Shubert Takes It To The Superstar Conga Limit

The music and musical backstories that New Haveners carry around from the last century are popping back up at the Shubert Theatre this spring, still vibrant and relevant to a changing world.

Take Jesus Christ Superstar, which recast the story of the Christian messiah with rock music and the trappings of the search for meaning at the climax of the hippie era. Fifty years later, a revival of the musical is coming to the Shubert from April 21 – 23.

Remember the Eagles? They were all over the radio and on arena stages in the following chill-out singer-songwriter classic-rock phase of the 1970s with hits like ​“Hotel California” and ​“Lyin’ Eyes,” and they’re still part of the Baby Boomer brain-implant rotation. A ​“Best of the Eagles” tribute band concert takes the stage at the Shubert this Saturday night.

“There’s a whole plethora of folks who still love their classic rock, love this, this era of music,” Shubert Executive Director Anthony McDonald said Thursday during a conversation on WNHH FM radio.

Then there’s a next generation of music lovers, such as McDonald. He grew up with Gloria Estefan’s hits playing on 106.7 LIte FM in the background of his New Jersey home. The touring Broadway show On Your Feet! The Story of Gloria and Emilio Estefan, combining the upbeat music of Estefan and Miami Sound Machine with the story of the challenges she overcame in her life, comes to the Shubert March 23 – 26.

The variety of offerings reflects the strategy McDonald has pursued since assuming the Shubert’s helm two years ago this week: Rebuilding the historic theater and bringing it into the post-pandemic era by combining a respect for the past with efforts to reach out to more audiences that reflect New Haven’s diversity.

McDonald called On Your Feet! ​“an opportunity for the Shubert to provide entertainment, especially on the Broadway side, that centers a Latino experience, in this particular case the Cuban experience of Gloria Estefan coming up in this country in Miami and being able to make it.” He noted that ​“so few shows that center a Latin experience” get to Broadway, let alone go on tour. That On Your Feet! has accomplished this ​“allows the Shubert now to present it to our community,” he said.

“When I saw the opportunity to bring this here, it was a no brainer for me, and I fought to make sure that I could bring it for our community,” McDonald said. ​“Because we’re all here. And so hopefully, all of us, if you’re Latin or not, can come and have an amazing time and remember just why was she so big, also understanding some of the tragedy and the struggles she also went through in her personal life.”

Click on the video to watch the full conversation with Shubert Executive Director Anthony McDonald on WNHH FM.