BOOP!, HELL'S KITCHEN and More Set for RBTL's 26-27 Season at West Herr Auditorium Theatre
The seven-show lineup will include Rochester premieres of The Notebook, The Outsiders, and more.
The 2026-2027 Broadway Season at the West Herr Auditorium Theatre has been revealed!. Four of the seven shows will be performing in Rochester for the first time, including BOOP! The Musical, Alicia Keys' HELL'S KITCHEN, THE NOTEBOOK and THE OUTSIDERS. Disney's THE LION KING, THE SOUND OF MUSIC and JERSEY BOYS will be making their highly anticipated returns.
Rochester will serve as the official national tour launch site for BOOP! The Musical. The production's full team - including producers, cast, crew and creatives - will spend nearly a month at the West Herr Performing Arts Center teching the show. This critical period allows the team to refine every element of staging, lighting, sound and choreography, ensuring the production is fully realized before its grand opening.
This 7-show Season Ticket Package was unveiled on Tuesday, March 31, accompanied by several performances, including from the Broadway company of THE LION KING, the Broadway company of THE OUTSIDERS and Rochester's 2025 Jimmy Awards nominee, Tessa Meyers.
About the shows in the 2026-2027 M&T Bank Broadway Season:
BOOP! THE MUSICAL
For almost a century, the Betty Boop character has won hearts and inspired fans around the world with her trademark looks, voice and style. Now, in BOOP! The Musical, October 3-10, 2026, Betty's dream of an ordinary day off from super-celebrity in her black-and-white world leads to an adventure of color, music and love in New York City. Tony Award-winning director/choreographer Jerry Mitchell (Kinky Boots, Hairspray, La Cage aux Folles) brings Fleischer Studios' Queen of the Screen to life with a score by celebrated multiple GRAMMY winner David Foster ("I Have Nothing," "After the Love Is Gone," "The Prayer"), lyrics by Tony Award nominee Susan Birkenhead (Working, Jelly's Last Jam) and a book by Tony Award winner Bob Martin (The Drowsy Chaperone, The Prom).
HELL'S KITCHEN
Alicia Keys' HELL'S KITCHEN, the award-winning Broadway musical created and inspired by the 17-time Grammy Award winning artist, takes you on the journey of Ali - a 17-year-old girl full of fire, November 3-8, 2026. Relatable, raw, and refreshingly fun, it's a celebration of finding yourself, your purpose and the people who lift you up. The music - a mix of Keys' greatest hits and new songs written exclusively for the show - and exhilarating choreography, bring to life a story that speaks to you no matter where you're from, where you've been, or where you're going. Feel the energy of this multi-award-winning musical and experience where dreams begin: HELL'S KITCHEN.
THE SOUND OF MUSIC
For 65 years, THE SOUND OF MUSIC has been one of our "favorite things." With its timeless story and irresistibly charming score, this Rodgers & Hammerstein classic isn't just meant to be enjoyed - it's meant to be shared December 1-6, 2026. Directed by three-time Tony Award winner Jack O'Brien (Hairspray), this vibrant and romantic tale of Maria and the von Trapp family features beloved songs like "Do-Re-Mi," "Sixteen Going on Seventeen" and "Edelweiss."
THE NOTEBOOK
The acclaimed musical, THE NOTEBOOK, brings a love story for the ages to the stage in Rochester February 16-21, 2027. Based on the best-selling novel that inspired the iconic film, THE NOTEBOOK tells the story of Allie and Noah, both from different worlds, who share a lifetime of love despite the forces that threaten to pull them apart. "Full of butterfly-inducing highs and beautiful songs" (Entertainment Weekly), THE NOTEBOOK is a deeply moving portrait of the enduring power of love, and features music by singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson and a book by TV's Bekah Brunstetter ("This Is Us").
JERSEY BOYS
The original Broadway sensation returns to the road! Celebrating 20 years - Jersey style! They were just four guys from Jersey, until they sang their very first note. They had a sound nobody had ever heard... and the radio just couldn't get enough of. But while their harmonies were perfect on stage, off stage it was a very different story - a story that has made them an international sensation all over again. Go behind the music and inside the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons in the Tony Award-winning, original Broadway sensation, JERSEY BOYS, March 16-21, 2027. From the streets of New Jersey to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, this is the musical that's too good to be true.
THE LION KING
More than 130 million people around the world have experienced the phenomenon of Disney's THE LION KING, and now you can too, when Rochester's best-loved musical returns to the Auditorium Theatre April 28-May 16, 2027. Winner of six Tony Awards, including Best Musical, this landmark musical event brings together one of the most imaginative creative teams on Broadway. Tony Award-winning director Julie Taymor brings to life a story filled with hope and adventure set against an amazing backdrop of stunning visuals. THE LION KING also features some of Broadway's most recognizable music, crafted by Tony Award-winning artists Elton John and Tim Rice with choreography by longtime Rochester resident, Garth Fagan. There is simply nothing else like THE LION KING.
THE OUTSIDERS
The winner of four 2024 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, is THE OUTSIDERS, running June 15-20, 2027. This classic coming-of-age story takes you to Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1967, where Ponyboy Curtis, his Best Friend Johnny Cade, and their family of Greaser "outsiders" dream about who they want to become in a world that will never accept them. THE OUTSIDERS features Danya Taymor's Tony Award winning direction.
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