Theater Notebook: Five new Broadway musicals heading to town as part of Broadway San Diego’s 45th season

The Broadway production of "Tina: The Tina Turner Musical."

Season includes “Tina,” “Beetlejuice,” “Ain’t Too Proud,” “Six” and “Frozen,” as well as “Hamilton,” “Annie,” “Lion King” and more

San Diego Union-Tribune

March 16, 2022 5:54 AM PT

Five new Broadway musicals — including “Beetlejuice,” “Disney’s Frozen,” “Six,” “Ain’t Too Proud” and “Tina: The Tina Turner Musical” — will be coming to town over the next 18 months as part Broadway San Diego’s 45th season.

The new lineup, announced Tuesday, March 15, will include seven regular season shows and three added events. All shows will be presented at the San Diego Civic Theatre.

The 45th season will be interlaced with eight already-announced shows from previous seasons that have been delayed by the pandemic. Those shows are “Tootsie” (April 12-17), “Rent” (April 22-24), “Come From Away” (May 17-22), “Hadestown” (May 31-June 5), “Pretty Woman” (July 26-31), “To Kill a Mockingbird” (Nov. 29-Dec. 4), “Mean Girls” (Feb. 28-March 5, 2023) and “1776” (May 9-14, 2023).

The musical "Six" will play at the San Diego Civic Theatre June 27-July 9, 2023.

“We are thrilled to get back to doing what we love,” said Vanessa Davis, general manager of Broadway San Diego, in an email. “The much anticipated 45th Season includes current Broadway hits, shows that are fresh on the road, and returning San Diego favorites. This season has something for everyone, and we are excited to share it with San Diego audiences.”

Here’s the lineup for the 45th season, beginning with the seven regular season shows followed by added season events. The regular seven-show subscriptions are now on sale beginning at $318 at broadwaysd.com.

The national touring production of Broadway's "Hamilton."

“Hamilton”: Lin-Manuel Miranda’s 2015 Tony-, Grammy- and Pulitzer Prize-winning hip-hop Broadway musical about Revolutionary leader Alexander Hamilton makes its second trip to San Diego. Nov. 9-20, 2022.

“Annie”: An all-new holiday season tour is being mounted for this this classic Tony-winning 1977 all-ages musical based on the comic strip about an optimistic Depression-era orphan hoping to get a family for Christmas. Dec. 27, 2022-Jan. 1, 2023.

The Broadway cast of "Ain't Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations"

“Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations”: Nominated for 12 Tony Awards, this 2018 jukebox musical tells the inside story of this rags-to-riches Detroit-born R&B-soul vocal group and features more than 25 songs. Jan. 3-8, 2023.

“Disney’s Frozen”: Postponed from 2020 due to the pandemic, this touring production of the 2018 Tony-nominated family musical brings to life the popular Disney animated film about two orphaned sisters torn apart by one sibling’s magical ability to freeze anything she touches. Jan. 18-29, 2023.

The national tour of "Disney's Frozen" plays Jan. 17-29, 2023, at the San Diego Civic Theatre.

“Six”: This high-energy, comic musical, now a sold-out smash on Broadway, resurrects the six wives of English King Henry VIII as members of a competitive all-girl Spice Girls-style vocal pop group. June 27-July 9, 2023.

“Tina: The Tina Turner Musical”: This 2019 jukebox musical, which recently relaunched its pandemic-shuttered Broadway production, hits the road in its first national tour. It tells the story of the struggle, liberation and rise to superstardom of the famed R&B-soul-rock singer and features 24 of her songs. July 25-30, 2023.

“Beetlejuice”: This Tony-nominated 2018 musical was inspired by the 1988 Tim Burton film about a comically demonic ghost who haunts the home of a New England family. It features an all-original score by Eddie Perfect. Aug. 15-20, 2023.

The first national tour of the musical "Beetlejuice" will play at the San Diego Civic Theatre Aug. 15-20, 2023.

Added season events:

“Disney’s The Lion King”: This big-cast, puppetry-enhanced Disney musical about an African lion cub coming of age returns to the Civic for an extended run. Aug. 24-Sept. 11, 2022.

“Cats”: Now in its 41st year, this evergreen Andrew Lloyd Webber song-and-dance musical tells the stories of a group of London junkyard cats. Sept. 27-Oct. 2, 2022.

Riverdance’s 25th Anniversary Show: The Irish step dance and music show has been reinvented in a new tour with updated music, sound and lights. April 11-13, 2023.

Riverdance 25th Anniversary tour arrives in San Diego April 11-13, 2023.

Pam Kragen writes about theater for the San Diego Union-Tribune. Email her at pam.kragen@sduniontribune.com.

Arts & Entertainment Theatre

Pam Kragen

Pam Kragen is the arts and entertainment editor, as well as the chief theater, dining and opera critic, for the San Diego Union-Tribune. She joined the Union-Tribune staff in October 2012 after 27 years at the North County Times, where she served as the Arts & Features Editor, as well as the paper’s longtime arts writer and theater and opera critic. She is the co-founder of the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle. She holds a bachelor of arts degree in journalism from San Diego State University and completed fellowships in theater criticism at the University of Southern California and opera-classical music criticism at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. And in 2022, she was chosen as one of the fellows in the prestigious National Critics Institute, run by the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Waterf, Conn.