“Hamilton” is coming to The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 2018. Photo by Joan Marcus.
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts theatre season for 2017-2018 looks like it will be an exceptional one with the highly anticipated Broadway hit musical “Hamilton” and the critically acclaimed play, “The Humans,” both making their Washington, D.C. premiere.
Recently, Kennedy Center President Deborah Rutter provided a glimpse of what’s to come during an official announcement, which took place on the stage of the famed Opera House. Patrons can expect exciting and diverse programming that combines beloved Broadway musicals, innovative new plays, tributes to two legendary talents and family-friendly productions.
Honoring its commitment to bringing the best of Broadway to the Nation’s Capital, The Kennedy Center will feature an impressive line-up of Tony Award-winning productions that include “The Color Purple,” “An American in Paris,” “On Your Feet!” and “The Book of Mormon.”
The tradition continues with the launch of Broadway Center Stage, a new concert series that will include the complex rock opera “Chess,” Lin-Manuel Miranda’s first Broadway musical “In the Heights” and the hilarious audience favorite “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.”
For one night only, “Bernstein on Broadway” will showcase the music of American composer Leonard Bernstein with a concert featuring selections from “West Side Story,” Wonderful Town,” “Candide,” “On the Town” and “Mass,” which was originally commissioned by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis for the opening of the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 1971.
As for drama, A Centennial Celebration of Ingmar Bergman will feature the U.S. premiere of the National Theater of Norway’s “Personal Confessions” directed by his muse Liv Ullman, and “After the Rehearsal” and “Persona,” two Bergman screenplays that will be brought to the stage by director Ivo van Hove.
Other productions to keep on the radar include a compelling chronicle of U.S. history with “Taylor Mac: A 24-Decade History of Popular Music (1776-2016),” the British a cappella show “Gobsmacked!,” entertaining magic from “The Illusionists,” and the return of Second City’s “Twist Your Dickens,” a comedic take on the holiday classic “A Christmas Carol.”
Young audiences can look forward to three new Kennedy Center-commissioned productions–the new musical ”Me…Jane: The Dreams & Adventures of Young Jane Goodall,” the new play “Digging Up Dessa” about English paleontologist Mary Anning and “Night Train 57: A Sensory Folk Opera,” as well as “Wilderness,” a multimedia documentary theater work from En Garde Arts.
Finally, the Page-to-Stage New Play Festival and the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival will both return this season.
More information about upcoming performances at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is available by clicking here.
