Broadway in Indy 2011-2012 season short on excitement

Okay, so there's not a lot of touring Broadway shows out there right now. But, for the 2010/2011 seasons, Cincinnati is at least getting "Billy Elliot," "The Addams Family" and the new bi-lingual version of "West Side Story." Even Durham, N.C., is getting "Memphis," "The Addams Family," "Come Fly Away," and the new "Bring It On" musical.

Meanwhile, Indianapolis will be seeing (drumroll please) … a non-Equity "Beauty and the Beast," another non-Equity "Fiddler on the Roof," "Million Dollar Quartet" and a remounting of "Les Miserables."

Is that a collective yawn I hear? I've got nothing against any of the shows; it's just that this seems like a major step backwards from recent seasons that included "Jersey Boys," "The Color Purple," "Mary Poppins," and more. There's not one original musical in the mix that hasn't already played here in some form. It's hard to imagine that "Beauty and the Beast" is going to bring something new to the table that we haven't seen in previous tours—or in Civic's lavish production, for that matter. I thought we'd at least see "West Side Story" (which also will be playing Appleton, Wis., and Rochester, N.Y.).

Your thoughts?