2010/2011 Season Calendar
UPCOMING PERFORMANCES:
Chamber Orchestra Kremlin
Thursday, September 30, 2010 7:30 p.m.
Adults $37, Students $15
"Chamber Orchestra Kremlin covers all styles with grace" by Elaine Schmidt -- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The Chamber Orchestra Kremlin has been critically acclaimed as one of the finest string ensembles in Russia and arguably one of the best in the world. This group of Russia's finest young string players has earned international praise for its uniformity of performance, high energy and flawless execution.
The orchestra was founded in 1991 by Misha Rachlevsky, who continues as its music director today. Rachkevsky has skilfully molded these youthful virtuosos into a sonorous whole that is amazingly greater than the sum of its parts.
The San Francisco Classical Voice said, "... the Russians covered themselves and the music at hand with uncanny musicality, precision and verve. The 16 string players offered the sort of superb playing one expects only from a top string quartet on a goos night."
The Chamber Orchestra Kremlin maintains an active concert schedule in Moscow and throughout North and South America, Europe and the Far East. The Orchestra's warmth and high energy create addictive performances that remain with audiences long after the last notes have been played.
PERFORMANCE SPONSORS:
TBD
MEDIA SPONSOR:
TBD
Alan Safier as George Burns in
"Say Goodnight Gracie"
Thursday, November 4, 2010 7:30 p.m.
Adults $38, Students $15
"Alan Safier's portral is touching and hilarious. He channels the heart and soul of the cigar-smoking star. Safier IS Burns!" - Ron Jewel, Bartlett (TN) Performing Arts Center
Alan Safier stars in Say Goodnight Gracie, the hit Broadway play that invites you to spend a hilarious, heart-warming evening in the uplifting company of the world's favorite and funniest centenarisn, George Burns, who spanned over 90 years of American entertainment history, is now alive and kicking -- and singing and dancing! -- in a stunning tour de force solo performance for Alan Safier. With vintage photographs and viseo clips from film and television performances, Say Goodnight Gracie brings to life Burn's fascinating story.
Say Goodnight Gracie is a tender, funny, life-affirming love story ... a personal guided tour through an American century in the company of George Burns, a man who laughinly lived and loved each day for all it had to offer, until he finally went "gently into that good night" to forever reunite with his beloved Gracie. Say Goodnight Gracie was Broadway's third largest running solo performance show and was nominated for a 2003 Tony Award for BEST PLAY and won the 2003-2004 National Broadway Theatre Award for BEST PLAY.
PERFORMANCE SPONSOR:
TBD
MEDIA SPONSOR:
TBD
"Drumline" puts the black marching band tradition on the theatrical stage -- effectively creating something that could very well out-stomp "Stomp" and out-blast "Blast." -- Springfield News Sun
"Drumline LIVE kicks off its second US tour in the 2010-2011 season following its extremely successful 70-performance international tour in the 2008-2009 season. Drumline LIVE's energetic cast has honed its precision and energy with years of training in marching band programs across the southern United States.
This versatile group of mucicians and dancers brings an exclusive energy and athleticism to an eclectic mix of sounds. Equally at home with the hottest contemporary hip hop, R&B, classical Motown, and the rousing sounds of the great brass tradition, Drumline LIVE is thrilled to share the American Marching Band experience with a wider audience.
Drumline LIVE is an international tour based on the Historically Black College and University (HBCU) marching band tradition. With riveting rhythms, bold beats and ear-grabbing energy, the stage show is a synchronized musical showcase of the HBCU experience. Incorporating original compositions and soul-infused interpretations of the top 40 hits, group performances range from colorful, choreographed routines to heavy doses of drum riffs and cadences.
PERFORMANCE SPONSORS:
TBD
MEDIA SPONSOR:
TBD
Church Basement Ladies:
"A Second Helping"
Saturday, January 29, 2011 2:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Adults $38, Students $15
They're servin' it up again! This time around, the year is 1969 and the world is a changin'. As folks protest the Vietnam War and women are demanding equal pay for equal work, in their small rural Minnesota community, the ladies of the Lutheran church basement kitchen are dealing with changes of their own.
With their heartwarming humor and hilarious anctics, Church Basement Ladies 2: A Second Helping takes us from serving the High School student at the Luther League Banquet to a church sponsored Missionary Night and the rise and fall of a Viking's Super Bowl Sunday. From the elderly matriarch of the kitchen to the young mon-to-be, these women find strength in each other as they deal with the joys and upheavals from the "House of God!" This is most certainly true.
Inspired by the writings of Janet Letnes Maretin and Suzann Nelson, the sequel is written by Greta Grosch, with music and lyrics by Drew Jansen and Dennis Curley. Curt Wollan directs.
PERFORMANCE SPONSOR:
TBD
MEDIA SPONSOR:
TBD
Jim Witter's The Piano Men
"Featuring the songs of Billy Joel and Elton John"
Thursday, March 3, 2011 7:30 p.m.
Adults $37, Students $15
The Piano Men is a musical celebration of the 1970's -- year by year, hit by hit -- from the songs of Billy Joel and Elton John.
Dove Award nominee and Canadian Juno Award nominee, recording artist Jim Witter and his band lead an expertly crafted tour of an entire decade that begins with "Your Song" and winds us along on a musical time machine, saluting two of the century's most popular contemporary songwriters.
Utilizing rear-screen projection, we return to the newspaper headlines, the automobiles, the people, the events, the toys and even the TV shows that shaped a decade. Along the way, the sounds of "My Life", "Candle in the Wind", "Rocket Man", "Just the Way You Are", and many more classic hits create an evening that's too mych fun to let it end.
By the time you hit 1979, you're begging these musicians to just move back to 1970 and start all over again. With Witter at the grand piano and his sizzling musicians on keyboards, guitar, bass, flute, sax and drums, the music is not an attempt to "recreate" or "mimic" the evening's long list of familiar hits. Instead, Witter unleashes his golden tenor on hit after hit to recreate fully-formed mental and emotional return visits to specific landmarks in a pop culture timeline.
PERFORMANCE SPONSORS:
TBD
MEDIA SPONSOR:
TBD
Johnny Rivers,
in Concert
Saturday, April 9, 2011 7:30 p.m.
Adults $49, Students $15
Johnny Rivers is an American rock and roll singer, songwritter, guitarist and record producer. He is versatile enough to do folk songs, blues and revivals of old-time rock 'n' roll music songs and some original material. Rivers's greatest success came in the mid and late 1960's with a series od successful songs (including "Seventh Son", "Poor Side of Town", "Summer Rain", and "Secret Agent Man"), but he has continued to record and perform to the present. On June 12, 2009, Johnny Rivers was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame.
The story of the hit single Secret Agent Man: "we were touring Europe and met the producers of that show in England. They were gettin' ready to bring it to the States and asked Lou if we would consider trying to come up with a theme. We thought it'd be great to have a theme on a TV series. P. F. Sloan and Steve Barri came up with it. It wasn't a complete song. They just had one verse and the chorus. We wound up cutting it for the show and Imperial started getting calls saying, 'You ought to put that thing out as a single.' We had to go back and re-record it and they wrote some more verses."
The song spotlighted River's simple, understated lead guitar. The famous opening riff, he says, was "something I worked up with P. F. Sloan. I mainly played lead out of necessity, because I didn't have a lead guitar player. I considered myself a rhythm guitar player, but I wound up doing these lead things. When I'm on the road, guys who play almost as well as Eric Clapton will come up and say, 'I learned to play listening to Secret Agent Man'. I think young guitar players could relate to it because (they'd say) 'Yeah, I can do that."
PERFORMANCE SPONSOR:
TBD
MEDIA SPONSOR:
TBD
Arts Council Office
1040 8th St South, Suite 101
Wisconsin Rapids WI 54494
715.421.4552
715.424.ARTS Tickets