2009-10 Long Center Presents Season
TRY 3 OR MORE EVENTS AND SAVE UP TO 33%
Welcome to our second season at the Long Center for the Performing Arts! Please join our family subscribers and you’ll get the best seats, save up to 33% over regular ticket prices, enjoy exchange privileges and other unique benefits. The Long Center was funded and built by Ausitinites to become the premier showplace for the performing arts in our city—truly “The art and soul of Austin.” Join us!
For more information on how to become a season subscriber, please call 512.474.LONG (5664).
Broadway
Oct. 14-18, 2009
Starring American Idol Winner Taylor Hicks as Teen Angel in Time Magazine’s 2007 pick for “#1 Musical of the year,” is rockin! ‘Bad boy’ Danny and ‘girl next door’ Sandy fall in love to You’re the One That I Want, Greased Lightnin and Hopelessly Devoted to You. Grease is the word!
Nov. 24-29, 2009
Celebrate what it means to be a family, canine, and courageous. Led by the creative team of director Jerry Zaks (Everybody Loves Raymond), writer B.T. McNicholl (Spamalot), and composer Dennis DeYoung (The Hunchback of Notre Dame); this musical takes you to a topsy-turvy and altogether fantastic world of incredible song, dance, and spectacle.
Off-Broadway
All shows performed in the intimate Rollins Studio Theatre
June 4-7, July 9-12, & 16-19, 2009
Does for Country Music what Greater Tuna does for small- town Texas! Doyle and Debbie take you for a wild ride with more than a dozen wickedly funny original songs as they lampoon and idolize country music’s proud tradition of fabulous male/female duos. It’s the battle of the sexes, Nashville style. Some mature content.
August 11-16, 2009
A salute to the Baby Boomer Generation, The Wonder Bread Years is a fast-paced, hilarious production that gracefully walks the line between stand-up and theater. Audiences across the country are enjoying a show that not only restores a much-needed sense of wonder; it also leaves audiences laughing and savoring the past like never before.
March 9-14, 2010
Emmy Award-winning actress Elaine Bromka reveals a gallery of intimate portraits of three remarkable, radically different First Ladies—Lady Bird Johnson, Pat Nixon, and Betty Ford. We discover each at a threshold moment in her life, and learn the personal cost of what Pat Nixon called “the hardest unpaid job in the world.”
Dec. 1-20, 2009
Retelling the story of the nativity as only Sister can, this hilarious holiday production uses “scientific tools” and a choir, as well as a gaggle of audience members, to create a living nativity scene unlike any you’ve ever encountered. This sequel to the smash hit Late Nite Catechism brings gifts galore and bundles of laughs!
Classical Variations
Sept. 12, 2009
You’ve seen them on The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Today Show, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and Sixty Minutes II. Handsome, beautiful, and talented, this extraordinary quintet of Juilliard-trained brothers and sisters are taking their five pianos around the world. With two #1 CDs, they’re “The closest classical music ever comes to a teen pop group,”—The Standard Times.
March 3, 2010
A hysterically irreverent examination of the world of classical music as seen through the eyes of Johann Sebastian Bach’s long-forgotten relative, P.D.Q. Bach, and Peter Schickele. Relish such P.D.Q. classics as the recently discovered Four Next-to-Last Songs and the heart-rendering Shepherd on the Rocks, With a Twist, which features Prof. Schickele playing the tromboon (a cross between a trombone and a bassoon). The Jekyll—or is it Hyde?—part of the program features songs by Peter Schickele, including the notorious rock ‘n’ roll settings of famous Shakespeare speeches, as heard on Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion.
April 13, 2010
Experience the greatest classical pianist of the day, backed by acclaimed maestro Eschenbach and orchestra. Heralded as the “hottest artist on the classical music planet” by The New York Times, Lang Lang has played sold-out recitals and concerts in every major city in the world; he’s also the first Chinese pianist to be engaged by the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic, and the top American orchestras. Christoph Eschenbach is currently in his ninth season as music director of the Orchestre de Paris and is sought after by the finest orchestras and opera houses in the world to be a distinguished guest conductor.
Musical Legends
Feb. 6, 2010
Texas favorite Larry Gatlin joins forces with Nashville’s own Crystal Gayle and Irish-American Andy Cooney. This evening will feature Gatlin hits such as Houston, Sure Feels Like Love, and All the Gold in California. Crystal is an entertainer beloved around the world, from symphony halls to Carnegie Hall from the best-kept stages in Las Vegas to the prestige of the London Palladium, she crosses musical genres and oceans, encompassing all the dazzling qualities that her name implies. Labeled by The New York Times as “Irish-America’s Favorite Son,” Andy Cooney brings his Irish folk songs to this triple threat evening. Together for the first time, they’ll celebrate America!
March 31, 2010
You won’t want to miss Arlo plus his son, Abe (on keyboards), and daughters, Cathy, Annie, and Sarah Lee (on acoustic guitars), in this Guthrie family reunion. Since performing at Woodstock and since the release of Alice’s Restaurant 40 years ago, Arlo Guthrie, son of legendary American folk artist Woody Guthrie, has become an American icon.
May 1, 2010
Sit back and close your eyes: picture yourself in Vegas in the heyday of the Rat Pack…out comes Ol’ Blue Eyes. Are you tripping down memory lane with the foremost interpreter of Sinatra in America? You betcha! Steve Lippia’s interpretations of the Sinatra Songbook have been acclaimed from coast to coast. It’s the performance of a lifetime!
Dance with a Difference
Sept. 11, 2009
Featuring top performers from Dancing With the Stars and So You Think You Can Dance, this ground-breaking show pushes the boundaries of ballroom dance, infusing it with sizzling style and gravity-defying intensity. Produced, directed, and choreographed by Dancing With the Stars alum Louis van Amstel and stars recent Dancing with the Stars runner up, Gilles Marini.
Feb. 28, 2010
See them live! They’re the hip-hop-influenced winners of NBC’s recent Superstars of Dance competition The 14-member cast, an eclectic group of the world’s most renowned freestyle and hip-hop dancers, combines the authenticity of A Chorus Line and the energy of STOMP to celebrate the heart and soul of this incredible form of dance.
International
Sept. 27, 2009
These empowering and overwhelming sounds weave traditional Japanese music with the beat of world rhythms. It incorporates extreme physical endurance, amazing theatrics, and the transformative spirit that inspired an Empire. This is Taiko, a cultural expression endowed with ritual meaning spanning millennia.
Jan. 19, 2010
Direct from Mexico City, this golden anniversary tour features the “best of the best” from 50 years of performances! This celebration of life in movement, music, and color showcases pre-Hispanic rituals, dramatic events from Mexico’s history, and depictions of that region’s diverse culture and folklore.
March 5, 2010
“First rate” and “Inspiring,” raves The New York Times. This award-winning cast of performers, all African orphans aged 8 to 18, brings to life the sounds and music of East Africa. These ambassadors for Uganda’s 2.4 million orphans personify the resilience and promise of Africa’s next generation as they raise funds to support themselves and others displaced in their homeland.
Specials
Oct. 20-21, 2009
You’ve never experienced a cirque quite like this one! Welcome to Birdhouse Factory! Be captivated as an assembly line of acrobatic tumblers rolls off a huge wooden spool, a ballerina-contortionist rotates on a turntable driven by unicyclists, and a breathtaking tango is danced on a precariously upended spool. Giggle at the zany antics; be enchanted with laughter, love, flight, and birdhouses. It’s Cirque!
Nov. 12, 2009
A rare look into the mind of the most important artist to work in American musical theater over the past half-century. In a live, unscripted conversation with the Austin Chronicle’s Robert Faires, Sondheim will share behind-the curtain moments and reflect on the creative process.
Dec. 29, 2009 - Jan. 3, 2010
Charles H. Duggan proudly presents a new tradition in family entertainment:
A TEXAS CHRISTMAS CAROL -- a musical variety celebration of the holidays featuring the talents of PBS stars The Biscuit Brothers and recording artist Tish Hinojosa. Also joining the celebration will be an Austin All-Star cast including the Amazing Grace Gospel, Austin Lyric Opera, Ballet Austin, River City Brass Quintet, Tapestry Dance Company, and the Zachary Scott Theater Showstoppers. This is truly your “One-Stop Holiday Show” and promises to be an experience your family will not forget!
Feb. 17, 2010
The ultimate rock fantasy! Relive mega-hits We Are the Champions, Bohemian Rhapsody, We Will Rock You, and much more. The greatest live band of all time!
Jan. 29, 2010
Enjoy a dose of humor and musical madness. These former Congressional staffers serve up their brilliant, wickedly funny parodies of popular American songs with political humor that rivals Saturday Night Live. Get ready for some non-partisan bashing
of Republicans, Democrats and Independents. “They’re the best!” —Larry King, CNN.
March 25, 2010
Two legendary Broadway stars combine for a once-in-a-lifetime theatrical event. This incredible show reunites these Tony Award®-winning virtuosos (and lifelong friends) for the first time since Evita. Much more than a concert, this unique musical love story is told entirely through a masterful selection of the greatest songs ever written for the stage. Funny, passionate, intimate, and utterly unforgettable, this is An Evening no fan of musical theatre should miss.