Lied Center unveils 2026-27 season with Giddens, Sedaris, Broadway shows

Lawrence families planning ahead for the next school year, KU students looking for a night out and longtime Lied regulars all got an early look at a season built to reach them all. The Lied Center of Kansas announced a 2026-27 lineup of more than 30 programs, with tickets already available to KU students and Friends of the Lied and on sale to the general public beginning June 8.

The season begins in September and leans on the kind of big-name bookings that tend to anchor the campus arts calendar. Among the featured artists are Lyle Lovett, Rhiannon Giddens, Straight No Chaser, Mariachi Herencia de México and author and humorist David Sedaris. Broadway titles are also part of the draw, with The Book of Mormon, Waitress and Legally Blonde The Musical listed among the season offerings.

Giddens stands out as one of the marquee bookings. Her Lied performance is set for Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2027, at 7:30 p.m. in the Main Auditorium, and the center says listeners should expect rock-concert sound levels. The Lied describes her as a Grammy- and Pulitzer Prize-winning folk musician whose work stretches folk traditions into contemporary sensibilities, a profile likely to make the show one of the season’s most anticipated dates.

The season is also built around family access and school connections that reach well beyond a ticketed evening show. The Lied says its school-only performances allow all students in Lawrence Public Schools, USD 497, to attend an age-specific performing arts experience every year. Those programs introduce young audiences to dance, theatre, music, storytelling and more, while master classes, discussions, presentations and other artist experiences extend the learning beyond the stage. A preschool-performing-arts partnership with USD 497 at Kennedy Early Childhood Education Center adds another layer to that outreach.

That education mission matters because the Lied is not just a performance hall tucked into the University of Kansas campus. It serves as a campus venue for KU events and a public arts hub for Lawrence, which helps explain why the season announcement lands as a community calendar moment as much as an entertainment preview. With family shows such as Curious George: The Golden Meatball, Cirque Kalabanté and Popovich Comedy Pet Theater alongside Broadway productions and nationally known headliners, the 2026-27 season gives Douglas County residents a clear picture of where the shared cultural moments of the year are likely to happen.