Hamlisch And Thompson Highlight Arsht Concert Season

DUO OF NEW YORK'S BRIGHTEST STARS TO HIGHLIGHT 2009  

MULTI-AWARD WINNING COMPOSER AND PIANIST

Marvin Hamlisch IN CONCERT (FEBRUARY 18)  

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April Yvette Thompson STARRING IN THE MIAMI PREMIERE OF HER GRITTY ONE PERSON TOUR-DE-FORCE LIBERTY CITY

(FEBRUARY 18 - MARCH 1) 

The Adrienne Arsht Center brings the Big Apple to Miami in 2009 with performances by two of New York City's finest performers: Marvin Hamlisch, the acclaimed creator of A Chorus Line and composer of dozens of award-winning musical scores for stage and screen, on February 18; and Miami-born April Yvette Thompson starring in the Miami premiere of her one-person show Liberty City from February 18 - March 1. 

Marvin Hamlisch - FEBRUARY 18

As composer, Hamlisch has won virtually every major entertainment award that exists: three Oscars, four Grammys, four Emmys, a Tony and three Golden Globe awards; his groundbreaking show, A Chorus Line, received the Pulitzer Prize. He is the composer of more than forty motion picture scores including his Oscar-winning score and song for The Way We Were and his adaptation of Scott Joplin's music for The Sting, for which he received a third Oscar. His prolific output of scores for films include original compositions and/or musical adaptations for Sophie's Choice, Ordinary People, The Swimmer, Three Men and a Baby, Ice Castles, Take the Money and Run, Bananas and Save the Tiger. For his Arsht Center debut, Hamlisch will perform Broadway and Hollywood hits with special guest J. Mark McVey, who is best known for his outstanding performance as Les Miserables' Jean Valjean on Broadway and in London's West End.

8 p.m.

John S. and James L. Knight Concert Hall - Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County

Tickets: $40-65 

April Yvette Thompson IN LIBERTY CITY - FEBRUARY 18 - MARCH 1

April Yvette Thompson knows Miami's Liberty City. It's where urban and island cultures rub up against each other, and it's where she grew up with her Bahamian/Cuban father and African-American mother. Now she brings to life that neighborhood as it was during her childhood - the turbulent 1970s and '80s, a time when hope and the possibility of change gave way to disillusionment and disintegration, and families struggled to stay together as their worlds were coming apart. Exploring race and activism, family, politics, and the radical legacies of the '60s, April tells us her life story - a startling synthesis of documentary realism and imaginative fiction - with "scorching insight on how history both frees and chains us at the same time" (Variety.) Co-written and directed by Jessica Blank, co-writer of the hit play The Exonerated, Liberty City sheds light on a dramatic chapter of our history. Very funny, yet as gritty and thought-provoking as the neighborhood that inspired it, Liberty City is a "definitive example of the solo show" (Village Voice.)

Limited run from February 18 - March 1

Carnival Studio Theater - Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County

Tickets: $40-45

Visit www.arshtcenter.org for showtimes and to purchase tickets.

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