A month after laying off 90% of its staff and canceling or postponing shows such as Sting's "The Last Ship," the Ordway Center has announced its 2020-2021 Broadway season.
The five-show roster, revealed Tuesday, has three locally produced works, including a collaboration with Park Square Theatre. The Ordway also has initiated a resident artist program with Grammy winner Jamecia Bennett and Twin Cities star Tyler Michaels King as inaugural artists.
The season announcement comes as the coronavirus pandemic continues to grip Minnesota and the world. It is important for the Ordway to move forward even in the face of uncertainty, said president and CEO Jamie Grant.
"The Ordway will not put the health of its artists, guests or employees at risk," Grant said. "We've made some changes in how the programming works. Plowing ahead is the right thing to do."
The season starts later than usual with "Disney's Beauty and the Beast" in the critical holiday slot, which usually contributes significant amounts to the annual budgets of most theaters. No director has been named for that show. The musical by composer Alan Menken, lyricists Howard Ashman and Tim Rice and book writer Linda Woolverton is one of three locally produced "Ordway originals" (Dec. 1-27).
The Ordway also is offering a tour production of the musical version of "An Officer and a Gentleman," based on the 1982 film starring Richard Gere and Debra Winger. The show, whose best known song is "Up Where We Belong," premiered in Australia in 2012 to a mixed reception before being retooled in England in 2018 with '80s hits such as "Material Girl" and "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" (Feb. 4-7, 2021).
"Waitress," Grammy winner Sara Bareilles' hit show that has played the Orpheum in Minneapolis, will now have an Ordway engagement (March 9-14, 2021).
The Ordway teams up with Park Square for "Triangle," a 2015 musical about a disastrous 1911 factory fire in New York City fire and a love story. The show takes place at Park Square, which has recently undergone an unplanned leadership transition amid a burgeoning fiscal crisis. The season concludes with "Rent," an Ordway original whose director has not yet been named (April 9 — May 2, 2021).
Season ticket packages, $202-$435, are on sale online or 651-224-4222.
