We have had the privilege over the last few years to speak with Leslie Broecker, President of Broadway Across America Midwest, about her work to bring the best and the brightest of Broadway to the stages of Murat Theatre at Old National Centre downtown and Clowes Memorial Hall at Butler University. We once again got the inside word on how this season came to be and what to know about this new lineup. 

Leslie started by sharing how incredibly excited she is about the 2024-2025 season. As she so aptly says it, Indianapolis will “have the hottest most talked about shows on Broadway.” The lineup includes ELF, MOULIN ROUGE! THE MUSICAL, SIX, BEETLEJUICE, and WICKED. The energy following this announcement is palpable. “You get a holiday offering (ELF), and then Wicked with everything that’s going on around it to close out the season, it’s been going crazy!”

There seemed to be a potential theme this year of shows that started as films or have been made into films. We were curious if this was intentional or purely coincidental. Leslie shares that it seems to be a trend on Broadway in general, but “I think that we have never really seen a film hinder a show, we’ve only seen them make it bigger.” That certainly seems true for WICKED, which has a feature film due for release in November of this year. If you haven’t seen the film before the musical, Leslie recommends that you wait to see it live first. “Wait and be led by the musical because your imagination will be freer than if you’ve seen the movie.”

If there were a theme for this season, it would simply be to bring audiences in Indianapolis the best lineup possible. Leslie works tirelessly to strike a balance by providing “the backbone, making sure you have a few favorites, [and] those wonderful old chestnuts.” She always uses Broadway as her starting point, looking for “what’s on Broadway that’s new and current.” She was able to get WICKED early and lucked out with ELF since holiday shows only work best when they land in the right season. 

Of course we asked for any special insights into some of the individual shows, and we spent the most time on MOULIN ROUGE! THE MUSICAL, SIX, and WICKED.

MOULIN ROUGE! THE MUSICAL is based on a hit film that samples a lot of modern music to create a vivid and vivacious story set in Bohemian Paris. When we asked what makes the musical production worth the trip, Leslie did not mince words. “It’s a beautiful production, it’s sexy, it’s got all of that heady, steamy [fun to it and] more current music has been incorporated into it.” The mere thought of it had her dancing in her seat.

SIX is a more recent addition to Broadway and tells the individual stories of the wives of King Henry VIII with some modern twists. Leslie shares that “SIX is just the big new hit from a couple of seasons ago.” Similar to HAMILTON, you “take history and twist it, enhance it, have fun with it. Now people will leave the theater, go investigate, and want to know more about Henry VIII and all his eccentricities.” We wondered if Leslie is a fan of the way Broadway is evolving, and she celebrates it, stating how “so many Broadway shows have that little nugget of surprise” that intrigues and entrances audiences. 

WICKED is another smash hit that has been around since 2003 and came to Indianapolis as recently as 2018. Why bring it back? As Leslie cleverly quips, “it’s ever-green!” 

One significant change for theatergoers to note for this season is that some curtain times have shifted. Subscribers were surveyed to see what times they’d prefer, and the majority ruled. The overwhelming response has times rolling back. Performances Tuesday through Friday will be at 7 PM (previously 7:30 PM), Saturdays will be 2 PM and 7:30 PM (previously 8 PM), and Sundays will remain 1 PM and 6:30 PM. Leslie is thrilled about the change and how universal the response was. “I love the opportunity to make change that the people want.”

Leslie is also hopeful that this season will prove to be a record breaker. As she said of 2023-2024, “The way this season has panned out, everything is selling out.” If subscribers show up again this season even stronger, we can keep this momentum going in Indianapolis for a long time to come. “The key is with these kinds of numbers…I’m able to get the shows faster. Shows want to play cities that are successful. Makes me very happy for the market. It just keeps feeding itself forward.”

With streaming services everywhere and so much entertainment available at the touch of a button, we asked Leslie one final question: what makes people come back to live theater? Why are we seeing this incredible resurgence? After the impact of the pandemic, Leslie says simply “I just think people’s hearts were for live entertainment, the recognition of that live experience and that live moment,” and in a city like Indianapolis, “I think we’re holding our own with sports and everything else…we’re all speaking to the same group of people” because live entertainment touches a special place in all of our hearts. 

Don’t miss your chance to see this incredible lineup and subscribe to Broadway in Indianapolis! We hope to see you all at curtain time.