Hancher Auditorium’s 53rd season features over 70 performances ranging from the grand to the personal, from the familiar to the new. The schedule includes a Broadway series, traditional performing arts events, cutting-edge multidisciplinary arts, contemporary touring music and comedy, and special events like the Infinite Dream festival.
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Hancher Auditorium - Wednesday, July 9, 2025
The Gazette - Tuesday, May 27, 2025
There has never been anyone quite like Tina Turner.
The larger than life singer-songwriter emerged during the 60s as a powerhouse vocalist while performing with her first husband, Ike Turner. After becoming a favorite on the R&B circuit with such hits as "A Fool in Love" and "It's Gonna Work Out Fine," the duo, Ike & Tina, crossed over to a pop audience with their incendiary cover of "Proud Mary."
However, the tandem bottomed out during the early 70s after Ike Turner lost control due to drug addiction. Tina Turner left her husband after enduring violent spousal abuse in 1976.
From Beetlejuice to Kinky Boot: The 5 Broadway shows coming to Hancher Auditorium in 2026
Portrait of Jessica RishJessica Rish
Iowa City Press-Citizen
Oh, there’s nothing halfway about Hancher Auditorium’s 54th season Broadway Series.
The popular University of Iowa performing arts venue recently unveiled its latest lineup of Broadway shows. The list is highlighted by “Kinky Boots,” “The Music Man,” “Clue: Live on Stage,” “Beetlejuice,” and “Rent in Concert.”
The season kicks off in January 2026 with “Kinky Boots” and concludes with “Beetlejuice” in May.
The Daily Iowan - Wednesday, April 30, 2025
Hancher Auditorium has announced its next Broadway series for 2026, having debuted its first series in 2023.
“Kinky Boots”: Inspired by true events, this award-winning musical tells the story of Charlie Price, who must team up with a cabaret performer and drag queen to save his father’s shoe factory. “Kinky Boots” first premiered in 2012 in Chicago. The production will be playing at Hancher from January 23-25, 2026.
“Clue”: From board game to movie to the Broadway stage, “Clue” is based on the classic murder mystery surrounding six unique characters and one dead host. The stage play first premiered in Pennsylvania in 2017. Hancher will host this dinner party from February 6-8, 2026.
The Violin Channel - Tuesday, April 15, 2025
The national classical music radio program YourClassical's Performance Today has announced that it has selected composer Jessie Montgomery as its Classical Woman of the Year for 2025. The award recognizes a woman who has made a significant contribution to the industry and who is an inspiration to listeners.
A composer, violinist, and educator, Montgomery has won a GRAMMY Award for her work — which often centers on themes of social justice, the Black diasporic experience, and its foundation in American music. For the last three years, she has served as the Chicago Symphony's Mead Composer-in-Residence.
Little Village - Thursday, March 13, 2025
Movement, in all of its forms, is powerful. The fusion of the physical, political and spiritual forms came together during the Iowa City stop of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s 2025 national tour. Hancher Auditorium has shared its stage with the 67-year-old modern dance company since 1973, bringing a much-needed dose of global-inspired art and fanciful wonder to the region.
Tuesday night’s performance was nothing less than a landscape of music, sight and color. The world-renowned dance troupe supplied a mix of Ailey classics and newer modern works, sending its audience on a ride from the sensational to the spiritual.
Little Village - Monday, February 10, 2025
The fingers move across the keyboard like cavalry. Presto agitato. One after the other, left to right, then again left to right of the keyboard. The tempo is moto perpetuo. The fingertips press each key for an instant — not too much pressure but the impact is relentless. The muscles of the hand follow a pattern; they submit to a memory that’s been imprinted on the cerebellum after years of deliberate practice.
Seated at the piano, the man is looking but not looking, his mind in a liminal space faraway but also here on stage. He’s in a state of flow. The hands, the tendons, the dexterity are those of a young man.
The Gazette - Thursday, January 23, 2025
Daisy Jacobson is working out in preparation of her forthcoming Twyla Tharp Dance tour, which celebrates the 60th anniversary of Tharp’s iconic company. The show, which features “Diabelli” and “Slacktide,” is slated for Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025, at the Hancher Auditorium in Iowa City.
“Performing such a double bill is super physical,” Jacobson said while calling from New York City’s Ailey Studios. “It’s going to be a very bright show, a very funny show, a very technically demanding show and a very Twyla show.”
The Daily Iowan - Tuesday, December 10, 2024
No one deserves to be forgotten. That is the message “Dear Evan Hansen” presents to its audience through the stories of the titular Evan and the people he interacts with.
Even on a stage flooded with backdrops of scrolling social media posts and notifications, the individual hopefulness and heartbreak of the characters shine through, evoking a multitude of emotions from the audience.
Like many others, I flocked to Hancher Auditorium on Saturday night to experience the first installment of its 2024-25 Broadway series, and I must say, the standing ovation at the end was well-deserved.
Youtube - Monday, December 9, 2024
Through a collaboration between University of Iowa School of Music and Hancher Auditorium alumnus and world-renowned percussionist Steven Schick returned to campus in Fall 2024 and spent a week in residency with UI students and in the Iowa City community.