Broadway Love Songs, Dances & Backstage Stories Comes to Aventura Arts Center

M&M American Dance Theatre will present "Broadway Love Songs, Dances & Backstage Stories" starring renowned husband and wife song and dance team Michael Kessler and Melinda Jackson in an intimate journey celebrating the art of musical theatre, told through the eyes of a tender and funny 95-year-old couple who have seen and/or performed in every Broadway musical. The show is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 20, at 7:30 p.m. at the 330-seat waterfront Aventura Cultural Arts Center, 3385 N.E. 188 Street in Aventura.

Woven between music from many Broadway blockbusters including "Showboat," "West Side Story," "Fiddler On The Roof," "Oklahoma," "Cabaret" and "South Pacific" are personal anecdotes from their work with giants of musical theatre and personal stories of love, rejection, struggle, triumph and downright foolishness.

Native New Yorkers, Jackson and Kessler, affectionally known as M&M, share 30 years of producing, directing, writing, composing, choreographing and performing internationally from ballet, Broadway, Radio City Music Hall, the Las Vegas Strip, theaters and opera houses worldwide.

In addition to nine international tours of their original shows, the couple have performed in Tommy Tune's Broadway show, "Grand Hotel," choreographed for the Winter Olympics, the U.S. Pro Gymnastics tour and directed and choreographed the 30th Anniversary tour of the hit rock musical "Hair," to name a few.

M&M have resided in Las Vegas and part time in south Florida since 2013, and in 2014 they created the nonprofit, M&M American Dance Theatre Works. Jackson is proud to be the great-granddaughter of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt. Bully! Kessler is proud to be the great-grandson of Russian Cantor Yacov Sanzofsky. Shalom!

Composer and pianist Keith Thompson returns as M&M's music director, and audiences will be delighted to watch him tickle the ivories. His credits include creator/producer of "The Cocktail Cabaret" at Caesars Palace Las Vegas, conductor/musical director for two Broadway shows "Jersey Boys," and "Cleavage," co-writer of "Idaho, The Comedy Musical" and co-creator/host of "The Composers Showcase" at The Smith Center.

Proceeds from ticket sales will benefit M&M's nonprofit M&M American Dance Theatre Works dedicated to promoting artistic collaboration, educational and cultural enrichment through exposure, mentorship and involvement in musical dance theatre. Tickets are $35 to $55, buy online www.americandance.biz or www.adtw.org.

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