The Axelrod Performing Arts Center has announced the line-up of productions coming to the stage for its 2022-23 season, which will open in November with Avenue Q.
The Tony-winning puppet musical Avenue Q follows Princeton, a college grad who has recently moved to an apartment on Sesame Street Avenue Q in New York City, who discovers the neighborhood is very different than expected. Jeff Whitty penned the Tony-winning book for the musical, which features music and lyrics by Jeff Marx and Robert Lopez who took home the Tony for Best Original Score. Performances are set for November 4-20.
Raisin, the 1973 Broadway musical adaptation of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, will receive a 50th anniversary revival at Axelrod running February 24–March 12, 2023. Following a Black family in 1951 Chicago as they seek to make a better life, Raisin is being presented with approval from the Hansberry Estate. On the creative team are production consultant Phylicia Rashad—a Tony Award winner for her performance as Lena in A Raisin in the Sun—and director Evelyn Collins.
Tony nominee Hunter Foster returns to the Axelrod after helming last season's Bridges of Madison County to direct a production of Tony-nominated 2018 musical The Prom. Set in a small town in Indiana, a student is sidelined from her prom for wanting to bring her girlfriend as her date, inspiring four Broadway veterans to get involved—and hopefully bring a little change. Performances are set to run from May 5-21, 2023.
Axelrod will close the season with the first musical in their Sondheim Centennial Project, Sunday in the Park With George, set to run November 3–November 19, 2023. Curated by Artistic Director Andrew DePrisco, the centennial project will see the theatre presenting one musical by the late Broadway legend until his 100th birthday anniversary in 2030. Eamon Foley will serve as director and choreographer for Sunday, which features a book by James Lapine and music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. The original Broadway production starred Bernadette Peters and Mandy Patinkin, earning 10 Tony nominations.
For tickets and more information, visit AxelrodArtsCenter.com.
