Come From Away: A Story of Hope, Heroes and Healing

Anyone old enough to remember can tell you where they were on Sept. 11, 2001. On that day, America changed forever. In the the aftermath of the tragedy, American airways were shut down and planes were grounded across the country. Come From Away tells the inspiring true story of how a small town in Newfoundland that doubled in population as they welcomed 7,000 stranded passengers in the aftermath of 9/11.

Cultures clashed and nerves ran high, but uneasiness turned into trust, music soared into the night and gratitude grew into enduring friendships as passengers and townspeople alike were coping in the days after 9/11. During one of the worst times, this show tells the uplifting story about how people came together and cared for each other.

How the Musical Came to be

Husband and wife duo David Hein and Irene Sankoff wrote the heart-warming script, music and lyrics for Come From Away after they traveled to Gander, Newfoundland. They spent countless hours interviewing the residents who welcomed the thousands of “plane people” that flooded the town unexpectedly after 9/11. Watch them explain how they managed to tell the stories of 16,000 people in just 100 minutes with 12 actors!

Meet the Real Residents of Gander

The real residents of Gander are the soul of Come From Away, and their involvement with the show didn’t end after they were first interviewed. The original Broadway cast had the opportunity to meet the people their characters were based on. This rare opportunity allowed the performers to get to know their roles in a more intimate way. The video below introduces you to just a few of the people behind the lovable characters from the musical.

Captain Beverley Bass

Beverley Bass is used to having her career in the spotlight. Before she was forced to land her plane in Newfoundland on 9/11, she had already made her mark in 1976 as the first female captain of an American Airlines commercial plane. A decade later, she made history as the captain of the first all-female flight crew. Tony-nominated actress Jenn Colella worked with Beverley Bass to showcase her story as authentically as possible.

Come From Away reminds audiences that in the face of great tragedy and hardship, humanity can come together and support one another. This touching show is sure to leave a lasting impact on all who witness its compelling stories and soaring choruses. Come From Away will be landing at Walton Arts Center May 11-16, 2021. 2020/21 season subscriptions are available now and individual tickets will go on sale at the end of the summer.

Get the best seats at the best price with a subscription

2020/21 P&G Broadway Series subscriptions start as low as $278! Plus, subscribers who renew for the 2021/22 season will be first in line for their seats to the premiere Fayetteville engagement of Hamilton in 2022.

SUBSCRIBE HERE!

Before Hamilton and In the Heights, there was Freestyle Love Supreme

In 2015, the world fell in love with Lin-Manuel Miranda in Hamilton. But, before he was spitting verses about early U.S. history, he was riffing in Freestyle Love Supreme.

This improv-musical-hybrid was created 15 years ago by a team of incredible talents including Thomas Kail and Lin-Manuel Miranda. With 4 Tony Awards® between them, the writing and directing duo behind other Broadway successes like Hamilton and In the Heights broke the rules of theater to create a show like no other.

Freestyle Love Supreme is not a traditional musical that follows the same script each night as actors and actresses sing songs they’ve sung countless times before. Instead, every performance is unique as performers take suggestions from the audience to create impromptu scenes and full-blown musical numbers.

In an interview with Playbill, Miranda said, “What’s amazing is that this is the only thing I do that I feel more energy when I've done it than when I started. It feeds In the Heights, it feeds Hamilton because it’s the only show that sharpens my tools for the other thing. So that fact that we get to just do this, you bring the ingredients and we make this meal, is incredible.”

Like it inspires the writer and composer of the show, the live improvised format of Freestyle Love Supreme is guaranteed to inspire audiences as they participate in the creation of the performance. It invites patrons to see behind the curtain and witness a show develop live right in front of their eyes. It demands that viewers engage in a performance in a way they never have before.

Freestyle Love Supreme is fresh off of a limited Broadway engagement and headed to Northwest Arkansas! This is a unique Broadway experience like no other and is a must-see part of the 2020/21 P&G Broadway series.

Get the best seats at the best price with a subscription

2020/21 Broadway Season Subscriptions start as low as $278! Plus, subscribers who renew for the 2021/22 season will be first in line for the premiere Fayetteville engagement of Hamilton in early 2022.

SUBSCRIBE HERE!

2020/21 Broadway Season Brings Six Can't-Miss Shows to NWA

Walton Arts Center is your home for the best of Broadway, and with the 2020/21 P&G Broadway Series, the hits just keep coming. This season features six fantastic shows that will help us explore and celebrate what it means to be our authentic selves. Audiences have the opportunity to see five shows make their Arkansas debut, and one show that is on a limited tour to select cities!

My Fair Lady

Sept. 15-20, 2020

The season starts with a classic tale that takes on new meaning in light of the #metoo movement. When linguistics expert Henry Higgins hears the brash, cockney voice of a local flower girl, he makes a bet that he can turn her into a “proper lady.” But, he will realize that he has more to learn than she does in My Fair Lady.

Boasting classic songs like “I Could Have Danced All Night,” “The Rain in Spain,” “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly” and “On the Street Where You Live,” audiences will get to experience the tumultuous story of Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins like never before.

Mean Girls

Nov. 3-8, 2020

Mean Girls comes next, and this Arkansas premiere is straight from Broadway and totally fetch. Cady Heron grew up with lions and tigers on an African Savanna, but nothing could prepare her for her next adventure - American high school. With the help of her new friends, Cady tries to climb the social food chain in an attempt to dethrone Regina George. But, she soon learns that you can’t cross the queen bee without getting stung.

From creative geniuses like director Casey Nicholaw (Aladdin, The Book of Mormon), composer Jeff Richmond (“30 Rock,” “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”), lyricist Nell Benjamin (Legally Blonde) and book writer Tina Fey (“30 Rock,” Bossypants), this show is a must-see!

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Dec. 15-20, 2020

Northwest Arkansas is the lucky winner of a golden ticket, which means you can see the Arkansas premiere of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. This version of the childhood-favorite story by Roald Dahl features iconic songs from the film including Pure Imagination, The Candy Man and I’ve Got a Golden Ticket.

Join Charlie Bucket as his bland life takes a sweet turn for the better when he gets to experience the wonders of Wonka like never before. Get ready for Oompa-Loompas, magic chewing gum, the great glass elevator and more, more, more!

An Officer and a Gentleman

March 9-14, 2021

Northwest Arkansas audiences will be among the first to see this new musical on its way to Broadway. Based on the Oscar®-winning film starring Richard Gere, An Officer and a Gentleman tells a timeless story of romance and courage.

When he rolled into U.S. Navy pilot boot camp, Zack Mayo’s over-confidence quickly became a problem for his drill sergeant who was determined to drill his arrogance out of him. Zack seeks comfort in the arms of a local factory girl, but it takes a tragedy that befalls his fellow candidate for him to learn the importance of love and friendship.

Come From Away

May 11-16, 2021

After the tragic events of 9/11, the U.S. airways were closed and planes were grounded. The Arkansas premiere of Come From Away takes audiences to the heart of the remarkable true story of 7,000 stranded passengers and the small Newfoundland town that welcomed them.

Cultures clashed and nerves ran high, but uneasiness turned into trust, music soared into the night, and gratitude grew into enduring friendships as passengers and townspeople alike were coping in the days after 9/11. During one of the worst times, this tells the uplifting story about how people came together and cared for each other.

Freestyle Love Supreme

June 1-6, 2021

Before Hamilton and In the Heights, Lin-Manuel Miranda was riffing in Freestyle Love Supreme. See this show for the first time every time as the cast takes suggestions from the audience and performs full-length, improvised musical numbers. The show is on a limited tour to select cities, and Northwest Arkansas is one of the lucky few! You do not want to miss out on this unique opportunity!

Get the best seats at the best price with a subscription

2020/21 Broadway Season Subscriptions start as low as $278! Plus, subscribers who renew for the 2021-22 season can guarantee their tickets for the premiere Fayetteville engagement of Hamilton in 2022.

SUBSCRIBE HERE!

10 Musicals you can Watch at Home

Musical theater allows people to leave their day-to-day lives at the door and immerse themselves in new and exciting stories. And while trips to the theater are postponed for the near future, the stories and songs are still in reach. Here is a list of some of our favorite shows that have come (or will come) to Walton Arts Center that are available to stream online in the form of live recordings, musical movies and animated films.

Les Misérables (HBO)

Les Misérables has been seen at Walton Arts Center in the 2004-05, 2010-11 and 2018-19 seasons. This musical totes iconic ballads like I Dreamed a Dream and On My Own. You can watch the film adaptation of this legendary story of liberation and hope with a subscription to HBO.

Freestyle Love Supreme (Amazon)

Before Hamilton and In the Heights, Lin-Manuel Miranda was riffing in Freestyle Love Supreme. This unique show is coming to WAC as a part of our 2020-21 Broadway series and takes on a different form every night as cast members work with the audience to create improvised riffs and full-length musical numbers. You can purchase episodes of the 30-minute TV show on Amazon.

Falsettos (Amazon)

Set in 1980’s New York, Falsettos tells the story of a gay man navigating his complicated relationships with his former-wife, their son and his boyfriend. Walton Arts Center launched a tour of the 2016 Broadway revival by playing host to the production’s technical rehearsals and preview performances in the 2018-19 season. You can stream the show on Amazon Prime.

Shrek the Musical (Netflix)

Shrek the Musical is a hilarious adaptation of the hit 2001 animated movie Shrek. The show has all of the charm and wit of the original movie plus infectious musical numbers that tie it all together. Featured in the 2012-13 Broadway series at WAC, this show is perfect for the whole family and can be streamed on Netflix.

The Sound of Music (Disney+)

The Sound of Music graced Baum Walker Hall in both our 1996-97 and 2017-18 seasons. The iconic 1965 film version of this story featuring Julie Andrews is still considered the most successful movie musical of all time and can be streamed on Disney+

Hairspray (Netflix)

Hairspray tells an inspiring story about love and acceptance as it follows Tracy Turnblad on her journey to becoming a dancing sensation. Along the way, Tracy works to bring together a racially-divided Baltimore. The show was performed at WAC in our 2007-08 and 2009-10 seasons. The 2007 film adaptation starring Zac Efron, Queen Latifah, John Travolta and others is available for streaming on Netflix.

Photo by Paul Kolnik retrieved from Playbill.com

Photo by Matt Henry (Matt Crockett) retrieved from

Kinky boots (broadwayhd)

Based on a true story, Kinky Boots tells then unlikely tale of how a shoe factory owner named Charlie and a fabulous drag queen named Lola collaborated to save Charlie’s family business. You can watch a live recording of this inspiring musical with a subscription to BroadwayHD (which offers a 7 day free trial)!

Other Broadway hits

While these performances have yet to make their way to the Walton Arts Center, they are fantastic shows and movies that you can enjoy from anywhere.

Into the Woods (Amazon and Disney+)

Into the Woods is a whimsical mash-up of Brothers Grimm fairy tales like Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk and Little Red Riding Hood set to fan-favorite songs like Agony and No One is Alone. The original Broadway production of Into The Woods was filmed and can be purchased on Amazon for $4.99 or rented for just $2.99! The 2014 film adaptation starring Meryl Streep, James Corden, Emily Blunt, Anna Kendrick and more is available on Disney+.

Photo by Martha Swope retrieved from Playbill.com

Photo by Deen van Meer retrieved from playbill.com

Newsies (Disney+)

Newsies is a high-energy production based on a 1992 film of the same name, which is in turn based on the New York City Newsboy Strike of 1899. This show is known for its flashy choreography and full-bodied tracks. The musical’s national tour was filmed with original Broadway stars Jeremy Jordan, Kara Lindsay and Andrew Keenan Bolger and is available to stream on Disney+.

Phantom of the Opera (Hulu)

This musical classic is based off the French novel by Gaston Lerox that goes by the same name. Telling a story of mystery and love, the film adaptation of the musical can be streamed on Hulu.

Photo by Matthew Murphy retrieved from playbill.com

Old Fashioned Fun, On-Stage in A Christmas Story, The Musical

A Christmas Story: The Musical is the stage version of the 1983 American classic film, A Christmas Story. The musical has music and lyrics written by the award-winning duo, Pasek & Paul, and book by Joseph Robinette.

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The film was released on November 18, 1983 and in 2012, it was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." The story came to life on Broadway in the winter of 2012, stealing the hearts of a new generation of audiences. Get your pink bunny suit ready - A Christmas Story: The Musical is about to take the Walton Arts Center stage!

Characters

• Ralphie Parker: A little boy who wants a Red Ryder Carbine Action Range Model Air Rifle with a compass in the stock and a thing that tells time.

• Jean Shepherd: Old Ralphie, who narrates the story.

• The Old Man: The gruff father of Ralphie and Randy.

• Mother: The glue who holds the Parker family together.

• Randy Parker: Ralphie's kid brother.

• Miss Shields: Ralphie's teacher.

• Schwartz: Ralphie's foul-mouthed friend

• Flick: Ralphie's dim friend who gets his tongue stuck to a flag pole.

• Scut Farkus: The class bully who gets beaten up by Ralphie.

• Grover Dill: Scut's right-hand man.

• Esther Jane: Ralphie's love interest.

• Mary Beth: Esther Jane's best friend.

• Santa: A mean old mall Santa.

Musical numbers

Act 1

• "Overture" - Orchestra

• "It All Comes Down to Christmas" - Ralphie, the Parkers and Ensemble

• "Red Ryder Carbine Action BB Gun" - Ralphie and Jean

• "It All Comes Down to Christmas (Reprise)" - Ralphie and Company

• "The Genius on Cleveland Street" - The Old Man and Mother

• "When You're a Wimp" - Kids

• "Ralphie to the Rescue!" - Ralphie, Miss Shields, the Old Man, Mother, Randy and Ensemble

• "What a Mother Does" - Mother

• "A Major Award" - The Old Man, Mother and Neighbors

• "Parker Family Singalong" - The Parkers

• "Act One Finale" - Ralphie and Ensemble

Act 2

• "Entr'acte" - Orchestra

• "Sticky Situation" - Ralphie, Flick, Schwartz, Kids, Miss Shields, Nurse, Flick's Mom, Fireman, Policeman and Doctor

• "You'll Shoot Your Eye Out" - Miss Shields and Kids

• "Just Like That" - Mother

• "At Higbee's" - Elves

• "Up on Santa's Lap" - Santa, Elves, Ralphie, Randy and Kids

• "Before the Old Man Comes Home" - The Parkers

• "Somewhere Hovering Over Indiana" - Ralphie, Randy and Kids

• "Ralphie to the Rescue! (Reprise)" - Ralphie and Ensemble

• "A Christmas Story" - The Parkers and Full Company

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A Christmas Story: The Musical

DATES: Dec. 10-15

The Associated Press calls A CHRISTMAS STORY: THE MUSICAL “a joyous Christmas miracle,” while The New York Times writes “I was dazzled. You’d have to have a Grinch-sized heart not to feel a smile spreading across your face.”

Great for all ages!

Celebrate Arkansas Shares the Story Behind the Farce That You Don't Want to Miss

Rags-To-Riches Comedy from Across the Pond Makes Its Way To Northwest Arkansas Audiences. The Play That Goes Wrong will have you in stitches in your seat at Walton Arts Center.

Celebrate Arkansas Goes BEHIND-THE-CURTAIN of THE NATIONAL TOUR IN October’s ARTICLE. Learn More About the Mystery…

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If ever there were truth in advertising, it’s the hit British comedy The Play That Goes Wrong, says producer Kevin McCollum. “I’ve got to tell you, it’s been a pleasure having a show that I can market, and it is exactly what it says it is!” McCollum (Rent, Avenue Q) has teamed up with famed writer/producer J.J. Abrams (Star Wars, Star Trek, Lost) to present this international sensation about a hilariously disastrous production of a murder mystery here in the United States. Abrams saw the show in London, when he took a Star Wars: The Force Awakens. “I was amazed by the whole construction of it,” he says. “The way it was put together. The rhythm of it. The cleverness. The brilliance of the performers.”

The show is the brainchild of three graduates of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art — Jonathan Sayer, Henry Shields and Henry Lewis. Sayer says the three men, who performed improv comedy, “were all living together in West London in a little flat in Gunnersbury. “We were working different day jobs,” Sayer says. “I was working at a telephone call center, Henry was working at a burger joint, the other Henry was working in a pub. And we would come home in the evenings, and we’d start writing together.”

Fans of British comedy, from silent film to Mr. Bean, Fawlty Towers and Monty Python, they drew upon their own theater disaster stories to craft a script filled with outrageous slapstick calamities, Sayer says. “There’s always a little bit of some kind of experience we’ve had, that informs some of the moments,” he explains. “But, obviously we take it to a much, much more excruciating place.”

An hour-long version of The Play That Goes Wrong opened in 2012 at the Old Red Lion Pub in North London, with sets, costumes and props the company members (Mischief Theatre) designed themselves. “When we started, there was an audience of about four people,” Shields says. But word of mouth helped grow the audiences and propel the show to the Trafalgar Studios in the West End, where the show acquired producers to take it on tour in the U.K. The producers said, “Well look, you’ve got half of the show,” Sayer remembers. “Now you need to have a second act.”

So, as the three writer/actors worked on a second act, they teamed up with set designer Nigel Hook to come up with more catastrophic theatrical misfortunes. “We wrote down a list of big visual effects that we’d love to have,” Sayer says. And, Shields adds, “We got pretty much everything that we asked for.” Hook’s two-level set, which won a 2017 Tony Award for scenic design, provides a cascading series of malfunctions, beginning with simple effects like doors sticking and pictures falling off the wall, to some truly spectacular and sidesplitting disasters. U.S. producer Kevin McCollum calls it a “set with personality,” which is “the antagonist” to the 10 actors in the show. “It’s man against the elements,” he says, “and it’s very, very powerful stuff.”

Shields says another key to the expansion of the show was to discover how they could “find one joke and then find 10 other jokes that come out of it.” He points to the large grandfather clock on the set, “Just that one prop is used over and over again. The hands come off the clock face; people walk into it; people get stuck inside it; we play a scene to the clock.” The results are “that I think there are more than a thousand jokes in the show, if you include every little laugh,” he says. “Because we get a laugh at least every six or seven seconds, I believe.”

After the U.K. tour, the new and improved play returned to London to the Duchess Theatre on the West End in 2014, where it captured the Olivier award for Best New Comedy. It’s still running. The Play That Goes Wrong is now the longest-running play on Broadway and has been produced in cities across the globe. “One of the most amazing things about having the show running all over the world is to be able to go and see different people in completely different cultures in completely different countries really laughing and enjoying the show,” Lewis says. “To see people in Norway laughing the same way that they’re laughing in Mexico or in Moscow, or all these different places, is really, really great.”

“It’s too easy to find reasons to be depressed and terrified and unsure and disheartened in this moment.” Abrams adds. “And finding something that is pure, unadulterated, hysterically funny, and bighearted piece of entertainment is no small thing. I think one of the reasons that people are laughing as hard as they are at this show is not just that it is so funny, but also that people are so desperate to have a good time. It’s not just about being distracted by the world; it’s about remembering that one of the great reasons we are alive is to come together and to laugh. And The Play That Goes Wrong does that.”

The Play That Goes Wrong

DATES: Nov. 12-17

Welcome to opening night of The Murder at Haversham Manor where things are quickly going from bad to utterly disastrous.

“Non-Stop Laughs” Take the Stage in The Play That Goes Wrong

The Play That Goes Wrong shows that there’s no denying the hilarity of a troupe that unfailingly turns can-do into can-don’t.

It’s a stage manager’s worst nightmare — and an audience’s cue for side splitting laughter. Corpses refuse to lie still. Mispronunciations run rife. Acting styles, if you can dignify these bungling hams with that term, clash.

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Absolutely everything is right about the transfer of Mischief Theatre’s award-winning Broadway production of The Play That Goes Wrong. While “non-stop laughs” has become something of a hackneyed soundbite, here it’s a 100% accurate appraisal of this hysterically funny British farce of the highest order; literally not a minute goes by in which the audience isn’t howling, from before the show officially begins until the final bows. So be sure to be in your seat early, and don’t forget to read the program, so you won’t miss the clever pre-show set-up of what’s to come.

Written by the uproarious Mischief team of Henry Lewis, Henry Shields, and Jonathan Sayer, and directed with full-out zaniness by Matt DiCarlo (following the original Broadway direction by Mark Bell), the self-referencing theatrical spoof (which, for its world premiere in London, won the prestigious Olivier Award for Best New Comedy in 2015) is in the format of a play-within-a-play, in which a university drama society presents a fictitious 1920s mystery called The Murder at Haversham Manor. When an unending series of “minor mishaps” wreaks havoc on opening night, the amateur cast and production team take the old maxim “the show must go on” to the extreme and continue their disastrous performance with die hard commitment till the sidesplitting end.

The show’s laugh-out-loud lunacy encompasses everything from mispronunciations, misplaced props, and mismatched action and dialogue, to missed cues, misaligned spotlights, and a malfunctioning set, along with an array of witty wordplay, sight gags, spit takes, slapstick and pratfalls. For all of the faux calamities to be believable, the timing must be impeccable, and it is, as executed with aplomb by a game ensemble that never misses a beat in the increasingly rapid-fire misfires, and never fails to trigger guffaws from the audience with the laughably convincing ‘bad performances’ of the nonprofessional characters (which is perhaps the most difficult challenge for the terrifically talented actors).

The Play that Goes Wrong

DATES: Nov. 12-17

If you love to laugh, then The Play That Goes Wrong is the right choice for you. It is escapist comedy at its most outrageous, so plan your escape now to Walton Arts Center to enjoy the engagement of this irrepressible hit.

A 2-Hour Beach Vacation Takes the Stage and Celebrate Arkansas Has the Scoop

Jimmy Buffett’s Escape to Margaritaville IS COMING TO WALTON ARTS CENTER STAGE

Tour director Amy Anders Corcoran gives up the behind-the-scenes scoop on the National Tour in Celebrate’s September Article.

ARTICLE BY MARISA LYTLE OF CELEBRATE ARKANSAS

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Want a vacation but can’t quite make it to the beach this year? Walton Arts Center may have just the thing for you when it brings the Broadway musical Escape to Margaritaville to the stage in October. Fayetteville will be the fifth stop on the national tour, just before the show travels to Springfield, Mo., and Little Rock, Ark., making Northwest Arkansas audiences the first in the region to see the show.

“It’s a fun party,” says Amy Corcoran, tour director for Escape to Margaritaville. “It’s like you’re going to the beach, and there’s a party, and everyone’s invited. There’s so much joy and so much laughter, and we could all use that these days. There’s great stuff in there — great music, great crowd scenes, a great story, a really fun cast — a 2.5-hour party.”

Shelly Lynn Walsh as Tammy, Peter Michael Jordan as Brick, Chris Clark as Tully, Sarah Hinrichsen as Rachel in Jimmy Buffett’s ESCAPE TO MARGARITAVILLE. © Matthew Murphy

Escape to Margaritaville is a musical comedy featuring both original songs and the most beloved Jimmy Buffett classics, such as “Cheeseburger in Paradise,” “Volcano,” “Fins,” and many more. Margaritaville is the place that people go to get away from it all — and stay to find something they never expected — in this musical with a book by Emmy Award® winner Greg Garcia (My Name is Earl, Raising Hope) and Emmy Award nominee Mike O’Malley (Survivors Remorse, Shameless). Entertainment Weekly enthuses, “It will knock your flipflops off!” while USA Today tags it, “A little slick of paradise!”

Audiences can sit back and enjoy both tunes they recognize and new tunes that will grab their attention. Corcoran herself says that although she was unfamiliar with many Jimmy Buffett songs before becoming involved in the project, she is now obsessed with his music. “You don’t have to be a Jimmy Buffett fan going into the show already,” she attests. “It’s a big Broadway, splashy musical with all the things you expect — great orchestrations and good choreography, and costumes, and really good performers. You’ll come in and have a great time.”

Corcoran started working with Escape to Margaritaville as the associate director of the show when it opened on Broadway in 2018. Having just wrapped up a job directing a mini-tour of Disney’s Freaky Friday, Corcoran joined Margaritaville for its pre-Broadway tour and then for its 5-month stint on Broadway. The process, she says, was a lot of fun because Buffett himself was around, the writers were there and both very funny, and the whole team was respectful of the process and supported the philosophy that “the best idea wins,” no matter where it comes from.

Company of the National Tour, Jimmy Buffett’s ESCAPE TO MARGARITAVILLE. © Matthew Murphy

Transitioning the show from a Broadway stage in New York City to heading out on the national tour is quite a feat, considering that the set had to be redesigned for traveling, to go quickly up and quickly down, and an all-new cast has to meet and learn to work together. “When you walk into rehearsal the first day, the cast is usually nervous; they don’t really know what they’re going to get into,” Corcoran says. “Those first few days you’re trying to crack the nut of who are these people and what do they want; that part of the process is always really special to me.”

From the initial rehearsal to the previews of the national tour before it launches from Providence, R.I., in late September, the entire development period will take only about five weeks. Then, cast and crew will head out on the road together for at least a year, becoming much like a family in the process. “I’m really excited about the cast we have,” Corcoran says. “I love what we do so much. I love collaborating, and everyone’s always ready to work. Everybody’s on their game.”

Specializing in new works, Corcoran is the US Creative Associate for London’s Aria Entertainment, and she helps cultivate the festival From Page to Stage in London every year. Amy received the SDC Noel Coward Fellowship for Comedic Direction and holds a BA in Psychology with Honors from the University of Kansas and an MFA in Directing from Penn State University.

Escape to Margaritaville

Oct. 22–27

Tickets start at $32

Ticketholders can add on tickets to a Tropical Garden Party for just $15 Oct. 26 from 4:30 to 7:30 pm in the Rose Garden. Tickets include live music, and proceeds go to support Serve NWA New Beginnings Community.

Buffett Hits & New Music Take the Stage in Escape to Margaritaville

Welcome to Margaritaville, where people come to get away from it all—and stay to find something they never expected.

Enjoy a two-hour beach vacation at the hilarious and heartwarming musical with the most unforgettable songs from one of music's greatest storytellers—Jimmy Buffett. USA Today calls it “A little slice of paradise!” and Entertainment Weekly raves, “It will knock your flip-flops off!” So don't let the party start without you at Walton Arts Center.

Would you call yourself a Parrothead? Or, just brushing up on your Jimmy Buffet song knowledge? Check out the background of some of Buffett’s hits and get ready for the island musical, Escape to Margaritaville.

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Shelly Lynn Walsh as Tammy, Peter Michael Jordan as Brick, Chris Clark as Tully, Sarah Hinrichsen as Rachelin Jimmy Buffett’s ESCAPE TO MARGARITAVILLE. © Matthew Murphy

“Fins”

"Fins" is a song written by Buffett, Coral Reefer Band members Deborah McColl and Barry Chance, and author Tom Corcoran. It was first released on his 1979 album Volcano. It reached No. 35 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and No. 42 on the Easy Listening chart.

The title refers to the fins of metaphorical sharks, i.e. "land sharks," men who attempt to pick up the woman who is the subject of the song.

“It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere”

"It's Five O'Clock Somewhere" is a song performed by Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett, and written by Jim "Moose" Brown and Don Rollins. It was released on Jackson's compilation album Greatest Hits Volume II. It spent eight non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in summer of 2003. In addition, the song hit No. 17 on the US Hot 100, making it the biggest pop hit for Jackson and the first top forty hit for Buffett since the 1970s.

“Why Don’t We Get Drunk”

Rachel Lyn Fobbs as Marley, Matthew James Sherrod as Jamaland Companyin Jimmy Buffett’s ESCAPE TO MARGARITAVILLE. © Matthew Murphy

The song is a parody of standard country music love songs. Buffett states that he made the song "as a total satire [and] wasn't even going to put it on the album. We did it foolin' around in one take. But immediately that song became controversial, and there were jukebox sales." The song is a fan favorite and, up until the 2007 Bama Breeze tour, was almost always performed at Buffett's live concerts.

“Son of a Son of a Sailor”

"Son of a Son of a Sailor" is the opening track of the 1978 album of the same name. The song is a fan favorite, although it was not a concert staple until the 2005 Salty Piece of Land tour. The song has gone through several changes during live performances over the years. See what style they go with in Escape to Margaritaville.

“Margaritaville”

This song was written about a drink Buffett discovered at Lung's Cocina del Sur restaurant on Anderson Lane in Austin, Texas, and the first huge surge of tourists who descended on Key West, Florida around that time. He wrote most of the song one night at a friend's house in Austin, and finished it while spending time in Key West. In the United States, "Margaritaville" reached No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and went to number one on the Easy Listening chart, also peaking at No. 13 on the Hot Country Songs chart. Billboard ranked it No. 14 on its 1977 Pop Singles year-end chart. It remains Buffett's highest charting solo single. "Margaritaville" has been inducted into the 2016 Grammy Hall of Fame for its cultural and historic significance

“Volcano”

The song and album are named for the then-dormant Soufrière Hills volcano on the island of Montserrat in the British West Indies where Buffett recorded the album in May 1979 at AIR Studios. The studio was destroyed by Hurricane Hugo in 1989 and Soufrière Hills erupted again in 1995. The lyrics describe the narrator's anxiety about his possible whereabouts following the impending eruption of a volcano.

Shelly Lynn Walsh as Tammy and Peter Michael Jordan as Brick in Jimmy Buffett’s ESCAPE TO MARGARITAVILLE. © Matthew Murphy

“Cheeseburger in Paradise”

The song is about a man who "is trying to amend his carnivorous habits" with health food such as sunflower seeds, but it was inspired by the artist's experience: he had been forced to eat only canned food and peanut butter due to a boating mishap in the Caribbean, but eventually made it to landfall and managed to order the song's titular dish in paradise.

“Come Monday”

Buffett wrote the song to his wife while he was on tour. At a live performance in 1974, Buffett mentioned that he had written the song heading out to California the previous year, meaning that it would have been written as he was "heading up to San Francisco for the Labor Day Weekend show" in 1973. The single version replaces the third line, "I've got my Hush Puppies on," with "I've got my hiking shoes on."

Company of the National Tour,Jimmy Buffett’s ESCAPE TO MARGARITAVILLE. © Matthew Murphy

It is one of Buffett's more popular songs, and is part of "The Big 8" that he has played at almost all of his concerts, typically changing the line "I just can't wait to see you again" to "It's so nice to be in...(location of show)...again".

“One Particular Harbor”

Buffett has said in radio interviews about the song that he wrote it while travelling the islands and that he was moved to write it one afternoon during his journeys, as he sat on the balcony of his hotel room watching the local children (memorialized in the lyric "Where children play on the shore each day").

The song begins with lyrics in Tahitian:

Ia ora te natura
E mea arofa teie ao nei

The translation given is:

Nature lives (life to nature)
Have pity for the Earth (Love the Earth)

It concludes with the same verse plus:

Ua pau te maitai no te fenua
Re zai noa ra te ora o te mitie

This is translated as:

Bounty of the land is exhausted
But there's still abundance on the sea.

Enjoy all of these songs, and more, at Jimmy Buffett’s Escape to Margaritaville, playing at Walton Arts Center on Oct. 22-27. Come for the island-vibes and escape the day to day in the comfort of the theater.

You can also add-on our Friday cocktail class and Saturday Tropical Garden Party from 4:30-7:30 pm.

Shelly Lynn Walsh as Tammy, Peter Michael Jordan as Brick, Chris Clark as Tully, Sarah Hinrichsen as Rachelin Jimmy Buffett’s ESCAPE TO MARGARITAVILLE. © Matthew Murphy

JIMMY BUFFETT'S

Escape to Margaritaville

DATES: Oct. 22-27

LOCATION: Baum Walker Hall at Walton Arts Center

TICKETS: starting at $32

For Lovers of Books & Broadway - Broadway Book Club for the 19-20 Season!

If you are looking for a new way to engage with books or Broadway shows ... this is the club for you! Members of the Broadway Book Club (BBC) read books that relate to our Broadway shows, Then meet together and discuss both.

By joining the BBC, you will have access to discounted tickets to the accompanying show as well as an opportunity to join a lively discussion with other BBC members. Choose as many books from the list as you'd like!

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Curator’s Note:

This year we decided to focus on the four titles of our season that are true book adaptations! Each corresponding show has been adapted from a literary source. Examining them through this lens allows us to consider the choices made when adapting the story – and will bring our discussions beyond the ‘which is better’ question to look deeper and analyze the different vehicles through which we experienced the story and consider the unique attributes of both genres.

This can be as simple as looking at what parts of the plot were left out verses what was included, or go as in depth as to examine how the director, set designers, costumers, lighting designers etc created the world of the novel on stage. Connecting the literary title to its musical counterpart will hopefully give audiences a chance to more deeply engage with the experience!

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Escape to Margaritaville

• SHOW DATES: Oct. 22-27, 2019

• BOOK CLUB DATE & TIME: Monday Oct. 28, 6-7:30 pm

• BOOK: Tales from Margaritaville by Jimmy Buffett

Margaritaville may not appear on a map, but it does exist--at least in the brilliantly creative, sometimes slightly skewed imagination of Jimmy Buffett. Tales from Margaritaville is a collection of short stories (some purely fiction, some based in truth) so vividly packed with restless dreamers, wild wanderers, and pure gypsy souls that just reading it is a wild adventure. Travel along with a cowboy named Tully Mars, as he heads from Heartache, Wyoming, to Graceland, and relive the autobiographical odyssey of a third-generation sailor and first-rate musical outlaw. With unforgettable stories that present the true roamer's twin loves--the sea and the road--Tales from Margaritaville is one "smooth sailing book of infinite imagination" (Chicago Sun-Times).

A Christmas Story

• SHOW DATES: Dec. 10-15, 2019

• BOOK CLUB DATE & TIME: Monday Dec. 2, 6-7:30 pm

• BOOK: In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash by Jean Shepherd
  
  Before Garrison Keillor and Spalding Gray there was Jean Shepherd: a master monologist and writer who spun the materials of his all-American childhood into immensely resonant--and utterly hilarious--works of comic art. In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash represents one of the peaks of his achievement, a compound of irony, affection and perfect detail that speaks across generations.
  
  In God We Trust, Shepherd's wildly witty reunion with his Indiana hometown, disproves the adage "You can never go back." Bending the ear of Flick, his childhood-buddy-turned-bartender, Shepherd recalls passionately his genuine Red Ryder BB gun, confesses adolescent failure in the arms of Junie Jo Prewitt and relives a story of man against fish that not even Hemingway could rival. From pop art to the World's Fair, Shepherd's subjects speak with a universal irony and are deeply and unabashedly grounded in American Midwestern life, together rendering a wonderfully nostalgic impression of a more innocent era when life was good, fun was clean, and station wagons roamed the earth.

Once On This Island

• SHOW DATES: Feb. 11-16, 2020

• BOOK CLUB DATE & TIME: Monday Feb. 17, 6-7:30 pm

• BOOK: My Love, My Love: or The Peasant Girl by Rosa Guy

Rosa Guy’s tropical retelling of "The Little Mermaid" is the gorgeous, tragic love story of Désirée, a beautiful peasant girl who devotes herself to the handsome, aristocratic young man whose life she has saved. When his upper-class family feels that Désirée’s skin is too dark and her family too poor for a boy destined for power and wealth, Désirée proves that she is willing to give everything for love. This lovely reprint will break your heart.

Born in Trinidad, Rosa Guy has written 15 novels and has received the Coretta Scott King Award, and The New York Times Outstanding Book of the Year citation.

Fiddler On The Roof

• SHOW DATES: April 14 - 19, 2020

• BOOK CLUB DATE & TIME: Monday April 20, 6-7:30 pm

• BOOK: Tevye the Dairyman and the Railroad Stories by Sholem Aleichem

Of all the characters in modern Jewish fiction, the most beloved is Tevye, the compassionate, irrepressible, Bible-quoting dairyman from Anatevka, who has been immortalized in the writings of Sholem Aleichem and in acclaimed and award-winning theatrical and film adaptations.

And no Yiddish writer was more beloved than Tevye’s creator, Sholem Rabinovich (1859–1916), the “Jewish Mark Twain,” who wrote under the pen name of Sholem Aleichem. Beautifully translated by Hillel Halkin, here is Sholem Aleichem’s heartwarming and poignant account of Tevye and his daughters, together with the “Railroad Stories,” 21 tales that examine human nature and modernity as they are perceived by men and women riding the trains from shtetl to shtetl.

Broadway Book Club

Contact our Engagement Coordinator to register for the Broadway Book Club, and you can purchase reduced-price tickets (10% off regular ticket price) to the accompanying show with our Group Sales Coordinator by calling 479.571.2719 or emailing groups@waltonartscenter.org.