Kimmel Center Announces New Events for the 2017-18 Season
By: A.A. Cristi Aug. 07, 2017
The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts announces over 20 newly booked events to accompany the already-announced 2017-18 season. Highlights include internationally-acclaimed stars of rock, comedy, dance, and even politics as well as Tony Award-nominated Broadway titles. Tickets for these shows are on sale now to Kimmel Center members and will be available to the general public on September 9. Membership starts at $75 and guarantees access to the best seats. The below shows are in addition to the previously announced lineup including over 40 shows.
"With over 700 engagements planned for our 2017-18 season - including our esteemed Resident Companies The Philadelphia Orchestra, Opera Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Ballet, The Philly POPS, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, PHILADANCO, Curtis Institute of Music, and Philadelphia Music Chamber Society - audiences can enjoy performances and events from over 20 genres!" said Anne Ewers, President and CEO of the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. "We have tailored our programming to include experiences across our 9 performance venues that satiate diverse audience tastes and celebrate the various cultures and interests of the people that make our region so special."
Details on 2017-18 season programming that will go on sale to the public September 9, 2017 can be found below. Member presale begins August 7, 2017. Kimmel Center members receive early access to shows as well as details about newly announced presentations across the Kimmel Center Campus. To become a member, visit https://www.kimmelcenter.org/Membership. Membership starts at just $75.
Tickets can be purchased by calling 215-893-1999, online at kimmelcenter.org, or at the Kimmel Center Box Office. Group sales are available for groups of 10 or more and can be purchased by calling 215-790-5883. See kimmelcenter.org for more information.
ADDITIONAL 2017-18 SEASON PERFORMANCES:
COURTNEE ROZE
SEI Innovation Studio
October 26, 2017
Courtnee Roze is a New York-based percussionist, lyricist, writer, and bandleader, heading up an instrumental fusion and percussion-driven ensemble. This piece of work is a musical translation of Roze's life story. The work also reflects the musical influences that has inspired Roze's sound. Using a djembe and conga drum, deep African sound, and a vocal pattern that is non-metrically structured, Roze paints a vivid picture of her walk of life. Dance/movements are intertwined with the strategically placed instrumentals to help fasten the story line.
BRAIN CANDY LIVE!
Academy of Music
November 19, 2017
Adam Savage, one of television's most loved personalities, has joined forces with Michael Stevens, one of YouTube's biggest stars and they're coming to a theater near you. They're bringing along their crazy toys, incredible tools, and mind-blowing demonstrations for a celebration of curiosity that's an interactive, hands-on, minds-on theatrical experience like no other.
FINDING NEVERLAND
Academy of Music
November 21-26, 2017
The winner of Broadway.com's Audience Choice Award for Best Musical, this breathtaking smash "captures the kid-at-heart," says TIME Magazine. Vogue cheers, "It's a must-see you'll remember for years to come!" Directed by visionary Tony Award winner Diane Paulus and based on the critically-acclaimed Academy Award-winning film, Finding Neverland tells the incredible story behind one of the world's most beloved characters: Peter Pan. Playwright J.M. Barrie struggles to find inspiration until he meets four Young Brothers and their beautiful widowed mother.
A SOULFUL CHRISTMAS
Verizon Hall
December 12, 2017
The annual A Soulful Christmas returns this winter with an inspiring, uplifting communal gathering of regional choristers, performing holiday spirituals and gospel favorites! Lights go out as thousands of people hold flashlights and sing "Silent Night!" There is no better way to feel the Christmas spirit.
PHILADANCO: "H-I-S-T-O-R-Y"
Perelman Theater
December 15-17, 2017
Bringing the incomparable legacy of African American choreographers to the Perelman stage, PHILADANCO founder Joan Myers Brown has crafted a performance that highlights a past often left out of the history books. With pieces including Walking with Pearl about historic choreographer and dancer Pearl Primus; a world premiere ballet entitled Pieces of My Heart, choreographed by Sonia Dawkins and based on the poems of renowned writer August Wilson; work from choreographer Geoffrey Holder performed by his wife, legendary guest artist Carmen De Lavallade; "Forces of Rhythm" from The Wiz choreographer and Tony Award winner Louis Johnson; and more.
BRIAN REED
Merriam Theater
December 17, 2017
Brian Reed is the host and co-creator of the podcast S-Town. In his talk, Brian walks his audience through the process of how he and his collaborators developed an entirely new kind of storytelling, taking techniques from literature and merging them with journalism in ways that hadn't been done before. Using audio outtakes and reporting details that never made it into the final version, Brian reveals how his team invented this groundbreaking new way of telling a story. S-Town, produced by Serial and This American Life, broke podcast records by reaching 40 million downloads in its first month. Rigorously reported and entirely true, S-Town is the first podcast that feels like reading a masterful novel.
LES MISÉRABLES
Academy of Music
January 9-21, 2018
Cameron Mackintosh presents the new production of Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg's Tony Award-winning musical phenomenon, Les Misérables, direct from an acclaimed two-and-a-half-year return to Broadway. With its glorious new staging and dazzlingly reimagined scenery inspired by the paintings of Victor Hugo, this breathtaking new production has left both audiences and critics awestruck, cheering "Les Miz is born again!" -NY1
PAULA POUNDSTONE
Merriam Theater
January 11, 2018
Fresh on the heels of the release of her hilarious new book, The Totally Unscientific Study of the Search for Human Happiness (Algonquin Books), comedian Paula Poundstone is entertaining audiences across the country and leaving them complaining that their cheeks hurt from laughter and wondering if the random people she talks to are plants. Of course, they never are. Poundstone can be heard regularly on NPR's #1 show, the weekly comedy news quiz Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me!
THE SECOND CITY: LOOK BOTH WAYS BEFORE TALKING
Perelman Theater
January 19-20, 2018
Edgy, thought-provoking, and always spectacularly funny, The Second City is celebrating nearly six decades of producing cutting-edge satirical revues and launching the careers of generation after generation of comedy's best and brightest. Full of the live and in-your-face entertainment Netflix can't provide, this must-attend show features improvised comedy, audience interaction, and of-the-moment sketches and songs from The Second City made famous by superstars like Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell, Gilda Radner, Bill Murray, and more. Never the same show twice, join us in the "Room" where it happens during this special engagement.
Verizon Hall
January 28, 2018
He's the Geator with the Heator; the Boss with the Hot Sauce; the King of Philly Rock & Roll. He's as much a part of Philadelphia as cheesesteaks, Tastykakes, soft pretzels, and the Liberty Bell. He has been entertaining the Delaware Valley for over 50 years. He's Cruisin' 92.1, WVLT's Jerry Blavat. He is a cultural icon in Philadelphia, well known for his on-air personality and knowledge of music, writers and performers. It's a tradition for guests to head to the Commonwealth Plaza for cocktails and dancing before performances when Blavat is in town, so don't miss out.
TANGO FIRE
Merriam Theater
January 31, 2018
The art of Tango has never been so superb and dynamic, with multiple sell out performances across the globe over the past 12 years and a YouTube audience in excess of 20 million people worldwide, German Cornejo's extraordinary choreography and vision has captured the world's imagination. German Cornejo's Tango Fire encompasses and defines all that is Argentine Tango; dancing which sizzles with sensuality, accompanied by the unforgettable music and song of the great Tango masters including Piazzolla, Pugliese, and Gardel. As one of the world's most popular dance forms, this exhilarating show combines the rawness and sophistication, seductive and sultry side of Tango, evoking the intoxicating passion of late night Buenos Aires.
GOBSMACKED!
Merriam Theater
February 16, 2018
Direct from sell out seasons in London, Hong Kong, and Edinburgh comes the mind-blowing vocal show Gobsmacked!, the latest sensation from the UK. This next-generation a cappella show redefines the limits of the human voice. Featuring the reigning world champion beatboxer Ball-Zee and an international cast of world-class vocalists, Gobsmacked! weaves stories through all forms of a cappella from traditional street corner harmonies to cutting edge, multi-track live looping. Heart stopping singing and jaw dropping beatboxing guarantees the audience will leave with a song in their heart and a smile on their face. Gobsmacked! is the latest break-out show that everyone is talking about - it's funny, joyful and uplifts the spirits of all ages!
SOMETHING ROTTEN!
Academy of Music
February 27-March 4, 2018
Direct from Broadway, Something Rotten! is a big, fat hit! - New York Post. Set in the 90s - the 1590s - this hilarious smash tells the story of Nick and Nigel Bottom (Tony nominee Rob McClure and Broadway's Josh Grisetti), two brothers who are desperate to write their own hit play while the "rock star" Shakespeare (Tony nominee Adam Pascal) keeps getting all the hits. When a local soothsayer foretells that the future of theatre involves singing, dancing and acting at the same time, Nick and Nigel set out to write the world's very first MUSICAL! With its heart on its ruffled sleeve and sequins in its soul, Something Rotten! is The Producers + Spamalot + The Book of Mormon. Squared! - New York Magazine
SING HALLELUJAH!
Verizon Hall
March 21, 2018
The 2017/18 Verizon Hall Organ Series will include, for the very first time, a concert of music from Jewish tradition featuring vocal soloists, chorus, the Verizon Hall Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ, and instrumental ensemble, entitled Sing Hallelujah! The Biblical book of Psalms contains 150 chapters that have been the inspiration of composers for three millennia. Hallelujah is derived from the Hebrew words, "Praise the Almighty!" found throughout the book of Psalms. The program will include compositions inspired by the Book of Psalms, settings of liturgical texts, and popular secular poetry written during the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries, including Leonard Bernstein's Chichester Psalms.
CELTIC WOMAN
In Association with Madstone Productions
Academy of Music
March 22, 2018
The phenomenal Celtic Woman, about to embark on yet another world tour has over 10 million albums and 3 million tickets sold worldwide. One winter's night in Dublin, Ireland in 2004, an idea was conceived to create a musical ensemble featuring a selection of exceptional classically and traditionally trained Irish female musicians. And so Celtic Woman was born.
SCHOOL OF ROCK
Academy Of Music
March 27-April 1, 2018
School of Rock is a New York Times Critics' Pick and "an inspiring jolt of energy, joy and mad skillz!" - Entertainment Weekly. Based on the hit film, this hilarious new musical follows Dewey Finn, a wannabe rock star posing as a substitute teacher who turns a class of straight-A students into a guitar-shredding, bass-slapping, mind-blowing rock band. This high-octane smash features 14 new songs from Andrew Lloyd Webber, all the original songs from the movie and musical theater's first-ever kids rock band playing their instruments live on stage. Vanity Fair raves, "fists of all ages shall be pumping!"
Capitol Steps: ORANGE IS THE NEW BARACK
Perelman Theater
April 6-7, 2018
After more than 35 years and at least that many albums, The Capitol Steps are a Washington D.C. institution. They tour widely and have appeared on The Today Show, Nightline, Entertainment Tonight, and numerous NPR specials. With these equal opportunity satirists poking fun at all side of the issues, an evening with The Capitol Steps may be the only thing sure to earn bipartisan support. What more would you expect from the group that puts the "MOCK" in Democracy?! Their latest album is called Orange is the New Barack.? You may hear songs such as "Hey Mr. Tangerine Man," "Oops, I Tweeted Again," "Don't Think Twice, It's Alt-Right," and "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Korea?"
ON YOUR FEET!
Academy of Music
April 10-15, 2018
From their humble beginnings in Cuba, Emilio and Gloria Estefan came to America and broke through all barriers to become a crossover sensation at the very top of the pop music world. But just when they thought they had it all, they almost lost everything. On Your Feet! takes you behind the music and inside the real story of this record-making and groundbreaking couple who, in the face of adversity, found a way to end up on their feet.
PHILADANCO: SUCCESS STORIES
Perelman Theater
April 13-15, 2018
Philadanco celebrates the work and successful careers of the company's alumni with works by Hope Boykin (Alvin Ailey), Anthony Burrell (Beyonce; Mariah Carey), Iquail Shaheed, and Abdur Raheem Jackson.
JUST CALL ME GOD: A DICTATOR'S FINAL SPEECH STARRING John Malkovich
Verizon Hall
April 30, 2018
A dictator teeters on the brink, and megalomania escalates into full-blown madness. John Malkovich stands against the sound of the mighty organ in this astonishing music-drama: an exploration of tyranny in the raw by an actor of unparalleled conviction. From Nero to Idi Amin, despots have had megalomaniac delusions of divine provenance. Michael Sturminger's music-theatre piece pits Malkovich against the grandiloquent power of the organ. Organist Martin Haselböck responds with music by Bach, Wagner, Liszt: words against music, genius versus delusion, and at its terrifying heart, an actor who spares no-one - least of all himself.
Academy of Music
May 19, 2018
While he may be best known for his decades-long tenure behind The Tonight Show desk, Jay Leno cut his teeth as one of the most incisive comedy voices of the '70s and '80s. His new standup comedy tour reminds his fans why he became a household name in the first place! As an acclaimed TV late night show host, admired stand-up comedian, best-selling children's book author, speaker, philanthropist, and host of CNBC's Jay Leno's Garage - it's no wonder that Jay Leno has always been widely characterized as "the hardest working man in show business."
The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts
Located in the heart of Center City, Philadelphia, the Kimmel Center's mission is to operate a world-class performing arts center that engages and serves a broad audience through diverse programming, arts education, and community outreach. The Kimmel Center Campus is comprised of the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts (Verizon Hall, Perelman Theater, SEI Innovation Studio, and the Merck Arts Education Center), the Academy of Music (owned by the Philadelphia Orchestra Association), and the Merriam Theater. The Kimmel Center is also home to eight Resident Companies: The Philadelphia Orchestra, Opera Philadelphia, The Pennsylvania Ballet, The Philly POPS, PHILADANCO, The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, The Philadelphia Chamber Music Society and Curtis Institute of Music. With nearly 9,000 seats per night, The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts is the region's most impactful performing arts center, and the second largest in the country. TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank, is the season sponsor of the Kimmel Center's 2017-2018 Season. American Airlines is the official airline of Broadway Philadelphia. For additional information, visit kimmelcenter.org.
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