Broadway Sacramento (formerly California Musical Theatre) is the largest nonprofit arts organization (primarily producing musical theatre) in the state of

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

and the city of

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

's oldest professional performing arts company. Its summer stock theatre, Music Circus, has been producing

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

-style musicals since 1951. In 2002 Music Circus produced its last season under a traditional canvas circus tent. The following year the company opened the

Wells Fargo Pavilion The UC Davis Health Pavilion is a theatre venue, located in Sacramento, California, and owned by California Musical Theatre and the Sacramento Theatre Company. Overview The pavilion is the signature feature of the H Street Theatre Project, wh ...

. Built over the original concrete tent foundations, the new facility was designed to emulate a circus tent to continue the Music Circus tradition of a canvas big top. The enclosed, permanent architecture of the arena theatre is covered by an insulated space-age fabric. Recently in 2021, the Wells Fargo Pavilion has been renamed to the UC Davis Health Pavilion.

History

In 1949 the original Music Circus began its operations in a vacant field in Lambertville, New Jersey. Begun by St. John Terrell as a

summer stock theatre In American theater, summer-stock theater is a theater that presents stage productions only in the summer. The name combines the season with the tradition of staging shows by a resident company, reusing stock scenery and costumes. Summer stock th ...

hybrid, mixing musical theatre within a circus tent, the new musical theatre performed in the round. The unique experience gained popularity through the 1950s and 1960s. Theatres copied the format and name, eventually spawning similar Music Circus theatres along the East Coast as far south as

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

. In California, producers Russell Lewis and Howard Young began scouting a location to build their theater and were lured to Sacramento by

Sacramento Bee ''The Sacramento Bee'' is a daily newspaper published in Sacramento, California, in the United States. Since its foundation in 1857, ''The Bee'' has become the largest newspaper in Sacramento, the fifth largest newspaper in California, and the 2 ...

president Eleanor McClatchy. The theatre opened with a production of ''Show Boat'', the same show which opened the original Lambertville theatre as well as the

North Shore Music Theatre North Shore Music Theatre is the largest operating regional theater in New England. It is located in Beverly, Massachusetts and is one of the few remaining theatre-in-the-round stages left in the United States. The theater is owned by Massachuset ...

. In 1951 the Sacramento Music Circus tent went up for the first time under the operations of what was originally known as the Sacramento Light Opera Association. McClatchy had been a patron of the Sacramento Civic Theatre (now known as

Sacramento Theatre Company The Sacramento Theatre Company (STC) is a non-profit Regional Professional Theatre in Sacramento, California. It is the oldest theater troupe in the city. History STC was formed in 1942 to entertain troops stationed in Sacramento during ...

). Its facility had a large parking area that would be the home to the original Music Circus tent. In April 2018 President and CEO of California Musical Theatre, Richard Lewis, announced that the company would be officially changing its name to Broadway Sacramento.{{Cite web, url=https://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/news/2018/04/20/heres-whycalifornia-musical-theatre-changed-its.html, title=Here's why California Musical Theatre changed its name, date=April 20, 2018, website=www.bizjournals.com, archive-url=https://archive.today/20180511170947/https://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/news/2018/04/20/heres-whycalifornia-musical-theatre-changed-its.html, archive-date=2018-05-11, url-status=dead, access-date=2018-05-11 Before the name change, Broadway Sacramento was the name of their Broadway musical touring season. During his announcement of the parent company name change, he also said that the name of both theater series would be changing. The touring series at the

Safe Credit Union Performing Arts Center The Sacramento Convention Center Complex is a complex of entertainment venues and a convention center located in downtown Sacramento, downtown Sacramento, California. The complex consists of the SAFE Credit Union Performing Arts Center (formerly Co ...

is now called Broadway On Tour and the summer series at the now, UC Davis Health Pavilion is now called Broadway At Music Circus.

Broadway at Music Circus

From 1951 to 1989 the summer Music Circus program was the only season produced by the Sacramento Light Opera Association. Most of those years under the direction of Lewis and Young. Its summer stock performances have been located in nearly the same location since its conception. Actors, directors and designers from all across the country travel to Sacramento to build productions entirely original. The current executive producer, Richard Lewis, is the son of the original producer Russell Lewis. Sacramento Music Circus was once one of many summer stock musical theatres performing

in the round A theatre in the round, arena theatre or central staging is a space for theatre in which the audience surrounds the stage. Theatre-in-the-round was common in ancient theatre, particularly that of Greece and Rome, but was not widely explored ag ...

. Today it is now one of only a few professional theatres producing musicals in an arena setting.

Broadway on Tour

Originally known as the Music Circus Winter Season and later as The Broadway Series, productions presented by ''Broadway on Tour'' are performed during Music Circus' "off season". Generally, these are touring productions of current musicals performed at the

Community Center Theater A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, town ...

. Starting in 1989, the series of shows has included '' The Unsinkable Molly Brown'', ''

The Phantom of the Opera ''The Phantom of the Opera'' (french: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra) is a novel by French author Gaston Leroux. It was first published as a serial in from 23 September 1909 to 8 January 1910, and was released in volume form in late March 1910 by Pier ...

'', ''

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'' and '' The Producers''. Broadway Sacramento is a founding member of the National Alliance for Musical Theatre and Executive Producer Richard Lewis is a member of the

League of American Theatres and Producers The Broadway League, formerly the League of American Theatres and Producers and League of New York Theatres and Producers, is the national trade association for the Broadway theatre industry based in New York, New York. Its members include theat ...

References

Theatre in California Buildings and structures in Sacramento, California Tourist attractions in Sacramento, California Musical theatre companies