Broadway in Wichita season resurrected for 2021-22

The 2021-22 Broadway in Wichita schedule looks an awful lot like the 2020-21 lineup that was announced 16 months ago.

The four musicals – “The Lion King,” “Summer: The Donna Summer Musical,” “Fiddler on the Roof” and “An Officer and a Gentleman” – were announced last March, about a week before the emergence of a global pandemic that shut down nearly every facet of life, of which the touring theater industry is ready to make a comeback, Amy Hamm says.

“That was absolutely our goal, to be able to present the season that we already had scheduled,” said Hamm, executive director of the American Theatre Guild, which presents the musicals. “It’s fairly miraculous that we were able to pull that off for this season. We’re thrilled to bring that original season back.”

The Kansas City-based American Theatre Guild programs Broadway seasons for 14 venues in 11 states, nearly all of which had to make adjustments from their 2020-21 schedules to 2021-22.

“I would say Wichita is one of the only — if not the only — market that we were able to keep the same show schedule,” Hamm, an El Dorado native, said. “It was a pretty remarkable feat.”

Subscribers who renewed their season tickets in March 2020 will receive their tickets “just like normal,” she added. New subscriptions will be taken starting Monday.

There is an addition to the “add-on/swap a show” options for season ticket holders. Besides “The Simon and Garfunkel Story,” which was announced for last season, the return of “Stomp” was added for two days in late November.

And, yes, “Hamilton” is still on the docket for Century II, now moved to sometime in the 2022-23 season. Hamm has not received confirmation about the dates nor number of performances.

Hamm said she felt fortunate to be able to hold on to “Hamilton” and “Lion King” for Wichita audiences.

“There’s so much demand out there because we’ve been dark for so long,” she said. “It makes the job a lot more difficult right now, because there’s so much demand that’s now being crammed into these next two or three years.”

After the pandemic struck, Hamm’s nonprofit kept moving dates further and further back on the calendars at all of the venues, hoping to somehow salvage at least a portion of the 2020-21 season.

Show dates were rescheduled anywhere from five to 14 times to accommodate the new schedules, she said.

By April of this year, “things finally started to settle down,” Hamm said.

“It had everything to do with vaccine rates,” she said. “It was clear to us, financially, the model of Broadway tours doesn’t work without a possible capacity of 100%. A model where we opened the door for reduced capacity just never made sense for the producers nor the presenters.”

A nonprofit, American Theatre Guild had to furlough as many as half of its employees during the peak of the pandemic, Hamm said, including several Wichita natives that she had on her staff.

Hamm doesn’t anticipate changes for audiences because of the pandemic but changes due to the other sea change of 2020 – civil rights.

She sees improvement already happening in equality, diversity and inclusion both in Broadway and in touring productions.

“I think that audiences can expect changes for the good,” she said. “The entire Broadway industry, with the whole Black Lives Matter movement and awakening, were brought to task on some areas that the industry has been incredibly deficient in, as far as diversity and equity and inclusion.”

Hamm said she sees the business side of show business returning to normal.

“I feel confident we’re going to be back to the way we were. I think there’s a lot of demand out there,” she said. “We’re starting to see across the country some really record numbers for ticket sales. I think a lot of people are ready to get out of the house and experience the arts again. There will be some hesitancy, but by fall I think we’ll be able to feel comfortable and we’ll work as hard as we possibly can.”

The Broadway in Wichita season won’t start until Nov. 3, with the one-night Simon and Garfunkel performance. “Stomp” follows in late November, with the Donna Summer biography in mid-December, “Fiddler” in early March, “Officer” in late March and “The Lion King” from April 27 to May 8 — 15 performances in a two-week run. With a score by Elton John and Tim Rice, “The Lion King” last played Wichita in September 2012.

As long as there are ongoing conversations about vaccinations, masks and cleaning, she said, the 2021-22 season in Wichita should be able to go on as scheduled.

“I feel confident that by fall it’s going to feel like a normal night out seeing a Broadway show,” she said. “I feel like we’ll get there.”

Broadway in Wichita 2021-22

“The Simon & Garfunkel Story,” Nov. 3*

“Stomp,” Nov. 26-27*

“Summer: The Donna Summer Musical,” Dec. 14-16

“Fiddler on the Roof,” March 1-3

“An Officer and a Gentleman,” March 23-25

“The Lion King,” April 27 to May 8

*-“Add-on/Swap-a-Show” options

More information is available at broadwaywichita.com or 316-303-8100

This story was originally published June 13, 2021 at 4:11 AM.