Hartford's Bushnell Theater Announces the 2020-2021 Season

HARTFORD, CT –The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts announced today the productions that will make up its 2020-2021 Broadway Series season. Beginning this fall, The Bushnell will bring eight exciting titles to Hartford as part of the Series: WICKED, HADESTOWN, THE CHER SHOW, HAMILTON, PRETTY WOMAN: THE MUSICAL, WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME, MY FAIR LADY, and MEAN GIRLS. The Bushnell Broadway Series is once again co-sponsored by Aetna and Travelers.

Bushnell President and CEO David Fay commented, “During these challenging and uncertain weeks, it’s comforting to look to the future with the confidence that times will be better as we gather again in our magnificent Mortensen Hall for the unifying experiences that the performing arts create. Hartford is blessed with an abundance of outstanding arts organizations, and we are all looking forward to reconnecting with our patrons to share our creativity and our spirit. We at The Bushnell feel so supported by our community, and we can’t wait to welcome you back.
“I’m thrilled that the staff at The Bushnell has again put together an exciting and well-rounded season of high-quality Broadway entertainment,” Fay added. “There is much to appeal to families, Broadway traditionalists, and those who enjoy contemporary offerings, including the most recent Tony-winning Best Musical. I think our season ticket holders and single ticket buyers will be very happy with these crowd-pleasing selections.”
Current season ticket holders will receive their renewal packages in the coming weeks, and new subscription packages will be available in early summer; new patrons interested in season tickets may call the box office now to have their name placed on a waiting list. Single tickets will go on sale later this year. All dates, titles, and artists are subject to change.

The 2020-2021 Broadway Series

WICKED, September 9 – 26, 2020
WICKED, the Broadway sensation, looks at what happened in the Land of Oz…but from a different angle. Long before Dorothy arrives, there is another young woman, born with emerald-green skin—smart, fiery, misunderstood, and possessing an extraordinary talent. When she meets a bubbly blonde who is exceptionally popular, their initial rivalry turns into the unlikeliest of friendships…until the world decides to call one “good,” and the other one “wicked.”

HADESTOWN, October 20 – 25, 2020
Welcome to HADESTOWN, where a song can change your fate. Winner of eight 2019 Tony Awards including Best Musical, this acclaimed new show by celebrated singer songwriter Anaïs Mitchell and innovative director Rachel Chavkin is a love story for today... and always.
HADESTOWN intertwines two mythic tales – that of young dreamers Orpheus and Eurydice, and that of King Hades and his wife Persephone – as it invites you on a hell-raising journey to the underworld and back. Mitchell’s beguiling melodies and Chavkin’s poetic imagination pit industry against nature, doubt against faith, and fear against love. Performed by a vibrant ensemble of actors, dancers and singers, HADESTOWN is a haunting and hopeful theatrical experience that grabs audiences and never lets go.

THE CHER SHOW, November 3 – 8, 2020
Superstars come and go. Cher is forever. For six straight decades, only one unstoppable force has flat-out dominated popular culture — breaking down barriers, pushing boundaries, and letting nothing and no one stand in her way. THE CHER SHOW is the Tony Award-winning musical of her story, and it’s packed with so much Cher that it takes three women to play her: the kid starting out, the glam pop star, and the icon.
THE CHER SHOW is 35 smash hits; six decades of stardom; two rock-star husbands; a Grammy, an Oscar, an Emmy, and enough Tony-winning Bob Mackie gowns to cause a sequin shortage in New York City, all in one unabashedly fabulous new musical that will have audiences dancing in the aisles!

HAMILTON, December 15, 2020 – January 3, 2021

HAMILTON is the story of America then, told by America now. Featuring a score that blends hip-hop, jazz, R&B and Broadway, HAMILTON has taken the story of American founding father Alexander Hamilton and created a revolutionary moment in theatre—a musical that has had a profound impact on culture, politics, and education. With book, music, and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda, direction by Thomas Kail, choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler, and musical supervision and orchestrations by Alex Lacamoire, HAMILTON is based on Ron Chernow’s acclaimed biography. It has won Tony, Grammy, and Olivier Awards, the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and an unprecedented special citation from the Kennedy Center Honors.

PRETTY WOMAN: THE MUSICAL, February 2 – 7, 2021
After an incredible run on Broadway, PRETTY WOMAN: THE MUSICAL is now on tour! One of Hollywood’s most beloved stories of all time, PRETTY WOMAN: THE MUSICAL is brought to life by a powerhouse creative team representing the best of music, Hollywood, and Broadway. Featuring direction and choreography by two-time Tony Award winner Jerry Mitchell, an original score by Grammy winner Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance, and a book by the movie’s legendary director Garry Marshall and screenwriter J.F. Lawton.
Featured in the musical is Roy Orbison and Bill Dee’s international smash hit song “Oh, Pretty Woman,” which inspired one of the most beloved romantic comedy films of all time. Pretty Woman the film was an international smash hit when it was released in 1990. Now, 30 years later, PRETTY WOMAN: THE MUSICAL delivers on all the iconic moments audiences remember. Get ready to experience this dazzling theatrical take on a love story for the ages.

WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME, March 9 – 14, 2021
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 at The Bushnell for a limited engagement. Schreck’s 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 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."

MY FAIR LADY, April 27 – May 2, 2021
From Lincoln Center Theater that brought you The King & I and South Pacific, comes Lerner & Loewe’s MY FAIR LADY. Director Bartlett Sher’s glowing production is “thrilling, glorious and better than it ever was” (New York Times). “Every so often a revival comes along that reminds you how indispensable great theater can be” (NY1).
Boasting such classic songs as “I Could Have Danced All Night,” “The Rain in Spain,” “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly,” and “On the Street Where You Live,” MY FAIR LADY tells the story of Eliza Doolittle, a young Cockney flower seller, and Henry Higgins, a linguistics professor who is determined to transform her into his idea of a “proper lady.” But who is really being transformed?

MEAN GIRLS, June 1 – 6, 2021
Direct from Broadway, MEAN GIRLS is the hilarious hit musical from an award-winning creative team, including book writer Tina Fey, composer Jeff Richmond, lyricist Nell Benjamin and director Casey Nicholow).

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.