Kravis Center Guarantees Music, Music, Music Throughout April with Memorable Concerts and Broadway Hits
By: A.A. Cristi Mar. 01, 2017
The Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts continues its star-packed 25th anniversary season in April 2017 with an amazing array of musical performances from Broadway to Motown, from classy Nat King Cole to classic Cole Porter, from piano masterpieces to Pokémon. Also, a soul searing drama (Judgment at Nuremberg) and a side-splitting comedy (Sex Tips for Straight Women from a Gay Man).
April 1 at 2 pm & 8 pm (Saturday)
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
(Kravis On Broadway)
Cameron Mackintosh's spectacular new production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA comes to West Palm Beach as part of a brand new North American Tour. This production, which retains the beloved story and thrilling score, boasts exciting new special effects, scenic and lighting designs, staging and choreography and has been hailed by critics as "bigger and better than ever before."
Alexander W. Dreyfoos, Jr. Concert Hall
Tickets start at $37
Kravis On Broadway sponsored by Alex and Renate Dreyfoos
April 3 at 7:30 pm (Monday)
Lysander Piano Trio
Itamar Zorman, Violin
Michael Katz, Cello
Liza Stepanova, Piano
A South Florida Debut
(Young Artists Series)
The Trio, formed at The Juilliard School in 2009, represented the school the same year in Mexico City. Its exceptional players include Zorman, winner of the 2013 Avery Fisher Career Grant and Russia's 2011 International Tchaikovsky Competition. Cellist Katz won the Israeli Conservatory Scholarship Competition and America Israel Cultural Foundation grants. Pianist Stepanova joined the Juilliard faculty in 2012 and is the Smith College Visiting Artist in Piano. Like Shakespeare's Lysander (A Midsummer Night's Dream), the Trio is endearing for its articulate, imaginative ideas and passion.
Tickets: $30
Young Artists Series sponsored by Harriett M. Eckstein New Art Fund
This concert is with support from The Raymond and Bessie Kravis Foundation
Marshall E. Rinker, Sr. Playhouse
April 6-7 at 7:30 pm (Thursday & Friday)
Marilyn in Fragments
Sondra Lee, Director
Jon Weber, Musical Director/Piano
Marissa Mulder, whose cabaret career has had a meteoric rise from Noël Coward to Tom Waits, mesmerizes in Marilyn in Fragments, a creative and authentic homage to Marilyn Monroe. Accompanied by pianist Jon Weber, Mulder revisits songs from different artists, ranging from George Gershwin to Alanis Morissette. The show's spoken words are directly from Monroe, gathered from letters, diaries, poems and even the actress' handwritten recipes.
Helen K. Persson Hall
Tickets $35
April 7 at 7 pm (Friday)
Showcase the Writing
Host: Julie Gilbert
(The Writers' Academy at the Kravis Center)
Showcase the Writing, hosted by Julie Gilbert and open to the public, introduces talented new writers. Writers' Circle members will present all genres of work.
Cohen Pavilion
Tickets $10
April 7-8 at 7:30 pm (Friday & Saturday)
Stuart Pimsler Dance & Theater
(PEAK)
Stuart Pimsler Dance & Theater, a performance company known for its vast emotional range, intellectual provocations and stunning visuals, welcomes you to Bohemian Grove, a campground where wealthy and powerful leaders gather. Through statuesque movement, animal imagery and probing monologues, the piece provides a searing glimpse into the "superclass," alternately vilifying privilege while at the same time inviting viewers to reconsider the depravity that lurks within us all.
Marshall E. Rinker, Sr. Playhouse
Tickets $30
This PEAK performance is made possible by a grant from the
MLDauray Arts Initiative in honor of Leonard and Sophie Davis
Beyond the Stage: Join us for a free post-performance talk by Steven Caras immediately following the April 7 performance. Beyond the Stage is sponsored by Nancy and Jay Parker.
April 9 at 1:30 pm & 7:30 pm (Sunday)
Swell Party:
A Celebration of Cole Porter
Starring Spider Saloff
Jazz singer Spider Saloff, described by The New York Times as having "a wicked way with a lyric and a glint of well-controlled mischief," presents Cole Porter classics, including Night and Day, Soin Love, You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To, I've Got You Under My Skin and more. It'sAnything Goes as this award-winning Chicago-based vocalist salutes the prolific Porter, who composed more than a thousand songs.
Helen K. Persson Hall
Tickets $35
April 11 at 8 pm (Tuesday)
The Four Tops and The Temptations
Get Ready for a magnificent Motown revival that will have you on Cloud Nine! These two soul super groups first soared in the 1960s with hits such as The Four Tops' Baby I Need Your Loving andReach Out I'll Be There; and The Temptations' The Way You Do the Things You Do and My Girl. The smooth-stepping show includes founding Four Tops tenor Abdul "Duke" Fakir and original Temptations baritone Otis Williams.
Alexander W. Dreyfoos, Jr. Concert Hall
Tickets start at $29
Sponsored by Bessemer Trust
April 12-15
+ Wednesday & Thursday at 7:30 pm
+ Friday & Saturday at 7 pm & 9:30 pm
Sex Tips for Straight Women
From a Gay Man
No topic is taboo in this romantic comedy, set in a university auditorium at a meet-the-authors event. Shy and studious moderator Robyn welcomes guest author Dan Anderson of Sex Tips for StraightWomen from a Gay Man. With the help of a hunky stage assistant named Stefan, Dan aims to turn the presentation into an interactive seminar. The play, based on the real-life book by Anderson and Maggie Berman, is for mature audiences.
Marshall E. Rinker, Sr. Playhouse
Tickets start at $35
April 12 at 8 pm (Wednesday)
Michael Feinstein Conducts
The Kravis Center Pops Orchestra
To Nat and Ella with Love
With Denzal Sinclaire and Ann Hampton Callaway
Larry Blank, Associate Conductor
Michael Feinstein concludes a captivating three-concert series at the Kravis Center with To Nat and Ella with Love, a tribute to jazz legends Nat King Cole and Ella Fitzgerald and hits such as Mona Lisa, When I Fall in Love, A-Tisket, A-Tasket and My Happiness. From recordings that have earned Feinstein five Grammy Award nominations to his PBS-TV specials and NPR series, the conductor is considered one of today's most important musical forces. With guest artists Denzal Sinclaire and Ann Hampton Callaway.
Alexander W. Dreyfoos, Jr. Concert Hall
Tickets start at $30
With series support from Legends 100.3 FM
Beyond The Stage: Join us for a free musical presentation at 7:15 pm in the Dreyfoos Hall lobby featuring the Palm Beach Public Chamber Orchestra. Beyond the Stage is sponsored byNancy and Jay Parker.
April 13 at 11 am & 2 pm (Thursday)
Piano Battle
(Adults at Leisure Series)
Part serious recital, part classical-comedy combat show, Piano Battle pits acclaimed German artists Andreas Kern and Paul Cibis against each other in a six-round contest of flying fingers and searing wit. It's Chopin versus Liszt, Debussy versus Schubert and more in a dynamic duel in which the audience decides the winner. The music and pace intensify until the thrilling grand - make that twogrands - finale.
Alexander W. Dreyfoos, Jr. Concert Hall
Tickets: $29
April 15 at 8 pm (Saturday)
A mesmerizing trumpet player with a passion for evocative melodies, Chris Botti reigns as the world's largest-selling jazz instrumentalist. His Impressions album, which features artists such as Andrea Bocelli, Vince Gill and David Foster, won a Grammy Award in 2013, adding to a stack of accolades. Audience favorite When I Fall in Love, a reimagined take on a classic, highlights the talent and intensity of Botti and his longtime band.
Alexander W. Dreyfoos, Jr. Concert Hall
Tickets start at $25
Sponsored by Lee Wolf and Dr. JorDan Cohen
April 16 at 3 pm (Sunday)
L.A. Theatre Works
Susan Albert Loewenberg, Producing Director
Judgment at Nuremberg
By Abby Mann
As the world commemorates the 75th anniversary of World War II and as politics continue to steer human rights, L.A. Theatre Works revisits a landmark courtroom drama. Originally a TV play, Abby Mann's Judgment at Nuremberg became an Academy Award-winning film and a poignant stage play. Along with Elie Wiesel's Night and Anne Frank's Diary of a Young Girl, Mann's riveting work on the Holocaust is considered to be one of the 20th century's most important theatrical chronicles of intolerance.
Alexander W. Dreyfoos, Jr. Concert Hall
Tickets start at $15
April 18-23
+ Tuesday, Thursday, Friday at 8 pm
+ Wednesday, Saturday at 2 pm & 8 pm
+ Sunday at 2 pm
KINKY BOOTS
(Kravis On Broadway)
KINKY BOOTS is Broadway's huge-hearted, high-heeled hit! With songs by Grammy® and Tony®winning pop icon Cyndi Lauper, this joyous musical celebration is about the friendships we discover, and the belief that you can change the world when you change your mind. Inspired by true events,KINKY BOOTS takes you from a gentlemen's shoe factory in Northampton to the glamorous catwalks of Milan. With direction and choreography by two-time Tony Award-winner Jerry Mitchell (Legally Blonde, Hairspray) and a book by Broadway legend and four-time Tony Award-winner Harvey Fierstein (La Cage Aux Folles), KINKY BOOTS is the winner of six Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Score and Best Choreography.
Alexander W. Dreyfoos, Jr. Concert Hall
Tickets start at $27
Kravis On Broadway sponsored by:
* BMO Private Bank
* Carolyn Metskas
Beyond The Stage: Join us on April 18 for a free musical presentation at 7:15 pm in the Dreyfoos Hall lobby featuring Voices of Pride. Beyond the Stage is sponsored by Nancy and Jay Parker.
April 20-21 at 7:30 pm (Thursday & Friday)
Anna Bergman in
You're All the World to Me
In You're All the World to Me, internationally acclaimed singer Anna Bergman revisits beloved romantic songs from places where she grew up as the daughter of an American diplomat. The versatile soprano, called "a vocal citizen of the world" by The Washington Post, performs in multiple languages and styles that range from standards and Broadway tunes, French chanson and German cabaret to Neapolitan songs, Viennese operetta and Italian opera.
Helen K. Persson Hall
Tickets $35
April 27-30
+ Thursday & Friday at 7:30 pm
+ Saturday at 1:30 pm & 7:30 pm
+ Sunday at 1:30 pm
Soul Crooners
Soul Crooners is a finger-snapping celebration of the 1970s, featuring signature hits such as Stevie Wonder's Superstition; Papa Was a Rolling Stone by The Temptations; and James Brown's I Feel Good. Nate Jacobs, founding artistic director of Sarasota's Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe, joins vocalists Christopher Eisenberg, Michael Mendez, Leon S. Pitts II and Sheldon Rhoden for a smooth and stylish revue that includes more than 40 favorites.
Marshall E. Rinker, Sr. Playhouse
Tickets start at $30
April 29 at 7 pm (Saturday)
Pokémon: Symphonic Evolutions
Pokémon: Symphonic Evolutions is the must-see video game concert of the year, giving fans and newcomers of all ages the chance to experience the evolution of Pokémon like never before. Come in costume if you wish, and meet up with friends to catch, battle and trade Pokémon from your favorite games. New orchestral arrangements and carefully timed visuals draw from recent and classic versions to create a boldly colored, larger-than-life experience.
Alexander W. Dreyfoos, Jr. Concert Hall
Tickets start at $20
About the Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts:
Celebrating 25 Seasons of Success, Thanks To The Community:
This season, the Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts celebrates a Quarter-Century on Stage. And while we celebrate our silver anniversary, we renew our commitment to the community to present the gold standard of excellence in the performing arts.
Today, the Kravis Center is a thriving cultural complex, serving as the gateway to downtown West Palm Beach. Thanks to so many who have and continue to support the Center; it has become one of the premier performing arts centers with a renowned national and international reputation.
The Kravis Center is a not-for-profit performing arts center whose mission is to enhance the quality of life in Palm Beach County by presenting a diverse schedule of national and International Artists and companies of the highest quality; by offering comprehensive arts education programs; by providing a Palm Beach County home in which local and regional arts organizations can showcase their work; and by providing an economic catalyst and community leadership in West Palm Beach, supporting efforts to increase travel and tourism to Palm Beach County. The Kravis Center is located at 701 Okeechobee Blvd. in West Palm Beach, FL. For more information, please call 561-832-7469 or visit the official website at http://www.kravis.org/.
Videos
