AMERICAN THEATRE GUILD at KC Music Hall And Kauffman Center

The new 2025-2026 season schedule for the PNC Bank Broadway Series in Kansas City has been announced by American Theatre Guild Senior Director of Booking Operations Craig Aikman.  This year’s menu of traveling tour companies includes familiar offerings, but many more of the productions offered are still currently on Broadway or are making their premiere appearances in Kansas City,

The PNC Broadway in Kansas City series performs at the Kansas City Music Hall or at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.  Which venue depends on availability and the requirements of a particular production. A typical residency lasts about a week, but certain in-demand shows may be booked for longer periods.

The 2025-2026 season schedule is:

• THE BOOK OF MORMON (KC Music Hall)
  Sept 16-21, 2025 (Return)
• BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (KC Music Hall)
  Oct 28- Nov 2, 2025 (Return)
• & JULIET (KC Music Hall)
  Nov 18 – 23, 2025 (KC Premiere)
• KIMBERLY AKIMBO (Kauffman Center) Jan 20-25, 2026 (KC Premiere)
• HAMILTON (KC Music Hall) Feb 18 – Mar 1, 2026 (Return)
• THE GREAT GATSBY (KC Music Hall) Mar 17-Mar 22, 2026 (KC Premiere)
• STEREOPHONIC (Kauffman Center) Apr 7 -12, 2026 (KC Premiere)
• MRS. DOUBTFIRE (Kauffman Center) Jun 2-7, 2026 (KC Premiere)
• WICKED (KC Music Hall) Aug 12-30, 2026.(Return)

Craig Aikman has worked with the American Theatre Guild (ATG) from Kansas City for close to a generation.  ATG is America’s largest Non-Profit presenter of touring Broadway Style Musical Theater.

Aikman jokes that colleagues tease him “this is my first job after college.” The truth is that Aikman returned to University for his degree after becoming an adult and beginning work at ATG.  He has worked for many departments across the organization before becoming Senior Director of Booking in 2019. 

Craig “works with the programming team to make sure that we get the very best shows.  We work with our venue partners to make sure we've got dates that work for them and the theatrical agents who represent the tours. It's a great big puzzle piece that we enjoy putting together. The end result is this amazing season that we've got coming up in Kansas City.”

Craig’s job includes going to a lot of Broadway shows. “We are Broadway League members in good standing.”

“Amy Hamm (ATG President) and [i] several other members of our organization make sure we get to see all the New York shows that are available,” he said. “It's important we know what is out there, available, and high quality. We want to want to offer ATG audiences the best and brightest product especially here at our home base in Kansas City.”

“I’m very excited about this year’s offerings,” said Aikman.

Following is a thumbnail sketch of each planned presentation for 2025-2026.

THE BOOK OF MORMON: is a good-hearted sendup of the LDS Church program that sends young church members to far-flung locations across the globe to “spread the word.”  The original production won nine Tony Awards.  It is a perennial offering in New York City.  THE BOOK OF MORMON is brought to you by the minds that conceived the animated “South Park” TV show.  Audiences are warned not to be easily offended.  

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST is the Broadway Version of the Disney animated film with extended music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice.  Audiences are charmed.  The original production played more than 5700 performances.

& JULIET asks a question.  Suppose William Shakespeare’s Juliet had second thoughts about dying after Romeo had already done himself in?  It is a coming-of-age piece about all the confusing choices facing young people.  The music is purloined from a number of current and recent POP artists.  The result is probing and fun.

Not only do we get to know Juliet, we also get to see THE BARD, and his wife Anne Hathaway (Shakespeare’s actual spouse not the actress) who first suggests the change to the ROMEO AND JULIET ending; not always to William’s liking.

KIMBERLY AKIMBO is another new piece about growing up and growing old. Kimberly’s family moves to a new home in New Jersey. Kimberly has an odd handicap in her struggle to fit in.  She is afflicted with a disease that makes her appear to age much more quickly than normal. Think “THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON” in reverse.   The show opened on Broadway in 2022 and earned five Tony Awards including Best New Musical.

HAMILTON is Lin-Manuel Miranda’s magnum opus take on America’s founding fathers done mainly to rap.  HAMILTON is something entirely new and has been “revolutionary.”  HAMILTON’S style of presentation takes a little getting used to, but it is definitely worth your time.  Listen to the score in advance if possible. It earned eleven Tony Awards. HAMILTON will enjoy an extended run in Kansas City.

THE GREAT GATSBY is the stage musical version of the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald from the late 1920s.  It is a new show opening on Broadway in 2024. Described by the New York Times as “a lot of Jazz Age Fun.”  Critics agree GATSBY is a spectacle.

STEREOPHONIC is a straight play with music about the growing pains of a 1970s rock band struggling to record its first album in hippie era San Francisco.  The show was subject to litigation after a real band, Fleetwood Mac, claimed the show was a thinly veiled and unauthorized biography.  The litigation was settled out of court. Critics liked what they saw.   Music and Lyrics by Will Butler.  The show won five Tony Awards.

MRS. DOUBTFIRE is unabashedly a reboot of the hysterical 1993 film starring the late, great Robin Williams.  Daniel Hillard is the divorced, loving, but eccentric Dad to three children he can’t get enough of and former husband to Miranda who definitely has had enough.  In a desperate attempt to see more of his kids, Daniel applies to be their maid/nanny dressed as Mrs. Doubtfire.  Amazingly, he gets the job after fooling everyone.

Daniel, an out-of-work actor, works mostly at the local public TV station.  The Station’s Children’s Host is a narcoleptic bore.  Daniel is noticed playing with the show's subject by the station manager.  Daniel makes kids programming fun as MRS DOUBTFIRE.

The new score and Lyrics by Wayne and Karey Kilpatrick are light entertainment. A super cast makes MRS DOUBTFIRE a fun evening.

WICKED is, of course, the prequel to the WIZARD OF OZ.  With super music and lyrics by Stehen Schwartz.  Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, and her siter Glinda The Good Witch are much younger during their college days.   Elphaba is unfortunately born with a birth defect.  To quote Kermit the Frog from the Muppets: “It ain’t easy being green.” WICKED is among the all-time most successful musical plays.

That’s it for 2025-2026.

The 2024-5 season concludes with BEETLEJUICE (Feb 18-23, 2025), BACK TO THE FUTURE April 1-6, 2025, THE LION KING (May 22- June 1, 2025), and THE WIZ (July 8-13, 2025), Judy Collins (March 15, 2025), and CHAMPIONS OF MAGIC (April 18, 2025).

Tickets are available for all productions at www.Americantheatreguild.com or by telephone at 815-421-7500.

In addition to booking productions at its Kansas City home base,  ATG is responsible for operating and booking theatrical organizations in Birmingham (AL), Colorado Springs (CO), Honolulu (HI), Long Beach (CA), Lubbock (TX), Melbourne (FL), Peoria (IL), Riverside (CA), Santa Barbara (CA), South Bend (IN), Thousand Oaks (CA), Toledo (OH), and Wichita (KS).   

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