The Sorting Room at The Wallis Opens Tonight With Jason Robert Brown

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.

Following Jason Robert Brown, award-winning, Off-Broadway singer and songwriter Shaina Taub will perform a rare "unplugged" concert at the piano on December 8, showing L.A. audiences why she is now artist-in-residence at Joe's Pub in New York. Following a show-stopping performance in For The Record: Scorsese last season, Pia Toscano ("American Idol") returns to The Wallis for a special one-night-only concert featuring originals, standards and holiday classics on December 9. Also returning to The Wallis, the groundbreaking L.A. poetry troupe Get Lit! explores the magic of the solstice with Darkness to Light on December 10, and celebrated Las Vegas entertainer Clint Holmes brings his silky vocal stylings to The Wallis, delivering jazz standards and reinvented classics on December 15.

The Sorting Room will also introduce audiences to two new musical shows centered on beloved movies. In celebration of the Academy Award-winning film Titanic's 20th anniversary, The Wallis will present Titanique in Concert, a new retelling of the ill-fated ocean liner through the songs of Celine Dion on December 14. This holiday season the For The Record family returns to The Wallis with a concert celebration of the soundtrack to Love Actually on December 16 - 18.

Closing The Sorting Room on December 21, Emmy Award-winner and Tony Award nominee Liz Callaway performs songs from her Christmas album Merry & Bright, as well as personal favorites from Stephen Sondheim, Richard Rodgers, Ahrens and Flaherty, and more.

"The Sorting Room is back, not once, but twice this season," said Paul Crewes, The Wallis' Artistic Director. "We didn't know what to expect when we launched The Sorting Room last year. Everyone embraced our intimate nightclub experiment that we're now presenting it twice during our season bringing more great artists from all genres including cabaret, spoken word, live music, and more."

Drawing its name from its original function within the Beverly Hills Post Office, The Sorting Room gives emerging artists the opportunity to establish relationships with new audiences, while also giving established entertainers an intimate setting to perform, as well as develop new work.

Single ticket prices range from $15 - $70. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit TheWallis.org/SortingRoom, call 310.746.4000, or stop by in person at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts Ticket Services located at 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90210. Ticket prices subject to change.

The Wallis also offers three different options to subscribe to the 2017/18 season: the Premium Subscription Series; the Design-Your-Own option; and the new 3-show Flex Pass for $99, created for busy young professionals-39 and younger-giving the most flexibility to join The Wallis family of subscribers. Learn more at TheWallis.org/Subscribe.

Audiences are invited to enjoy craft cocktails, a handpicked bottle of wine or draft beer at The Briskin Bar @ The Wallis located in the beautiful Jim and Eleanor Randall Grand Hall before and after each performance. Patrons attending evening performances are also encouraged to arrive early for Happy Hour featuring special drink prices from 5:30pm - 6:30pm, and all audience members can now enjoy drinks at their seats during the performance.

About The Sorting Room Winter Lineup:

Jason Robert Brown
Thursday, December 7 at 7:00pm & 9:00pm
Known for the dazzling scores to some of the most renowned musicals of his generation including The Last Five Years, Songs for a New World, Parade and The Bridges of Madison County, Jason Robert Brown has been hailed as "one of Broadway's smartest and most sophisticated songwriters since Stephen Sondheim" (Philadelphia Inquirer). For this unique performance, the Tony Award-winning composer and lyricist will incorporate an eclectic mix of material featuring music from throughout his acclaimed career along with new works in development. Single ticket prices range from $25 - $70.

Shaina Taub
Friday, December 8 at 7:00pm
Award-winning singer and songwriter Shaina Taub has starred in her musical adaptations of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night and As You Like It at The Public Theater's Delacorte in Central Park. She has written songs for and co-starred in Old Hats at the Signature Theatre and appeared in the original off-Broadway casts of The Great Comet and Hadestown. Her songs have been performed at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center by Audra McDonald and Sutton Foster. She is currently an artist-in-residence at Joe's Pub where she plays a monthly show. Now, audiences are invited to join Taub for a rare "unplugged" style concert at the piano in The Sorting Room. Single ticket prices range from $20 - $40.

Pia Toscano
Saturday, December 9 at 7:00pm
Pia Toscano-whose rich, emotionally transparent voice wowed audiences last season in For The Record's Scorsese: American Crime Requiem-makes a triumphant return to The Wallis. The "American Idol" powerhouse, who is currently performing alongside Jennifer Lopez in Las Vegas and is scheduled to tour with David Foster in Spring 2018, will perform a warm acoustic set of originals, standards and holiday classics in our intimate nightclub setting. Single ticket prices range from $20 - $50.

Darkness to Light: A Celebration of the Winter Solstice with Get Lit!
Sunday, December 10 at 7:00pm
Darkness to Light features the Get Lit Players, a groundbreaking troupe of young storytellers and the most watched poets on the internet, and invites audiences to explore the magic of the solstice, a holiday of transformation and metamorphosis. In the words of Walt Whitman, "Every moment of light and dark is a miracle." Single ticket prices range from $15 - $30.

Titanique in Concert
Thursday, December 14 at 7:00pm & 9:00pm
Embark on a campy musical voyage led by Celine Dion impressionist Marla Mindelle as she recounts her version of the tale of the Titanic as never done before. This quick-witted theatrical company packed with beloved Broadway, television and social media stars somehow manages to turn one of the greatest tragedies of modern time into a side-splitting, ridiculous romp. Backed by a live band and thrilling music arrangements, this uniquely immersive experience will take you down memory lane with all of your favorite Celine hits.

Titanique is an intimate concert, produced and directed by Tye Blue (Rumer Willis' "Over the Love" National Concert Tour, Estelle Show, and many "Unauthorized Parody Of..."" musical hits at L.A.'s Rockwell Table and Stage) and features musical direction and arrangements by Nicholas Connell, whose notable music videos enjoy over 6 million views on YouTube. This premiere is co-written by Tye Blue, Tom Lenk, Marla Mindelle and Constantine Rousouli. Single ticket prices range from $20 - $55.

Clint Holmes
Friday, December 15 at 7:00pm
Clint Holmes-recently voted "Best Singer" in both New York (Broadway World) and Las Vegas (Las Vegas Review-Journal)-returns to The Wallis after his incredible appearance in our Mancini Delivered benefit concert. Clint Holmes' Sorting Room debut will feature jazz standards, reinvented classics and music from his highly acclaimed album "Rendezvous," with a strong possibility a special guest or two will jump into jam. Rex Reed says Holmes is "Vegas energy meets NY sophistication." Now he'll just add the L.A. coolness. Single ticket prices range from $20 - $50.

Love Actually in Concert
Saturday, December 16 at 7:00pm & 9:00pm
Sunday, December 17 at 5:00pm & 7:00pm
Monday, December 18 at 7:00pm & 9:00pm
This holiday season the For The Record family returns to The Wallis with a concert celebration of the soundtrack to Love Actually. The beloved holiday rom-com will be brought to life through Christmas and pop hits by Mariah Carey, Kelly Clarkson, The Beach Boys, Joni Mitchell and many more, performed by an eclectic mix of artists from the worlds of music, stage and screen. Join For The Record in The Sorting Room and you'll find that Love Actually is all around. Single ticket prices range from $20 - $55.

Liz Callaway's Celebrate!
Thursday, December 21 at 7:00pm
Emmy Award winner and Tony Award nominee Liz Callaway brings her critically acclaimed holiday show Celebrate! to The Sorting Room for one night only. The festive evening will feature songs from her Christmas album Merry & Bright, as well as personal favorites by Stephen Sondheim, Richard Rodgers, Ahrens and Flaherty and more! Single ticket prices range from $20 - $40.

About the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts:
Since opening its doors in October 2013, The Wallis has produced or presented more than 150 dance, theater, opera, classical music and family programs to an ever-expanding audience. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Paul Crewes and Managing Director Rachel Fine, The Wallis brings audiences world-class theater, dance and music, performed by many of the world's most talented and sought-after artists. Featuring eclectic programming that mirrors the diverse landscape of Los Angeles and its notability as the entertainment capital of the world, The Wallis offers original and revered works from across the U.S. and around the globe.

The mission of The Wallis is to create, present and celebrate unique performing arts events and educational programs that reflect the rich cultural diversity of our community. Nominated for 47 Ovation Awards, four L.A. Drama Critic's Circle Awards and the recipient of six architectural awards, The Wallis is a breathtaking 70,000-square-foot venue that celebrates the classic and the modern and was designed by Zoltan E. Pali, FAIA of Studio Pali Fekete architects. The building features the restored, original 1933 Beverly Hills Post Office (on the National Register of Historic Places) that serves as the theater's dramatic yet welcoming lobby, and houses the 150-seat Lovelace Studio Theater, GRoW at The Wallis: A Space for Arts Education (a gift of Gregory Annenberg Weingarten and Family and the Annenberg Foundation) and the contemporary 500-seat, state-of-the-art Bram Goldsmith Theater. Together, these structures embrace the city's history and its future, creating a performing arts destination for L.A.-area visitors and residents alike.

The Official Sponsors of The Wallis' 2017/18 Season include: Delta Air Lines (Official Airline Sponsor), Montage Beverly Hills (Preferred Hotel), Meridith Baer Home (Official Décor Sponsor) and Mercedes-Benz of Beverly Hills (Official Automotive Sponsor).

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