Lincoln Center Theater has announced its 2024-25 season for its Vivian Beaumont, Mitzi Newhouse and Clara Tow Theaters. LCT’s Broadway season at the Vivian Beaumont begins with the previously announced MCNEAL (sic) by Pulitzer Prize winner Ayad Akhtar and starring Robert Downey Jr. in his Broadway debut (previews Sept. 5 and opens Sept. 30).
The Broadway premiere of Floyd Collins follows with an opening of April 21 and previews beginning March 27. The musical about the real-life story of the titular cave explorer had its world premiere at the American Music Theater Festival in Philadelphia in 1994. It was followed by the off-Broadway debut at Playwrights Horizons in 1996 where it won the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Musical. Music and lyrics are by Adam Guettel whose Light in the Piazza also played the Beaumont. Tina Landau provides the book, additional lyrics and direction, as she did for the PH production.
Floyd Collins is based on the true story of a cave explorer in Kentucky, 1925. While chasing a dream of fame and fortune by turning Sand Cave into a tourist attraction, Floyd Collins himself becomes the attraction when he gets trapped 200 feet underground. Alone but for sporadic contact with the outside world, including his brother Homer, Floyd fights for his sanity – and, ultimately, his life – as the rescue effort above explodes into the first genuine media circus. Reporters and gawkers from across the country descend on the property, fueling the hysteria and manipulating the nation into holding its collective breath.
LCT’s Off-Broadway season at the Mitzi Newhouse opens with Katori Hall’s The Blood Quilt, previews begins Oct. 30 and opens Nov. 21. Lileana Blain-Cruz will direct. Gathering at their childhood island home off the coast of Georgia, four disconnected sisters meet to create a family quilt to honor their recently deceased mother. When their reunion turns into a reading of their mother’s will, everyone must grapple with a troubling inheritance. Stitched with history, ritual, laughter and tears, will their “blood quilt” bind the family together or tear them apart forever? The Blood Quilt had its premiere at Arena Stage in Washington, DC.
A new version of Henrik Ibsen’s Ghosts is next, previews Feb. 13 and opens March 10. After several years abroad, Helena Alving’s son has returned home. He carries with him a terrifying secret. Ibsen’s Ghosts is a devastating moral thriller in which ideas of love, duty and family are mercilessly put to the test. This new version, is written by one of Ireland’s leading playwrights, Mark O’Rowe, and directed by Tony winner Jack O’Brien. Ghosts has been seen on Broadway 15 times, most recently starring Liv Ullmann in 1982. The most recent Off-Broadway production was at BAM in 2015 with Lesley Manville and directed by Richard Eyre.
Six Characters will play LCT3’s Claire Tow Theater, starting previews July 13 and opening July 29. When some trifling citizens storm a renowned cultural center where they’re not meant to be, all hell breaks loose. Wigs go flying. Wounds get opened. An archive explodes. Will the audience make it out alive? Directed by Dustin Wills, abolition takes on fresh meaning in Six Characters, Phillip Howze’s new play on power, belonging, and the institutions we build.
On Monday, December 9, Bartlett Sher will direct a one-night-only reunion concert of LCT’s Tony Award-winning 2008 production of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific, starring original cast members Kelli O’Hara, Paulo Szot, Matthew Morrison, Danny Burstein, Loretta Ables Sayre, Sean Cullen, Victor Hawks, Li Jun Li, Skip Sudduth, and Noah Weisberg, and additional cast members to be announced. The concert will take place on the stage of the Vivian Beaumont Theater, followed by a cocktail party with the South Pacific company at the Metropolitan Opera House. The evening will support Lincoln Center Theater’s productions and education programs. Further details about the evening, including ticket prices, will be announced shortly.
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Well, Howdy, Dolly: Country superstar Dolly Parton will follow fellow pop music divas Cher, Tina Turner, Gloria Estefan, and Donna Summer with a musical based on her life and career. Hello, I’m Dolly (not to be confused with Hello, Dolly!) will feature new songs by Parton along with her hits and a book co-written by Parton and Maria S. Schlatter, who worked with the singer on TV projects like the Emmy Award-winning Christmas on the Square. The production is slated for Broadway with a target of 2026. Parton made the announcement at the CMA Fest in Nashville.
The title is taken from Parton’s first solo album released in 1967. Parton’s career trajectory resembles that of Cher and Tina Turner. All three began their singing paths under the wing of a domineering male–Cher with Sony Bono, Tina with Ike Turner, and Dolly with Porter Waggoner. Eventually, they all emerged with vibrant solo careers and established themselves as bigger stars than their former mentors.
In a statement, Parton said, “Hello, I’m Dolly, and I lived my whole life to see this show on stage. I’ve written many original songs for the show and included all your favorites in it, as well. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll clap, you’ll stomp, it truly is a Grand Ol’ Opera. Pun and fun intended. Don’t miss it!”
“I first had the pleasure of working with Dolly Parton in 2019,” producer Adam Speers for ATG Productions (Cabaret at the Kit Kat Klub) said, “when she trusted us to develop a new version of her musical 9 to 5 for London’s West End. I had always heard she wanted to do a musical based on her life, so when she asked if I would be interested in producing it, I was bowled over. As the world knows, Dolly is a magical blend of talent, hard work, intelligence, charm, wit, and a gigantically big heart. I’m thrilled we’re going to bring her inspiring story to Broadway.”
