Broadway Sacramento Reaches Agreement with Sacramento Theatre Company to Expand Year-Round Theatre Programming
November 12, 2024
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Matt Hessburg, [email protected]
SACRAMENTO — For almost 75 years, nonprofit theatre companies Broadway Sacramento and Sacramento Theatre Company (STC) have shared a theatre campus at 15th and H Streets in downtown Sacramento. Since their inceptions, STC has staged shows each fall, winter and spring, and Broadway Sacramento has produced its Broadway At Music Circus season each summer. Now, the two theatre companies have reached an agreement that allows Broadway Sacramento to assume a year-round residency on the site and expand its programming in the coming years.
As envisioned by newspaper publisher and arts benefactor Eleanor McClatchy, Sacramento Theatre Company and Broadway Sacramento were founded to introduce professional theatre to the region. Both companies have rich histories of entertaining, enlightening and educating audiences of all ages. In recent years, operating costs for professional theatre companies across the nation have soared to an all-time high and, despite the hard work of its staff and generosity of its board, those increasing financial pressures required STC to wind down its operations. Broadway Sacramento will now be the sole operator of the theatre complex. Both organizations’ boards of directors have worked together to reach this decision with the unified goal of ensuring the continuation and growth of professional theatre and theatre arts education in and for the Greater Sacramento community.
“We are grateful to Sacramento Theatre Company’s patrons who, since 1942, have supported our mission of integrating professional theatre with theatre arts education,” said Betsy Wood, STC Board President and Executive Director. “While our board regrets having to make this choice, we look forward to supporting Broadway Sacramento’s expansion.”
“Broadway Sacramento salutes STC for its decades of service to our region’s theatre professionals, students and audiences,” said Broadway Sacramento Board Chair Dr. Jacqueline M. Calkin. “We take our responsibility to foster year-round theatre programming very seriously and will do so for the continued benefit to our community.”
Broadway Sacramento will expand its offerings in the UC Davis Health Pavilion beyond the usual summer months, kicking off its year-round programming with a production of ELF THE MUSICAL, which runs December 6 – 15. The2025 Broadway At Music Circus season will include eight productions, taking place March through December: FOOTLOOSE (March 21 – 27), JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT (April 11 – 17), MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET (May 30 – June 5), HELLO, DOLLY! (June 20- 26), WEST SIDE STORY (July 11 – 17), IN THE HEIGHTS (August 1 – 7), HAIR (August 22 – 28) and IRVING BERLIN’S WHITE CHRISTMAS (December 5 – 11). Current Broadway At Music Circus season ticketholders will receive their renewal materials in the mail the week of November 18 and have until January 10 to renew their subscriptions. Season and single-show tickets will go on sale to the general public on February 3.
The company has created additional arts and education programming to help cultivate new audiences and nurture aspiring young artists. The Broadway Sacramento Conservatory, which launched in September, is a program designed to give students (age 12+) professional musical theatre training in acting, singing and dancing, the essential components of musical theatre performance. It’s the region’s only program of its kind taught by nationally recognized industry professionals. The Broadway Sacramento Conservatory’s Winter Session starts January 7 and runs through February 13.
“It is my hope to make Sacramento a theatre destination,” said Broadway Sacramento President/CEO, Scott Klier. “A place that attracts audiences from far and wide to enjoy world-class professional productions. We are sorry to lose a colleague company in that effort and intend to honor STC’s legacy as we embrace this opportunity for growth.”
In addition to its programming on the H Street campus, Broadway Sacramento will continue to present the Broadway On Tour series of musicals in the SAFE Credit Union Performing Arts Center. Its 2024 – 2025 season continues with KIMBERLY AKIMBO (December 31 – January 5), HAMILTON (January 8 – 19), MEAN GIRLS (February 18 – 23), TINA – THE TINA TURNER MUSICAL (March 4 – 8), and PARADE (May 6 – 11).
Since the founding of Broadway At Music Circus in 1951 under an open-air, circus-style big top, Broadway Sacramento has grown to become Northern California’s premiere producer and presenter of musical theatre, and the largest nonprofit musical theatre company in the state. Between its Broadway At Music Circus and Broadway On Tour seasons, Broadway Sacramento, with the support of former STC patrons, will entertain over 250,000 patrons every year.
