Alice Cooper, Chieftains, Muppets and More Bring March to MPAC

Sing Along with The Muppet Movie comes to MPAC Sunday, March 11 at 2 pm. Tickets are $20-$30.

This is a "relaxed performance" with modified sound and lighting. Support for relaxed performances is provided by the George A. Ohl, Jr. Trust.

Sing Along with The Muppet Movie provides family-friendly, raucous interactions with the classic film of Jim Henson. The Sing Along crew brings elements of the films to life for the audience via puppetry, kiting, and shadow acting.

Children and adults alike are urged to yell out famous lines, blow bubbles, dance in the aisles, and of course, sing along with the movies to forge new or renew connections to films from another generation.

The Muppet Movie is the 1979 classic that represents the feature film roots of the Muppets. It is listed in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant and will be preserved for all time.

In this Sing Along, the hosts and crew lead the audience of cheering, singing fans to renew their Rainbow Connection with our fleecy friends who started it all. It's full of interactive surprises like bubbles, streamers, kites, confetti pops, and characters coming right out of the screen into the audience.

Six-time Grammy Award winners The Chieftains perform their signature brand of Celtic music Wednesday, March 14 at 7:30 pm at Mayo Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $49-$79.

2017 marks the 55th Anniversary of The Chieftains beginning. Since 1962, they have been six-time Grammy Award winners and been highly recognized for reinventing traditional Irish music on a contemporary and International scale. Their ability to transcend musical boundaries to blend tradition with modern music has notably hailed them as one of the most renowned and revered musical groups to this day.

As cultural ambassadors, their performances have been linked with seminal historic events, such as being the first Western musicians to perform on the Great Wall of China, participating in Roger Water's "The Wall" performance in Berlin in 1990, and being the first ensemble to perform a concert in the Capitol Building in Washington DC. In 2010, their experimental collaborations extended to out of this world, when Paddy Moloney's whistle and Matt Molloy's flute travelled with NASA astronaut, Cady Coleman, to the International Space Station.

Although their early following was purely a folk audience, the range and variation of their music and accompanying musicians quickly captured a much broader audience, elevating their status to the likeness of fellow Irish band, U2.

In Ireland they have been involved in many major occasions, such as Pope John Paul II's visit to Ireland in 1979 when they performed to an audience of over 1.3 million, and in 2011 as part of the historic visit to Ireland of HRH Queen Elizabeth II. In 2012, marking The Chieftains' 50th Anniversary, they were awarded the inaugural National Concert Hall Lifetime Achievement Award at a gala event in Philadelphia hosted by The American Ireland Fund "in recognition of their tremendous contribution to the music industry worldwide and the promotion of the best of Irish culture."

The Chieftains are never afraid to shock purists and push genre boundaries and the trappings of fame have not altered The Chieftains' love of, and loyalty to, their roots however- they are as comfortable playing spontaneous Irish sessions as they are headlining a concert at Carnegie Hall. After fifty years of making some of the most beautiful music in the world, The Chieftains' music remains as fresh and relevant as when they first began.

More information at http://www.thechieftains.com/main/

Video at https://vimeo.com/35231996

Singer-songwriter Marc Cohn, best known for his megahit "Walking in Memphis," performs at Mayo Performing Arts Center on Friday, March 16 at 8 pm. Joining him onstage will be the revered gospel group, The Blind Boys of Alabama. Tickets are $29-69.

After winning a GRAMMY for his soulful ballad "Walking in Memphis," Marc Cohn solidified his place as one of this generation's most compelling singer/songwriters, combining the precision of a brilliant tunesmith with the passion of a great soul man. He's a natural storyteller, balancing the exuberant with the poignant, and able to distill universal truth out of his often romantic, drawn-from-life tales.

Cohn followed up his platinum-selling debut with two more releases in the 1990s, at which point TIME magazine called him "one of the honest, emotional voices we need in this decade" and Bonnie Raitt declared, "Marc is one of the most soulful, talented artists I know. I love his songs, he's an incredible singer, and I marvel at his ability to mesmerize every audience he plays for."

Raitt, James Taylor, David Crosby, Graham Nash and Patty Griffin all made guest appearances on Cohn's early records for Atlanta, as his reputation as an artist and performer continued to grow. In 1998, Cohn took a decade-long sabbatical from recording, ending in 2007 with Join the Parade. Inspired by the horrific events following Hurricane Katrina and his own near fatal shooting just weeks before, Parade is his most moving and critically acclaimed record to date.

About his album Listening Booth: 1970, a collection of reimagined classics from that seminal year in music, Rolling Stone said, "Cohn has one of rock's most soulful croons -a rich immediately recognizable tenor that makes these songs his own." In late 2014, Cohn released, "The Coldest Corner in the World," the title song to the documentary Tree Man and his first original song released in more than seven years.

The Blind Boys of Alabama have the rare distinction of being recognized around the world as both living legends and modern-day innovators. They are not just gospel singers borrowing from old traditions; the group helped to define those traditions in 20th century and almost single-handedly created a new gospel sound for the 21st. Since the original members first sang together as kids at the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind in the late 1930s (including Jimmy Carter, who leads the group today), the band has persevered through seven decades to become one of the most recognized and decorated roots music groups in the world.

More information at http://www.marccohnmusic.com/
http://www.blindboys.com/

Amazing athletes defy the laws of gravity when the New Shanghai Circus comes to Mayo Performing Arts Center on Saturday, March 17 at 3 pm and 7 pm. Tickets are $19-39.

This event is sponsored by McCarter & English.

The Chinese acrobatic tradition dates back to 700 B.C.; that's over 2,000 years of tumbling, balancing and juggling. Ancient stone carvings, earthen pottery and early written work trace the ancestry of today's spectacular acts. Relics tell the tales of famous acrobats like Confucius' father, who is believed to have lifted a pair of 1,000-pound city gates to let an army storm through.

The art of Chinese acrobatics developed out of the Lunar New Year harvest celebrations, where the village's peasants and craftsmen would hold a kind of Chinese Thanksgiving. Acrobats would use household tools and common items found around the farm and workshop as part of their exciting feats. Performers passed their skills down from generation to generation and great acrobatic families of China entertained everyone from city rulers to village people, performing at ceremonial carnivals and public theaters across the country.

Over the years, as China plunged into economic and social upheaval, many fine arts were lost and acrobats found themselves on the verge of extinction. Since the Revolution in 1949, the government has made great efforts to foster and develop traditional arts and culture in China, and acrobatics has enjoyed a new life.

Today, only a few descendants of the old and famous acrobatics families remain. These individuals have organized China's traditional entertainers into professional acrobatic troupes with formal academies for training young, promising entertainers and internationally renowned companies. Modern-day Chinese acrobatics reflect the industry, resourcefulness and courage of the Chinese people. At present, there are over 120 professional acrobatic troupes across China, and more than 12,000 performers.

Founded in 1951 as the Shanghai Acrobatic Theatre, The New Shanghai Circus has won more Gold, Silver and Bronze Medals in domestic and international circus competitions to date than any other Chinese acrobatic company. Breathtaking and polished to perfection, the singular skills performed by The New Shanghai Circus have their roots in everyday lives of the village peasants, farmers and craftsman of the Han Dynasty.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuY57payq68

Mayo Performing Arts Center, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, presents a wide range of programs that entertain, enrich, and educate the diverse population of the region and enhance the economic vitality of Northern New Jersey. The 2017-2018 season is made possible, in part, by a grant the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as support received from the F.M. Kirby Foundation and numerous corporations, foundations and individuals. The Mayo Performing Arts Center has been designated a Major Presenting Organization by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. Mayo Performing Arts Center was named 2016 Outstanding Historic Theatre by the League of Historic American Theatres, and is ranked in the top 50 mid-sized performing arts centers by Pollstar Magazine.

Mayo Performing Arts Center
100 South St., Morristown, NJ 07960
box office (973) 539-8008
online: www.mayoarts.org
fax (973) 455-1607 / admin (973) 539-0345 ext.6505

All Programs Subject to Change.

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