After a 2024-25 Broadway season whose sizzle was somewhat dampened by cancellations due to Hurricane Milton, the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall surged back post-cleanup with shows like Moulin Rouge and the upcoming Beetlejuice. Now, executive director Mary Bensel has announced the coming 2025-26 season, with hopes for no repeats of storm damage.

In fact, one of the shows in the lineup was rescheduled for this season after having to be postponed last year: Tina—The Tina Turner Musical, now coming to the hall Feb. 20-22, 2026. It’s one of 10 Broadway shows, some of them Sarasota premieres, heading our way.

What does Bensel feel most excited about? “The biggest show in my mind is MJ [centered around the making of Michael Jackson’s 1992 world tour],” she says. “When I saw it on Broadway, I was blown away. It was just like watching Michael Jackson himself. It’s a reminder of how many hits he had.”

Bensel says people across the country have also been falling in love with another show that examines the creative career of a music icon, A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical, created in collaboration with Diamond himself. “I really think that will appeal to our audience here,” she says, partly because of our area’s older demographic of people who will recall the songwriter-musician’s long career.

But Bensel says she works every season to have a mix of genres when it comes to the Broadway shows. So the schedule ranges from the season-opening, and very family-friendly, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, derived from the classic Dr. Seuss story, to the more risqué Book of Mormon, which, she says, “was the biggest ‘get’ of all time when it first came out. It’s a huge show and continues to sell out across the country.”

<figure class="c-media c-media–image c-align–center" data-entity-class="image" data-entity-id="97923" data-entity-method="embed" data-image-align="center" data-image-caption="The cast of Some Like It Hot, coming to the Van Wezel in 2026.” data-image-selection=”{“x1″:0,”y1″:0,”x2″:5000,”y2″:3335,”width”:5000,”height”:3335}” readability=”-15.091743119266″>

Bensel also raves about the four-time Tony winner Some Like It Hot, an updated revision of the classic comedy movie starring Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon as two musicians on the run, forced to dress up as women to evade gangsters. There are new, contemporary twists to the male/female mixups and identities here, while still retaining the humor of the original Billy Wilder film.

The ever-popular Irish song and dance show Riverdance returns to the hall to celebrate 30 years of entertaining its fans, and the beloved Meredith Willson musical The Music Man will once more transport the audience to River City, Iowa, where Harold Hill and Marian the librarian meet and woo. A new experience for Sarasota, the musical adaptation of the hit film starring the late Robin Williams, Mrs. Doubtfire, also takes to the stage, telling the story of an out-of-work actor who will do anything to see his kids—including dressing up as a Scottish nanny, the title character.

<figure class="c-media c-media–image c-align–center" data-entity-class="image" data-entity-id="97924" data-entity-method="embed" data-image-align="center" data-image-caption="The cast of Mrs. Doubtfire, arriving at the Van Wezel in April 2026.” data-image-selection=”{“x1″:0,”y1″:0,”x2″:5000,”y2″:3333,”width”:5000,”height”:3333}” readability=”-15.530434782609″>

Something a bit different rounds out the Broadway season: a production of Mark Twain Tonight starring Richard Thomas. Not only is it not a musical, the performances by Thomas mark the first time that anyone besides the late Hal Holbrook has appeared in this show, which Holbrook wrote and toured in for many years. Bensel remembers her own close encounters with Holbrook from years ago.

“When the Twain show first came out on tour,” she recalls, “I had been running a theater in Philadelphia, and I had dinner with Hal and his wife Dixie [Carter, an actress] every night after the show. Hal was wearing so much makeup [to appear as Twain] that it took hours to take it off, so it would be 11 or so before I got the chance to be charmed by them over dinner. I think Thomas is a great choice for this. He’s been out on the road a lot lately [with productions of To Kill a Mockingbird and Our Town] and he’s just an amazing stage actor. I can absolutely see him in the role [of humorist Twain].”

In addition to the Broadway lineup, the Van Wezel is bringing back performances of Neil Berg’s 50 Years of Rock ‘n’ Roll (Nov. 13); the all-male a cappella ensemble Straight No Chaser (Dec. 29); the annual Salute to Vienna New Year’s Concert (Dec. 30); dance phenom Tango After Dark (Jan. 11); Neil Berg’s 116 Years of Broadway (March 25); Neil Berg’s 100 Years of Hollywood (April 9); and the party/concert/pub “lock-in” show Choir of Man, featuring nine male performers, all genres of music, tap dancing and singalongs (Feb. 11). The long-running Blue Man Group will also appear, Jan. 13 and 14.

Show dates for the Broadway runs are: How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Nov. 14-16); Book of Mormon (Dec. 9-14); Some Like It Hot (Jan. 20-25, 2026); Riverdance (Jan. 27-29); MJ (Feb. 3-8); Tina—The Tina Turner Musical (Feb. 20-22); A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical (March 31-April 4); The Music Man (April 10 and 11); Mrs. Doubtfire (April 14 and 15); and Mark Twain Tonight (April 21 and 22).

Subscriptions are now available at the hall’s website, vanwezel.org, or by calling (941) 263-6799 or stopping by the box office Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., or Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. There are three different subscription options available.