Moonlight Musicals kicking off 2023 season with ‘Hello Dolly’

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - Lubbock Moonlight Musicals launched its 2023 season this week with its first performance since the pandemic.

“The numbers kept climbing and climbing and we said we can’t put people at risk we will shut down,” Executive Director Tom Laney said.

During this terrifying time for everyone, the Moonlight Musical staff wanted to continue to share their passion with the community, and where there was a will, they made a way.

“We’ll just wait it out. We created some fun virtual things because we still wanted to tell stories,” Tom Laney said.

And like most of us who were eager to celebrate the end of the pandemic, the community gathered for the first Moonlight Musical since the shut down.

“You could tell everyone in the audience how much they had missed being able to come out and join in our story together,” Laney said.

He said that is what these musicals are all about. “We’ve all built families here through Moonlight and we want to share that with as many people as possible.”

Moonlight has made this a season of trailblazers, kicking it off with ‘Hello Dolly’.

“Such an amazing character, she’s a widow who’s in turn of the century New York and there’s not a lot of opportunities for women back then and just like a storm just blazes through everything, it’s so funny,” Laney said.

They will hold performances like ‘The Little Mermaid, Junior,’ ‘Oklahoma’ and ‘Matilda’ - all with strong female leads. Laney said just as performers feel the audience, the audience can feel the performance.

“I see a sense of relief, of letting go, of letting the worries of work and the day behind them just melt away,” he said.

The 2023 Lineup begins with ‘Hello Dolly’ in June; ‘The Little Mermaid Jr.’ July 13-15; ‘Oklahoma’ Aug. 3-19 and “Matilda” Oct. 6-21. You can purchase tickets for a show or the entire season here.

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