NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Celebrating its 40th Anniversary this year, the nonprofit Tennessee Performing Arts Center announces a bold 2020-21 HCA Healthcare / TriStar Health Broadway at TPAC Season, including a multi-week return engagement of Nashville’s best-loved Broadway musical, Disney’s THE LION KING.
The 2020-21 season and special presentations feature the Nashville premieres of The New York Times Critics’ Pick, COME FROM AWAY; AIN’T TOO PROUD – THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE TEMPTATIONS, the electrifying new musical that follows The Temptations’ extraordinary journey from the streets of Detroit to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; a re-imagining of the Tony Award®-winning musical 1776 prior to its Broadway engagement at Roundabout Theatre Company; MEAN GIRLS, the hilarious hit musical from the award-winning creative team of Tina Fey, Jeff Richmond, Nell Benjamin, and Casey Nicholaw; THE BAND’S VISIT, the critically-acclaimed smash hit musical winner of 10 Tony Awards including Best Musical; the Drama Desk Award winner for Best Musical THE PROM, a new musical comedy about big Broadway stars on a mission to change the world, and WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME, the 2019 Tony-nominated Best Play and Pulitzer Prize finalist by famed writer Heidi Schreck.
Back by popular demand are LES MISÉRABLES, the enthralling story of broken dreams and unrequited love, passion, sacrifice and redemption and Elton John and Tim Rice’s AIDA, a retelling of the passionate and timeless story for today’s audiences.
“This season is alive with a remarkable energy. TPAC’s creation 40 years ago was a catalyst for our performing arts community, and we’re excited to chart a new course for the future with a renewed commitment to providing high-quality arts entertainment,” says Jennifer Turner, TPAC President, and CEO. “We can’t think of a better way to launch our 40th anniversary than with a full year of fresh, spirit-lifting, thought-provoking Broadway productions. Truly, the best is yet to come.”
Season ticket packages are available on Monday, Feb. 24 at 10 a.m. An eight-show season package for the 2020-21 HCA Healthcare / TriStar Health Broadway at TPAC Season series starts at $325. Season ticket holders receive the best seats at the best price compared to purchasing shows individually and are entitled to additional exclusive benefits, such as easy exchange privileges, flexible payment plans, and savings on dining, hotels, and additional single tickets for any 2020-21 Broadway show at TPAC.
For more information on the 2020-21 HCA Healthcare / TriStar Health Broadway at TPAC season, visit TPAC.org/Broadway, where season tickets may be purchased, or call TPAC Patron Services at 615-782-6560. You also may visit the TPAC Box Office located at 505 Deaderick St.
Our group sales department will begin taking reservations on Monday, May 4, at 615-782-4060.
Full show descriptions of the eight-show season package and special presentations are included below from text provided by the producers of each show:
2020-21 HCA Healthcare / TriStar Health Broadway at TPAC Season:
COME FROM AWAY – July 28-August 2, 2020
AIN’T TOO PROUD - August 11-16, 2020
1776 – November 3-8, 2020
MEAN GIRLS – November 17-22, 2020
Disney’s THE LION KING – February 3-27, 2021
(Subscriber Week – February 3-9, 2021)
THE BAND’S VISIT – March 2-7, 2021
THE PROM – May 25-31, 2021
Elton John & Tim Rice’s AIDA – June 15-20, 2021
NOTE: Season ticket holders and groups receive priority seating for the Broadway Special presentations, including:
2020-21 Broadway Special Presentations:
WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME – July 14-19, 2020
LES MISÉRABLES – September 15-20, 2020
COME FROM AWAY
Nashville Premiere
July 28 - August 2, 2020
Comefromaway.com
Broadway’s COME FROM AWAY is a Best Musical winner all across North America! This New York Times Critics’ Pick takes you into the heart of the remarkable true story of 7,000 stranded passengers and the small town in Newfoundland that welcomed them. Cultures clashed and nerves ran high, but uneasiness turned into trust, music soared into the night, and gratitude grew into enduring friendships. Don’t miss this breathtaking new musical written by Tony® nominees Irene Sankoff and David Hein and helmed by this year’s Tony-winning Best Director, Christopher Ashley. Newsweek cheers, “It takes you to a place you never want to leave!”
On 9/11, the world stopped.
On 9/12, their stories moved us all.
AIN’T TOO PROUD – THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE TEMPTATIONS
Nashville Premiere
August 11-16, 2020
https://www.ainttooproudmusical.com/
AIN’T TOO PROUD is the electrifying new smash-hit Broadway musical that follows The Temptations’ extraordinary journey from the streets of Detroit to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The winner of the 2019 Tony Award for Best Choreography, it’s a thrilling story of brotherhood, family, loyalty, and betrayal during a decade of civil unrest in America. Set to the beat of the group’s treasured hits, including “My Girl,” “Just My Imagination,” “Get Ready,” “Papa Was a Rolling Stone,” AIN’T TOO PROUD tells the unforgettable story of the legendary quintet that Billboard Magazine named the greatest R&B group of all time.
Get ready – ‘cause here they come!
1776
Nashville Premiere
November 3-8, 2020
They knew they would make history, but not what history would make of them. Fed up with living under the tyranny of British rule, John Adams attempts to persuade his fellow members of the Continental Congress to vote in favor of American Independence and sign the Declaration. But how much is he willing to compromise in the pursuit of freedom? And to whom does that freedom belong? Direct from the American Repertory Theater at Harvard University, visionary director Diane Paulus reexamines a pivotal moment in American history in a re-imagining of the Tony Award®-winning musical 1776 prior to its Broadway engagement at Roundabout Theatre Company.
MEAN GIRLS
Nashville Premiere
November 17-22, 2020
www.MeanGirlsOnBroadway.com
Direct from Broadway, MEAN GIRLS is the hilarious hit musical from an award-winning creative team, including book writer Tina Fey (“30 Rock”), composer Jeff Richmond (“Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”), lyricist Nell Benjamin (Legally Blonde) and director Casey Nicholaw (The Book of Mormon). Cady Heron may have grown up on an African savanna, but nothing prepared her for the vicious ways of her strange new home: suburban Illinois. Soon, this naïve newbie falls prey to a trio of lionized frenemies led by the charming but ruthless Regina George. But when Cady devises a plan to end Regina’s reign, she learns the hard way that you can’t cross a Queen Bee without getting stung. New York Magazine cheers, “MEAN GIRLS delivers with immense energy, a wicked sense of humor and joyful inside-jokery.” USA Today says, “We’ll let you in on a little secret, because we’re such good friends: Get Your Tickets Now!”
Disney’s THE LION KING
Back by Popular Demand
February 3-27, 2021
https://www.lionking.com/tour/
More than 100 million people around the world have experienced the phenomenon of Disney’s THE LION KING, and now you can, too, when Nashville’s best-loved musical returns to Nashville. Winner of six Tony Awards®, including Best Musical, this landmark musical event brings together one of the most imaginative creative teams on Broadway. Tony Award®-winning director Julie Taymor brings to life a story filled with hope and adventure set against an amazing backdrop of stunning visuals. THE LION KING also features some of Broadway’s most recognizable music, crafted by Tony Award®-winning artists Elton John and Tim Rice. There is simply nothing else like THE LION KING.
THE BAND’S VISIT
Nashville Premiere
March 2-7, 2021
https://thebandsvisitmusical.com/
THE BAND’S VISIT is the winner of 10 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, making it one of the most Tony-winning musicals in history. In this joyously offbeat story, set in a town that’s way off the beaten path, a band of musicians arrive lost, out of the blue. Under the spell of the desert sky, and with beautiful music perfuming the air, the band brings the town to life in unexpected and tantalizing ways. Even the briefest visit can stay with you forever. With a Tony- and Grammy-winning score that seduces your soul and sweeps you off your feet, and featuring thrillingly talented onstage musicians, THE BAND’S VISIT rejoices in the way music makes us laugh, makes us cry, and ultimately, brings us together.
THE PROM
Nashville Premiere
May 25-31, 2021
https://theprommusical.com/
Everyone’s invited to the joyous Broadway hit that New York Magazine hails as “smart and big-hearted” while The New York Times declares it “makes you believe in musical comedy again!” THE PROM is a new musical comedy about big Broadway stars on a mission to change the world and the love they discover that unites them all. THE PROM features direction and choreography by Tony Award winner Casey Nicholaw (Mean Girls, The Book of Mormon), a book by Tony Award winner Bob Martin (The Drowsy Chaperone) and Tony Award nominee Chad Beguelin (Aladdin), music by Tony Award nominee Matthew Sklar (Elf) and lyrics by Tony Award nominee Chad Beguelin.
You belong at THE PROM!
Elton John & Tim Rice’s AIDA
Back by Popular Demand
June 15-20, 2021
AidaOnTour.com
A love story written in the stars. The New Yorker says, “Disney’s done it again!” The winner of four Tony® Awards returns to the stages of North America. With a Grammy® and Tony® Award-winning score by the legendary Elton John and Tim Rice, the hit Broadway musical AIDA returns to the stages of North America in a thrilling new production, reinterpreted for today’s audiences by the original Tony® Award-winning creative team. From the producers of The Lion King and Frozen, comes a compelling tale of star-crossed lovers belonging to feuding nations. Through the stirring contemporary score, and a timeless and powerful love story, AIDA reveals that we have the power to change history, but only when we make brave choices.
BROADWAY SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS:
WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME
Nashville Premiere
July 14-19, 2020
https://constitutionbroadway.com/
Direct from Broadway, the 2019 Tony® nominated Best Play and Pulitzer Prize finalist, WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME, by famed writer Heidi Schreck, arrives in Nashville for a strictly limited engagement. This boundary-breaking play breathes new life into our Constitution and imagines how it will shape the next generation of Americans. Fifteen-year-old Heidi earned her college tuition by winning Constitutional debate competitions across the United States. In this hilarious, hopeful, and achingly human new play, she resurrects her teenage self in order to trace the profound relationship between four generations of women and the founding document that shaped their lives. Schreck’s timely and galvanizing play, directed by Oliver Butler, became a sensation off-Broadway last fall before transferring to Broadway where it received two Tony Award® nominations among countless other accolades. See the play The New York Times hails as “not just the best play on Broadway, but also the most important.”
LES MISÉRABLES
Back by Popular Demand
September 15-20, 2020
https://www.lesmis.com/us-tour
By popular demand, Cameron Mackintosh’s acclaimed production of Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg’s Tony Award-winning musical phenomenon, LES MISÉRABLES returns to TPAC. Set against the backdrop of 19th-century France, Les Misérables tells an unforgettable story of heartbreak, passion, and the resilience of the human spirit. Featuring the beloved songs “I Dreamed A Dream,” “On My Own,” “Stars,” “Bring Him Home,” “One Day More,” and many more, this epic and uplifting story has become one of the most celebrated musicals in theatrical history. With its glorious new staging and dazzlingly reimagined scenery inspired by the paintings of Victor Hugo, this breathtaking new production has left both audiences and critics awestruck, hailed as the “Les Miz for the 21st Century.”
Performance schedule, prices and cast are subject to change without notice. The Broadway season is supported by the HCA Foundation on behalf of HCA and the TriStar Family of Hospitals, and NewsChannel 5 is the media sponsor. Institutional sponsors for TPAC include Nissan North America and Coca-Cola. TPAC is funded in part by support from the Tennessee Arts Commission and the Metropolitan Nashville Arts Commission. TPAC reminds ticket buyers that the only official place to buy tickets online is TPAC.org.
Since 1980, the nonprofit Tennessee Performing Arts Center has welcomed more than 12 million audience members and served more than 1.8 million children and adults with performances at TPAC, teacher resources, professional development opportunities, classroom residencies, and enrichment programs. Each year, TPAC serves several hundred thousand audience members with the HCA Healthcare / TriStar Health Broadway at TPAC series, a variety of special engagements, and the productions of three resident artistic companies – Nashville Ballet, Nashville Opera, and Nashville Repertory Theatre. TPAC’s mission is to lead with excellence in the performing arts and arts education, creating meaningful and relevant experiences to enrich lives, strengthen communities, and support economic vitality. For more information, visit TPAC.org.