BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Indiana University Auditorium is reopening this fall to welcome audiences back through their doors this October for the launch of the 2021–2022 season. The season features a collection of hit Broadway musicals, award-winning musicians, family favorites, dance, and more.

 

The 2021–2022 season has something for everyone, including Tony Award-winning Broadway musicals Anastasia and Jersey Boys. Other musicals scheduled include the highly-anticipated performances of Waitress, Beautiful – The Carole King Musical, An Officer and a Gentlemen, and The Prom.

 

IU Auditorium will also present a diverse array of other can’t-miss performances for audiences to enjoy, including Emmy and Tony Award-winning singer and actress Kristin Chenoweth, a night of laughs with comedian and actor from The Hangover films and Crazy Rich Asians Ken Jeong, music by Grammy Award-winning groups St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and Silkroad Ensemble, holiday season concerts by Straight No Chaser and the IU Singing Hoosiers, a tour stop by fan-favorite Blue Man Group, a performance by the world-renowned Martha Graham Dance Company, and so much more.

 

“To say we are excited to lift our curtain again to a new season would be an understatement,” said IU Auditorium Executive Director Doug Booher. “There are so many things that make the IU Auditorium special, but the most important is our patrons and loyal supporters. We can’t wait to welcome everyone back to our building to share live experiences of world-class performances.”

 

New Subscription Purchasing Process in 2021–2022

New this season, IU Auditorium subscribers now have the opportunity to select their own seats! Loyalty Points members and new subscribers will be able to place their orders and select their seats before tickets go on sale to the general public. This new process is explained online at IUauditorium.com/Subscribe and dates of when subscriptions and pre-orders go on sale are listed below.

 

Dates to Purchase Tickets

July 19          
Loyalty Points Seat Selection Begins (online only)

 

July 26
New Subscribers Seat Selection Begins (online only)

 

August 9–15

Single Ticket Pre-Order Week (online only)

 

August 16
Single Tickets On Sale to the General Public (online and in-person at our box office)

 

The IU Auditorium 2021–2022 season is presented with support from season partners Curry Auto Center, The Herald-Times, B97, World Arts, Inc., and the Cook Family of Companies.

 

To see the complete list of events for the 2021–2022 season, visit IUauditorium.com.

 

2021-2022 IU Auditorium Season

 

Waitress

Tuesday & Wednesday

October 5 & 6

 

Making its Bloomington debut, the fun and contemporary Broadway hit Waitress arrives at IU Auditorium this fall. Brought to life by a groundbreaking, all-female creative team, this Tony Award-nominated show features original music and lyrics by Grammy winner Sara Bareilles (“Love Song,” “Brave”), a book by acclaimed screenwriter Jessie Nelson (I Am Sam), and direction by Tony Award-winner Diane Paulus (Pippin, Finding Neverland). 

 

Meet Jenna, a waitress and expert pie-maker who dreams of a way out of her small town and rocky marriage. Pouring her heart into her pies, she crafts desserts that mirror her topsy-turvy life, such as “The Key (Lime) to Happiness Pie” and “Betrayed By My Eggs Pie.” When a baking contest in a nearby county—and a satisfying encounter with someone new—gives Jenna a chance at a fresh start, she must find the courage to seize it. Change is on the menu, as long as Jenna can write her own perfectly personal recipe for happiness.

 

“Waitress is a little slice of heaven!” says Entertainment Weekly, and is “sweet, sassy and passionate,” according to New York Magazine. Don’t miss this uplifting and hilarious musical that will have you singing the songs for years to come.

 

 

Dennis James Hosts Halloween

Wednesday

October 27

 

Bloomington’s favorite musical mastermind, Dennis James, returns for his annual spooky spectacular packed with music and mayhem with Dennis James Hosts Halloween.

 

This year, the family-friendly event will feature the 1929 silent film thriller The Mysterious Island. An altruistic scientist, Count Dakar, has built an underground city with modernistic devices to bring about world peace. But Fallon, an evil Slavic nobleman, whom Dakar considers a friend, has other plans. Will Dakar find out about his so-called friend’s plan in time to achieve peace? Grab your seat and be treated to the outcome of this silent film saga accompanied by cinema organist and IU alum Dennis James on IU Auditorium’s 4,543 pipe organ. 

 

This special family-friendly Bloomington Halloween tradition is sure to be a treat! Make sure to arrive early for your chance to cross the stage during the annual costume contest.

 

 

Kristin Chenoweth

Saturday

October 30

 

Join us as Emmy and Tony Award-winning actress and singer Kristin Chenoweth brings the concert from her limited Broadway run titled For the Girls to Bloomington. The evening will be a heartfelt tribute to the great female singers throughout history, particularly some of Kristin’s heroes and friends. The album of the same name includes Chenoweth’s personally charged interpretations of classic songs like “The Way We Were” and “I Will Always Love You” identified with such iconic artists such as Barbra Streisand, Lesley Gore, Linda Ronstadt, Dinah Washington, Dolly Parton, and more.

 

Kristin’s career spans film, television, voiceover, and stage. She played the original role of Glinda the Good Witch in Wicked, where she earned a Tony Award nomination, and she won a Tony for her role Sally in You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown. She has received a coveted star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame, an Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her role in Pushing Daisies, and two Emmy nominations and a People’s Choice Award for her role in Glee. 

 

Don’t miss this special evening with Kristin Chenoweth in Concert: For The Girls for one-night only.

 

 

Anastasia

Tuesday & Wednesday

November 9 & 10

 

Inspired by the beloved films, the romantic and adventure-filled new musical Anastasia is on a journey to Bloomington at last!

 

From the Tony Award-winning creators of the Broadway classic Ragtime, this dazzling show transports us from the twilight of the Russian Empire to the euphoria of Paris in the 1920s, as a brave young woman sets out to discover the mystery of her past. Pursued by a ruthless Soviet officer determined to silence her, Anya enlists the aid of a dashing conman and a lovable ex-aristocrat. Together, they embark on an epic adventure to help her find home, love, and family. 

 

Anastasia features a book by celebrated playwright Terrence McNally, a lush new score by Stephen Flaherty (music) and Lynn Ahrens (lyrics), based on original direction by Tony Award winner Darko Tresnjak, with choreography by Peggy Hickey, and tour direction by Sarah Hartmann.

 

 

Chimes of Christmas

Saturday

December 4

 

Celebrate the holiday season with the Grammy-nominated Singing Hoosiers when they return to IU Auditorium for the jolliest family-friendly event of the year, Chimes of Christmas. The Singing Hoosiers deck their annual concert with a revue of contemporary songs, favorite carols, and classical choral arrangements sure to make your holiday spirits bright.

 

The Singing Hoosiers, directed by Dr. Chris Albanese, are a Bloomington favorite with over half a century of tradition in contemporary vocal performance. They have enchanted audiences all over the country and the globe, with performances in more than 26 countries.

 

Featuring performances by Jacobs School of Music ensembles, the performers will come together to make your holidays merry and bright with this beloved Bloomington tradition.

 

 

Beautiful – The Carole King Musical

Friday–Sunday

December 10–12

 

Long before she was the chart-topping music legend Carole King, she was Carol Klein, a Brooklyn girl with passion and chutzpah. She fought her way into the record business as a teenager, and by the time she reached her 20s, had the husband of her dreams and a flourishing career writing hits for the biggest acts in rock n’ roll. But, it wasn’t until her personal life began to crack that she finally found her true voice.

 

For six years prior to closing in 2020, Beautiful, the Tony and Grammy Award-winning Carole King musical, thrilled Broadway with the inspiring true story of one woman’s remarkable journey from teenage songwriter to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

 

Featuring over two dozen pop classics, including “You’ve Got a Friend,” “One Fine Day,” “Up on the Roof,” “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,” “Will You Love Me Tomorrow,” and “Natural Woman,” this crowd-pleasing, international phenomenon is filled with the songs you remember and a story you’ll never forget! 

 

 

Straight No Chaser

Friday

December 17

 

A cappella sensation Straight No Chaser is coming home to IU Auditorium once again, bringing with them a live show packed with pop hits, holiday favorites, and plenty of laughs along the way as part of their Back in the High Life Tour.

 

After getting their start at IU, Straight No Chaser emerged as a phenomenon with a massive fanbase and a long list of accomplishments, including two RIAA Gold Certified albums, over 1.5 million concert tickets sold, over 1 billion streams, and over two million albums sold worldwide. They are the real deal, making extraordinary music and emotionally captivating audiences, all through the sound of nine unadulterated human voices coming together...and a sense of humor.

 

It is always a special evening when the guys return to where it all began, here at Indiana University.

 

 

An Officer and A Gentleman

Tuesday

January 18

 

Arriving in Bloomington this winter, An Officer and a Gentleman is a sweeping romance that will lift you up where you belong! 

 

Zack Mayo’s got smarts and a body built for US Navy pilot boot camp, but he also has too much swagger… until he meets a drill sergeant who is determined to drill his arrogance out of him. Zack finds comfort in the arms of a local factory girl, but it isn’t until tragedy befalls a fellow candidate that Zack learns the importance of love and friendship, and finds the courage to be his best self and win the heart of the woman he loves.

 

Based on the Oscar-winning film starring Richard Gere, An Officer and Gentleman is a breathtaking production that celebrates triumph over adversity and includes one of the most iconic and romantic endings ever portrayed on screen. The production features the Grammy Award-winning and No. 1 hit single “Up Where We Belong,” and a score based on the 1980s catalogue of music that gave voice to a generation. The live stage production is a new adaptation by multiple Tony Award nominee Dick Scanlan (Thoroughly Modern Millie, Everyday Rapture), and is based on the original screenplay by Douglas Day Stewart. The musical is directed by Scanlan with choreography by Patricia Wilcox (Motown, A Night with Janis Joplin).

 

 

Ken Jeong

Saturday

February 12

 

Known for his scene stealing abilities, actor, producer, writer, and comedian Ken Jeong has established himself as one of today’s top comedic stars. Since his feature film debut in Knocked Up in 2007, Jeong has gone on to star in several memorable roles in a series of successful comedies.

Jeong is currently a judge on the FOX hit show The Masked Singer. Prior to that, he created and starred in ABC’s Dr. Ken and was a regular on the critically acclaimed NBC show Community. He has also appeared on the big screen in hits such as The Hangover films, Crazy Rich Asians, and Step Brothers.

In 2019, Jeong returned to his stand-up roots for his first ever hit Netflix comedy special, Ken Jeong: You Complete Me, Ho, and he’ll be bringing his hilarity to the IU Auditorium stage this winter.

 

Martha Graham Dance Company

Tuesday

March 1

 

The Martha Graham Dance Company has been a world leader in the evolving art form of modern dance since its founding in 1926. Martha Graham, the founder of the dance company, is recognized as one of the most invigorating artistic forces of the 20th century through her creation of the iconic Graham Technique along with countless artistic works. 

 

Honoring Martha Graham’s legacy in all artistic endeavors, the Company finds ways to refreshingly embrace her longstanding masterpieces alongside more recently commissioned works by premiere contemporary choreographers of today. Their Bloomington performance will include the works Acts of Light, Immediate Tragedy, and Diversion of Angels.

 

The influence of Graham’s distinctive movement style has catapulted the Company into years of worldwide acclaim by audiences in over 50 countries.

 

 

Blue Man Group

Wednesday & Thursday

March 23 & 24

More than 35 million people around the world have experienced the smash hit phenomenon that is Blue Man Group, and now it’s your turn! Blue Man Group returns to Bloomington for a limited engagement on their new North American tour this spring. 

It is everything you know and love about Blue Man Group—signature drumming, colorful moments of creativity and quirky comedy—the men are still blue, but the rest is all new! Featuring pulsing, original music, custom-made instruments, surprise audience interaction, and hilarious absurdity. Join the Blue Men in a joyful experience that unites audiences of all ages.

 

 

St. Louis Symphony Orchestra

Friday

March 25

Celebrated as one of today’s most exciting and enduring orchestras, the Grammy Award-winning St. Louis Symphony Orchestra is the second-oldest orchestra in the country, marking its 142nd year with the 2021–2022 season and its third with music director Stéphane Denève. Widely considered one of the world’s finest orchestras, the SLSO maintains its commitment to artistic excellence, educational impact, and community connections—all in service to its mission of enriching lives through the power of music.

Their Bloomington performance will include James Lee III’s Chupshah! Harriet’s Drive to Canaan, George Gershwin’s Concerto in F, and Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 3. The program will feature pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, who has performed worldwide, recorded more than 50 albums earning two Grammy nominations, and built a reputation as one of today’s finest pianists.

Twice last year, members of the SLSO brass sections performed live on the IU campus at Prebys Amphitheater as part of the campus’ Open Air Venues initiative. The musicians also led masterclasses during their visits with students from the Jacobs School of Music. Next spring, the entire orchestra will also lead a residency with Jacobs students.

 

 

The Prom

Tuesday & Wednesday

March 29 & 30

 

Everyone’s invited to the joyous Broadway hit that New York Magazine hails as “smart and big-hearted” while The New York Times declares it “makes you believe in musical comedy again!” The Prom is a new musical comedy about big Broadway stars on a mission to change the world and the love they discover that unites them all.

 

Variety raves, “It’s so full of happiness that you think your heart is about to burst.” And The Hollywood Reporter cheers, “It’s comic gold!”

 

The Prom features direction and choreography by Tony Award winner Casey Nicholaw (Mean Girls, The Book of Mormon), a book by Tony Award winner Bob Martin (The Drowsy Chaperone) and Tony Award nominee Chad Beguelin (Aladdin), music by Tony Award nominee Matthew Sklar (Elf) and lyrics by Tony Award nominee Chad Beguelin.

 

You belong at The Prom!

 

 

Silkroad Ensemble

Friday

April 8

 

The Grammy Award-winning Silkroad Ensemble creates music that engages difference, sparking radical cultural collaboration and passion-driven learning to build a more hopeful world. Founded by cellist Yo-Yo Ma, the group has been called “vibrant and virtuosic” by the Wall Street Journal, “one of the 21st century’s great ensembles” by the Vancouver Sun, and a “roving musical laboratory without walls” by the Boston Globe.

 

Their program in Bloomington will feature an evening-length multimedia performance of Home Within, an emotional accounting of home in a time of conflict. This audio-visual performance, conceived through a collaboration between Syrian composer and clarinetist Kinan Azmeh and Syrian-Armenian visual artist Kevork Mourad, is an impressionistic reflection on the unity of loss, longing, and the impact of tragedy on our sense of ‘home.’ Rather than follow a narrative, the artists documented ‘home’ at specific moments in Syria’s recent history. Then, they used the counterpoint between image and sound to establish a sense of sustained urgency and continued hope for both their homeland and communities around the world. 

 

Home Within, originally created as a duo collaboration over a decade ago, is now taking on new life as a large-scale collaboration with Silkroad.

 

 

Jersey Boys

Friday & Saturday

April 22 & 23

 

The boys are coming back to Bloomington better than ever.

 

They were just four guys from Jersey, until they sang their very first note. They had a sound nobody had ever heard…and the radio couldn’t get enough of. But while their harmonies were perfect on stage, off stage it was a very different story—a story that has made them an international sensation all over again.

Go behind the music and inside the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons in the Tony and Grammy Award-winning true-life musical phenomenon, Jersey Boys. From the streets of New Jersey to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, this is the musical that’s too good to be true.

 

Audiences will be blown away by the spot-on renditions of hits like “Sherry,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “Walk Like A Man,” “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You,” and “December, 1963 (Oh What A Night).”

 

 

Yo-Yo Ma & Kathryn Scott

Tuesday

April 26

 

The world’s most beloved cellist and his longtime collaborator, world-renowned pianist Kathryn Stott, come together once again to present a moving program of breathtaking music. Yo-Yo Ma, whose multi-faceted career is a testament to his enduring belief in culture’s power to generate trust and understanding, and Stott, a fixture on the international music scene for decades, have performed together for more than 30 years. 

 

This renowned duo met in 1978 and started collaborating in 1985, and since have traveled the globe on musical adventures. Their collaborations include two Grammy Award-winning albums, Obrigado Brazil and Obrigado Brazil–Live in Concert, and the pair’s most recent album, this year’s Songs of Comfort and Hope.

 

Ma and Stott strive to use their music and creativity to foster connections that stimulate the imagination and reinforce communities. Both have worked to bring artists from around the world together to create and share music. Ma through establishing the collective Silkroad, and Stott through working as the artistic director of the Australia Festival of Chamber Music.