Playhouse Square unveils 2026-27 KeyBank Broadway Series with tour launch, revivals, and new musicals
A new season built around national tours, returning blockbusters and newer titles
Playhouse Square has announced the lineup for its 2026-27 KeyBank Broadway Series, a seven-show package that runs from September 2026 through September 2027 and includes a national tour launch, multiple long-running franchise titles and recent award winners.
The season opens with Death Becomes Her, a stage musical adaptation of the 1992 film, scheduled for Sept. 12 through Oct. 3, 2026. The tour is set to begin in Cleveland, placing Playhouse Square again on the short list of venues that originate large-scale national Broadway tours.
The 2026-27 lineup and dates
- Death Becomes Her: Sept. 12 – Oct. 3, 2026
- Mamma Mia!: Jan. 5 – 24, 2027
- BOOP! The Musical: Feb. 2 – 21, 2027
- Maybe Happy Ending: March 2 – 21, 2027
- The Phantom of the Opera: April 14 – May 9, 2027
- Buena Vista Social Club: July 27 – Aug. 15, 2027
- Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Aug. 24 – Sept. 12, 2027
What stands out: a mix of familiar titles and newer work
The slate leans into brand recognition while continuing the theater district’s recent pattern of presenting large, technically complex tours. The Phantom of the Opera returns to Cleveland in a touring version billed as closely aligned with the production’s traditional design elements. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child brings the franchise’s stage installment back into the touring ecosystem, positioning live-theater spectacle as a central selling point of the season.
Alongside these established titles, the series includes newer or recently introduced productions. Maybe Happy Ending and BOOP! The Musical represent more contemporary additions to the touring market, while Buena Vista Social Club arrives as a music-driven production centered on the Cuban ensemble’s origin story, with Spanish-language lyrics and an onstage band as part of its presentation.
Context: Cleveland’s role as a tour launch market
In recent seasons, Playhouse Square has increasingly been used as a starting point for national tours, a status that can bring extended local rehearsal periods and an influx of visiting company personnel ahead of a show’s broader run. The 2026 tour launch of Death Becomes Her continues that trajectory and places Cleveland at the front end of a multi-city schedule that will roll out across North America.
The 2026-27 series runs from Sept. 12, 2026, through Sept. 12, 2027, with seven productions in the KeyBank Broadway Series package.
Playhouse Square has not bundled additional programming details into the series announcement beyond the lineup and run dates, leaving casting, exact performance schedules and single-ticket timelines to subsequent releases.