Broadway Cleveland 2013-14 Season Features ‘Wicked,’ ‘Jersey Boys,’ ‘Sleeping Beauty’

The seven shows that will make up the 2013-2014 Cleveland Broadway series include “Wicked,” “Jersey Boys” and “Sleeping Beauty.”

The KeyBank Broadway series will play at city’s PlayhouseSquare, and also will feature the hits “Once” and “The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess.”

First up for the season will be Matthew Bourne’s “Sleeping Beauty,” which will play October 1-October 13. Gina Vernaci, the senior vice president of theater operations at PlayhouseSquare told the Plain Dealer “I have been trying to get a Matthew Bourne production here to Cleveland for years.”

Vernaci also said that she saw a version of the re-imagining of the classic Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa ballet in London last winter and said “It’s a version of ‘Sleeping Beauty’ you can really sink your teeth into.”

“Once,” the hit of the last Broadway season will come to Cleveland next, and will play November 12-24. The simple musical won eight Tony Awards at the 2012 festival and features actors playing their own instruments.

The ever-popular “Wicked” will play in Cleveland for the holiday season, running December 4, 2013-January 5, 2014. The prequel of sorts to the legendary Wizard of Oz novel and film features a book by Winnie Holzman and music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz.

“It amazes me, quite honestly, to see how audiences want to come back and touch this show over and over and over again,” Vernaci said in her interview with the Plain Dealer. The musical has appeared at the PlayhouseSquare three times before.

“The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess” will play February 4-February 16, 2014 and will be followed by “The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber on March 4-16, 2014. The latter features hits from “The Phantom of the Opera,” “Cats,” “Evita” and more.

“Flashdance: The Musical” will play April 1-April 13, 2014 and is based on the 1983 film of the same name. Finally, “Jersey Boys” will close out the season, running May 6-May 18, 2014.