The WIZ spins into Nashville to launch TPAC’s 45th season

The last time there was a national tour of THE WIZ was 40 years ago. Tennessee Performing Arts Center was just 5 years old.  Now the venue and the Tony-Award winning musical offer a dynamic, joyful opening to TPAC’s 2025-26 season

“ We’re super excited. We opened our doors in 1980, and we have been so blessed to be able to serve the Nashville community with all things arts and education,” says Rebecca Bourne, Senior Communications Manager for Broadway at TPAC.

“ We have a great lineup of Broadway shows in addition to family programming, dance programming, educational programs, technological programs, we have something for everyone.”

“ If you look at our entire Broadway season this year… it really is a storybook season. Everything is tied to a story or to a novel that people grew up wanting to see, or a movie that they saw in their childhood.”

The season kicks off in a huge way with THE WIZ, from September 23-28, 2025. The groundbreaking musical is 50 years old and was radical for its time, with an all-Black cast, high-energy choreography and iconic musical score of gospel, soul, pop and 70s era funk.

And the new Broadway tour includes two featured cast members who are from Middle Tennessee: Kyla Jade (Aunt Em / Evillene) and Caleb “Cal” Mitchell (Lion).

“ I love playing Lion simply because me and him kind of sit on the same space– I’m a little loud, I’m a little rambunctious,” says Mitchell. “But what Lion challenges me to do is to live this life that I got as courageous as I possibly can, and also to come into this show every night in a way that him rediscovering his courage feels genuine, so that the audiences can see that his character always had it.”

Jeremy Daniel

Cal Mitchell as The Lion in the North American Tour of THE WIZ.

Mitchell spent his childhood in a few mid-state cities before his family settled in Murfreesboro, where he attended Siegel High School.

“ I grew up singing in church. That’s kind of where I kind of figured out that I could sing. I didn’t pick up on doing theatre until I was in high school.

“ My senior year of high school, I was nominated for the Spotlight Awards, which is a regional musical theatre competition that is attached to the Jimmy Awards in New York. I got to perform at Andrew Jackson Hall, on that stage in front of like 2000 people. That was years ago. Being able to come back to that same stage, having accomplished this and also being able to perform in front of my family, lifelong friends– it feels absolutely surreal, but so nice.”

The new Broadway tour of The WIZ has a few updates to choreography, staging and some additional music. But one of the original, beloved songs, Be A Lion, featuring Mitchell’s character, has special significance to him.

“There is a moment in time for everyone, where you feel like someone has to push you to really believe in yourself. In the show, that song is Lion’s chance to really feel confidence come over him for the first time,” Mitchell explains.

“Be a Lion is one of those songs where it is important for a young generation to hear it and understand it. If you continue to keep trying and trying, you, too, can have that courage that you think everyone else has, but you got it too.”

The 2025-26 Broadway season has the most season subscribers in the history of TPAC, according to Bourne.  That comes at a time of some uncertainty about the venue’s future location. Its current home in the state-owned James K. Polk Building is scheduled to be sold and demolished around 2028. TPAC is in negotiations with Metro Nashville to build a new facility on the East Bank development. But it’s not clear where that stands, due to some friction between the parties earlier this year. At one point TPAC was actively looking at other locations.

“We have certain guidelines and things that we need in terms of theatre spaces, loading docks, parking, accessibility,” Bourne says. “So we are just making sure that whatever we agree on and whatever we land on is the best for us, and also best for Nashville. We want to continue to serve this community for another 45-plus years.”

TPAC has started a capital campaign to raise $100 million to build the new performance home.

“We’re not going anywhere anytime soon. We all know construction takes a long time, especially for a building that is gonna be very particular with what we need and state-of-the-art,” says Bourne.

“We will make sure everyone is notified whenever that time comes. No one has anything to worry about when it comes to the quality of art we are bringing to Nashville. That is of utmost importance to us, and we are not going to let all of this compromise that.”