Audra McDonald, Lewis Black & More Set for McCarter Theatre's 2013-14 Season

McCarter Theatre Center is pleased to announce its 2013-2014 roster of world-renowned artists on its 2013-14 Presenting Series. During the upcoming season, McCarter will present over 40 performances by world-class performing artists curated by Special Programming Director William W. Lockwood. Mr. Lockwood has been responsible for McCarter's special programming for over 50 years, and remains the senior arts presenter in the country. Additional performances will be added throughout the season.

Returning favorites will include violinist Joshua Bell, tap dancer extraordinaire Savion Glover, jazz trumpet superstar Chris Botti, five-time Tony Award-winning Audra McDonald, the charismatic Max Raabe & Palast Orchester, comic legend Lewis Black, tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain's Masters of Percussion; and British Folk/Rock legend Richard Thompson.

Artist making their McCarter Theatre debuts include Chinese pianist Yuja Wang, jazz vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant, Cuban composer/pianist/bandleader Omar Sosa, an evening with the young, extraordinary giftedcomposer Nico Muhly, and the Simon Shaheen Quartet, one of the most significant Arab musicians, performers, and composers of his generation. In the fall, McCarter will also present SPANK! THE FIFTY SHADES PARODY, a hilarious new musical that brings all the naughty fun of the best-selling book to life.

The season there will also be several milestone performances. For the first time ever in its history, McCarter's Music Series will present a concert by one of the world's greatest symphony orchestras, the Mariinsky Orchestra from St. Petersburg, Russia. Mezzo-soprano superstar Stephanie Blythe will pay homage to the life and music of Kate Smith; the NJ premiere of Kevin Kline in SHAKESPEARE: ONE MAN IN HIS TIME; and Take 6, the most award vocal group in history, will celebrate both their 25th Anniversary and their McCarter debut.

CLASSICAL MUSIC

McCarter's 2013-2014 Classical Music Series is filled with eight of the world's finest virtuosos. On October 8McCarter will present its first Music Series concert ever by a major symphony orchestra: Valery Gergiev's Mariinsky Orchestra from St. Petersburg will crown the stage at Richardson Auditorium on the Princeton campus. Gergiev has made the Mariinsky not only Russia's best, but one of the four greatest ensembles in Europe today (with those of Vienna, Amsterdam, and Berlin). And while he, himself, will be conducting at the Met that same evening, he has asked his colleague Ignat Solzhenitsyn, to take the podium for an all-Russian program of music by Mussorgsky, Rachmaninoff, and Shostakovich's monumental Fifth Symphony, a landmark of the 20th century orchestral repertoire.

The 2013-14 concert lineup will include other notable events, from the superstars of today like violinist Joshua Bell and the return of McCarter favorites - the duo of violinist Pinchas Zukerman and pianist Yefim Bronfman - to conductor/violinist Vladimir Spivakov and his Moscow Virtuosi. The series will also feature one of the today's truly great voices: the mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe, whose program WE'LL MEET AGAIN pays homage to the immortal Kate Smith.

The series will also spotlight some of the world's most renowned pianist. Kirill Gerstein replaced Yundi two season ago at the last minute, and the standing ovation he received that night was enough to bring him back to McCarter! The celebrated Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes returns with an all-Beethoven program; and the Chinese pianist Yuja Wang, a true superstar in the making, already a YouTube sensation noted both for her phenomenal talent as well as her flair for fashion.

What would the Christmas season be without McCarter's annual holiday tradition: Bach's Complete Brandenburg Concerti, as played by The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center? And no McCarter music season is ever complete without at least one new face. This year it's mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile in collaboration with Princeton University Concerts.

DANCE

Luis Bravo's FOREVER TANGO, an international sensation that played to great acclaim in Europe, Canada, on Broadway, and throughout the U.S., will launch McCarter's Dance series. The ensemble features 14 world-class dancers, one vocalist, and an on-stage 11-piece orchestra in an evening that celebrates the passionate music and dance of Argentina.

Internationally acclaimed tap dance virtuoso Savion Glover will return to McCarter with his new show STEPZ, a celebration of tap dance to sound and sound to dance. In this production, Mr. Glover and his ensemble of dancers take tap dance to new heights while fusing traditional music selections of the past with his self-proclaimed top style and energy.

This season McCarter will bring back to new companies for the second time several years after their McCarter debuts: Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet and Aspen Santa Fe Ballet.

In a very short time, New York's Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet has won its spurs as the country's most innovative contemporary ballet troupe. Last seen at McCarter in 2010, they return with a program featuring works by two of today's most influential dance creators, Jiri Kylian and the Canadian choreographer Crystal Pite.

The Aspen Santa Fe Ballet is another success story. Who would have thought that a decision made in 1996 to locate cutting-edge art no in New York, but in the relative calm of the American heartland, would have produced a small group of classically trained dancers who can handle the full range of contemporary ballet with European flair? This will be Aspen Santa Fe Ballet's third time at McCarter and they will be performing works by Norbert De La Cruz, Alejandro Cerrudo, and another premiere to be announced.

It is not often McCarter has a chance to host a major New Jersey premiere, but McCarter has one this season: Wendy Whelan's RESTLESS CREATURE, in which the New York City Ballet star - America's greatest contemporary ballerina - joins forces with four of today's top male choreographers in a suite of duets to be performed by Wendy and each choreographer in turn. Each of the four - Brian Brooks, Kyle Abraham, Joshua Beamish and Alejandro Cerrudo - has his own company, providing Ms. Whelan with the opportunity to adapt to another's vision while maintaining and even amplifying her own individuality, a project she says "that has been on my mind for many years." (Presented in association with the Dance Program of the Lewis Center).

Rounding out the 2013-14 Dance Series will be SLEEPING BEAUTY danced by Russia's Rudolf Nureyev State Ballet Theatre, and the Krasnoyarsk National Dance Company of Siberia featuring a company of 55, hundreds of costumes, and accompanied by an orchestra of folk and traditional instruments; and perennial McCarter audience favorite - PILOBOLUS.

SIGNATURE

The Signature Series is filled with important events: jazz, cabaret, world music, and those acts that defy categorization. For example, in the jazz world, there is no new artist generating greater buzz today than the 23-year-old singer Cécile McLorin Salvant, whom The New York Times has nominated as the most likely "to extend the lineage of The Big Three- Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald." Her first CD, WOMANCHILD, has the critics reaching for superlatives and is already a front runner for 2013's Jazz Album of the Year. Then, there are the veterans, like Grammy-winning trumpet superstar Chris Botti and pianist Bill Charlap, who with his trio, is one of the premiere interpreters of the Great American Songbook. And then there are the envelope-pushing eclectic sounds of The Bad Plus and the rhythms of Cuban pianist Omar Sosa, one of the grand masters of Latin Jazz.

The series will also include bassist/singer/composer Grammy Award winner Esperanza Spalding who has become the jazz world's biggest breakout star. She will appear at McCarter as one-quarter of an all-star quartet, including legendary drummer Jack DeJohnette, saxophonist Joe Lovano, and pianist Leo Genovese.

And if that's not enough, there are the singers starting at the top with Audra McDonald, the "First Lady" of the Broadway musical stage who picked up a record-setting fifth Tony Award for her performance in The Gershwins' PORGY AND BESS. Broadway is also represented by two other artists: the quirky Nellie McKay, a cabaret-leaning contemporary pop chanteuse who is wowing audiences in the off-Broadway hit OLD HATS; and Jarrod Spector, who spent two years as the iconic Frankie Valli in JERSEY BOYS. But the quintessential cabaret evening is always the return of Max Raabe and his Palast Orchester, recreating the cabaret days of 1920's and 1930's Wiemer Berlin.

Acts that fall under those that defy categorization include Laurie Anderson, still the foremost performance artist of our time; the death-defying acrobatics of The Peking Acrobats; and Cirque Eloize with their newest creation CIRKOPOLIS, where dance , circus, and theater combine to create a surreal, dream-like experience.

SUBSCRIPTIONS

Patrons may subscribe to any one or more series or design their own package. The Music and Dance Series are four events each, while the Signature Events package starts at 3 events. The 3-2-1 Pick Your Own package includes 3 plays from the Theater Series selections with 2 events from any other series to provide a flexible subscription combination for one great price. Subscribers are guaranteed prime seating locations all season, receive first choice of seating upgrades at time of renewal, are eligible for unlimited ticket exchanges, and are able to add tickets to additional shows - before the general public. The McCarter Subscription Office can be reached at 609.258.5050.

MEMBERSHIP PROGRAM

Not quite ready to subscribe? Try out McCarter's Membership program or enhance your subscription with a McCarter membership that saves money on tickets. Memberships are $35 per person for each season and tickets for most events are $35. Memberships are ideal for people who like to see many shows but are looking for flexibility and savings; a perfect add-on to any McCarter subscription that will help save money on additional single tickets; and allows patrons to receive early access to the best seats for McCarter events with priority ticket ordering periods throughout the season.

SINGLE TICKETS

Single tickets covering events from September 2013 to December 2013 go on sale to the general public on Monday, July 29 at 10 a.m.

For more information, call the Ticket Office at 609.258.2787; emailsales@mccarter.org, or visit our website at www.mccarter.org.