The Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts

"Inspiring!" "Incredible!" "Phenomenal!" Fans gush about BILLY ELLIOT The Musical

 

This video from the BILLY ELLIOT North American tour site includes feedback from exhilirated fans. The comments that struck me were:

"If you've ever had a dream, even if it wasn't about dancing, you relate to Billy. You feel that electricity." 

"For anyone who's ever helped you achieve anything in your life - buy them a ticket and see the show with them. It's an incredible Valentine from the heart."

I get chills just reading that last sentence. Can't wait to see the show!

Tickets are on sale now at The Kentucky Center box office.

 

PNC Broadway in Louisville presents

BILLY ELLIOT The Musical

June 26 - July 1

The Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts

Learn some new moves at our HIP HOP DANCE CAMP July 16-20. [Revised post]

If you're looking for a summer camp that comes with air conditioning, Safiyyah Dance and The Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts are offering something new this summer. Get ready to pump up your dance groove with some of the area's best hip-hop choreographers.

Safiyyah Rasool, one of the area's top instructors, is director of the HipHop Dance Camp 2012. "If you are a dance lover and you really want to pick up your hip hop dance game, this is the place to come," according to Safiyyah. "Even if you're a beginner and you don't know about dance but you think it's something you want to try and have fun, this camp is for you."

The camp runs July 16-20. Students can register for either full-day or half-day classes. Financial scholarships are available.

Details: http://www.hiphopdancecamp2012.com/

Sara Watkins goes for broke with "When It Pleases You" [video]. See her in Louisville Aug. 12.

 

In the past two weeks, Sara Watkins has popped up all over late night TV, promoting her new release SUN, MIDNIGHT SUN.  Known as the fierce fiddler with big, brown eyes and a tiny voice, Ms. Sara is obviously out to make herself heard with this new single, "When It Pleases You." She could be Patti Smith howling into the microphone. 

Sara, tread cautiously. I have one word for you: NODES.

If you like what you hear here [she does some beautiful, heartbreaking ballads too], you may want to catch her at The Kentucky Center on August 12, when she opens for Jackson Browne. Event and ticketing information can be found here.

SUN MIDNIGHT SUN, the second solo album from acclaimed singer, songwriter, and fiddle player Sara Watkins, features special guest appearances by Fiona Apple, Jackson Browne, Taylor Goldsmith (Dawes), Benmont Tench, and Sean Watkins.

Sara Watkins "Long Hot Summer Day" (video). Sara opens for Jackson Browne [Louisville, Aug. 12].

 

Sara Watkins stood out as a member of the popular group Nickel Creek for her fantastic fiddle playing and her unique voice. She just released her second solo album, Sun Midnight Sun, which is being described as "sonically daring and provocative." Sara will open for Jackson Browne on his Summer 2012 acoustic tour.

WQMF Presents

Jackson Browne

with special guest Sara Watkins

Sunday, August 12, 8 p.m.

The Kentucky Center, Whitney Hall

Tickets start at $44.50. Details...

 

Rufus Wainwright sings OUT OF THE GAME on "Ellen." Reminds us of David Cassidy. Performs at Iroquois Amphitheater Aug. 5.

Click to watch Rufus Wainwright perform his new single OUT OF THE GAME on the Ellen Degeneres Show. Fans are probably more accustomed to seeing the singer/songwriter perform sitting at the piano, but you've gotta give Rufus credit for stepping up his game and adopting the guitar-strumming Pop persona. Of course, with the guitar slung across his chest, his layered hair and his head thrown back singing...I was also reminded of young David Cassidy during his heart-throb years on "The Patridge Family." 

Click to watch the video.

Do you see any similarities? Funny how times change. I actually prefer Rufus' flowered trousers to those ruffled shirts and velveteen the Patridge kids were forced to wear.

Rufus Wainwright and special guest Adam Cohen are scheduled to perform at Louisville's Iroquois Amphitheater on August 5. The Kentucky Center is co-producing the event and we hope to see you there!

Tickets are available in-person at the Iroquois box office or via TicketFly.com on the Louisville Metro Government site.

"This American Life" host Ira Glass delivers engaging commencement speech. Hear him in Louisville October 6.

 

As reported on BaltimoreFishbowl.com - Ira Glass, host and creator of THIS AMERICAN LIFE, one of the most popular programs on National Public Radio, recently delivered the commencement speech at Goucher College. Both Glass and his grandmother graduated from Goucher. And he made it clear from his opening remarks that the inspirational energy of the day was the achievement of the graduating students themselves - and not anything from the words he would relay.

Click here to listen to his speech.

Disclaimers aside, his short seventeen-minute speech proves what THIS AMERICAN LIFE listeners already know: Ira Glass knows how to frame - and tell - a compelling story.

Glass is touring the country this summer and fall with his "Reinventing Radio" presentation. If you love THIS AMERICAN LIFE, you'll want to put this date on your calendar. Tickets go on sale to the public June 1 through The Kentucky Center box office.

89.3 WFPL & The Kentucky Center present

"Reinventing Radio": An Evening with Ira Glass

Host/Creator of This American Life

Saturday, October 6, 8 pm

Brown Theatre on Broadway

Ticketing information

Museum Row attractions offer free admission for military families Memorial Day - Labor Day

“Museum Row” attractions offer free admission to military families Memorial Day through Labor Day

Ali Center, Frazier Museum, KentuckyShow! and Louisville Science Center participate in country-wide program offering free admission to military personnel and their families this summer.

May 25, 2012 (Louisville, Ky.)  Several of Louisville’s “Museum Row on Main” attractions are participating in Blue Star Museums, a collaboration between the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), Blue Star Families, the Department of Defense and more than 1,500 museums across America to offer free admission to all active duty military personnel and their families from Memorial Day through Labor Day 2012.

The Frazier History Museum, Louisville Science Center, Muhammad Ali Center and KentuckyShow!  at the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts offer military discounts year-round, but will be waiving admission fees entirely from Memorial Day, May 28, 2012, through Labor Day, September 3, 2012 as part of the Blue Star Museum program. The free admission offer is available to active-duty military and their family members (military ID holder and up to five family members). Active duty military includes Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, and active duty National Guard and active duty Reserve members.

This is the third consecutive year of the Blue Star Museums program. Through this collaboration, military families have an unparalleled opportunity to visit some of the country’s finest museums in all 50 states for free.

 

“This is both an opportunity to thank military families for their service and sacrifice, as well as a chance to create connections between museums and these families that will continue throughout the year,” said NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman. “Especially for families with limited time together, those on a limited budget, and ones that have to relocate frequently, Blue Star Museums offers an opportunity to enjoy one another and become more fully integrated into a community.”

For a complete list of participating museums, visit www.arts.gov/bluestarmuseums. Some special or limited-time museum exhibits may not be included in this free admission program. For questions on particular exhibits or museums, contact the museum directly.

About Blue Star Families - Blue Star Families is a national, nonprofit network of military families from all ranks and services, including guard and reserve, with a mission to support, connect and empower military families. 

"Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" (June 8-17) is Stage One's largest production ever!

 

As reported on BroadwayWorld.com/Louisville -

Stage One Family Theatre presents

JOSEPH and the AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT

June 8-17, The Kentucky Center

Ticketing information and Details

The Biblical saga of Joseph and his coat of many colors comes to vibrant life in this delightful musical parable. Joseph, his father's favorite son, is a boy blessed with prophetic dreams. When he is sold into slavery by his jealous brothers and taken to Egypt, Joseph endures a series of adventures in which his spirit and humanity are continually challenged. Set to an engaging cornucopia of musical styles, from country-western and calypso to bubble-gum pop and rock 'n' roll, this Old Testament tale emerges both timely and timeless.

This is the largest show that StageOne has ever done, with over 150 cast and crew members, including a 100 member children’s choir directed in collaboration with Louisville Youth Choir, under the direction of Terri E. Foster. Additional collaboration includes orchestral conduction from Louisville Youth Orchestra’s own Jason Seber. The show is produced by StageOne’s Peter Holloway and is Directed/Choreographed by Megan Bliss.

Read more: http://louisville.broadwayworld.com/article/StageOne-to-Present-JOSEPHDREAMCOAT-at-Kentucky-Center-68-16-20120524#ixzz1vowsczk9

 

 

"SHINE" from BILLY ELLIOT The Musical

"Give it the old razzle-dazzle and shine" is the advice Billy Elliot's hard-knock dance teacher imparts to her students. There are plenty of light-hearted moments in this musical. PNC Broadway in Louisville presents BILLY ELLIOT at Louisville's Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts June 26 - July 1. Tickets start at $22.75. Click here for ticketing information and event details.

Elton John discusses writing the music for Broadway musical BILLY ELLIOT

In this interview with Katie Couric, Sir Elton John talks about how he became involved in writing music for the Broadway version of BILLY ELLIOT after falling in love with the movie.

Elton wrote the music in only two weeks - starting with lyrics first, his tried-and-true method whether he writes for Rock, Pop or Broadway. "I write in binges, three or four songs a day, but I only write a few times a year - and I look forward to doing it."

His Broadway successes prior to working on BILLY ELLIOT include writing music for award-winning shows LION KING, AIDA, and LESTAT. Elton explains that BILLY ELLIOT was especially poignant for him because his own father never approved of his decision - or recognized his success - as a Rock n Roll performer. "Within each of us there is someting creative and if you have art, it can ease the pain of any terrible situation."

PNC Broadway in Louisville presents

BILLY ELLIOT

June 26 - July 1

The Kentucky Center, Whitney Hall

Online ticketing and details

Based on the Academy Award-nominated 2000 film of the same title, BILLY ELLIOT is the story of its namesake star, a young boy in a depressed working-class mining town in the North of England.

Set during the history-making 1984 miner’s strike, the show follows Billy, the youngest child of a blue-collar family that has recently lost its Mum, as he discovers his unlikely and extraordinary gift for ballet.

While Billy’s father and brother take to the picket lines of the violent and life-changing strike, Billy secretly begins to study the art of dance with the help of a hard-drinking, chain-smoking local dance teacher.

But as Billy blossoms and thrives, the world and lives around him continues to wither—and his only escape may be the prestigious Royal Ballet School, a place no working-class boy has ever gone, or been allowed to go to, before.

Recommended for audiences age 13+ due to mature language.