Bringing Broadway Home
worth the drive
Mainers needn’t travel to NYC to experience the best in theatre.
words by casey oakes
photos courtesy of portland ovations
Once Merrill Auditorium was renovated in 1997, Portland could draw in more large-scale Broadway productions.
When I was growing up in Cape Elizabeth, the bright lights of Broadway felt a world away. It wasn’t until high school that I discovered I could experience Broadway productions right here in Maine, thanks to Portland Ovations. My first performance was Sweeney Todd in 2007, when I was a sophomore in high school. I can still picture the famed murderous barber, with swirling crimson fabrics evoking rivers of blood.
Now, as an adult who has had the privilege of working at Ovations for the past seven years—after traveling the world making theater from Dublin to Seattle—I couldn’t be happier to share the magic of Broadway in my own backyard.
For nearly a century, Portland Ovations has brought extraordinary artists to Maine. In the 1930s, our earliest seasons featured classical musicians who filled Portland’s halls with virtuosity and wonder. It was not until the 1990s that National Tours of Broadway musicals became part of our annual programming. The Music Man (1993), Sunday in the Park with George (1993), Evita (1994), and Forever Plaid (1995) marked a new era for Ovations and for Portland’s cultural landscape.
Some of Broadway’s modern hits have come through Portland, including Hairspray, Waitress, Hadestown, Chicago, and RENT.
Monty Python's Spamalot is always a sell-out crowd pleaser.
Still to come this 2026 season includes three Broadway crowd-pleasers: Kinky Boots with its irresistible heart and high-heeled joy, The Music Man bringing classic Americana to the stage, and Monty Python’s Spamalot delivering a whirlwind of irreverent, laugh-out-loud fun.
In the mid-90s, as Maine’s arts community flocked to support traveling theater, it became clear to present at the highest level, Portland needed a venue equipped to meet the demands of these productions. This meant an improved loading dock, expanded fly space, enhanced lighting, and stronger backstage infrastructure.
Ovations partnered with the Portland Symphony Orchestra, Friends of the Kotzschmar Organ, and the City of Portland to reimagine and renovate what is now Merrill Auditorium. This milestone collaboration transformed the performing arts in our city.
Once Merrill reopened in 1997, Broadway quickly became an even more vital part of our contribution to Maine’s cultural life.
By the early 2000s, Ovations was making national headlines of its own. When Mel Brooks’ blockbuster musical The Producers opened on Broadway in 2001 and swept the Tony Awards, Ovations secured the production for Portland. The tour was famously overseen by Brooks himself. After the death of his wife in 2005, he paused the production, and Ovations refunded all tickets. When the tour resumed in 2006, we were finally able to bring audiences one of Broadway’s defining hits of the 21st century.
People often wonder how a full-scale Broadway production rolls into Portland on a handful of buses at the earliest hours of the morning and is ready to perform that same night.
Broadway productions bring high energy to the Merrill stage.
The answer is the extraordinary choreography and expertise of the touring and local crews. Hundreds of union stagehands work in perfect coordination, hanging lights, assembling scenery, focusing instruments, preparing costumes, and transforming an empty stage into a Broadway-caliber experience within hours.
From the hair-and-wig department to company management, dressers, and the entire production crew, the backstage operation runs with extraordinary precision. Watching it come together is nothing short of remarkable.
While in town, cast and crew members always make time to savor Maine’s unmistakable flavors. Their favorite tends to be the classic: lobster rolls. Many head straight to Highroller after taking their final bows for the evening. I often find myself backstage recommending my own favorites, like the Picnic Roll from Bite Into Maine. Or I’ll point them just a few blocks away to the Brown Butter Lobster Roll at Eventide.
My first night all those years ago, when I was a sophomore in awe at Sweeney Todd, I was greeted in the lobby by current Executive and Artistic Director Aimée Petrin, then only in her second season. I never imagined that 20 years later I’d be working alongside her to bring the best of Broadway to Maine. As Ovations enters its 95th year, with a centennial on the horizon, we continue to write the next chapter of this story. It is a story shaped by community, creativity, and the shared joy of live performance.
There is nothing quite like watching the streets of Portland come alive on a performance night, illuminated by the glow of our new marquee on the intersection of Exchange and Congress Street. Seeing nearly 2,000 people—many of them strangers—gather for a shared experience, stopping at local shops and dining at our exquisite restaurants, reaffirms something I have always deeply believed: the arts are not only a cultural asset, but a vital part of a thriving economy. We share an ecosystem, all interconnected, rising and falling together like the ships in Casco Bay.
Learn more about Portland Ovations and the upcoming season of Broadway shows at portlandovations.org
