With more than 2,000 performances scheduled for the John F. Kennedy Center’s 2014-15 season, which runs from Aug. 30 to Aug. 16, 2015, there’s a little something for everyone, as new works and returning favorites highlight the season.
“We are proud to present a diverse season with wonderful breadth and depth in all performing art forms,” says Michael M. Kaiser, the outgoing Kennedy Center president. Musicals fans will find much to entice: the eagerly awaited Ahrens/Flaherty musical Little Dancer directed by Tony Award winner Susan Stroman, Lerner & Loew’s Gigi, directed by Eric Schaeffer, the national tour of the charming musical Once, plus stagings of Evita, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and the return of The Book of Mormon.
The world premiere production of Little Dancer, loosely based on the creation of one of Edgar Degas’ most renowned sculptures, will feature four-time Tony Award winner Boyd Gaines and three-time Tony Award nominee Rebecca Luker.
Always a treat, Barbara Cook’s Spotlight will welcome Broadway favorites Faith Prince on Oct. 31, Andrea McArdle on Dec. 5, Will Chase on Jan 9, LaChanz on Feb. 13 and Malcolm Gets on March 27.
The Kennedy Center’s mission to produce and support the creation of new work is in full force among its five world premiere, Kennedy Center–commissioned theatrical works for young audiences, as well as the Center’s Local Dance Commissioning Project. The Kennedy Center’s annual Page-to-Stage New Play Festival returns Aug. 30 – Sept. 1, this year, in preparation for the 2015 Women’s Voices Theater Festival, the festival will place special focus on the works of women playwrights. Shear Madness continues its 26-year run in the Theater Lab and several international theater companies will take part in the Center’s Iberian Suite: arts remix across continents festival, with the National Symphony Orchestra joining the festival for two programs.
Speaking of the NSO, musical director Christoph Eschenbach has prepared an exciting season ahead, with distinguished soloists and conductors such as Emanuel Ax, Joshua Bell, Herbert Blomstedt, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Leonidas Kavakos, Midori, Garrick Ohlsson, Helmuth Rilling, and David Zinman.
Chinese piano sensation Lang Lang returns for a solo recital of music by Tchaikovsky, Bach, and Chopin, and the orchestra performs Ferruccio Busoni’s rarely performed Piano Concerto.
Another highlight is Fantasy & Fate: Tchaikovsky Masterworks, a three-week event that features some of the greatest compositions as well as lesser-known music of this great Russian composer with two orchestral programs led by Eschenbach.
Ballet lovers will be pleased to hear that its season includes the return of the Royal Ballet with Carlos Acosta’s acclaimed new production of Don Quixote and the debut of the Scottish Ballet with its award-winning production of A Streetcar Named Desire. Additionally, the Suzanne Farrell Ballet returns to the Opera House with a program that includes three company premieres: the 1951 version of George Balanchine’s Swan Lake, Allegro Brillante, and Jerome Robbins’s The Concert (or The Perils of Everybody).
“Michael Kaiser and the Center’s programming team have put together an outstanding season with such a remarkable variety in its offerings—from established companies and returning favorites to young artists bursting on the scene, from well-known works to newly commissioned world premieres, from wonderful American performers to the best artists from around the globe,” says Deborah F. Rutter, who will become Kennedy Center president in September. “I look forward to working with the Kennedy Center’s talented and hard-working staff in bringing this exciting season to the stage.”
The Kennedy Center, as it has for the past 16 years, continues to present a free performance every day on the Millennium Stage which is broadcast live on the Kennedy Center website and is archived for future viewings.
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I have friends coming in for a few day, August 31- Sept 3. My job is to find a play. Please say you have something going on at that time.. Thanks. Pam