WAC Broadway lineup includes ‘The King and I,’ ‘Cabaret,’ ‘RENT’

The Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville has announced its Broadway series lineup for the 2017–18 season, sponsored by Procter & Gamble.

Broadway season tickets may be purchased now by calling the Walton Arts Center Box Office at 479-443-5600. Individual tickets for the season will go on sale this summer.

Rodgers & Hammerstein’s
‘The King and I,’ Oct. 3-8
The Broadway series will premiere with the musical Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “The King and I,” Oct. 3-8. Directed by Bartlett Sher and winner of the 2015 Tony Award for Best Musical Revivial, this Lincoln Center Theater production features the songs “Getting To Know You,” “I Whistle a Happy Tune” and “Something Wonderful.”

The production is set in 1860’s Bangkok and tells the story of the relationship between the King of Siam and Anna Leonowens, a British schoolteacher.

Irving Berlin’s ‘White Christmas’
Nov. 7-12
Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas” is adapted for stage from the 1954 Paramount holiday film of the same name, starring Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney. The production tells the story of a song-and-dance team putting on a show at a Vermont inn.

‘Finding Neverland’
Dec. 19-12

Based on the Academy Award-winning film by the same name, “Finding Netherland” is a musical that follows playwright J.M. Barrie, the creator of the fictional character, Peter Pan.
The production won Broadway.com’s Audience Choice Award for Best Musical. Directed by Tony Award-winner Diane Paulus.

‘Cabaret’
Jan. 19-21, 2018
Based on the Tony Award-winning Roundabout Theatre Company’s revival of “Cabaret,” directed by Sam Mendes (director of the films “Skyfall” and “American Beauty”) and Rob Marshall (“Into the Woods” and “Chicago”).

Featured songs include “Cabaret,” “Willkommen” and “Maybe This Time.”

‘An American in Paris’
Feb. 6-11, 2018
“An American in Paris” is a Tony Award-winning musical about an American soldier and a French woman who fall in love in post-World War II Paris.

Directed by Tony Award-winner Christopher Wheeldon, “An American in Paris” features songs composed by George and Ira Gershwin, and it earned more awards than any other musical in the 2015 Broadway season, according to the WAC press release.

‘RENT’
March 2-4, 2018
The 20^th anniversary touring production of “RENT,” a rock musical and re-imaging of Giacomo Puccini’s opera, “La Bohème,” that follows a year in the lives of seven artists following their dreams.

“RENT” is a Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning play,

‘Beautiful – The Carole King Musical’
April 24-29, 2018
“Beautiful – The Carole King Musical” tells the story of Tony Award- and Grammy Award-winning songwriter Carole King’s rise to fame. From her beginnings on a songwriting team with her husband Gerry Goffin, to her career as a successful singer-songwriter.

‘The Sound of Music’
May 15-20, 2018
“The Sound of Music” will conclude the 2017–18 Broadway series. This production of the musical returns to Walton Arts Center “by popular demand,” according to the Walton Arts Center press release.

It follows the story of Maria and the von Trapp family and features the Tony Award-, Grammy Award- and Academy Award-winning musical score featured in the 1965 20^th Century Fox film by the same name.

Each 2017–18 Broadway subscription includes Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “The King and I,” “Finding Neverland,” “An American in Paris,” “Beautiful – The Carole King Musical” and “The Sound of Music” and the option to add one, two or three additional performances. Prices range from $271 to $571.

“We’ve given our season ticket holders the opportunity to customize their subscription this year by including five standard shows in every package then allowing subscribers to select one, two or all three additional shows to complete their package,” Scott Galbraith, executive producer and vice president of programming, said in the press release.