Kimmel Center Announces 2019/20 Season

The Kimmel Center Cultural Campus is thrilled to announce its 2019/20 season, including the imaginative Family Discovery Series, storied Broadway season, star-studded Jazz selection, captivating & educational National Geographic Live Explorer nights, and inviting free community events. Packages and select single tickets are on sale now. All Cultural Campus programming enables the Center to move forward in its mission to engage the Philadelphia region's diverse communities with art through performance and education.

The diverse lineup offers an extensive variety of events, from Tony Award-winning Broadway classics to powerful speaking tours, from uproarious comedy to masterful dance, and a wide range of art for all. This season, the unpredictable and outrageous actor, comedian, and talk show host ERIC ANDRE will rattle audience's minds in his Legalize Everything Tour. The Emmy Award-winning YouTube sensation Randy Rainbow brings his hysterical political spoofs and toe-tapping songs, including viral hit "Braggadocious", to the stage. Tony nominated actor Mary Bridget Davies stars in a musical journey celebrating the queen of Rock 'N' Roll and the unmistakable voice that touched a nation in A Night With Janis Joplin. Everyone's favorite Dunder Mifflin employees take the stage in a riotous, unauthorized theatrical satire: The Office! A Musical Parody. Families take an adventure into the sea with Baby Shark Live!, the state-of-the-art concert experience that has young fans dancing in the aisles. Known for his landmark podcast WTF With Marc Maron, stand-up veteran Marc Maron presents a sidesplitting stand-up special that will have audiences roaring with laughter.

The Kimmel Center's Esteemed Resident Company, PHILADANCO, celebrates its 50th anniversary season with Genesis, featuring appearances by Tony Award-winning star of Hamilton and PHILADANCO alumnus, Leslie Odom, Jr. Returning to the Cultural Campus after a wildly successful engagement at the Kimmel Center's Merriam Theater last October is the classically-trained string instrumentalist duo Black Violin. This genre-bending group uses their unique blend of classical and hip-hop music to encourage people of all ages, races, and economic backgrounds to join together and break down cultural barriers in the Impossible Tour.

Writer Kevin Fedarko and award-winning photographer & filmmaker Pete McBride offer audiences a glimpse into one of our planet's most spectacular places in the National Geographic Live's Between River and Rim: Hiking the Grand Canyon. Join Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy, Linus and the whole Peanuts gang when everyone's favorite holiday classic comes to life in the all-new touring production, A Charlie Brown Christmas Live On Stage. The fearlessly funny women of the world's premier comedy club The Second City take the stage to roast the patriarchy in their brand new show, She The People: Girlfriend's Guide to Sisters Doing It for Themselves.

"This year's multifaceted lineup exhibits the highest quality of contemporary entertainment on the Kimmel Center Cultural Campus," said Ed Cambron, Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President of the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. "Our extensive season speaks to our region's rich cultural tapestry and our institution's ongoing commitment to presenting diverse and thought-provoking content for art lovers of all ages. The carefully-curated programming brings light-hearted family favorites for our youngest patrons, riveting examinations of our world, uproariously edgy performers, Broadway's finest, and everything in between."

Family Discovery Series

The previously-announced Family Discovery Series returns for a fifth consecutive season with family-friendly programming to cultivate the next generation of burgeoning art lovers through popular and engaging shows. This season features returning favorites, all-new productions, and reimagined classics with live performances from beloved characters, innovative puppetry, powerful music, and beautiful dance. This year's series is generously sponsored by Santander.

The 2019/20 season lineup includes: Baby Shark Live! (November 10, 2019); The Rainbow Fish (November 23, 2019), including a sensory-friendly performance at 12:00 p.m.; A Charlie Brown Christmas Live on Stage (December 20 - 21, 2019); Cirque Dreams: Holidaze (December 26 - 29, 2019); Drumline Live (January 10 - 11, 2020); Riverdance - New 25th Anniversary Show (January 21 - 26, 2020); Nick Jr. Live! Move to the Music (February 7 - 9, 2020); Ballet Folclòrico Nacional de México de Silvia Lozano (March 12, 2020); Cashore Marionettes: Simple Gifts with Organist Marvin Mills (March 21, 2020); Wild Kratts Live 2.0 - Activate Creature Power (April 18, 2020) and Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood LIVE! (May 9, 2020). Additional details for the individual shows are available below.

Tickets start at $9.50 per show and packages are available now. Choose three or more shows from our spectacular Family Discovery Series and save 10 percent. Single tickets are on sale now, with the exception of Cirque Dreams: Holidaze (December 26 - 29, 2019), Riverdance - New 25th Anniversary Show (January 21 - 26, 2020), and Wild Kratts Live 2.0 - Activate Creature Power (April 18, 2020).

National Geographic Live!

Following a successful premier season, the National Geographic Live! series returns to the Kimmel Center Cultural Campus. Audiences will explore the unknown edges of the world with National Geographic Live's three spectacular shows, led by real-life National Geographic Explorers!

Join writer Kevin Fedarko and photographer & filmmaker Pete McBride in an audacious and demanding adventure through the Grand Canyon's uncharted glory. Watch as they share the struggle and beauty of their estimated 875 mile walk through one of our planets most spectacular places in Between River and Rim: Hiking the Grand Canyon (November 13, 2019).

Dr. Kara Cooney, professor of Egyptology, explores a time in ancient history when women ruled the world. Often neglected in history books, these women were considered exceptions to the rule, political pawns in a patriarchal society. Cleopatra used her sexuality - and her money - to build alliances with warlords of the Roman Empire. Neferusobek was the first woman to definitively take the title of King. Dr. Cooney provides powerful insights and illuminating answers to the question "what can we learn from how these women ruled?" in When Women Ruled the World (March 18, 2020).

Astrobiologist, planetary scientist, and National Geographic emerging Explorer Kevin Hand searches for life beyond Earth. Currently, he is helping plan a NASA Mission to Jupiter's moon Europa to investigate evidence of a vast subsurface ocean - a body of water which could sustain primitive forms of life on this alien world nearly 600 million miles from our planet. Join Hand for a firsthand report on the search for real extraterrestrials in The Search for Life Beyond Earth (May 21, 2020).

Broadway Season

The 2019/20 season will bring the best of touring Broadway to the heart of the City of Brotherly Love, featuring the latest Tony Award-winning productions, as well as returning beloved Broadway classics. A monumental slate of 9 productions will be making their Philadelphia premieres. The Broadway season includes: Rent 20th Anniversary Tour (October 18 - 20, 2019); Come From Away (October 22 - November 3, 2019); Mean Girls (November 19 - December 1, 2019); The Spongebob Musical (December 3 - 15, 2019); Cirque Dreams: Holidaze (December 26 - 29, 2019); The Band's Visit (January 7 - 19, 2020); Riverdance - New 25th Anniversary Show (January 21 - 26, 2020); Hello, Dolly! (February 19 - March 1, 2020); Rain: A Tribute to the Beatles (March 13 - 15, 2020); Les Misérables (March 17 - 29, 2020); Jesus Christ Superstar (April 7 - 12, 2020); Dear Evan Hansen (April 7 - May 3, 2020); Waitress (May 12 - 17, 2020); Summer: The Donna Summer Musical (June 2 - 7, 2020) and Escape to Margaritaville (June 16 - 28, 2020). Broadway Philadelphia is presented collaboratively by the Kimmel Center Cultural Campus and The Shubert Organization, with productions at the Academy of Music, Forrest Theatre, and the Merriam Theater.

Jazz Season

The previously announced 2019/20 Jazz season features powerhouse collaborations, critically-acclaimed musicians, and culturally diverse masters of the craft. The season will kick off with pianist/composer hailed as "the genius of the modern piano," Marcus Roberts & the Modern Jazz Generation (October 11, 2019), followed by the Grammy Award-winning Chick Corea Trilogy with Christian McBride and Brian Blade (October 27, 2019). The season continues with a multifarious lineup that celebrates an extensive range of jazz styling including genre-defying & genre-defining artists, Philadelphia favorites, and former Kimmel Center Jazz & Theater Residency artists. Lineup includes: Ms. Lisa Fischer & Grand Baton performing with The Philadelphia Youth Orchestra (November 1, 2019); high-energy duo Black Violin: Impossible Tour (November 8, 2019); groundbreaking quartet, Béla Fleck & the Flecktones (December 3, 2019); gospel, soul, and jazz traditionalist Gregory Porter (February 10, 2020); up-and-comer and Thelonious Monk winner Jazzmeia Horn (March 14, 2020); renowned Philadelphia favorites and former Kimmel Center Theater Residency artists Ethan Lipton & His Orchestra (March 14, 2020); captivating Philadelphia native and former Kimmel Center Jazz Resident, Joanna Pascale (April 25, 2020); trailblazing trumpeter and soloist Bria Skonberg (May 9, 2020); and the return of internationally-revered ensemble Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis (May 17, 2020).

Monthly Free Events

La NOCHE is the Kimmel Center's FREE monthly, Latin music, dance-party experience. The Kimmel Center's own house band, La NOCHE, performs, led by Cuban percussionist Arturo Stable. The evening is hosted by dance leader, Kevin Ngo. La NOCHE is proudly sponsored by PNC Arts Alive.

Sittin' In is a FREE monthly event at the Kimmel Center, introducing audiences to new cutting-edge artists, drawing everything from straight-ahead jazz to freestyle hip-hop and all points in between.

FREE PNC Grow Up Great programs will continue in the 2019/20 season. Grow Up Great is for young music lovers, ages 3-5 years old. Each month Grow Up Great introduces children to the vibrant worlds of either jazz or musical theater.

FREE 15-minute Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ demonstrations take place monthly, during the Kimmel Center's Saturday building tours, showcasing the instrument's unparalleled and dramatic sounds live in Verizon Hall.

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