Featuring a selection of world-renowned performers such as violinist Itzhak Perlman, up-and-coming stars like jazz prodigy Esperanza Spalding and high caliber dance companies such as Pilobolus, the Wharton Center for Performing Arts’ 2009-10 season offers a diverse assortment of entertainment options.
There will be Broadway shows including Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas: The Musical,” The New Mel Brooks musical “Young Frankenstein,” Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “South Pacific” and the return of “A Chorus Line.”
In addition, one of the most highly acclaimed new plays, Steppenwolf’s “August: Osage County,” winner of five Tony Awards, including Best Play and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, makes its premiere at Wharton Center in February for two nights only. And back by popular demand is the most successful musical ever, “The Phantom of the Opera,” and a show the entire family will love – “101 Dalmatians,” the Musical.
Wharton Center’s expanded family programs offer nine unique attractions including family favorite Tom Chapin, a Celtic concert, the new Jazz Kats-Jazz for Kids show “There’s Blues In There,” along with The Jack Sprat Low Fat World Tour, which explores the importance of nutrition.
Wharton Center’s programs and performances offer an array of artists from around the globe. Audiences will experience everything from the Virsky Ukrainian National Dance Company to the Shaolin Warriors of China. The side-splittingly funny author and public radio regular David Sedaris will shake things up a bit, as will the Bellydance Superstars, touted as the next Riverdance.
The season includes the continuation of the World View Lecture Series bringing contemporary world leaders and thinkers to mid-Michigan. Among the series speakers is veteran economic and financial journalist Robert Kutner along with Jill Bolte Taylor, named Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world for 2008, and best-selling author Michael Pollan, whose works include “In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto” and “Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals.”
Wharton Center subscribers can submit their order forms immediately. To become season subscribers, log on to whartoncenter.com and download a season brochure and order form or call the Wharton Center Box Office at (517) 432-2000 or 1-800-WHARTON to have one mailed. Wharton Center subscribers receive a 10 percent discount or more on most shows and priority seating before the general public.
For more information visit www.whartoncenter.com.
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