Broadway In Tucson/A Nederlander Presentation introduced itself on Sept. 7, 2004, with the Twyla Tharp-Billy Joel dance musical “Movin’ Out.”
In the 20 years since, it has presented 156 shows and events before audiences that to date number just shy of 1.7 million.
To celebrate its 20th anniversary season, Broadway In Tucson in 2025-26 is rolling out the red carpet with its biggest lineup to date.
The Tony Award-winning musical “Les Miserables” returns to Centennial Hall as a special Broadway In Tucson 20th anniversary event in September.
In addition to seven all-new-to-Tucson productions, including several that are still playing on Broadway and a couple that we get in their inaugural national tours, Tucson will see the return of two of its most popular shows — “Les Miserables” Sept. 9-14 and “The Book of Mormon” Feb. 27-March 1, 2026 — as special events.
“This is the most exciting season I’ve always wanted to present,” said Broadway In Tucson General Manager Mario Di Vetta. “We wanted to bring a season of premieres so that’s kind of where we started with the season. It’s also our largest season, with seven shows on subscription; we’ve never had that before.”
The subscription season runs October through August 2026, bookended by the Tony-nominated romcom “& Juliet” Oct. 29-Nov. 2 and the Tony-winning Alicia Keys musical “Hell’s Kitchen” Aug. 18-23, 2026.
What if Juliet (Rachel Simone Webb, center) didn’t drink the poison to hang onto Romeo? That’s the premise of “& Juliet,” the first of seven new shows Broadway In Tucson has on its 20th anniversary season.
The anniversary season also includes the holiday hit “Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical,” Nov. 11-16; “Moulin Rouge,“ Dec. 2-7; “The Wiz” Jan. 6-11, 2026; “Back to the Future: The Musical” April 14-19; and Disney’s 30th anniversary production of “Beauty and the Beast,” June 16-21.
“It’s the first time we’ve ever presented a full week of a holiday show,” Di Vetta said of snagging “Grinch,” which only tours in the months of November and December. “To be able to have it finally, in Tucson, is just really exciting.”
Exit stage left
When Broadway In Tucson mounted its first season in 2004, UA Presents, the predecessor of University of Arizona arts presenter Arizona Arts Live, was making its exit from the Broadway genre.
UA Presents, which had been bringing Broadway shows to Centennial Hall on the UA campus throughout the 1990s, was smarting from a $250,000 loss on the musical “Hairspray” in the 2004-05 season. It also had settled a lawsuit with the producers of the Broadway show “Little Shop of Horrors” after canceling its eight-performance run in January 2006; they had sold just 3,700 of the 20,000 available tickets.
Broadway In Tucson didn’t appear to be having any problems selling tickets in its first couple of years. When it brought Disney’s “The Lion King” to Tucson Music Hall in August 2006, some 82,000 people over the six-week run packed the 2,200-seat downtown venue that it shared with Arizona Opera and Tucson Symphony Orchestra.
“Lion King” was a bold move coming in year two, but it showed Nederlander that Tucson had an appetite for Broadway.
In 2010, Broadway In Tucson went even bigger, collaborating with UA Presents to bring the blockbuster “Wicked” for a sold-out three-week run at Centennial Hall. Some 56,000 people saw that show, which Broadway in Tucson brought back in 2013 to mark its 10th anniversary.
2013 also was the season that saw the organization uproot from the Music Hall to the 2,500-seat Centennial, where it has been ever since.
20 years by the numbers
In its first 20 years, Broadway In Tucson mounted 1,033 performances of 156 events including “Book of Mormon,” which has been here five times since its 2016 Tucson debut, and “Mamma Mia,” which marks its fourth time this year, contributing to the 1.7 million total patrons, including 19,000 for the initial run of “Book of Mormon” that set a single week engagement record and 44,000 who turned out in late 2021 for the three-week run of “Hamilton.”
Drumroll: 20th
anniversary season
Don’t ask Mario Di Vetta which of the shows on the 2025-26 season he’s most looking forward to.
“It’s like having to choose your favorite child, which I’m willing to do,” joked the father of two who has seen all seven shows on Broadway. “’& Juliet’ was such a great show because it’s such a great musical with all these pop hits you already know. And ‘Hell’s Kitchen,’ how they managed to incorporate all of Alicia Keys’ songs into a modern hip-hop musical with a great story. The musical just feels very fresh.”
Both shows are still playing to full houses on Broadway as they launch inaugural national tours, “& Juliet” last September and “Hell’s Kitchen” this fall.
“You don’t have to go to New York” to experience Broadway, Di Vetta said. “Just go to your backyard; we’re right here.”
Season tickets ranging from $260-$973 are on sale through broadwayintucson.com. Single tickets will go on sale at a later date. Performances are held at Centennial Hall, 1020 E. University Blvd. on the University of Arizona campus.
“& Juliet”
Oct. 29-Nov. 2
Rachel Simone Webb and Michael Canu in the North American Tour of “& Juliet.”
This pop jukebox musical, from the Emmy-winning “Schitt’s Creek” writer David West Read, flips the script on the greatest love story ever told. What if Shakespeare’s wife convinces him to rewrite the ending of “Romeo and Juliet” and let Juliet skip that whole dying-for-love scene. Instead, she goes off to Paris with a few friends to find herself and falls in love again, only with no family-feuding drama. The show features more than two dozen pop hits from the 1990s-2010s from artists including Katy Perry, Pink, Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, Ke$ha, Bon Jovi, Adam Lambert, ‘NSYNC and Justin Timberlake.
“Dr. Seuss’ How the
Grinch Stole Christmas!”
Nov. 11-16
James Schultz as The Grinch and W. Scott Stewart as Old Max in the Touring Company of “Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”
You’ve seen the Dr. Seuss classic on the small screen every holiday season and now it comes to the big stage, featuring all those iconic songs including “You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch” and “Welcome Christmas.” The New York Times calls the musical “100 times better than any bedtime story.”
“Moulin Rouge”
Dec. 2-7
Arianna Rosario as Satine in the North American Tour of “Moulin Rouge.”
The 10-time Tony winning rom-dram jukebox musical takes us to the glitzy and glamorous world of 1900 Paris, where Bohemians and aristocrats rub elbows and more in the famous Moulin Rouge.
“The Wiz”
Jan. 6-11, 2026
Pre-Broadway production of “The Wiz,” featuring Alan Mingo Jr. as The Wiz.
For the first time in 40 years, the Tony-winning musical twist on “The Wizard of Oz” returns to the stage in an all new Broadway tour that kicks off this month. The show has been updated with new choreography and material from the Tony- and Emmy-nominated writer and TV host Amber Ruffin.
“Back to the Future The Musical”
April 14-19
“Back to the Future The Musical,” Don Stephenson and Lucas Hallauer.
Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis, creators of the iconic film trilogy from 1985-1990, reunite for the stage version, featuring the original music by Grammy-winning film composer Alan Silvestri (“Polar Express,” “Forrest Gump”) and songwriter/producer Glen Ballard (Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror,” Alanis Morissette’s “Jagged Little Pill”), and songs from the original film including “The Power of Love,” “Johnny B. Goode,” “Earth Angel” and “Back in Time.” Oh, and there’s an actual DeLorean on stage.
Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast”
June 16-21
Shubshri Kandiah (Belle) & Brendan Xavier (Beast), part of the Australian cast of “Beauty and the Beast.”
This newly reimagined 30th-anniversary production features spectacular new sets and dazzling costumes as well as the show’s Oscar-winning and Tony-nominated score including “Be Our Guest” and “Beauty and the Beast.”
“Hell’s Kitchen”
Aug. 18-23
“Hell’s Kitchen” Broadway production.
The hip-hop jukebox musical is built around Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Alicia Keys’ music and lyrics and loosely based on her experience growing up in Manhattan in the 1990s. It features a number of the Songwriter Hall of Fame member’s hits including “Fallin’,” “No One,” “If I Ain’t Got You” and “You Don’t Know My Name.”
Special events
“Les Miserables” (Sept. 9-14) still ranks as the world’s most popular musical and British theater producer Cameron Mackintosh‘s critically acclaimed production with updated staging, special effects and projection brings the show into the 21st century. Mackintosh produced the original English version of the French musical in 1985.
Broadway In Tucson is bringing back “The Book of Mormon” as a special event in its 20th anniversary season.
“The Book of Mormon” (Feb. 27-March 1, 2026) and its hilarious story of a mismatched pair of Mormon missionaries sent to Uganda never gets old. This will mark the show’s sixth Tucson run.
