Hear that? It’s the sound of a doorbell ringing at Bass Hall, a noise that should coincide with the metaphorical pings of cash registers as the nine-time Tony-winning musical The Book of Mormon opens the 2015-16 Broadway at the Bass season.
The Book of Mormon, which will run Dec. 1-6, was created by South Park’s Matt Stone and Trey Parker along with composer Robert Lopez of Avenue Q, although he’s now more famous as the songwriter, with wife Kristen Anderson-Lopez, of the song Let It Go from Frozen.
Don’t let that last credit trick you into bringing kids to Mormon, which is insanely vulgar — but also deeply hilarious. It has sold very well across the country.
It leads a seven-show season that also features a decidedly mega-hit roster of Motown the Musical, Disney’s The Little Mermaid, The Wizard of Oz, 42nd Street, The Sound of Music and The Phantom of the Opera. Three of those titles (Mermaid, 42nd Street and The Sound of Music) are co-presented with Dallas Summer Musicals, meaning they’ll run for two weeks at the Music Hall at Fair Park and then one week at Bass Hall.
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This is a strategy that carries over from the current season, in which the upcoming Bass Hall shows Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, Dirty Dancing and Pippin follow the same touring pattern. Another shared show was Kinky Boots, which ran in February in Dallas and will come to Bass Hall in October.
Performing Arts Fort Worth and DSM have shared several shows in the past 10 years or so, but usually no more than one a season.
“We have a lot more visibility in the marketplace in terms of marketing, especially when they’re back-to-back,” says PAFW president and CEO Dione Kennedy. “It has been a positive for us.”
Several of the shows on the PAFW 2015-16 season will have already been in Dallas via the area’s other touring presenter, the AT&T Performing Arts Center. The Book of Mormon has been there twice, and Motown the Musical opens in July.
Like DSM, tours at ATTPAC run for two weeks; Dallas is one of the country’s handful of markets that can sustain two or more weeks for a touring show.
“It is a very complicated process of scheduling in general,” Kennedy says. “It’s a matter of what’s available, and when you’re a presenter, you’re limited to what’s touring.
Ultimately, she adds, “I think the more [musicals] people see, the more they’re interested in seeing them in the future.”
There also are a number of specials and add-ons at both Bass Hall and McDavid Studio, including a new show from popular Tupperware party planner Dixie Longate: Dixie’s Never Wear a Tube Top While Riding a Mechanical Bull (And 16 Other Things I Learned While I Was Drinking Last Thursday).
Also at McDavid is a new entry in the popular Late Nite Catechism series, Sister’s Back to School Catechism: The Holy Ghost and Other Terrifying Tales.
Broadway at the Bass
▪ The Book of Mormon, Dec. 1-6
▪ Motown the Musical, Jan. 13-17, 2016
▪ Disney’s The Little Mermaid, March 29-April 3, 2016
▪ The Wizard of Oz, June 7-12, 2016
▪ 42nd Street, July 12-17, 2016
▪ The Sound of Music, Aug. 17-21, 2016
▪ The Phantom of the Opera, Oct. 20-30, 2016
Specials/add-ons (at Bass Hall unless otherwise noted):
▪ Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Sept. 18-20
▪ Dixie’s Never Wear a Tube Top While Riding a Mechanical Bull (And 16 Other Things I Learned While I Was Drinking Last Thursday) at McDavid Studio, Nov. 11-22
▪ Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Musical, Nov. 24-25
▪ Blue Man Group, Feb. 19-21, 2016
▪ Mamma Mia!, May 20-22, 2016
▪ Sister’s Back to School Catechism: The Holy Ghost and Other Terrifying Tales at McDavid Studio, Oct. 5-9, 2016
Ticket info:
The specials and add-ons can be worked into a season pass.
Subscriptions for the seven-show Broadway at the Bass season start at $275 and go on sale at 10 a.m. Monday; single-ticket sales will be announced later.
For more information, call 817-212-4280 or visit www.basshall.com.
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