Keith Thompson, Michael Kessler & Melinda Jackson Star In Show At Windmill Library Theatre

Renowned husband and wife song and dance team Michael Kessler & Melinda Jackson, founders of M&M American Dance Theatre and affectionally known as M&M, with their music director and popular music director and composer Keith Thompson and a group of young talented pre-professional competition winners ages 7-19 from Innovation Youth Dance Company, will present "Broadway Love Songs, Dances & Backstage Stories," an intimate musical journey through a life lived of song and dance on Friday, Oct. 19, at 7:30 p.m. at the Windmill Library Theatre, 7060 W. Windmill Lane.

Woven between music from Broadway shows from "Showboat" to "Hamilton" including "West Side Story," "Fiddler On The Roof," "Oklahoma," "Cabaret," "South Pacific," "Lion King" and more, are personal anecdotes from their work with some of the giants of musical theatre and personal stories of love, rejection, struggle, triumph and downright foolishness.

Native New Yorkers, Jackson and Kessler share 30 years of producing, directing, writing, composing, choreographing and performing internationally from ballet to Broadway to Radio City Music Hall to the Las Vegas Strip, to 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" and many more.

M&M have resided in Las Vegas since 2006 and in 2014 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!

Keith Thompson returns as M&M's music director, and audiences will be delighted to watch him tickle the ivories on stage. His career credits include creator/producer of "The Cocktail Cabaret" of PK Entertainment, musical director of "Jersey Boys," co-writer of "IDAHO, The Comedy Musical" and co-creator/host of "The Composers Showcase" at The Smith Center. His New York credits include "Les Miserables," "When Pigs Fly," "Sideshow," "Three Men and a Horse," "Forbidden Broadway" and "Little Shop of Horrors." He conducted the first Broadway national tours of "Cabaret," "Mamma Mia!" and "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat." Thompson is also the music director for local singers Travis Cloer and Niki Scalera.

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 $25 buy online www.americandance.biz or www.adtw.org.

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