A two-week run of "Hamilton" is the centerpiece for Fayetteville's Walton Arts Center's 2021-22 Procter & Gamble Broadway Series.
The award-winning musical (music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda, based on Ron Chernow's biography of Alexander Hamilton) will have 16 performances, March 22-April 3, at the center, 495 W. Dickson St.
The monster hit will also have a run at Little Rock's Robinson Center Performance Hall, originally pegged at three weeks in July 2020 before being postponed because of the pandemic; a spokesman says promoter Celebrity Attractions will announce the new dates for the rescheduled engagement "in the next few weeks."
"'Hamilton,' of course, is the story of the '$10 Founding Father.' I really love that line," says Jennifer Ross, the center's director of programming. "But it's also a story of love and loss and friendship, and un-friendship — if that's a word — and all the things that go with it — and making your mark in history, whether it's a small one or a big one. We're just thrilled to be part of the phenomenon."
Scott Galbraith, the center's vice president of programming and executive producer, notes that the rest of the coming season consists of shows that had all already been promised in Northwest Arkansas at one point or another prior to the pandemic.
"We're really grateful to our partners, the producers we work with and the booking agents that we work with," he says. "Because really, everybody was like-minded in essentially trying to un-press pause where we were."
The rest of the lineup, most of which will be Arkansas premieres (eight performances per run) includes:
◼️ Oct. 26-31: "Come From Away," music, book and lyrics by Irene Sankoff and David Hein, based on the true story of 7,000 airline passengers stranded after 9/11 and the small Newfoundland town that welcomed them.
Galbraith calls it "a piece that is so poignant, so relevant, and so joyous — because it's not about the tragedy, it's about the overcoming. It's about the coming together. It's about the shared humanity pulling together in times of challenge and finding a way to be civil with each other and to support each other, despite just a ridiculous number of differences. And that's such a great message for right now."
◼️ Nov. 30-Dec. 5: "Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," music and lyrics by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Scott Whitman, book by David Grieg, based on Dahl's children's classic with nods to — and incorporating songs from — the first movie based on Dahl's book, including "Pure Imagination," "The Candy Man," and "I've Got a Golden Ticket."
◼️ Dec. 14-19: "Mean Girls," music by Jeff Richmond, lyrics by Nell Benjamin, book by Tina Fey.
◼️ Jan. 4-9: "An Officer and a Gentleman," a new adaptation by Dick Scanlan based on the original screenplay by Douglas Day Stewart for the 1982 film. Galbraith explains that the show is touring on its way to Broadway.
◼️ May 10-15, 2022: "Fiddler on the Roof," music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, book by Joseph Stein, based on stories by Sholem Aleichem, in a new revival "reimagined" by director Bartlett Sher.