Washington Pavilion Broadway lineup gets even better as single tickets go on sale

This paid piece is sponsored by Washington Pavilion Management Inc.

A word of advice: If you’re hoping to attend a Broadway performance at the Washington Pavilion this upcoming season, don’t wait.

“We can already see that multiple shows are going to sell out fast,” said Regina Ruhberg, director of performances and events for Washington Pavilion Management Inc.

“We always say don’t wait, but this year we mean it more than ever. I’m betting in many cases shows are going to be sold out if you wait to buy a ticket until two or three weeks out.”

Single tickets for shows just went on sale, and the Washington Pavilion already has exceeded the number of subscribers for its Pavilion Performance Series than it had last season.

“We have broken all our subscription records already, and technically we can still sell them through January,” Ruhberg said. “I would say the excitement is definitely there, and the response has been very positive.”

So why is that, and what does that mean for your entertainment planning? We sat down with Ruhberg to learn more about the season ahead.

Why do you think there has been such a strong early response to the 2023-24 series?

I think it starts with having such a nice variety of shows. There’s not one show driving it; everyone has their own favorite. And there’s a little extra excitement with it being the 25th season. We start with two blockbusters – BEETLEJUICE and Disney’s ALADDIN – so to have two full weeks back to back to start the season is huge, and we really want Sioux Falls to continue to step up and support that.

We recently announced our tour of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD will feature Emmy Award®-winning actor Richard Thomas starring as Atticus Finch, so we can’t wait to welcome him and the outstanding cast to Sioux Falls. And then, our shows with three performances, like MEAN GIRLS, PRETTY WOMAN: THE MUSICAL and JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, I’m betting are going to be sold out, so that’s where you really need to be planning to secure your seats.

You made a big splash announcing the Pavilion Performance Series earlier this year, but there have been more Broadway additions since then. What else have you been able to secure?

We also are bringing “I Am, He Said — A Neil Diamond Tribute” on Oct. 26, which is back by popular demand. If you didn’t know better, you’d think you were watching Neil Diamond, and his team is fully supportive of this great show. And then we’re bringing “Away in the Basement: A Church Basement Ladies Christmas,” which is a great one for December that will definitely leave you laughing. One of my biggest surprises when I went to start reserving shows was THE CHER SHOW, and that will be coming April 5-6. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it — it’s a great storyline and fantastic costumes and music. And then we have some family favorites, ANNIE and STOMP, to round out the season.

Both of those have been in Sioux Falls before, and we know audiences love them. And STOMP was actually part of our first season, so it’s especially fun to have that in June as we celebrate 25 years at the same time.

To view the full schedule, click here.

Do you have any other advice for people considering buying tickets?

Other than buying early – which really is key – remember that you have some flexibility if you do the six-show subscription. Let’s say maybe you’ve already seen JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR and you’d like to swap that for THE CHER SHOW, you can do that. We also want to remind people to take advance of our new central ticketing website, 3eEncore.com, which is the official ticket retailer for three venues: Washington Pavilion, Orpheum Theater Center and South Dakota Military Heritage Alliance. And, of course, you can always stop by the Pavilion box office to buy tickets too.

Can guests expect anything else new when they come to a show this season?

We’re focused on making it even more of an experience for you. We’ve always had lobby music before the show, but we’d like to offer even more entertainment. So you can come in early, grab a beverage, go through the Visual Arts Center. Our renovated restaurant, The WP, will be open, so we’re really looking at enhancing your entire time here before you ever go in the theater.

With such a great lineup, are there still more shows you can bring to Sioux Falls? Are you already looking ahead to shows for the following season?

Absolutely. We actually already have a show on hold for the 2024-25 season, which is earlier than we normally would. We’re looking at increasing each show we bring to a minimum of four performances because the community is proving we can support that, in addition to showing we can support shows coming to town for a week or even longer. We’re still chasing some big names, so there are definitely new shows we can still bring to our town. The more people support our current shows, the more it helps that effort. We just want to thank our community for supporting and standing behind us for 25 years. It makes a huge difference.