HAMILTON, THE COLOR PURPLE, SCHOOL OF ROCK Headline Segerstrom Center's 2017-18 Season

A pair of fresh Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals, a couple of critically-acclaimed, Tony Award-winning revivals, plus Broadway's biggest hit of the century (hint: Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote it) will all be a part of the spectacular 2017-2018 Broadway season at Orange County's Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa.

Announced earlier this week, SCFTA will be offering the following national tours for next season:

Broadway Series

SOMETHING ROTTEN • THE KING & I (2015 Revival) • LOVE NEVER DIES • HAMILTON • SCHOOL OF ROCK • ON YOUR FEET!

Curtain Call Series

MOTOWN - THE MUSICAL • KINKY BOOTS • THE COLOR PURPLE (2016 Revival)

Bonus Series

JERSEY BOYS • THE BOOK OF MORMON

Free pre-show and intermission activities will entertain and inform audiences, and the popular Talk Backs with cast members will again be offered after most Thursday evening performance. One Saturday matinee performance of each show will be Open Captioned, Audio Described and ASL interpreted.

Current season subscribers can renew their tickets now. New season tickets packages will be available starting February 24 at 10 a.m. Single tickets will go on sale to the public approximately eight weeks prior to individual engagements. Visit the Center's website at SCFTA.org for more information about both the current season and the 2016 - 2017 Season.

Season ticket prices for the Broadway Series start at $130. Season ticket prices for the Curtain Call Series start at $70.

---

From the press announcement:

•BROADWAY SERIES•

SOMETHING ROTTEN! (Center Premiere)
November 7 - 19, 2017

Welcome to the '90s --- the 1590s --- long before the dawn of premium tickets, star casting and reminders to turn off your cell phones. Brothers Nick and Nigel Bottom are desperate to write a hit play but are stuck in the shadow of that Renaissance rock star known as "The Bard." When a local soothsayer foretells that the future of theatre involves singing, dancing and acting at the same time, Nick and Nigel set out to write the world's very first MUSICAL! But amidst the scandalous excitement of Opening Night, the Bottom Brothers realize that reaching the top means being true to thine own self... and all that jazz. With its heart on its ruffled sleeve and sequins in its soul, SOMETHING ROTTEN! is an uproarious dose of pure Broadway fun and an irresistible ode to musicals --- those dazzling creations that entertain us, inspire us, and remind us that everything's better with an exclamation point! Nominated for 10 Tony® Awards including Best Musical, SOMETHING ROTTEN! comes from the director of ALADDIN and the co-director of THE BOOK OF MORMON.

RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN'S THE KING AND I
February 27 - March 11, 2018

Two worlds collide in the Lincoln Center Theater production directed by Bartlett Sher that won the 2015 Tony Award® for Best Musical Revival. One of Rodgers & Hammerstein's finest works, THE KING AND I boasts a score that features such beloved classics as "Getting To Know You," "I Whistle a Happy Tune," "Hello Young Lovers," "Shall We Dance" and "Something Wonderful." Set in 1860's Bangkok, the musical tells the story of the unconventional and tempestuous relationship that develops between the King of Siam and Anna Leonowens, a British schoolteacher whom the modernist King, in an imperialistic world, brings to Siam to teach his many wives and children.

LOVE NEVER DIES (Center Premiere)
April 24 - May 5, 2018

This story of boundless love, full of passion and drama, is the spellbinding sequel to Andrew Lloyd Webber's THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, one of the most successful musicals of all time, which has now been seen by more than 130 million people worldwide and is the winner of over 50 international awards. The year is 1907. It is 10 years after his disappearance from the Paris Opera House and the Phantom has escaped to a new life in New York where he lives amongst the screaming joy rides and freak shows of Coney Island. In this new, electrically charged world, he has finally found a place for his music to soar, but he has never stopped yearning for his one true love and musical protégée, Christine.

HAMILTON (Center Premiere)
May 8 - 27, 2018

HAMILTON is the story of America's Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, an immigrant from the West Indies who became George Washington's right-hand man during the Revolutionary War and was the new nation's first Treasury Secretary. Featuring a score that blends hip-hop, jazz, blues, rap, R&B, and Broadway, HAMILTON is the story of America then, as told by America now. With book, music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda, direction by Thomas Kail, choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler and musical supervision and orchestrations by Alex Lacamoire, HAMILTON is based on Ron Chernow's biography of Founding Father Alexander Hamilton.

SCHOOL OF ROCK (Center Premiere)
July 24 - August 5, 2018

Based on the hit film, this hilarious new musical follows Dewey Finn, a wannabe rock star posing as a substitute teacher who turns a class of straight-A students into a guitar-shredding, bass-slapping, mind-blowing rock band. This high-octane smash features 14 new songs from Andrew Lloyd Webber, all the original songs from the movie and musical theater's first-ever kids rock band playing their instruments live on stage!

ON YOUR FEET! (Center Premiere)
August 21 - September 2, 2018

From their humble beginnings in Cuba, Emilio and Gloria Estefan came to America and broke through all barriers to become a crossover sensation at the very top of the pop music world. But just when they thought they had it all, they almost lost everything. From international superstardom to life-threatening tragedy, ON YOUR FEET! takes you behind the music and inside the real story of this record-making and groundbreaking couple who, in the face of adversity, found a way to end up on their feet. Directed by two-time Tony Award® winner Jerry Mitchell (Kinky Boots), with choreography by Olivier Award winner Sergio Trujillo (Jersey Boys) and an original book by Academy Award® winner Alexander Dinelaris (Birdman), ON YOUR FEET! features some of the most iconic songs of the past quarter-century --- and one of the most inspiring stories in music history.

• CURTAIN CALL SERIES •

MOTOWN THE MUSICAL
December 19 - 24, 2017

KINKY BOOTS
February 6 - 11, 2018

THE COLOR PURPLE
June 19 - 24, 2018

THE COLOR PURPLE is the 2016 Tony Award® winner for Best Musical Revival! This joyous American classic has conquered Broadway in an all-new production directed by Tony winner John Doyle. With a soul-raising score of jazz, gospel, ragtime and blues, THE COLOR PURPLE gives an exhilarating new spirit to this Pulitzer Prize-winning story. Don't miss this stunning re-imagining of an epic story about a young woman's journey to love and triumph in the American South.

• SPECIAL BROADWAY BONUS EVENTS •

JERSEY BOYS
January 19 - 21, 2018

THE BOOK OF MORMON
March 20 - 25, 2018

ABOUT SEGERSTROM CENTER FOR THE ARTS

Segerstrom Center for the Arts is an acclaimed arts institution as well as a beautiful multi-disciplinary cultural campus. It is committed to supporting artistic excellence on all of its stages, offering unsurpassed experiences, and to engaging the entire community in new and exciting ways through the unique power of live performance and a diverse array of inspiring programs.

Previously called the Orange County Performing Arts Center, Segerstrom Center is Orange County's largest non-profit arts organization. In addition to its six performance venues, Segerstrom Center is also home to the American Ballet Theatre William J. Gillespie School, where students ages 3 - 14 are taught by acclaimed teachers utilizing the renowned ABT National Training Curriculum in studios utilized by the world's greatest dancers and choreographers.

The Center presents a broad range of programming for audiences of all ages, including international ballet and dance, national tours of top Broadway shows, intimate performances of jazz and cabaret, contemporary artists, classical music performed by renowned chamber orchestras and ensembles, family-friendly programming, free performances open to the public from outdoor movie screenings to dancing on the plaza and many other special events.

The Center's education programs are designed to inspire young people through the arts and reach hundreds of thousands of students each year. In addition to the presenting and producing institution Segerstrom Center for the Arts, the 14-acre campus also embraces the facilities of two independently acclaimed organizations: Tony Award®-winning South Coast Repertory and a site designated as the future home of the Orange County Museum of Art.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts is also proud to serve as the artistic home to three of the region's major performing arts organizations: Pacific Symphony, the Philharmonic Society of Orange County and the Pacific Chorale, who contribute greatly to the artistic life of the region with annual seasons at Segerstrom Center for the Arts.

---

Season subscriptions and tickets can be purchased online at SCFTA.org, by phone at 714-556-2787 or in person at the SCFTA box office (open daily at 10 am). Segerstrom Center for the Arts is located at 600 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa. Photos courtesy of SCFTA.

Follow OC correspondent on Twitter: @cre8iveMLQ

To post a comment, you must register and login.