Tony-winners Kimberly Akimbo, Some Like it Hot, Life of Pi and MJ lead a pack that also heralds Hamilton return

By SHARON EBERSON

The 2024-25 PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh season features 10 shows, including three of the top award-winners of 2023: the musicals Kimberly Akimbo and Some Like it Hot, and the play Life of Pi.

If you have been following the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust hints on social media, you know the season also includes newcomers such as the jukebox musical & Juliet (she lives!) and the Michael Jackson biomusical MJ, and the return of both Hamilton and Come From Away. Also on the schedule are the recent Broadway revival of Funny Girl, plus STOMP and a new adaptation of Peter Pan.

The 10-show season is one more than the current season, which continues this week with Company and concludes with The Kite Runner, May 7-12, 2024.

Hamilton opens the new Series on September 11, 2024, and special Come From Away closes out the season in May of 2025.

“The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust is proud to present another thrilling lineup of touring Broadway productions at the Benedum Center for the 2024-2025 PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh season,” Kendra Whitlock Ingram, president and CEO of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, said. “We invite everyone to experience the excitement as blockbuster hits, Tony Award-winning productions, Pittsburgh premieres and beloved classics take center stage. We extend our sincerest thanks to PNC Foundation and all our guests for making this season possible.”

2024-25 PNC BROADWAY IN PITTSBURGH SCHEDULE
(All shows are at the Benedum Center, Downtown Cultural District.)

HAMILTON I September 11 – 29, 2024

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hip-hop megahit about the “ten-dollar Founding Father” Alexander Hamilton returns. Besides the ongoing North American, UK and Ireland and international tours, companies continue in popularity on Broadway and in London, Australia and Singapore.

* STOMP I October 18 – 19, 2024 I Season Special

After 29 years and 11,475 performances, STOMP closed in New York City on January 8, 2023, and hit the road, including a recent stop at the Palace Theatre in Greensburg. Using everyday “instruments” such as matchboxes, brooms, garbage cans and Zippo lighters, the artists of STOMP create energizing beats in an invigorating stage show that blends dance, music and theatrical performance.

& JULIET I October 28 – November, 2024

The 2019 coming-of-age jukebox musical, featuring the music of Swedish pop songwriter Max Martin, with a book by David West Read, imagines what comes next for Juliet, if she had not died at the end of Shakespeare’s tragedy of star-crossed lovers. Songs in the Olivier Award-winner include “Oops I Did it Again” and “I Kissed a Girl.”

MJ I November 19 – December 1, 2024

Featuring a book by two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Lynn Nottage and Tony-winning choreography from director Christopher Wheeldon (An American in Paris), MJ offers a rare look at the creative mind and collaborative spirit that catapulted Michael Jackson into legendary status. The show follows his life and music up to the Dangerous World Tour, in 1992-93.

FUNNY GIRL I January 7 – 12, 2025

“Hello, gorgeous.” Marching the band out on a national tour is the revival of the Fanny Brice biomusical that made a star of Barbra Streisand. Directed by Michael Mayer, the show includes a revised book by Harvey Fierstein, with classic Broadway songs by Jules Styne and Bob Merrill.

LIFE of PI I January 28 – February 2, 2025

The winner of three Tony Awards, including best scenic design of a play, Life of Pi uses puppetry and stagecraft to tell the story of 16-year-old Pi, who survives a shipwreck and is stranded on a lifeboat with four companions— a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan and a Royal Bengal tiger.”The show’s cast and crew conjure a delirious, dynamic, highly pettable world. And oh, is it a wonder,” raved The New York Times.

KIMBERLY AKIMBO I March 4 – 9, 2025

The winner of five Tony Awards including best musical, the story of a teenager with a rapid aging disease is equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking. David Lindsay-Abaire adapted his play, with music by Jeanine Tesori, to tell the unusual story of a bright teen who looks 72 years old, her disreputable but loving family, trusted friends and holding tight to happiness, whenever it comes her way.

PETER PAN I April 1 – 6, 2025

This new adaptation of the family musical, based on the J.M. Barrie works, comes via playwright Larissa FastHorse (The Thanksgiving Play) and director Lonny Price. The story of a boy who won’t grow up and familiar songs – “I’m Flying”, “I Gotta Crow” and “Neverland” – are all still there. What’s new, according to the Associated Press: “Gone are elements harmful to Native people, in are a few new songs and the setting of Victorian England has been scrapped in favor of modern America with a multicultural cast.”

SOME LIKE IT HOT I April 15 – 20, 2025

The winner of four Tony Awards, including best choreography and best actor (J. Harrison Ghee), is an old-fashioned, big-number musical that does justice to the classic 1959 movie comedy while updating the story with modern sensibilities. It still features two musicians disguised as women, joining an all-girls band to hide from gangsters, with many a twist along the way. The book is by Matthew López and Amber Ruffin, with music by Marc Shaiman, and lyrics by Scott Wittman and Shaiman.  (Trivia: Fox Chapel’s Christian Borle, who starred opposite Ghee on Broadway, used a yinzer accent when he went from Joe to Josephine.)

* COME FROM AWAY I May 2 – 4, 2025 I Season Special

The hopeful, heartwarming musical is back. Come From Away tells the tale of airplane passengers and crew rerouted to a small town in Newfoundland on 9/11, and finding themselves in the hospitable embrace of caring Canadians.

TICKETS AND DETAILS

Season tickets are on sale now at https://trustarts.org/pct_home/events/series/pnc-broadway-in-pittsburgh/broadway-subscribe. Individual tickets are scheduled to go on sale Monday, June 24, 2024 at 10 a.m. More information at https://trustarts.org/pct_home/events/series/pnc-broadway-in-pittsburgh/broadway-shows 

Categories: Company, Our Posts, Season Listings, Show Previews

Tags: &Juliet, 2024-25 season, Benedum Center, Come From Away, Funny Girl, Hamilton, Kimberly Akimbo, Like of Pi, MJ, Peter Pan, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh, Some Like It Hot, STOMP