Six shows headline the 2024 Spring Broadway Season at the ETSU Martin Center for the Arts, Johnson City, Tennessee.
“Our inaugural Broadway season earlier this year was a landmark success,” said Jennifer Clements, executive director of the Martin Center at East Tennessee State University. “The season included four shows – all performed to sold-out audiences. Because of this overwhelming response, and with the tremendous generosity of our sponsors, we are expanding our season to include six shows.
“We are thrilled to bring Broadway to the Appalachian Highlands again this year and look forward to experiencing the magic of live theater with thousands of patrons from the region and surrounding states,” she said.
The season opens with “Jagged Little Pill” running Jan. 9-10. This Broadway show is based on the music of Alanis Morissette and is directed by Tony Award winner Diane Paulus with a Tony-winning book by Diablo Cody and a Grammy-winning score. This production is about a perfectly imperfect American family that, as The Guardian writes, “vaults the audience to its collective feet.” The New York Times adds, “Redemptive, rousing and real, ‘Jagged Little Pill’ stands alongside the original musicals that have sustained the best hopes of Broadway.”
Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe’s “My Fair Lady” is “a sumptuous new production of the most perfect musical of all time,” according to Entertainment Weekly. Directed by Bartlett Sher, “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? This show is performed Feb. 12-13 and is sponsored by Bravissima! Women Sponsoring the Arts.
Celebrating its 50th Anniversary, “Jesus Christ Superstar” arrives at the Martin Center March 18-20. With lyrics and music by Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony winners Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber, “Jesus Christ Superstar” is set against the backdrop of an extraordinary series of events during the final weeks in the life of Jesus Christ as seen through the eyes of Judas. The legendary score includes “I Don’t Know How to Love Him,” “Gethsemane” and “Superstar.”
“Shrek The Musical” entertains audiences of all ages April 4-5. In this production, sponsored by Food City, a little ogre named Shrek finds himself on a life-changing journey along a wisecracking donkey and a feisty princess. This production is written by Pulitzer Prize winner David Lindsay-Abaire and is based on the Oscar-winning, smash hit animated film.
Tina Fey’s hit musical “Mean Girls” takes the stage at the Martin Center April 29-May 1. The story of a naïve newbie who falls prey to a trio of lionized frenemies, “Mean Girls” “delivers with immense energy, a wicked sense of humor and joyful inside-jokery.”
The international percussion sensation “STOMP” concludes the season. In “STOMP,” an eight-member troupe uses everything but conventional percussion instruments – matchboxes, wooden poles, brooms, garbage cans, Zippo lighters, hubcaps – to fill the stage with rhythms. The return of the percussive hit also brings some new surprises, with some sections of the show now updated and restructured and the addition of two new full-scale routines, utilizing props like tractor tire inner tubes and paint cans. “STOMP” will make noise June 4 -5.
The 2024 Spring season ticket features “Jagged Little Pill,” “My Fair Lady,” “Jesus Christ Superstar” and “Mean Girls.” In addition to the four Broadway season shows the two special Broadway “add-ons” include “STOMP” and “Shrek The Musical.” Season tickets and individual show tickets go on sale at a later date. For more information on season tickets and the upcoming Broadway season, visit ETSUMartinCenter.org.
