Grammy Nods for Center Collaborators

Trout Fishing in America was nominated for its fourth Grammy Award yesterday, this time for the album Big Round World, which features a song created by third graders at Costa Mesa's Sonora Elementary School. The song, "Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks" was produced in partnership between the Center's Education Department and the school district, and received its debut at a special record release party at Sonora in September. Congrats to Ezra, Keith and the kids at Sonora!

More in Grammy news ... John Pizzarelli, who will perform at the Center with his wife Jessica Molaskey January 15 - 18, can be heard crooning on the Grammy nominated track "Johnny One Note" from the album With A Song In My Heart.

Starlet O'Hara

Kelli O'Hara, currently starring on Broadway in the Tony winning best musical revival of South Pacific, can be seen on the cover of December's Town and Country which proclaims her "Broadway's biggest star". Center audiences can look forward to seeing O'Hara in a coming season as part of our cabaret series in Samueli Theater.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at 50

The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, a favorite of Center audiences, celebrates its 50th anniversary December 3 with an opening night gala performance at the New York City Center Theater. In honor of the occasion, the Empire State Building will be bathed in gold lights.
Oprah Winfrey is the honorary chair and honored guest for the gala night which features several Ailey masterpieces, including Revelations and Cry, and a world premiere.

Read about the Ailey legacy in the New York Times


Watch video of Dance Magazine's cover photo shoot featuring Ailey dancers (pictured above).

Grease kicks off national tour tonight

Grease, currently playing on Broadway at the Brooks Atkinson Theater, kicks off its national tour tonight at the Providence Performing Arts Center. The tour, which stars American Idol winner Taylor Hicks as the Teen Angel, makes its way to the Center April 28 - May 10 as part of the Bank of America Broadway Series.


Read more about the national tour of Grease on Playbill online

Diana Ross goes from Center to Nobel Peace Prize Concert

After headlining the 2008 Candlelight Concert and a public concert on December 7, Diana Ross will head to Oslo where she'll join artists from all over the world to help spread the message of peace and celebrate this year's Nobel Peace Prize laureates.

Learn more here

Pizzarelli and Molaskey on the radio and at the Center

The talented husband-and-wife jazz duo of John Pizzarelli and Jessica Molaskey received an excellent writeup in Thursday's Washington Post for their radio show Radio DeLuxe, which features classics from the Great American Songbook performed by new artists. Pizzarelli and Molaskey performed together at the Center for last year's private Candlelight Encore concert, and will return to Samueli Theater January 15 - 18 for four performances only. If you can't wait a month to hear more from this delightful pair, tune into their program every Sunday at noon on KSPA 1510.

Check out the article here.

Click here to purchase tickets to the show.

Broadway goes green

No, we're not talking about the opening of Shrek the Musical or the smash Wicked.

Broadway producers and theater owners are uniting in this initiative to identify and adopt better practices for sustainable theater. Learn more about the important initiative here.