Big Musicals like Hamilton and Dear Evan Hansen are BACK

Knowing it is September gives me a bit of a buzz.  In the past couple of months, I have seen perhaps a half dozen productions in small theatres and outdoor venues, but I’m really jonesing for a big musical with an orchestra, singing and dancing, costumes, and lots of scenery, and they are starting up on both coasts this month.  Below I have listed some of the Broadway musicals that will be touring California in the next nine months, which cities they will play in, and a couple of comments about them.

HAMILTON:  It seems like this musical is most famous for being sold out at astronomical prices since it opened on Broadway in 2015.  In 2020, Lin-Manuel sold a filmed Broadway performance to Disney Plus.  Perhaps because that televised performance is softening ticket prices or perhaps because all theatres have been closed for sixteen months, there are numerous tours and sit-down companies of Hamilton across the country this year.  The Hollywood Pantages opened one on August 17 which is currently scheduled to close January 2, 2022.  A touring company is currently playing in San Francisco, and after that will visit San Jose, Sacramento, and Tempe.

TOOTSIE:  Yes, the movie has been made into a musical and it’s a terrific show.  The music and lyrics are by David Yazbek who also wrote The Full Monty, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and The Band’s Visit.  Santino Fontanna played the title role on Broadway, and he will certainly leave a difficult pair of heels to fill, but the show has terrific songs, and how could you miss a musical with a drag queen in the lead?  So far, booked for Los Angeles, San Jose, and Costa Mesa next spring, but the producers have indicated they are looking at additional dates.

DEAR EVAN HANSEN: Evan Hansen is a socially misfit high school student.  His therapist suggests he write letters to himself, detailing what will be good about each day.  One of those letters is found by a classmate who later commits suicide with the letter in his pocket.  Evan creates a story about what good friends he and the deceased boy were, which the boy’s parents’ relish.  The musical is scheduled to be released as a motion picture later this month, starring the original Broadway Evan, Ben Platt.  However, the stage production tells the story in strong theatrical fashion, and generally it’s easier to accept people singing to each other on stage than on screen.  Scheduled next spring for San Jose, Denver, San Jose, and Los Angeles.

COME FROM AWAY:  Another musical with companies all around the world, this Canadian production opened on Broadway in 2017.  It was still playing in New York and had a tour scheduled when the pandemic hit.  It reopens on Broadway the 21^st of this month, and the current Broadway cast was filmed in a mock performance earlier this month which will be broadcast on Apple Plus at an unannounced date.  The true story deals with the tiny town of Gander, Canada, which became the landing point for some 36 US planes on 9/11 when American airspace was totally locked down.  The authors interviewed dozens of locals and transferred their stories into songs and characters in the musical.  Next spring and summer it will play San Jose, San Diego, Tempe, Costa Mesa and Los Angeles.

THE BAND’S VISIT: I haven’t seen this 2017 musical and frankly, I wasn’t very excited by the Broadway cast album, even though I love Tootsie which was written by the same man.  Its credentials are certainly solid:  It won ten Tony Awards including Best Musical, Actor (Tony Shaloub), Actress, and Director.  It garnered the 2019 Grammy for best recording of a musical, and a stack of Obie trophies, Drama Desk Awards, et al.  Based on a 2007 Israeli film, a small Egyptian orchestra arrives in Tel Aviv, but no one is there to meet them, so they decide to get themselves to their small-town concert destination by bus.  However, because confusion caused by their accents, their bus takes them to a different city than where they were scheduled to play.  The rest of the show deals with the reaction of the small town to the unexpected arrival of the band, and the band members’ reactions to the locals.  Starting in November, it will play in Hollywood, San Francisco, San Diego, Tempe, Las Vegas, and Costa Mesa.

In addition to tours, the always-wonderful Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, has been a bit hesitant in opening, but they currently have a production of Hair playing in their outdoor Festival Theatre, normally the home to two Shakespeare productions each summer.  It plays through September 26 and judging from their previous work, it’s worth checking out if you are anywhere near San Diego.

The Homo Homies