Postmodern Jukebox Returns to Segerstrom Center for the Arts

Segerstrom Center for the Arts announces the return of popular musical ensemble Postmodern Jukebox on Sunday, April 15, 2018 in the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall. Postmodern Jukebox originally blew up online, with new videos added weekly that keep finding creative new ways to put creator Scott Bradlee's trademark vintage twist on modern pop hits. But it's onstage that the project has really come to shine, playing hundreds of shows to sold-out houses across the globe, from intimate standing-room gigs to large-scale, theatrical extravaganzas.

Tickets for Postmodern Jukebox start at $39 and go on sale Sunday, January 21 at 10 a.m. and will be available online at SCFTA.org, at the Box Office at 600 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa or by calling (714) 556-2787.

Since Bradlee created the project in 2009, Postmodern Jukebox has amassed more than 880 million YouTube views and 3.1 million subscribers, chalked up more than 1.2 million likes on Facebook, performed on "Good Morning America," topped iTunes and Billboard charts, caught the attention of NPR Music and NBC News, and played hundreds of shows to sold-out houses around the world.

That seemingly exhausting pace hasn't stopped Bradlee from arranging and recording new arrangements every week for Postmodern Jukebox's legion of fans. The multi-talented collective reimagines contemporary pop, rock and R&B hits in the style of various yesteryears, from swing to doo-wop, ragtime to Motown - or, as Bradlee himself puts it, "pop music in a time machine."

Imagine marrying the 21st century party vibe of Miley Cyrus or the minimalist angst of Radiohead with the crackly warmth of a vintage 78 or the plunger-muted barrelhouse howl of a forgotten Kansas City jazzman. Bradlee's choice of material ranges from the '80s hard rock of Guns N' Roses to hits as recent as 2015's Justin Bieber plea "Sorry." They're rendered by a rotating cast of musicians and singers in fashions that date back to a time when Axl, Slash and Bieber's parents had yet to be born - a time of street corner harmonies and torch singers, blues belters and golden-voiced crooners.

Last year, Postmodern Jukebox collected 18 favorites from among the hundreds of songs that Bradlee has arranged to compile The Essentials for Concord Records. The album featured the songs that Bradlee has called "most essential to the PMJ universe," including hits by Beyoncé, the White Stripes, Lorde, Outkast and Maroon 5 - along with the song that put the band on the map, a vaudevillian distressing of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' "Thrift Shop" fronted by Robyn Adele Anderson that garnered more than a million views within a week of being posted. The pin-up styled singer returned for the album's opener, their '50s doo-wop version of Miley Cyrus' celebration of an inhibition-shedding spree, "We Can't Stop," which garnered more than 19.5 million views and was named one of the "9 Best Viral Cover Videos of 2015" by People magazine.

Postmodern Jukebox has long since outgrown the cramped confines of Bradlee's small apartment in Queens, NY, where the original videos were shot at a time when he was one of countless struggling musicians in the city, to play some of the most heralded stages in the world. The spirit, though, has remained the same - a collective of musicians dedicated to the timelessness of music, performing songs vibrantly and without a trace of irony. And the media has taken notice: Entertainment Weekly wrote, "Scott Bradlee's group is known for retro-fying modern hit songs into viral success," while Yahoo! Music added, "if you've been on YouTube in the last couple of years, then you're familiar with the everythingnew-is-old-again brilliance of the viral phenomenon known as Postmodern Jukebox."

"I take pride in putting together the right powers and personalities to create a unique and amazing experience for our fans," Bradlee says. "We want them to escape reality and join us for the most sensational 1920s party this side of The Great Gatsby. We want them to experience what it was like to be at the New Years' Eve show that Sinatra would have hosted in the 1940s. We want them to feel the excitement of hearing the greats of Motown live and up close. Our goal is to give our audiences their favorite show again and again and still have it feel like the very first time."

Segerstrom Center for the Arts applauds its corporate partners including Kia Motors America, Official Automotive Partner; United Airlines, Official Airline; and Omaha Steaks International, Official Fine Food Retailer.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts is an acclaimed arts institution as well as a beautiful multi-disciplinary cultural campus. It is committed to supporting artistic excellence on all of its stages, offering unsurpassed experiences, and to engaging the entire community in new and exciting ways through the unique power of live performance and a diverse array of inspiring programs.

Previously called the Orange County Performing Arts Center, Segerstrom Center is Orange County's largest non-profit arts organization. In addition to its six performance venues, Segerstrom Center is also home to the American Ballet Theatre William J. Gillespie School, where students ages 3 - 14 are taught by acclaimed teachers utilizing the renowned ABT National Training Curriculum in studios utilized by the world's greatest dancers and choreographers.

The Center presents a broad range of programming for audiences of all ages, including international ballet and dance, national tours of top Broadway shows, intimate performances of jazz and cabaret, contemporary artists, classical music performed by renowned chamber orchestras and ensembles, family-friendly programming, free performances open to the public from outdoor movie screenings to dancing on the plaza and many other special events.

The Center's education programs are designed to inspire young people through the arts and reach hundreds of thousands of students each year. In addition to the presenting and producing institution Segerstrom Center for the Arts, the 14-acre campus also embraces the facilities of two independently acclaimed organizations: Tony Award®-winning South Coast Repertory and a site designated as the future home of the Orange County Museum of Art.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts is also proud to serve as the artistic home to three of the region's major performing arts organizations: Pacific Symphony, the Philharmonic Society of Orange County and the Pacific Chorale, who contribute greatly to the artistic life of the region with annual seasons at Segerstrom Center for the Arts.