ENTERTAINMENT

‘Joseph,’ Beatles tribute Weidner’s early top sellers

Kendra Meinert
USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin

Tickets to individual shows in the 2015-2016 Performing Arts Season at the Weidner Center go on sale Friday, and already some early favorites have emerged based on the season subscription sales that started in June.

“Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,’’ the famed Tim Rice & Andrew Lloyd Webber family musical making a stop on Oct. 20, has proven especially popular, said Kate Green, executive director of the Weidner. Celtic Woman on Oct. 14 and Mannheim Steamroller’s holiday show on Nov. 28, both of which are already on sale to the general public, are also selling well, she said.

Other popular choices so far include “RAIN — A Tribute to The Beatles on May 1, “Whose Live Anyway?,” the improv comedy show starring Ryan Stiles, Greg Proops, Jeff B. Davis and Joel Murray; Tony Award-winning musical “Once” on Feb. 25; and Mnozil Brass, the brass ensemble whose players also happen to be comedic, on April 12.

“I think it’s a show people are interested in taking a risk on,” Green said of Mnozil Brass. “Kind of the Monty Python of the musical brass world.”

Mnozil Brass mixes serious musicianship with comedy for a show April 12 at the Weidner Center.

Green’s pick for a possible sleeper in the upcoming season? “PostSecret: “The Show,” a stage version of the online phenomenon created by Frank Warren in which people anonymously send in secrets — some funny, some heartbreaking, some PG-13 — on postcards or email. For the live show, three actors will portray the secrets from postcards shown on video screens.

“It’s the cathartic process of getting something off your chest,” said Green, who caught the show in New York. “It’s this wide array of emotions you feel as you look at people’s secrets.” And the reassurance that no matter what you’re going through, you’re not the only one, she said.

It’s an intimate show, with only a limited portion of Weidner seating being sold for the performance.

Tickets go on sale at 11 a.m. Friday through Ticket Star at 800-895-0071 and ticketstaronline.com. Fans of guitar great Joe Bonamassa, however, will need to wait until late September for tickets to his season-capping concert on May 12 to go on sale.

Here’s a look at the entire season and ticket prices:

» “Whose Live Anyway?”: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 9; $39.50 and up

» Home Free: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 10; $22 and up

» Celtic Woman: 7 p.m. Oct. 14; $48.50 and up; already on sale

» “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 20; $41 and up

» The Midtown Men: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 27; $38.50 and up

» Cirque Mechanics: Pedal Punk: 7:30 p.m. Nov. 6; $25 and up

» “It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play”: 7:30 p.m. Nov. 19-20; $27.50 and up

» Ronnie Milsap: 7:30 p.m. Nov. 21 (date has been changed from 3 p.m. Oct. 25); $46.25 and up

» Mannheim Steamroller Christmas by Chip Davis: 7:30 p.m. Nov. 28; $54.50 and up

» Holiday Pops: 7:30 p.m. Dec. 11 and 2:30 p.m. Dec. 12; $56-$11

» Doctors in Recital: 7 p.m. Jan. 16; $20 and up

» Vocalosity: 7:30 p.m. Jan. 22; $24 and up; $16.50 and up

» “Goodnight Moon and the Runaway Bunny”: 11 a.m. Jan. 30; $16.50 and up

» L.A. Theatre Works — “Bram Stoker’s Dracula”: 7:30 p.m. Feb. 2; $25.25 and up

» Celtic Nights — Spirit of Freedom — Celebrating 100 Years: 7:30 p.m. Feb. 12; $27.50 and up

» The Peking Acrobats — 30th Anniversary Tour: 7:30 p.m. Feb. 18; $32 and up

» “Once”: 7:30 p.m. Feb. 25; $45 and up

» “PostSecret: The Show”: 2 and 7:30 p.m. Feb. 27; $39.50 and up

» “Dancing in the Streets”: 7:30 p.m. March 17; $46.75 and up

» Wild Kratts Live!: 7 p.m. April 8; $25.75 and up

» Mnozil Brass: 7:30 p.m. April 12; $25.25 and up

» RAIN — A Tribute to The Beatles: 7:30 p.m. May 1; $49.50 and up

» Joe Bonamassa: 7:30 p.m. May 12; on sale in late September

— kmeinert@pressgazettemedia.com and follow her on Twitter @KendraMeinert.