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alley arts organizations are excited to re-open their doors to live performances and new experiences for patrons starved for connection after more than a year of closures and limitations due to the pandemic. The return of award-winning theater, live concerts and dance, and evocative visual arts is testimony to the art world’s creativity and resilience.
Two world premieres are among the lineup for Arizona Theatre Company at the Herberger Theater Center in Phoenix. They are how to make an American Son — exploring immigration, family and the American Dream — and Justice, a new musical focusing on US Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Sandra Day O’Connor.
Arts administrators made use of the time apart to make improvements to infrastructure and to forge new partnerships that will enhance their offerings to the public.
ASU Gammage presents the long-awaited Hamilton, followed by a string of other popular hit musicals and dramas, including Tootsie and The Lion King.
Audiences will enjoy gallery renovations, new rigging and lighting, and joint exhibitions such as “Chihuly in the Desert,” the result of a collaboration between Desert Botanical Garden and Taliesin West, which both will display stunning glass installations by artist Dale Chihuly from December 3 to June 19.
The Phoenix Theatre Company was forced by the pandemic to shut its doors for the first time in its 100-year history. The 2021-22 season is back full force, offering 10 classic productions plus a Festival of New American Theatre in partnership with ASU.
The 2021-2022 season promises to be better than ever! Here are just a few of the highlights. For more, read the stories inside. 8
THEATER
In Peoria, Arizona Broadway Theatre also has a full roster of hits, starting in September with Chicago, a tale of murder, greed and corruption set in the Roaring Twenties.
