Renowned for his lightning-fast fingers and revolutionary playing techniques, ukulele phenomenon Jake Shimabukuro promises to amaze his audience when he takes the stage at the Ordway's Main Hall on Tuesday, March 10 at 7:30pm. The performance caps off the 2008-09 planet Ordway? Target? World Music and Dance Season.
Regarded as one of the world's leading ukulele players, Shimabukuro defies the notion that the ukulele is only capable of playing traditional Hawaiian music.
Laura Bell Bundy, who originated the role of Elle Woods in the Broadway hit musical Legally Blonde, will be signing copies of the 'Legally Blonde' soundtrack at Books-A-Million, 1201 Main St. in the Houston Pavilions next Thursday, February 19 beginning at 5:30 p.m. Come on down and meet this talented, Tony Award-nominated musical gem!
Two of the Twin Cities' most accomplished actors, Wendy Lehr and Christina Baldwin, will play the indomitable mother and daughter, 'Big' Edie and 'Little' Edie, in the Park Square Theatre and the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts co-production of GREY GARDENS, opening March 25, 2009 (previews begin March 17). The show, by librettist Doug Wright, lyricist Michael Korie and composer Scott Frankel, earned widespread critical acclaim and three Tony? Awards during its nine-month run on Broadway. GREY GARDENS runs through May 17 in the Ordway's McKnight Theatre, 345 Washington St., Saint Paul.
The Ordway Center For Performing Arts Announces their upcoming events for February and March 2009
FEBRUARY
Sunday, February 15, 2009 - 4pm
VocalEssence WITNESS
Celebrating the 90th anniversary of his birth, the VocalEssence Chorus and Ensemble Singers honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with a concert dedicated to music inspired by his life and vision. Influenced by Dr. King, jazz legend Dr. Billy Taylor will perform his composition Peaceful Warrior, written for chorus, orchestra and jazz trio. Join us for this inspirational tribute to one of the greatest leaders of all time.
Credited as one of the best voices of all time to emerge from Africa, Vusi Mahlasela shares his musical artistry in the opening performance of his 2009 national tour at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts on Saturday, February 7 at 8 p.m. This performance is part of the planet Ordway Target World Music series.
Sung in six different languages, Mahlasela's music recalls an Apartheid-scarred South Africa while rejoicing in the promise of a better future. He has expressed these sentiments of hope in his many recordings and artistic collaborations with renowned musicians Dave Matthews (who credits Mahlasela as being 'one of the most important influences in my life'), Ladysmith Black Mombazo, Xavier Rudd and Paul Simon.
Mahlasela describes his artistic role as a blend of guitarist, percussionist, poet, composer, arranger, bandleader and performer. After touring intensely around the globe for years, Mahlasela still takes time away from these roles and devotes his gifts to critical social causes. Serving as an ambassador to Nelson Mandela's 46664 Foundation, Mahlasela works passionately to raise awareness of global aids and HIV.
Friends In Deed will present a legendary trio as Charles Busch, Whoopi Goldberg and Lypsinka star in the first-ever New York presentation of the infamous Broadway-play-that-wasn't, LEGENDS!. Written by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner James Kirkwood (A Chorus Line), the play will be presented in a special One Night Only staged reading benefit on Monday evening, March 23 at 8PM at Town Hall (123 West 43rd Street).
Award winning choreographer Lula Washington brings her riveting mix of athletic choreography, imaginative costumes and captivating theatricality to the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts on Friday, February 6 at 7:30 p.m. The performance is part of the 2008-09 planet Ordway Target World Dance Season.
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts celebrates the 12th Anniversary of the Millennium Stage on January 31, 2009 with 'Broadway Today'-a star-studded, free concert, produced by Michael A. Kerker and presented in cooperation with ASCAP, in the Opera House as a part of the Center's season-long artistic initiative Broadway: The Third Generation. With the composers at the piano, original cast members and Broadway stars perform signature songs that made these artists household names. Free tickets are required. Tickets will be given away one (1) per person in line in front of the Opera House beginning at 4 p.m. on Saturday, January 31, 2009.
Casting has been announced for the much anticipated San Francisco return of the smash hit musical WICKED, which begins Tuesday, January 27, 2009 for an open-ended engagement at the Orpheum Theatre. This production is a significant homecoming for WICKED, which premiered in San Francisco before casting its spell on Broadway, winning 20 major awards, including the Grammy Award and three Tony Awards.
Credited as one of the best voices of all time to emerge from Africa, Vusi Mahlasela shares his musical artistry in the opening performance of his 2009 national tour at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts on Saturday, February 7 at 8 p.m. This performance is part of the planet Ordway Target World Music series.
Sung in six different languages, Mahlasela's music recalls an Apartheid-scarred South Africa while rejoicing in the promise of a better future. He has expressed these sentiments of hope in his many recordings and artistic collaborations with renowned musicians Dave Matthews (who credits Mahlasela as being 'one of the most important influences in my life'), Ladysmith Black Mombazo, Xavier Rudd and Paul Simon.
Mahlasela describes his artistic role as a blend of guitarist, percussionist, poet, composer, arranger, bandleader and performer. After touring intensely around the globe for years, Mahlasela still takes time away from these roles and devotes his gifts to critical social causes. Serving as an ambassador to Nelson Mandela's 46664 Foundation, Mahlasela works passionately to raise awareness of global aids and HIV.
Award winning choreographer Lula Washington brings her riveting mix of athletic choreography, imaginative costumes and captivating theatricality to the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts on Friday, February 6 at 7:30 p.m. The performance is part of the 2008-09 planet Ordway Target World Dance Season.
In this single Ordway presentation, Lula Washington Dance Theatre promises to take the audience on an emotional journey that explores the human condition through a mix of propulsive movement, honest expression and humor. Founded in 1980 with a $25 loan and a dream, the ensemble has risen to become one of the largest and most admired African-American dance companies in the West. Lula Washington is the main choreographer and the artistic 'voice' of the company. She augments her own work with choreography by famous artists such as Donald Byrd and Donald McKayle, and with the work of talented young choreographers, including Bernard Gaddis and soon, Christopher Huggins (both formerly of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater).
The company is known for exploring theatrical, entertaining, and energetic works that are accessible to all audiences. Choreography is set to a range of music from experimental to blues, including: Taj Mahal, Vivaldi, Bach, Chopin, John Coltrane, Bob Marley, and Duke Ellington. The company is composed of young, athletic dancers, many of whom were groomed in Lula's inner city dance studio where she works with children starting as young as three years old in a program called: 'I Do Dance, Not Drugs!' While Lula encourages her dancers to be excellent performers, she also instills in them a desire to teach and to engage the community of children and adults around them.
In 1980, Saint Paul resident Sally Ordway Irvine challenged her community to help her create a performing arts venue in which her dream of offering 'everything from opera to the Russian circus' could be realized. She set an example by making the first donation to a fund that eventually built Ordway Center for the Performing Arts.
The $46 million center opened to the public on January 1, 1985, Sally had contributed $7.5 million-and her family had matched that amount. Certainly, Sally's vision is alive today in Ordway Center's dizzying schedule of theater, dance, music, family events, and educational programs. Ordway Center is also the proud sponsor of the Saint Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists which opened its doors in September 2005.
Ordway Center contains the 1,900 seat Main Hall, the intimate 306 seat McKnight Theatre; two large rehearsal halls, and magnificent lobbies on each floor, including the second floor Marzitelli Foyer, a spacious, two story lobby encircled by a glass facade.
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts celebrates the 12th Anniversary of the Millennium Stage on January 31, 2009 with 'Broadway Today'-a star-studded, free concert, produced by Michael A. Kerker and presented in cooperation with ASCAP, in the Opera House as a part of the Center's season-long artistic initiative Broadway: The Third Generation. With the composers at the piano, original cast members and Broadway stars perform signature songs that made these artists household names. Free tickets are required. Tickets will be given away one (1) per person in line in front of the Opera House beginning at 4 p.m. on Saturday, January 31, 2009.
The announcement was made yesterday that Becky Gulsvig has broken her toe and will be out for 6 weeks and that Laura Bell Bundy & Lauren Ashley Zakrin will be alternating in the role of Elle during Becky's recovery, which includes the St. Louis engagement at the Fabulous Fox Theatre from January 20-February 1.
As BroadwayWorld first reported and broke the story on this past Saturday evening, the star of the national tour of LEGALLY BLONDE Becky Gulsvig, who has received rave reviews for her performance as Elle Woods across the country, sustained a broken toe following the performance on Thursday, January 8th and will be out of the show for the next six weeks.
Ordway Center for the Performing Arts will receive a major grant of $670,000 from the Archibald Bush Foundation for The New World Initiative that is to increase the scope and audience for its World Music and World Dance Series.
Arizona-based actress Susan Claassen, who completed a highly successful engagement on London's West End this summer as legendary Hollywood designer Edith Head in 'A CONVERSATION WITH EDITH HEAD', recently began an intermittent US tour which will bring her to Arizona and California. (The month-long engagement at London's new Leicester Square Theatre was preceded by a sold out run at the 2007 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.)
Casting has been announced for the much anticipated San Francisco return of the smash hit musical WICKED, which begins Tuesday, January 27, 2009 for an open-ended engagement at the Orpheum Theatre. This production is a significant homecoming for WICKED, which premiered in San Francisco before casting its spell on Broadway, winning 20 major awards, including the Grammy Award and three Tony Awards.
Broadway In Chicago will host the world premiere of THE ADDAMS FAMILY, a new musical based on the bizarre and beloved family of characters created by legendary cartoonist Charles Addams, beginning performances Friday, November 13, 2009 at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts, Oriental Theatre (24 W. Randolph St., Chicago).
Arizona-based actress SUSAN CLAASSEN has just returned from a highly successful engagement on London's West End as legendary Hollywood designer Edith Head in 'A CONVERSATION WITH EDITH HEAD'.
