Kneehigh founder and owner of the world's most malleable face David Mynne brings his extraordinary one-man portrayal of Charles Dickens's Great Expectationsto the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts (The Wallis) for six performances only in February. With just a suitcase, bowler hat, tiny forge, candlestick, mirror and some cloth, Mynne tells the gothic tale of Pip's journey through life and his great expectations at the hands of a mystery benefactor. Directed by fellow Kneehigh colleague Simon Harvey, Great Expectations will be performed in the Lovelace Studio Theater from Thursday, February 8 through Sunday, February 11.
Two-time Tony and GRAMMY Award winner Patti LuPone returns to the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts (The Wallis), as part of the acclaimed Broadway @ The Wallis series, for a one-night-only Valentine's Day event featuring two intimate concerts at 7:30pm and 9:30pm on Wednesday, February 14, 2018. The Broadway legend will be joined on stage by Broadway @ The Wallis series host and music director Seth Rudetsky who wrote and starred in the Broadway musical Disaster! in a not-to-be-missed night of singing and conversation produced by Mark Cortale. The Broadway @ The Wallis concert is made possible by generous support from Ken and Wendy Ruby.
Hailed as the best ensemble of its kind in the world, (Manchester Evening News), the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet make its debut at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Art (The Wallis) with one of the most distinctive artists of his generation, pianist and MacArthur Genius Stephen Hough, in a one-night-only performance in the Bram Goldsmith Theater on Saturday, February 10 at 7:30pm. The evening concert includes works by W.A. Mozart, Samuel Barber, Jacques Ibert, Francis Poulenc, and an original work by multitalented Hough.
Great books haunt Laurie Anderson's bold experimental performances. From Moby Dick to The Tibetan Book of the Dead works of literature are embedded in many of her films, stories and songs. In celebration of her new book, the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts (The Wallis) and The Library Foundation of Los Angeles' ALOUD series present the West Coast Premiere of Laurie Anderson in All the Things I Lost in the Flood on Friday, April 20 at 7:30pm. Through intimate storytelling and bold digital language, this original one-woman piece gives a tour of the creative process noting both successes and failures behind Anderson's many operas, projects and installations, and invites audiences to witness how a book comes to life as a performance.
The 2018 ASCAP Foundation Musical Theatre Workshop, in partnership with The Wallis and Universal Theatrical Group (UTG), returns to Beverly Hills on February 7 9, 2018. The three-day annual workshop gives select composers and lyricists the opportunity to present new original musical works-in-progress for professional critique.
The Wallis will be the place for jazz lovers this month when the performing arts center, in conjunction with the Arturo Sandoval Institute, present a special four-night musical celebration curated by the dynamic American jazz legend Arturo Sandoval from Thursday, January 25 through Sunday, January 28. Sandoval shines a spotlight on his legacy, as well as up-and-coming musicians, in an exciting jazz series featuring a Master Class, sponsored by the Arturo Sandoval Institute; two extraordinary nights of emerging jazz artists, whom Sandoval proudly calls the Young Lions; and an unforgettable concert of his own with special guests.
In the last few months of his short life, prolific Austrian composer Franz Schubert wrote some of the most miraculous music ever created. Now, acclaimed Los Angeles-based pianist Ory Shihor presents the story behind Schubert's last compositions in the world premiere of Last Thoughts: Schubert's Final Works at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts (The Wallis) on Saturday, January 20, 2018 at 7:30pm. With words by master musical storyteller Hershey Felder, Shihor's program includes the two of three final piano sonatas created by Schubert, who bridged the worlds of Classical and Romantic music in the early nineteenth century. This performance is made possible in part by the generous support of Camille and Arnon Adar.
Internationally recognized for its unique blend of African, Afro-Caribbean, modern, street dance and jazz techniques, the Lula Washington Dance Theatre (LWDT) provides brilliant depictions of African-American experiences, past and present. Now the company founded in 1980 and considered one of the premier African-American arts institutions on the West Coast makes its Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts debut featuring three different programs that celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. over the course of three evenings in the Bram Goldsmith Theater on January 11 13, 2018.
Hailed as an icon of style, grace and strength, Jacqueline Jackie Kennedy Onassis was known for her alluring mystery and piercing sensuality. Much has been written and said about America's most famous First Lady. However, one detail usually omitted from the story is that she was human. Award-winning playwright Tom Dugan's one-woman drama Jackie Unveiled starring Saffron Burrows (Amazon's Mozart in the Jungle ) dares to peek behind the fa ade of America's most private public figure.
The 2017/18 season of world-class dance, music and theater continues as the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts (The Wallis) presents its third annual Winter @ The Wallis series. This year, Winter @ The Wallis programming grows to eighteen events to be performed in the Bram Goldsmith Theater and the intimate Lovelace Studio Theater, beginning on Saturday, January 6 with the classical music duo, violinist Sarah Chang and pianist Julio Elizalde. Other highlights include: The Wallis debut of the L.A.-based dance company Lula Washington Dance Theatre; a weekend celebrating the great jazz legend Arturo Sandoval along with other local jazz artists; the modern music collective wild Up under the baton of founder Christopher Rountree; the return of the innovative United Kingdom-based theater company Kneehigh with The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk; and the world premiere of Tom Dugan's Jackie Unveiled.
Following the successful inaugural launch last season that featured several sold-out performances, the popular intimate nightclub, The Sorting Room, kicks off tonight at The Wallis with two intimate evening concerts featuring acclaimed Tony Award-winning composer and lyricist Jason Robert Brown performing an eclectic mix of both classic and new music. The Sorting Room temporarily transforms the Lovelace Studio Theater into a 140-seat custom built nightclub space that offers Los Angeles audiences a rare opportunity to experience some of the best and emerging talent in cabaret, live contemporary music, spoken word, and more. This season, The Sorting Room returns to The Wallis delivering two sessions of live performances in winter from December 7 21, 2017 and summer from June 22 July 29, 2018. The Sorting Room Winter and Summer sessions are sponsored by Delta Air Lines. The Sorting Room Winter session is sponsored by Meridith Baer Home.
The Heart of Robin Hood, a heart-pounding, eye-popping new adventure directed by Gisli rn Gardarsson and Selma Bj rnsd ttir from Iceland's innovative theater company Vesturport and the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts (The Wallis) starts first performance previews tonight, November 29, with an opening night set for Friday, December 1, and continues through Sunday, December 17.
The classic tale of the world's most infamous outlaw goes rogue in The Heart of Robin Hood, a heart-pounding, eye-popping new adventure directed by Gisli rn Gardarsson and Selma Bj rnsd ttir from Iceland's innovative theater company Vesturport and the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts (The Wallis). Robin Hood and his unmerry gang of cutthroats steal from the rich, but it never occurs to them to give back.
After bringing his groundbreaking arrangements of the Burt Bacharach catalogue to the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts (The Wallis) last season, Kyle Riabko returns to Beverly Hills for the West Coast debut of his new program Richard Rodgers Reimagined.
Following the successful inaugural launch last season that featured several sold-out performances, the popular intimate nightclub, The Sorting Room, returns next month to the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts.
After bringing his groundbreaking arrangements of the Burt Bacharach catalogue to the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts (The Wallis) last season, Kyle Riabko returns to Beverly Hills for the West Coast debut of his new program Richard Rodgers Reimagined.
When Benjamin Millepied launched L.A. Dance Project (LADP) in 2012, he brought a new energy to the vibrant and growing Los Angeles dance community. Now, the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts (The Wallis) welcomes L.A. Dance Project as its first Company-in-Residence during the 2017/18 Season.
Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts (The Wallis) announces the second extension of the West Coast premiere of the Off-Broadway hit Turn Me Loose - a comedic drama by Gretchen Law, produced by John Legend and Mike Jackson, about the life of trailblazing comedian and civil rights activist Dick Gregory who passed away in August at the age of 84. The first performance of the limited engagement begins tonight and now runs Thursdays through Sundays until November 19.
Witness Uganda - a documentary musical that follows co-creator Griffin Matthews' transformative story establishing UgandaProject, an organization that sponsors the education of ten Ugandan orphans - was the focus of a closed new work reading presented by The ASCAP Foundation at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts (The Wallis) in Beverly Hills on Monday, September 11. The show, also from co-creator Matt Gould, explores the complexity of race, sexuality and aid work. BroadwayWorld has photos from the reading below!
HEADLESS - a modern gothic rock-opera ghost story that revisits author Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow from co-writers Bradley Bredeweg (Freeform's 'The Fosters,' Showtime's 'Intersection,' Bill Condon's Side Show on Broadway) and Brad Hooks (Freeform's 'The Fosters') - will be the focus of a new work development lab that will explore the score, story and new stage technology over the course of two and a half weeks at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts (The Wallis) in Beverly Hills. The lab will launch on Thursday, July 6 and will culminate with closed presentations today, July 22 and Sunday, July 23 (presentations by private invitation only).
