University Concert & Lecture Series

Patti LuPone, The Gypsy in My Soul

Saturday, September 26, 2009, at 8:00 p.m.

Conceived and directed by Scott Wittman
Musical Direction Joseph Thalken
Musical Arrangements by Jonathan Tunick and Joseph Thalken

THE GYPSY IN MY SOUL presents Broadway’s Patti LuPone singing songs from her life both on and off the stage. The two-time Tony Award winner will sing songs that have been associated with her Broadway career (from such shows as Gypsy, Anything Goes and Oliver!) as well as some of her personal pop favorites.

Patti LuPone swept the 2008 theatre awards winning the Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Actress in a Musical and the Drama League Award for Distinguished Performance for her performance as Rose in the critically-acclaimed Broadway production of the classic Jule Styne-Stephen Sondheim-Arthur Laurents musical Gypsy, directed by the show’s author, Mr. Laurents.

Miss LuPone's recent stage credits include her debut with the Los Angeles Opera in Weill-Brecht’s Mahagonny (the cd recording of that production recently won two Grammy Awards for Best Classical Recording and Best Opera Recording), the world premiere of Jake Heggie's new opera To Hell and Back with San Francisco's Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Mrs. Lovett in John Doyle's award winning Broadway production of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Award nominations – Best Actress in a Musical; Drama League Award for Outstanding Contribution to Musical Theatre), the title role in Marc Blitzstein’s Regina, a musical version of Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes at Washington D.C.'s Kennedy Center, a critically acclaimed performance as Fosca in a concert version of Stephen Sondheim’s Passion, which was also broadcast on PBS' Live From Lincoln Center, and a multi-city tour of her theatrical concert Matters of the Heart. She has also performed Matters of the Heart internationally, including runs at Australia's Sydney Festival and London's Donmar Warehouse Theatre. Her CD recording, based on this concert, was named one of 1999's best recordings by both The Times of London and Time Out/New York.

Martha Graham Dance Company

Saturday, October 24, 2009, at 8:00 p.m.

Founded in 1926 by dancer and choreographer Martha Graham, the Martha Graham Dance Company is the oldest and most celebrated contemporary dance company in America.

Since its inception, the Martha Graham Dance Company has received international acclaim from audiences in over 50 countries throughout North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. The Company has performed at the Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall, the Paris Opera House, Covent Garden, and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, as well as at the base of the Great Pyramids of Egypt and in the ancient Herod Atticus Theatre on the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. In addition, the Company has also produced several award-winning films broadcast on PBS and around the world.

Though Martha Graham herself is the best-known alumna of her company, having danced from the Company's inception until the late 1960's, the Company has provided a training ground for some of modern dance's most illustrious performers and choreographers. Former members of the Company include Merce Cunningham, Erick Hawkins, Pearl Lang, Elisa Monte, Paul Taylor, Glen Tetley, Jacqulyn Buglisi, Donlin Foreman and Pascal Rioult. Among celebrities who have joined the Company in performance are Mikhail Baryshnikov, Claire Bloom, Margot Fonteyn, Liza Minnelli, Rudolf Nureyev, Maya Plisetskaya, and Kathleen Turner. The Martha Graham Dance Company has commissioned works from Twyla Tharp, Robert Wilson, Susan Stroman, Lucinda Childs, and Maurice Béjart, which have been enthusiastically received by audiences and critics worldwide. The Martha Graham Dance Company even numbers among its alumnae one Betty Bloomer, who, after dancing with the Company in 1938, became better known as First Lady Betty Ford.

Soweto Gospel Choir

Monday, January 18, 2010, at 8:00 p.m.

The Soweto Gospel Choir was formed to celebrate the unique and inspirational power of African Gospel music. The 26-strong choir, under the direction of David Mulovhedzi and Beverly Bryer, draws on the best talent from the many churches in and around Soweto. The choir is dedicated to sharing the joy of faith through music with audiences around the world.

Porgy and Bess

Sunday, March 21, 2010 at 3:00 pm

Porgy and Bess is recognized as an American masterpiece. A story that intertwines pride, prejudice, pathos and passion through a jazz and blues influenced score. Originally billed as a “Folk Opera”, Porgy and Bess introduced classic Gershwin songs including “Summertime”, “I Got Plenty O’ Nuttin’” and “It Ain’t Necessarily So”, as well as magnificent and enthralling choruses that stunned music and drama critics alike at its premiere in 1935.

Based on the DuBose Heyward novel set in Charleston’s famed Catfish Row, Porgy and Bess tells the moving story of Porgy, a cripple who witnesses a murder during a dice game and later gives shelter to the murderer’s woman, the beautiful, haunted Bess. The Catfish Row community is opposed to the union, but Porgy and Bess make each other happy and their happiness only increases when they take in a child orphaned by a hurricane. Their happiness is shattered when the murderer, Crown, returns for Bess, and Porgy, defending his family, kills him. The police detain him for questioning but never dream that a cripple could be the killer, so Porgy returns triumphantly to the Row. The triumph turns to tragedy, quickly, when he learns that while he was away, Sportin' Life, the dope pusher and Bess’ former pimp, seduced Bess with "happy dust" and took her away to New York City to resume her career as a prostitute.

This production, produced by Living Arts, Inc., was launched in January of 1993 to bring this Gershwin masterpiece to audiences in cities big and small in the United States and around the world, most of which had never seen a professional production of Porgy and Bess. Since our critically acclaimed debut in 1993, this production of Porgy and Bess has been performed live in over 1,000 shows in 17 different countries on 6 continents, including 49 of the fifty United States, reaching a total audience of over 1.5 million people.

Moscow Festival Ballet: Coppelia

Wednesday, April 14, 2010, at 8:00 p.m.

The Moscow Festival Ballet was founded in 1989 when legendary principal dancer of the Bolshoi Ballet Sergei Radchenko sought to realize his vision of a company which would bring together the highest classical elements of the great Bolshoi and Kirov Ballet companies in an independent new company within the framework of Russian classic ballet.

Leading dancers from across the Russias have forged under Radchenko’s direction an exciting new company staging new productions of timeless classics such as Giselle, Don Quixote, Paquita and Carmen.

Since its inception, the Moscow Festival Ballet has completed two tours of Europe, with extraordinary receptions in Italy, France, Spain, Germany and the Netherlands. Two tours of the United Kingdom, including capacity audiences at London's famed Coliseum, have resulted in re-engagements during the 1995-96, 1996-97, 1997-98, 1998-99 and 1999-2000 seasons.

The company has also performed with great success in Turkey at the Istanbul Festival and in Greece at the Athens Festival, and recently completed a two-month tour of Japan, Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong. Under the direction of Sergei Radchenko, the Moscow Festival Ballet continues to expand its repertoire. In addition to commissioning new works from within Russia and abroad, the company specializes in Twentieth Century full-length ballets such as Cinderella, Romeo and Juliet, Legend of Love, Stone Flower and The Golden Age. Mr. Radchenko has researched the original choreography and stage productions of several of Marius Petipa's classic ballets, including new productions in the year 2000 of Don Quixote and Paquita, and a recreation of Jules Perrot's and Jean Coralli's Giselle.

The Moscow Festival Ballet has toured extensively throughout the United States, beginning with a Coast-to-Coast tour in the Winter/Spring of 1997 and returning in 2001, 2004 and 2006. During the 2008-2009 season, the company returns to America for a 17-week tour.

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