What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/1223724
10 WHAT'S UP! MARCH 22-28, 2020 What's Up! is a publication of the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. PRESIDENT Brent Powers EDITOR Becca Martin-Brown 479-872-5054 bmartin@nwadg.com Twitter: NWAbecca ASSOCIATE EDITOR Jocelyn Murphy 479-872-5176 jmurphy@nwadg.com Twitter: NWAJocelyn REPORTERS Deb Harvell 479-872-5029 dharvell@nwadg.com Lara Hightower 479-365-2913 lhightower@nwadg.com DESIGNER Deb Harvell ON THE COVER "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" is one of five brand new shows making their Arkansas debut during the Walton Arts Center's 2020-21 Broadway season. (Courtesy Photo/Walton Arts Center) "Come From Away" (May 11-16, 2021) is not a musical about 9/11, Galbraith begins. The attacks are the inciting incident, but the true story focuses on the week after the tragedy when a town of 9,000 people selflessly tries to figure out how to serve their fellow human beings. "These are people from different backgrounds, different languages, cultures, religious beliefs, dietary needs, there are families with kids, there are nursing mothers, there are pets in the hold, there are people who need medication," Galbraith says of the stranded passengers and flight crews. "Many people will say in those days after 9/11, we were at our best as human beings. This takes us back to that place, which, God, wouldn't it be great if we could just live in that space all the time, without the tragedy that required it?" "The whole story is about our humanity and how we can take care of each other when the world [falls apart] around you," Ross adds. "It's about taking care of each other. It's about a hospitality for those who are other, for those who come from away. And it is the most gorgeous piece of theater that I've seen that speaks to that. "It takes the events of 9/11, and allows you to process them in such a different way, through such a different lens, that it's healing because it allows you to see our humanity." Wrapping up the season is a show that will be different for every performance. Before "Hamilton," before "In the Heights," Lin-Manuel Miranda created an improvisational comedy hip-hop show with collaborators Thomas Kail and Anthony Veneziale. The cast of "Freestyle Love Supreme" (June 1-6, 2021) creates full-length musical numbers based on suggestions from the audience in a show The Observer calls "modern, brilliant, experimental and sets a template for a new mode of comedy." More than 15 years after its inception, "Freestyle Love Supreme" finally landed a Broadway engagement for a very limited run between October 2019 and January of this year. "Rarely — I don't think, frankly, ever — have we been able to get our hands on a show that is so fresh off Broadway that we're announcing it in the same season in which it appeared on Broadway and before the Tonys," Galbraith enthuses. "That's unprecedented. For my career it's unprecedented, and I think it is for the market, too. "But it's fun and entertaining, and how often do our Broadway audiences get to be collaborators in the creation of musical theater? That's very exciting for us to be able to bring that opportunity here." Broadway subscriptions are on sale now, with single tickets available in the summer. WAC Continued From Page 9 The Lincoln Center's staging of "My Fair Lady" will open the 2020- 21 Broadway season Sept. 15-20 at the Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville. COVER STORY "Mean Girls" makes its Arkansas debut Nov. 3-8. (Courtesy Photos/Walton Arts Center)