2012-13 Concert Season Announced at the Centenary Stage Company

The 2012-13 Concert Season at the Centenary Stage Company will kick off with a "Curtains Up - Opening of the Season Celebration" and a performance by Robert Klein, on Saturday, Sept 22 in the David and Carol Lackland Center in Hackettstown. 

For more than forty years, Robert Klein has entertained audiences, and he continues to have an acclaimed career in comedy, on Broadway, on television, and in film.  Born in the Bronx, he was a member of the famed "Second City" theatrical troupe in Chicago and was nominated  twice for Grammy Awards for "Best Comedy Album of the Year" for his albums "Child of the Fifties" and "Mind Over Matter."  Klein received a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor, and won a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for his performance in the hit Neil Simon musical, "They're Playing Our Song." In 1993, Klein won an Obie and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in Wendy Wasserstein's, "The Sisters Rosensweig."   

Among dozens of starring and guest-starring roles on television, Klein co-starred in the hit NBC series, "Sisters," and recently has a recurring guest-starring role on "Law and Order." He regularly appears on talk-shows, making more than 100 appearances on "The Tonight Show" and "Late Show with David Letterman" alone. 

The "Curtains Up"  celebration with Robert Klein will begin with a pre-show reception at 6:30 PM  in the Edit Boltz Kutz Theater of the Lackland Center, featuring a wine tasting hosted by local CSC sponsor Vintners Circle, with an array of "New York style" hors d'oeuvres and beverages.     A silent auction will take place throughout the evening to benefit the performing arts series.    The performance by Robert Klein will begin at 8 PM in the Sitnik Theater of the Lackland Center, and a limited VIP "Meet and Greet" post show reception with the artist will follow the performance with a  party on-stage, featuring New York style desserts and champagne, and photos with the artist.  Tickets for the Performance of Robert Klein are $40 in the Orchestra and $35 in the Balcony.  Tickets for the pre-show reception with  Orchestra  seating  are $55.    Special  VIP tickets, which include the pre-show reception, the performance with orchestra seating, and the post-show "Meet and Greet"  will be offered at  $100.   All proceeds from the evening will help to underwrite the artist fees for concert events through the 2012-13 season.

CSC will inaugurate a new "Music for a Sunday Afternoon Series" this season, which will begin with the performance by world renowned classical Indian musician Usted Shafaat Khan on Sunday, Sept 30 at 2 PM.    Jazz Master Bill Mays will return to CSC on Oct 28 at 2 PM  with his "Invention Trio."    "The Bishop of Jazz", Rio Clemente returns by popular demand with another romantic  concert to celebrate Valentine's Day on February 17th  at 2 PM. And "The Baroque Orchestra of New Jersey,"  hailed for it's "dazzling array of wonderful musicians" [NJ Arts Maven],  will bring a program of classical music to the stage on Sunday, April 28 at 2 PM.   Tickets for the Music for a Sunday Afternoon Series may be purchased as a subscription, with all 4 performances for $60, or individually for $17.50.  All performances in this series will be in the original CSC Little Theatre on Jefferson Street.

A new "Family Fun Series" also joins the CSC line-up this season, offering three performances for young patrons and their families, beginning with "The Illusionary Magic of Brad Ross" on Nov 3 at 2 PM.   The Michael DuBois Solo Circus, featuring magic, juggling, mentalism, circus and sideshow stunts, wrapped in a blanket of comedy, will be presented on Feb 2 at 2 PM.   The Catskill Puppet Theatre will present the musical adaptation of the traditional Ethiopian Folktale, "The Lion's Whiskers" on April 13 at 2 PM.  The Family Fun Series will be offered as a subscription, which will include all three performances for $45.  Tickets may be purchased individually for events for  $20.  All performance for Family Series will be held on Saturday afternoons  in the Sitnik Theatre of the Lackland Center.

INDIVIDUAL CONCERTS

With performances virtually every week throughout the season, the calendar will include many of the traditional  individual concert events, beginning with the eagerly awaited return of the NJ Ballet on Oct 27 at 8 PM, with a reprise of their "Ghosts of the Ballet",  a performance which includes  the most celebrated spirits, souls and saints of the ballet on this Halloween weekend. 

The Nutcracker will return to usher in the holiday season, with performances on Dec 15 – 16, performed by the New Jersey Civic Youth Ballet.  Tickets range from $22.50 to $25.

The January Jazz Fest will warm up the winter nights in the new year,  beginning with the Benny Goodman Tribute by the Stan Rubin Orchestra on January 12 at 8 PM.    On January 19 at 8 PM, vocalist Kathy Kosins and her trio will perform an evening of jazz standards celebrating the artistry of Anita O'Day, June Christy, Chris Connor and Julie London - pioneers of the vocal stylings of the west coast 'cool jazz movement' of the 1950s -  with a show entitled "To the Ladies of Cool."   The January Jazz Fest concludes with "The Hot Club of Detroit", a sizzling ensemble which takes inspiration from the  Quintette du Hot Club de France (considered by jazz historians to be the greatest of all European Jazz bands), Gypsy Jazz,  and the Django Reinhardt, pre-WWII musical revolution in Europe.      Tickets for January Jazz Fest events may be purchased as a subscription for $66 for all three concerts.  Tickets for individual events in the Jazz Fest range from $22.50 to $27.50, with discounts for seniors and students.

Blowing down from the northland in February, Le Vent du Nord  (Wind from the North) will bring their irresistible brand of  Québécois music, heavily influenced by Celtic music from both Ireland and Brittany,  on February 9 at 8 PM.  "They dance between verses, take on Cajun airs, set free marvelous strings in a lament and end in a lullaby," raves  Yves Bernard, Le Devoir . With button accordion, Irish Bouzouki, Foot-percussion, Hurdy Gurdy and more, this band is hailed as one of Canada's best.

Blues Bash will fill the town of Hackettstown with music  Mar 23,  24  of 2012 with a line-up of talent on the Centenary  stage and at different locations throughout Hackettstown. 

Broadway comes to Hackettstown on March 16 at 8 PM, with the performance by Tony-Award-winning actress,  Donna McKechnie, with her show, "My Musical Comedy Life."    Regarded internationally as one of Broadway's foremost dancing and singing leading ladies, McKechnie's performance is an autobiographical musical celebration of song, dance and story-telling, with music by some of Broadway's most celebrated composers, including Sondheim, Hamlisch, Cy Coleman,  and Rogers and Hammerstein.   Tickets for  "My Musical Comedy Life" are $35 in advance and $40 the day of performance.

The spring at CSC  will bring a return of the successful Dance Fest, first offered in the 2011-12 season, sponsored by the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation.    In addition to performances by several dance companies, this week long celebration of dance includes workshops for the public, led by special guest artists, as well as seminars and talk-backs with artists.   The Festival will begin with a performance by Umoja Dance Company, a multi-cultural ensemble known for their fusion of contemporary modern and West African Dance, on Sunday April 21 at 4:30 PM.    The New Jersey based Moe-tion Dance Theatre will perform on Thursday, April 25 at 7:30 PM.   Nimbus Dance Works will perform on Friday, April 26 at 8 PM, and the series will conclude on Saturday, April 27 at 8 PM with a performance by the Carolyn Dorfman Dance Company , hailed for their artist excellence and elegance, as well as their technical ability and "inner fire".  A subscription package for Dance Fest may be purchased for $40, which will include all four performances, as well as seminars and talk-backs throughout the week.   Individual Tickets for performances will be $17.50, with discounts for seniors and students.

In addition to series subscriptions, CSC will offer several "Flex-Pass" options to patrons this season, which may be applied to performances throughout the season.  Honoring it's reputation as "the best deal in the state",  CSC will offer A Golden Flex Pass, which includes all 25 events (concerts & theatre performances),  for  $275.  The Pick Ten Flex Pass is offered at $200.  The Pick Seven Flex Pass is $147, and the Pick Five Flex Pass is $110.  Tickets may be purchased online at www.centenarystageco.org, or at the CSC Box Office, located in the David and Carol Lackland Center, at 715 Grand Ave in Hackettstown, and by calling 908 979 0900.   The Box Office is open 1-5 PM Monday through Friday, and 2 hours prior to performance times.   A convenient new "Main Street Box Office" is scheduled to open this fall, located at 217 Main Street in Hackettstown. 

The 2012-13 season of performing arts events at Centenary Stage Company  is made possible (and affordable) through the generous support of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the NJ State Council on the Arts, Season Sponsor- Heath Village Retirement Community, and Series sponsors Fulton Bank, Hackettstown Regional Hospital, and Mama's and Café Baci, as well as CSC supporting members.