As the time ticks closer to Tuacahn releasing its 2024-2025 season lineup, there are plenty of opinions on which shows people hope will be on that list.

Invariably, popular Broadway hits like Wicked, The Lion King and others are at the top of our patrons’ comment cards, but it takes a lot more than loving a particular musical to move it along the path from the Broadway to Tuacahn. It takes strong relationships, a great reputation, money, and just the right timing.

When Scott Anderson took on the role of Artistic Director back in 2004, one of his goals was to grow Tuacahn to a point where it would be a contender to receive the rights to perform some of Broadway’s biggest musicals. In order to do that, building relationships was paramount.

“When I came on, I quickly realized if you want to be a player on the national or international level you better get to know the people at the licensing houses, as well as the producers,” Anderson said. “Forging real relationships with them is something that can take years.”

Then, as the saying goes, you have to show them the money.

“Producers and licensing houses earn royalties based on the financial success of the production, so if they have the option of giving a show to a regional theater that is likely to generate $5 million vs. $1 million, you’re in a much better position to get the show first if you’re the $5 million option,” Anderson said.

Within a few years, Anderson’s efforts began to pay off.

In 2008 Tuacahn was among the first regional theaters to receive the professional licensing rights to Les Miserables, and the results of that epic season changed everything.

“Our production of Les Mis generated as much money as some of the largest regional theaters in the United States,” Anderson said. “Relationships with the licensing houses and producers are where it all started, and those are important, but money really talks when it comes to getting these houses to notice your theater.”

Suddenly, Tuacahn was on the radar of some of the biggest licensing houses in the nation, including Music Theatre International (MTI), home to many of Disney Theatrical’s productions and many other musicals, and Concord Theatricals, which includes the rights to the Andrew Lloyd Webber collection, the Rodgers and Hammerstein collection, the Tams-Witmark collection and more.

“Typically, you can’t get a license for a show while it’s on Broadway or on tour,” said Shari Jordan, associate artistic producer for Tuacahn. “However, for very, very long running shows, like Les Mis, they might occasionally release regional rights when the tour is on a break.”

In that case, timing is everything.

On occasion, there are some other workarounds to that usual path, like developing relationships directly with the producers, which is how Tuacahn was selected as the regional premiere for Aladdin (2012) and When You Wish (2015) and even the upcoming production of Disney’s Frozen. Other times, it’s a matter of tracking down the producer if a show hasn’t been sent to a licensing house yet, which is how Tuacahn procured the rights to Prince of Egypt in 2018.

“Now that we’ve established these great relationships and because we do such a great job and we bring in a lot of money, they love our theaters and we can get a lot of first run shows like School of Rock (2021) and this year’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Beautiful,” Jordan said.

With the recent closing of Phantom of the Opera on Broadway, many regional theaters are lining up in the hopes of snagging those rights in the coming years, and Tuacahn is definitely among those who have been laying the groundwork.

“I’ve been working on getting Phantom since I got here, but there’s no date in sight yet,” Anderson said. “We keep getting told that it might be coming out, and when it does, we hope our reputation with productions like Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Starlight Express and others, will help.”

Often times, several similarly sized and geographically located theaters are vying for the same shows. When that happens, whichever theater is granted the licensing rights has the ability to approve or deny other theaters within a certain area from doing the same production during a specific time frame.

“It can go both ways, but we’ve been really fortunate to be able to dictate what the other theaters get after we get the rights,” Anderson said. “We have certainly come up in the world from where we were 20 years ago.”

While there are times all it takes is a quick email to the licensing house with the show request, venue size and ticket pricing, to receive show rights, other times it is a careful dance with the licensing house and the producers. Either way, it’s a vital part of Jordan’s and Anderson’s jobs.

“It’s really exciting,” Jordan said. “I love keeping an eye on certain shows and thinking, ‘maybe one day.’”

For example, Jordan saw Beautiful: The Carole King Musical on Broadway before the pandemic, and now it is playing in the Indoor Hafen Theatre at Tuacahn.

“In the future… Phantom would be such a coup,” Jordan said. “I also loved Mrs. Doubtfire, I think that would do well here so I’m keeping my eye on that one. I also think A Beautiful Noise would do well here, but that’s still on Broadway.”

In the end, only time — along with hard work and some patience — will tell which productions will make their way from Broadway to Tuacahn. But you can bet whichever shows are selected will be well-worth the effort.

Don’t miss this season’s musicals in the Outdoor Amphitheatre including Tarzan, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, along with Beautiful: The Carole King Musical and White Christmas in the Indoor Hafen Theatre. Call 435-652-3300 for tickets or check out www.tuacahn.org