Category Archives: Press Releases

The ‘Pack is Back! (A Real Clambake with Frank, Dean & Sammy) from the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra

KSO_Rat-Pack-Hands-Up

Photo by Jim Fausz.

The ‘Pack is Back!
(A Real Clambake with Frank, Dean & Sammy)

7:30 p.m. Saturday, September 3, 2022 (Devou Park) Covington, KY
7:30 p.m. Sunday, September 4, 2022 (Tower Park) Ft. Thomas, KY
7:00 p.m. September 5, 2022 (Woodside Arboretum) Middletown, OH

The Kentucky Symphony Orchestra closes its 2022 Summer Park Series with a tribute to three iconic crooner/ entertainers of the 1950s-80s — Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr. Their nostalgic sound still has a universal and multi-generational following due to great songwriters, arrangers and the trio’s suave and confident delivery, combined with superb comedic timing and amazing voices and talent. Scroll through this 1964 performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nboaNyIaccY

In 1953, actress Lauren Bacall returned to her Holmby Hills, CA home to find her husband (Humphrey Bogart) with a drunk and disheveled group of friends including Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Cary Grant and others. She dubbed them a “Rat Pack.” After Bogart’s death in 1957, Sinatra became the defacto leader of the gang that would add Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Peter Lawford and others. Though Frank eschewed Bacall’s label, the media kept the Rat Pack monicker alive. The Pack went on to make the original Ocean’s 11 film (1960), and the Vegas glitz and glamor portrayed by these singer, actor / entertainers became synonymous with “The Strip”.

The 1950s and 60s were a heyday for songwriters, arrangers and singers up until the British Invasion, but the swing and swagger of the Rat Pack sustained a loyal following for another decade and more. The KSO’s nouveau Rat Pack features three local singer/entertainers that can be heard with groups around town — Dan Radank (Frank), Mickey James (Dean) and Corey Tucker (Sammy) — backed by a big band with strings playing many of the original recorded arrangements by Nelson Riddle, Marty Paich and Quincy Jones, along with some adaptations of other originals by long-time KSO arranger and orchestrator Terry LaBolt. (See complete playlist attached.)

Join the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra and “Rat Pack” stand-ins 7:30 p.m. Saturday, September 3, in Devou Park (Covington); 7:30 p.m. Sunday, September 4, at Tower Park (Fort Thomas); and 7 p.m. Monday (Labor Day), September 5 at Woodside Cemetery & Arboretum (Middletown, OH). Bring blankets, picnics or lawn chairs. Concessions and or food trucks are available at the parks. For the Devou Park show TANK offers shuttles from Covington Catholic for $1 each way. For more information, registration (for weather updates and drawing chances) and directions, visit the KSO at www.kyso.org or call (859) 431-6216. A $5 (per person) suggested donation is encouraged. Free parking at all venues. Sunday’s 7:30 p.m. performance will be live-streamed at kyso.org.

Playlist
Song | As performed by: | Words / Music

Bugle Call Rag | Doc Severinsen | Eubie Blake, arr Bill Holman
Come Fly With Me*| Frank Sinatra | Sammy Cahn, Jimmy Van Heusen
You’re Nobody Till Somebody Loves You | Dean Martin | Larry Stock, Russ Morgan
The Lady Is a Tramp | Sammy Davis, Jr. | Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers
The Way You Look Tonight* Sinatra | Dorothy Fields, Jerome Kerns
Volare | Martin | Franco Migliacci, Domenico Modugno
What Kind of Fool am I* | Davis | Anthony Newley, Leslie Bricusse
Strangers in the Night | Sinatra | Bert Kaempfert, Eddie Snyder
Ain’t That a Kick in the Head | Martin | Cahn, Van Heusen
Fly Me to the Moon | Sinatra | Bart Howard
Birth of the Blues | Davis | Buddy DeSylva, Ray Henderson
Luck Be A Lady* | Sinatra, Martin, Davis | Frank Loesser

Intermission

Magic Flea | Count Basie | Sammy Nestico
Everybody Loves Somebody* | Martin | Sam Coslow, Ken Lane
Begin the Beguine | Davis | Cole Porter
I’ve Got You Under My Skin | Sinatra | Cole Porter
That’s Life | Sinatra, Martin, Davis | Dean Kay, Kelly Gordon
Airegin | Bill Holman | Sonny Rollins, arr. Holman
Mr. Bojangles | Davis | Jerry Jeff Walker
On the Street Where You Live | Martin | Alan Lerner, Frederick Loewe
Theme from New York, New York* | Sinatra | Fred Ebb, John Kander

*Arrangements adapted by Terry LaBolt

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Individual Tickets are Now on Sale for Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park’s Fall 2022 Performances

PIP_Murder on the Orient Express promo

Andrew May as Hercule Poirot in the Indiana Repertory Theatre 2020 production of Agatha Christie’s MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS. Photo by Zach Rosing.

CINCINNATI – Tickets are now on sale for the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park’s Fall 2022 lineup of shows, which will take place at venues around greater Cincinnati while the construction of the new Moe & Jack’s Place –The Rouse Theatre is completed. The all-new theatre will open in March 2023 with A Chorus Line.

“We are opening our season in a rather unique way by producing our fall shows at partner theatres around our city,” says Blake Robison, producing artistic director. “I can’t think of a better way to embrace our community roots by bringing these entertaining experiences to different neighborhoods.”

The 2022-23 season lineup features:

OFF-SITE PERFORMANCES – FALL 2022 

  • Agatha Christie’s masterpiece mystery, Murder on the Orient Express takes audiences on a thrilling ride with Ken Ludwig’s adaptation at the Aronoff Center’s Jarson-Kaplan Theater.
  • The iconic Mexican painter Frida Kahlo comes to life with incredible vibrancy in Frida…A Self Portrait, written and performed by Vanessa Severo, at The Carnegie Theatre in Covington, Kentucky.
  • In an exclusive engagement of a new production direct from a critically-acclaimed run in London, The Lion tells an intimate musical tale about one man’s courage and the redemptive power of music at the Warsaw Federal Incline Theater in Price Hill.
  • In addition, the Playhouse’s Off the Grid Series will present two immersive theatrical experiences in the fall:
    • Children of the Corn Maze: In Search of the Greenville Ghost is an all-new interactive, outdoor experience at Burger Farm and Garden Center on weekends in October. A real-time mystery unfolds as participants form a search party to explore the farm’s spooky fields, on the hunt for clues.
    • Mr. and Mrs. Fezziwig’s Holiday Party will ring in the holiday season in December with an immersive Victorian-era party experience at The Phoenix event space downtown. Tickets for this experience will be on sale by Sept. 1. A Christmas Carol will return in 2023 with an all-new production in the Rouse Theatre.

“The stages may be different, but the quality of artistry and the innovative spirit of our community events remain the same, ” says Robison.

Individual tickets for shows in the Rouse and Rosenthal Shelterhouse theatres in 2023 will go on sale Dec. 5. COVID-19 health and safety protocols are unknown at this time and will be announced closer to performances. Ticket buyers will be notified via email and can find current health and safety guidelines here.

For more information, visit cincyplay.com or call the Box Office at 513-421-3888 or 800-582-3208 toll-free in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. Patrons who are deaf, hard-of-hearing, deaf-blind or speech disabled dial 711 to connect to the Box Office via Ohio Relay Services. The Playhouse is fully accessible.

SEASON SPONSORS
Rouse Theatre Season presented by Schueler Group
Rosenthal Shelterhouse Theatre Season presented by Margaret and Albert Vontz III
Season Sponsor of New Work: The Rosenthal Family Foundation


OFF-SITE PERFORMANCES – FALL 2022

AGATHA CHRISTIE’S MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS
Adapted for the stage by Ken Ludwig
Directed by Risa Brainin
Sponsored by U.S. Bank

Sept. 25 – Oct. 23, 2022
Jarson-Kaplan Theater at the Aronoff Center for the Arts, 650 Walnut St, Cincinnati, OH 45202

SHORT DESCRIPTION
Whodunit? Detective Hercule Poirot is determined to find out in Agatha Christie’s thrilling murder mystery. Ten passengers board the luxurious Orient Express. But after the train unexpectedly stops in the isolated, snow-swept mountains, only nine of them are still alive. This masterpiece from the world’s most popular mystery writer promises a suspenseful evening of theatre that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

ONE-LINER
Whodunit? Detective Hercule Poirot is determined to find out in this masterpiece from the world’s most popular mystery writer.

FRIDA…A SELF PORTRAIT
Written and performed by Vanessa Severo
Directed by Associate Artistic Director Joanie Schultz
Sponsored by Digi and Mike Schueler

Oct. 15 – Nov. 6, 2022
The Carnegie Theatre, 1028 Scott St, Covington, KY 41011

SHORT DESCRIPTION
Frida Kahlo, the iconic Mexican painter, captured the difficulties and wonders of her life with incredible vibrancy. Now, she comes to life onstage through playwright and performer Vanessa Severo. With music and movement, this searing new play cracks open a powerful portal between Vanessa and Frida bringing breathtaking physicality and raw honesty to this stunningly creative production.

ONE-LINER
Iconic Mexican painter Frida Kahlo comes to life onstage with breathtaking physicality and raw honesty in this stunningly creative production.

THE LION
By Benjamin Scheuer
Directed by Sean Daniels and Alex Stenhouse
Sponsored by Roto-Rooter

Nov. 12 – Dec. 4, 2022
Warsaw Federal Incline Theater, 801 Matson Pl, Cincinnati, OH 45204

SHORT DESCRIPTION
Straight from the London stage for an exclusive Playhouse engagement, The Lion features a singer-songwriter who shares the turbulent story of his family and his own brush with mortality. With guitar in hand, he explores love, loss and the redemptive power of music through heartrending monologues and original songs. Hailed by critics as a “wondrous” and “spellbinding” experience, The Lion redefines the genre of musical theatre.

ONE-LINER
Straight from the London stage for an exclusive Playhouse engagement, a singer-songwriter shares the story of his family through heartrending monologues and original songs.

Off The Grid Events – Sponsored by First Financial Bank

CHILDREN OF THE CORN MAZE: IN SEARCH OF THE GREENVILLE GHOST
By Brant Russell

Friday and Saturday evenings, October 7 – Oct. 30, 2022
Burger Farm and Garden Center, 7849 Main St. (RT 32), Cincinnati, OH 45244

In this follow-up to 2020’s Children of the Corn Maze, teenagers keep disappearing after dark, leaving hardly any evidence in their wake. Could it be the Greenville Ghost, a monstrous menace of local lore? A real-time mystery unfolds as participants form a search party to explore the farm’s spooky fields, on the hunt for clues in this immersive, outdoor experience!

ONE-LINER
A real-time mystery unfolds in the fields of Burger Farm and Garden Center, as teenagers keep disappearing after dark and participants form a search party to find them in this immersive, outdoor experience!

MR. AND MRS. FEZZIWIG’S HOLIDAY PARTY
(Tickets on sale by Sept. 1)

December 14 – 18, 2022
The Phoenix, 812 Race Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202

You’re invited to ring in the holiday season with Mr. and Mrs. Fezziwig! Everyone’s favorite hosts from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol invite you to this Victorian-era party featuring beverages, a buffet and festive activities like parlor games, Victorian dances, a puppet show and more. Take it all in at your leisure as actors perform throughout the stately event spaces at The Phoenix, creating a truly immersive theatrical celebration for the holidays.

The Playhouse is supported by the generosity of almost 40,000 contributors to the ArtsWave Community campaign. The Ohio Arts Council helps fund the Playhouse with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, educational excellence and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans. The Playhouse also receives funding from the Shubert Foundation.

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Cincinnati Ballet welcomes new Artistic Director Jodie Gates

CB_Kaplan New Works 2022The 22-23 Season opens with ‘The Kaplan New Works Series’ at Aronoff Center, Sept. 8-18

Cincinnati, OH (August 22, 2022) – For the first time in 25 years, Cincinnati Ballet has a new artistic leader. Jodie Gates has officially assumed her role as the Company’s Artistic Director and welcomes audiences to the first production of Cincinnati Ballet’s 2022-2023 Season with The Kaplan New Works Series at the Aronoff Center for the Arts, Jarson-Kaplan Theater. “The creation of new choreography is critical to the evolution of the artform,” Gates said. “One of my goals for the Company is to demystify ballet and encourage new voices and perspectives in contemporary dance. While I did not program this season’s New Works, I am excited to experience these world and regional premieres. I am grateful for the Company’s longstanding commitment to encouraging choreographic experimentation and that commitment will continue in my artistic vision for the future.”

This Season’s New Works features contemporary dance including a world premiere from Cincinnati choreographer and DANCEFIX founder Heather Britt and a Cincinnati premiere by award-winning British choreographer Cathy Marston. The program also features premieres from Cincinnati Ballet dancers Daniel Baldwin, Taylor Carrasco, and Melissa Gelfin De-Poli. Over the years, New Works has reached cult-type status with Cincinnati audiences who are often first to experience groundbreaking world premieres by up-and-coming choreographers in the intimate Jarson-Kaplan Theater. Big names in the dance world including Travis Wall, Mia Michaels, and Cincinnati Ballet’s own resident choreographer Jennifer Archibald have created pieces for New Works that have gone on to be performed at ballet companies and venues around the world. Over the past five years, New Works also became a unique artistic incubator of sorts for Cincinnati Ballet dancers interested in becoming choreographers. Each year, industry leaders select pieces created by Cincinnati Ballet dancers for the Company’s annual Choreography Workshop in the Spring; Those creations are then commissioned and performed during New Works.

Jodie Gates assumed her position as Cincinnati Ballet Artistic Director, Sue and Bill Friedlander Endowed Chair, and Artistic Director of Cincinnati Ballet Otto M. Budig Academy on August 1, 2022. Ms. Gates was most recently the Founding Director of the University of Southern California Glorya Kaufman School of Dance and the Artistic Director and Founder of the Laguna Dance Festival in Laguna Beach, California since 2005. She began her professional career at age 16 with the mentorship of the visionary artistic director Robert Joffrey. Gates went on to become a celebrated principal dancer at Joffrey Ballet, Frankfurt Ballet, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, and Pennsylvania Ballet as well a principal guest artist with prominent companies internationally. She danced title roles in the classical full-length ballets and principal roles in neoclassical and modern dance works and has collaborated with a host of renowned choreographers, including Alonzo King, Agnes de Mille, William Forsythe, Paul Taylor, Martha Clarke, and Mark Morris, among others. Gates is herself an accomplished choreographer having created more than sixty original dance works. She is also an artistic collaborator with choreographer William Forsythe, staging ballets internationally for Forsythe Productions. She is the recipient of the distinguished 2021/2022 Residency Fellowship from the Center for Ballet and the Arts at New York University. The fellowship acknowledges her most recent work as initiator for the Artistic Directors Coalition for Ballet in America, a group of artistic directors, choreographers, and educators who are addressing systemic racism within the culture of ballet.

Tickets for The Kaplan New Works Series are on sale now. For more information visit cballet.org. Please check the website for the latest health alerts. Masks are currently optional for patrons at Music Hall and the Aronoff Center for the Arts. NOTE: Artists may be masked during performances depending on current health alerts.

WHO: Cincinnati Ballet

WHAT: The Kaplan New Works Series

WHEN: Thursday, September 8 at 7:30 pm

  • Friday, September 9 at 8 pm
  • Saturday, September 10 at 2 pm and 8 pm
  • Sunday, September 11 at 1 pm
  • Wednesday, September 14 at 7:30 pm
  • Thursday, September 15 at 7:30 pm
  • Friday, September 16 at 8 pm
  • Saturday, September 17 at 2 pm and 8 pm
  • Sunday, September 18 at 1 pm

WHERE: Aronoff Center for the Arts, Jarson-Kaplan Theater
650 Walnut Street
Cincinnati, Ohio

TICKETS: Call 513.621.5282 or visit cballet.org

Cincinnati Ballet 2022-2023 Season Sponsors:

Rhonda & Larry A. Sheakley, Margaret and Michael Valentine, ArtsWave, Mercy Health, Louise Dieterle Nippert Musical Arts Fund, Ohio Arts Council, The Austin E. Knowlton Foundation

About Cincinnati Ballet
Since 1963, Cincinnati Ballet has been the cornerstone professional ballet company of the region, presenting a bold and adventurous array of classical, full-length ballets and contemporary works, regularly with live orchestral accompaniment. Under the artistic direction of Jodie Gates, Cincinnati Ballet is  a creative force within the larger dance community, commissioning world-premiere works and exploring unique collaborations. With a mission to enrich, expand, and excel in the art of dance through performance, a high-caliber academy, and impactful education and community engagement in local to global communities, Cincinnati Ballet reaches beyond the stage in programs that allow every person in the region to be part of the continued evolution of dance. To that end, Cincinnati Ballet presents exhilarating performances, provides extensive education and community engagement programs, and offers top-level professional ballet training at Cincinnati Ballet Otto M. Budig Academy.

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A Supernatural Evening with Ghost Hunter Amy Bruni | Mon., Oct. 24 | Music Hall Ballroom

CAA_Amy Bruni logoLIFE WITH THE AFTERLIFE:
A Supernatural Evening with Ghost Hunter
Amy Bruni

October 24, 2022
Music Hall Ballroom

Tickets on sale Friday, August 26 at 10:00 AM

CALENDAR INFORMATION

WHAT: LIFE WITH THE AFTERLIFE: A Supernatural Evening with Ghost Hunter Amy Bruni

WHEN: Monday, October 24, 2022 – 7:00 PM

WHERE: Music Hall Ballroom

PRICE: $45.00 | $35.00.  10% Group Discount (10 or more). Additional service fees may apply.

INFO: Paranormal investigator, author, podcaster and star of Kindred Spirits and Ghost Hunters, Amy Bruni shares hair-raising tales from her countless hours hunting ghosts at America’s most haunted locations.  Amy shares her unique approach to interacting with the spirits of the dead and those who encounter them. By the end of the night, you will question everything you thought you knew about the spirit world, and life after death.

TICKET INFORMATION – on sale Friday, August 26 at 10:00 AM

  • www.CincinnatiArts.org
  • (513) 621-ARTS [2787]
  • Aronoff Center Ticket Office
  • Group sales (10 or more): (513) 977-4157

CINCINNATI, OH – Paranormal investigator, author, podcaster and star of Kindred Spirits and Ghost Hunters, Amy Bruni, shares hair-raising tales from her countless hours hunting ghosts at America’s most haunted locations on Monday, October 24, 2022 at 7:00 PM at the Music Hall Ballroom. Seating will be cabaret style with tables and chairs. Drinks and concessions will be available for purchase.

Amy will discuss her unique approach to interacting with the spirits of the dead and those who encounter them. By the end of the night, audience members will question everything they thought they knew about the spirit world and life after death. The event is part of the Cincinnati Arts Association’s 2022-23 Season.

Tickets go on sale Friday, August 26 at 10:00 AM at www.CincinnatiArts.org, (513) 621-ARTS [2787], and the Aronoff Center Ticket Office. Group discount tickets for 10 or more are available by calling (513) 977-4157.

Amy Bruni started her professional ghost hunting career just over a decade ago, but her experience with ghosts started when she was very young. She started working professionally as a paranormal investigator in 2007, when she began appearing on Ghost Hunters, of which she starred in 116 episodes. Now, she’s the co-star and executive producer of The Travel Channel’s Kindred Spirits, one of the longest-running and highest-rated paranormal television shows, which is currently airing its sixth season and is in pre-production for its seventh. Amy is also the host of the wildly popular Haunted Road podcast, which just wrapped its second season and is in pre-production for its third. In support of these shows, Amy has appeared at numerous conventions, like San Diego and New York Comic Cons, and has many event appearances planned in 2022 and 2023. In addition, Amy is the owner of Strange Escapes, a company offering paranormal excursions to some of America’s most notoriously haunted destinations. A native of northern California, Amy now lives in Newport, Rhode Island with her young daughter.

CINCINNATI ARTS ASSOCIATION SPONSORS

SEASON SPONSORS: AMERITAS (Founding Season Sponsor), FIFTH THIRD BANK (Lifetime Endowment Partner), CINCINNATI-NORTHERN KENTUCKY HONDA DEALERS, LOCAL 12 WKRC-TV, The P&G FUND of The Greater Cincinnati Foundation

SEASON PRESENTING SPONSORS: 21C Museum Hotel, Cincinnati Herald, CityBeat, Fairfield Inn & Suites Cincinnati Uptown/University Area, Graphic Village, Heidelberg Distributing, Kinley Cincinnati, Pepsi, Skyline Chili, TriHealth

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2022-23 Miami Theatre Season Shines

MU_logoMiami University Theatre announces a season of new and contemporary work that reminds us of the power of community. Working together, we can overcome the most challenging of obstacles and reach new heights of understanding.

In Melanie Marnich’s play These Shining Lives, the women of the Radium Dial factory discover their jobs are slowly destroying their lives. Together they fight for justice, and for their lives to have a greater meaning. The play runs September 28 – October 2  in Gates-Abegglen Theatre, with direction by Cincinnati director, actor, and playwright Torie Wiggins. The design team includes seniors Lauren Lewis (scenery) and Jenna Wrona (lighting), with visiting assistant professor of theatre Lisa Martin-Stuart designing costumes.

Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald invite you into their home in Sharon Pollock’s Angel’s Trumpet. Truths are revealed as the literary couple squares off using weapons of their past, present, and their projected future. Senior Charlotte Perez directs, with designs by junior Jonathan Erwin (scenery), senior Maura Kesterson (costumes), and senior Sydney Cain (lighting). Angel’s Trumpet runs October 26-30 in Studio 88 Theatre. Performances on October 28 and 29 will also be live streamed.

Movement connects the individual performances of Miami Moves, a collection of student-choreographed work curated by visiting assistant professor of theatre Ashley Goos. The eclectic riffs on human movement will feature the lighting design of assistant professor of theatre Marly Wooster. It runs November 12-18 in Gates-Abegglen Theatre.

The Independent Artist Series returns in February, The slate for this free annual festival of student-driven work will be announced in November.

The season comes to a frenzied finale with the British farce The Play That Goes Wrong by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields. Laugh along as the Cornley University Players carry on with a 1920’s murder mystery as everything literally falls apart around them. Associate professor of theatre Lewis Magruder directs the chaos while Miami University Theatre’s technical director Curtis Mortimore and guest designer Brian Seckfort team up to design scenery. Visiting assistant professor of theatre Lisa Martin-Stuart designs costumes.

Tickets for Miami University Theatre productions can be purchased through the Miami University Box Office in Nellie Craig Walker Hall, (513) 529-5000 or at MiamiOH.edu/Tickets. Tickets will also be available at the door in the Center for Performing Arts.

Miami University instructors are invited to include a Miami University Theatre production as a  course requirement. Students will receive tickets at the discounted price of $6 per ticket, and the instructor will receive two free tickets. To participate in the curricular discount program, contact the box office and provide the course number.

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