concluded in 2023.

But let's start at the beginning of Circle's 44th season:

Destroying David is a world premiere by Jason Odell Williams where an enigmatic art restorer intertwines Michelangelo's statue’s fascinating history with their own deeply personal story. It examines perceptions of beauty, resilience, and the quest for redemption in a confrontation between artistry and anguish. It runs January 30-February 22, 2025.

The action next moves into the theater's recently renovated lobby for Ain't Misbehavin', the musical conceived in 1978 by Richard Maltby Jr. and Murray Horwitz, and with music by Thomas “Fats” Waller.

Renamed The Velvet Lounge, the lobby will now host cabarets, special performances, and a fully immersive musical like this one, where audiences will travel back in time to 1929 and experience the exuberance of the Harlem Renaissance. There will only eight performances, with 40 seats available each night. It runs March 6-15, 2025.

The regional premiere of Lauren Yee's The Hatmaker's Wife is full of magical realism and fantastical adventure.

When a young woman and her boyfriend move into their new home, they uncover the magical history of its previous occupants: a distracted hatmaker and his long-suffering wife, who has left him, taking his beloved hat along with her. Walls literally talk, words appear out of nowhere, a house comes alive, and, obviously, there's a golem with a softness for Cheetos. It runs April 17-May 10, 2025.

Now it's time for A Strange Loop. It's a bold and exhilarating dive into the life of Usher, a Black queer musical theater writer navigating his identity, creativity, and personal challenges as he crafts a show about his own complex journey. With its raw, adult themes and vital exploration of the queer Black experience, this musical offers a unique blend of song and storytelling that is intensely relevant, and vitally important. It runs June 19-July 12, 2025.

Adrienne Warren and Nick Jonas are about to star as Cathy and Jamie in The Last Five Years, but Fort Worth audiences will get Jason Robert Brown's musical shortly after its Broadway run.

The Last Five Years movie "The Last Five Years" film starred Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan.Courtesy photo

This critically acclaimed musical delves into the five-year romance between Cathy and Jamie through a unique narrative structure: Cathy’s story unfolds from the end of their relationship moving backward, while Jamie’s perspective moves forward from the start. It runs August 14-September 6, 2025.

The season closes with Mac Beth, adapted by Erica Schmidt from William Shakespeare's classic play. After school, seven teenage girls convene in an abandoned lot. They drop their backpacks, transform their uniforms, and dive into a DIY retelling of Macbeth. As the girls conjure kings, warriors, and witches, Shakespeare’s bloody tale seeps into their reality. It runs October 9-November 1, 2025.

"We invite you to witness how art reflects and reshapes the human experience by sparking conversations, building communities, and igniting our minds," says artistic director Ashley H. White. "Circle Theatre’s 44th season is its biggest ever, and it has something for everyone."

More information and tickets can be found here.

the last five years theater