WICKED and More Set for Des Moines Performing Arts 25-26 Season

Des Moines Performing Arts has revealed new engagements headed to the Des Moines Civic Center as part of the 2025 - 26 Willis Broadway Series. Six shows make up the Season Ticket Package with three returning favorites, a holiday classic, and a new way to experience an iconic film, offered as add-on options.
  
The six-show Season Ticket Package includes: A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical, The Notebook, and more. See the full season here!

A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical | October 21 - 26, 2025

Created in collaboration with Neil Diamond himself, A Beautiful Noise is the uplifting true story of how a kid from Brooklyn became a chartbusting, show-stopping American rock icon. With 120 million albums sold, a catalogue of classics like "America," "Forever in Blue Jeans," and "Sweet Caroline," an induction into the Songwriters and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and sold-out concerts around the world that made him bigger than Elvis, Neil Diamond's story was made to shine on Broadway-and head out on the road across America. Like Jersey Boys and Beautiful: The Carole King Musical before it, A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical is an inspiring, exhilarating, energy-filled musical memoir, that tells the untold true story of how America's greatest hitmaker became a star, set to the songs that defined his career.

The Notebook | December 2 - 7, 2025

Based on the best-selling novel that inspired the iconic film, The Notebook tells the story of Allie and Noah, both from different worlds, who share a lifetime of love despite the forces that threaten to pull them apart. "Full of butterfly-inducing highs and beautiful songs" (Entertainment Weekly), The Notebook is a deeply moving portrait of the enduring power of love. The Notebook is directed by Michael Greif (Dear Evan Hansen, Next to Normal, RENT) and Schele Williams (The Wiz, Aida), and features music and lyrics by multi-platinum singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson, book by Bekah Brunstetter (NBC’s "This Is Us"), and choreography by Katie Spelman.

Kimberly Akimbo | February 3 - 8, 2026

A new musical about growing up and growing old (in no particular order), Kimberly Akimbo is the winner of 5 Tony Awards including Best Musical. It features Tony Award-winning book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire (Shrek), a Tony Award-winning score by Jeanine Tesori (Fun Home), choreography by Danny Mefford (Dear Evan Hansen) and direction by Tony-nominated director Jessica Stone (Water for Elephants). Kimberly is about to turn 16 and recently moved with her family to a new town in suburban New Jersey. In this "howlingly funny heartbreaker of a show" (The New Yorker), Kim is forced to navigate family dysfunction, a rare genetic condition, her first crush... and possible felony charges. Ever the optimist, she is determined to find happiness against all odds and embark on a great adventure.

The Outsiders | February 24 - March 1, 2026

The winner of the 2024 Tony Award for Best Musical is The Outsiders. Adapted from S.E. Hinton’s seminal novel and Francis Ford Coppola’s iconic film, this thrilling new musical features a book by Adam Rapp with Justin Levine, music and lyrics by Jamestown Revival (Jonathan Clay & Zach Chance) and Justin Levine, music supervision, orchestration, and arrangements by Justin Levine, choreography by Rick Kuperman & Jeff Kuperman, and direction by Tony Award winner Danya Taymor. Entertainment Weekly says, "It has the power to inspire an entire generation." In Tulsa, Oklahoma, 1967, Ponyboy Curtis, his Best Friend Johnny Cade and their Greaser family of ‘outsiders’ battle with their affluent rivals, the Socs. The Outsiders navigates the complexities of self-discovery as the Greasers dream about who they want to become in a world that may never accept them. With a dynamic original score, The Outsiders is a story of friendship, family, belonging...and the realization that there is still "lots of good in the world."

Suffs | April 28 - May 3, 2026 Direct from Broadway, comes the acclaimed Tony Award-winning musical Suffs about the brilliant, passionate, and funny American women who fought tirelessly for the right to vote. 

Wicked | September 2 - 20, 2026

Wicked, the Broadway sensation, looks at what happened in the Land of Oz...but from a different angle. Long before Dorothy arrives, there is another young woman, born with emerald-green skin—smart, fiery, misunderstood, and possessing an extraordinary talent. When she meets a bubbly blonde who is exceptionally popular, their initial rivalry turns into the unlikeliest of friendships... until the world decides to call one "good" and the other one "wicked." From the first electrifying note to the final breathtaking moment, Wicked—the untold true story of the Witches of Oz—transfixes audiences with its wildly inventive story.