While Broadway may not be opening until the Fall, their national tours are beginning to take shape across the country, especially here in Phoenix. In January, ASU Gammage became one of the first major venues to release their upcoming 2021-2022 live schedule. Announced almost a full year after the remainder of the 2019-2020 season was canceled, many of these postponed shows have found their way into the newly announced Broadway series.
The shows in the upcoming 2021-2022 Broadway series include Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! (August 17–22, 2021), Hamilton – (September 8–October 3, 2021), Mean Girls (October 19–24, 2021), My Fair Lady (December 7–12, 2021), The Band’s Visit (February 8–13, 2022), Tootsie (March 15–20, 2022), Hadestown (April 19–24, 2022), and Come From Away (June 14–19, 2022). The production of Disney’s The Lion King is currently slated for Summer 2022 with official dates yet to be announced. A few shows from their original seasons such as To Kill a Mockingbird, Frozen, and Jersey Boys unfortunately could not be rescheduled as their national tours fell through.
ASU Gammage will also be reopening with a wide variety of new safety precautions such as requiring masks for all patrons and staff, employee health checks, sanitizing of ticket scanners, frequent sanitizing of high touch points, additional hand sanitizing stations, and closing the stage door. These protocols have been designed to comply with CDC and ASU specific COVID-19 regulations.
ASU Gammage certainly hasn’t been quiet throughout the last year of the pandemic. While we eagerly wait for the Broadway series to kick off in August, they have plenty of virtual content to check out. Their concert series The Local has brought local Arizona artists to their stage for a series of virtually streamed performances. They have also hosted numerous virtual masterclasses, demos, K-12 virtual field trips, and other performances through their Digital Connections series targeted to audiences at home looking for the taste of the arts. These virtual performances have been offered free of charge as ASU Gammage strives to fulfill their mission of connecting communities to the arts, albeit in a more virtual format for now.
