Nashville Broadway 2013-14 Season Features ‘Jersey Boys,’ ‘War Horse,’ ‘Ghost’

Appropriately, Nashville’s 2013-2014 Broadway season will lean heavily on musicals featuring popular music.

There’s a reason the place is known as Music City, after all, and the Tennessee Performing Arts Center (better known as TPAC) will welcome “Jersey Boys,” “We Will Rock You” and “Million Dollar Quartet,” among others during the upcoming season.

Perhaps it’s “Million Dollar Quartet” that is most appropriate to the city, as the musical recounts the true story of when Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins came together in what could be called the world’s first supergroup three hours down I-40 in Memphis. The session only lasted one day (December 4, 1956), but the musical includes tons of classic country and rock songs, including “That’s All Right,” “Folsom Prison Blues,” “Blue Suede Shoes” and more.

The production will stop in Nashville for an engagement lasting May 6-11, 2014, and TPAC president and CEO Kathleen O’Brien said in a statement that she is excited about the Broadway season continuing to offer new forms of entertainment to Nashville.

“Everywhere you look Nashville is turning heads and making headlines, and we’re proud of the role TPAC plays in our city’s thriving creative community by providing audiences with the best of Broadway’s cutting-edge storytelling, family-friendly entertainment, and pop culture-filled blockbusters,” O’Brien said. “We begin and end next season with two of the most awarded Broadway productions in recent memory, one of which is returning to Nashville and a debut show we’ve been pursuing for some time. It’s a year of entertainment packed with new musicals, long-awaited returns, worldwide hits, and some of the most jaw-dropping artistry being presented on stage. We can’t wait to share it with you.”

Those opening and closing shows she mentions are “Jersey Boys” (October 29-November 3) and “War Horse” (June 3-8). The season is rounded out by “We Will Rock You” (November 12-17), “Ghost” (February 25-March 2, 2014) and “Sister Act” (March 11-16, 2014).

In addition to the season, TPAC also will host special engagements of “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast” (September 24-29) and “Wicked” (March 26-April 20, 2014).