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Last modified: Monday, May 2, 2011

IU Auditorium 2011-2012 season features Jon Stewart, Bernadette Peters, top Broadway shows and more

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 2, 2011

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University Auditorium has announced its diverse 2011-2012 season. This year's world-class arts and entertainment lineup includes the most in-demand touring Broadway shows, classical and contemporary musical performances, dance, comedy and beloved holiday traditions. The season begins in September and continues through April.

The new season is designed to appeal to a wide variety of tastes and interests, with performances by Tony Award-winning actress Bernadette Peters, a rare stand-up comedy appearance by Jon Stewart of "The Daily Show," the family-friendly Broadway show Shrek the Musical and the comedic genius of Mel Brooks' musical Young Frankenstein.

"As always, we strive to put together a selection of events as diverse and interesting as our audiences, and we are thrilled to be able to announce this amazing list of entertainers, Tony Award-winning Broadway hits, and awe-inspiring cultural dance and music," said Doug Booher, director of IU Auditorium. "We're proud to present a yet another season of unparalleled performance quality."

Patrons can subscribe by choosing five events, which can be purchased through a variety of payment, such as the "50-50 Payment Plan" or payroll deduction for IU employees. Also at this time, the public can pre-order one to four shows from the season in order to get the best seats available before single tickets go on sale to the general public in September. For more information on subscriber and pre-order benefits, visit IUauditorium.com or call (812) 855-1103.

2011-2012 IU Auditorium Season

Jon Stewart
Friday, September 30
7 p.m. and 10 p.m.
General Public: $49-$59
IU Bloomington Students: $23-$59
Mature Audiences

The Auditorium audience will be able to spend an evening with the host of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" with Jon Stewart, a program whose "one anchor, six correspondents, zero credibility" motto reflects its lighthearted approach to reporting the news. Since taking over as the show's host in 1999, Stewart has interviewed buzz-worthy political leaders, authors, comedians, activists, actors and personalities. He has hosted the Oscars twice, been dubbed "Entertainer of the Year" by Entertainment Weekly, and received a Grammy Award in 2005 for Best Comedy Album for his recording America: A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction.

SFJAZZ Collective
Saturday, October 22
8 p.m.
General Public: $23-$28
IU Bloomington Students: $13-$19

This eight-person ensemble of instrumentalists and composers has developed an international reputation for interpreting the works of a different contemporary jazz master each year.

The group's IU Auditorium performance will pay homage to pop music icon Stevie Wonder, presenting well-known songs such as "Superstition," "My Cherie Amour" and "Sire Duke" and lesser-known tunes such as "Race Babbling" and "Creepin."

Dennis James Hosts Halloween
Thursday, October 27
7:30 p.m.
General Public: $14-$19
IU Bloomington Students: $8-$16
Family Friendly

Bloomington audiences are in for a Halloween treat: master organist and Indiana University alumnus Dennis James will return to IU Auditorium to accompany the legendary silent film The Phantom of the Opera (1925) with his own extraordinary musical score. In 1969, James was an undergraduate bachelor of music organ major at IU, likely headed for a job as a church musician. He describes a tense campus atmosphere characterized by reactions to the peak of the Vietnam War, complete with widespread protests throughout Bloomington. "The campus had just been taken over, and it happened that there was a need for comic relief," James said. "I provided it with my silent film scoring debut with Phantom of the Opera using the school auditorium's then-new four-manual Schantz classical pipe organ."

Schola Cantorum de Venezuela
Tuesday, November 1
8 p.m.
General Public: $23-$28
IU Bloomington Students: $13-$19

As part of the growing choral movement in Venezuela, Schola Cantorum de Venezuela builds on its vast collection of Venezualan and Latin American traditional music and a number of symphony pieces, with additional influences from Spanish, Italian, French and English Renaissance, German and Italian Baroque and countless universal composers. Venezuelan composer and conductor Alberto Grau founded this specialized choral ensemble in 1967. Since then the group has released 25 unique albums, performed at the most prestigious musical festivals in auditoriums worldwide, and has spread the music of underground conductors and symphony masterpieces across the globe.

Shrek the Musical
Tuesday-Thursday, November 15-17
7:30 p.m.
General Public: $38-$60
IU Bloomington Students: $20-$41
Family Friendly

Shrek, the lovable-but-grouchy ogre who inspired four extremely successful films -- starting with the Oscar-winning Dream Works film Shrek in 2001 -- finally takes the stage in Shrek the Musical.

This show resonates on two levels: Kids love seeing the hilarious, colorful characters come to dazzling life in Kingdom of Far, Far Away while grownups chuckle over inside jokes that parody classic fairy tales and popular stage musicals. In this tale, it's not Prince Charming but the swamp-dwelling ogre, Shrek (along with his chatty, lovably annoying sidekick, Donkey), who rescues Princess Fiona from her tower, skirting a fire-breathing dragon along the way. The ogre rescues Fiona as part of a deal with the "short" tempered Lord Farquaad in an attempt to regain the deed to his land, overrun by fairy tale creatures. But the ogre and the princess have more in common than Shrek imagines. Will true love win out, or is Fiona doomed to become the little lord's bride?

Chimes of Christmas
Wednesday, December 7
7:30 p.m.
General Public: $14-$20
IU Bloomington Students: $11-$15
Family Friendly

Since the 1950s, audiences have delighted in this uplifting holiday spectacular, with performances by the IU Jacobs School of Music's award-winning vocal ensemble the Singing Hoosiers, the IU Wind Ensemble and the Trombone Choir.

The Singing Hoosiers perform songs that range from cherished carols to catchy pop numbers, with a "Christmas on Broadway" medley and carols from cultures around the world. From Bach to Burt Bacharach, "Jingle Bells" to "Dona nobis pacem," the music is filled with holiday cheer. Complete with audience-participation sing-a-longs and a visit from a singing Santa, Chimes is Bloomington's biggest and best Christmas party -- and this is one party you won't want to miss.

STOMP
Friday-Saturday, January 27-28
7:30 p.m.
General Public: $38-$60
IU Bloomington Students: $20-$41
Family Friendly

Drawing music from such unlikely sources as hubcaps and paint cans, work boots and tractor tires, the off-Broadway phenomenon STOMP is back and revitalized -- with plenty of new sounds to please the ears. Co-created by Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas, this percussive-heavy musical production has become an international sensation since its beginning as a street show in the U.K. With no formal dialogue, the multitalented cast communicates solely through music, movement and humor.

"STOMP has evolved a great deal ever since its first incarnation at the Edinburgh Festival," McNicholas said. "Every reworking has involved losing some pieces and gaining new ones, but has always stayed true to the original premise of the show: to create rhythmic music with instantly recognizable objects, and do it with an eccentric sense of character and humor."

Evidence, A Dance Company
Saturday, February 4
8 p.m.
General Public: $20-$35
IU Bloomington Students: $10-$30

Evidence, A Dance Company will perform On Earth Together, set to the uplifting songs of Stevie Wonder as an embodiment of how love and compassion can make the world a better place.

Ronald K. Brown, director of the Brooklyn-based dance company, began coordinating dance routines in second grade and founded Evidence 1985 at just 19 years old. His unwavering mission is to create unity and cross-cultural understanding by providing a clear window into the human experience through the integration of African dance, spoken word and contemporary choreography.

"I hope that when people see the work, their spirits are lifted. I am interested in sharing perspectives through modern dance, theater and kinetic storytelling," said Brown, who has created works for numerous dance companies, including Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Jeune Ballet d'Afrique Noire. "I want my work to be evidence of these perspectives."

Good vs. Evil: An Evening with Anthony Bourdain and Eric Ripert
Thursday, February 16
8 p.m.
General Public: $33-$53
IU Bloomington Students: $18-$48
Mature Audiences

Bestselling author, bad boy TV personality and globe-trotting chef Anthony Bourdain brings his witty humor and culinary insight to Bloomington, where he will pair up with French chef extraordinaire Eric Ripert to share the stories behind their lives, books and travels.

Bourdain is best known for his Emmy Award-winning Travel Channel program "No Reservations," which approaches food as means of cultural expression (its most recent season opener took place in the still-devastated Haiti). Ripert heads the restaurant Le Bernardin in New York, which has three Michelin stars and received a four-star review from The New York Times.

The zingers fly when these two invite the public into their funny, thought-provoking conversation about food trends today and take part in a Q-and-A with audience members.

Bernadette Peters
Saturday, February 25
8 p.m.
General Public: $38-$65
IU Bloomington Students: $20-$51

Bernadette Peters

With a girlish speaking voice as distinctive as her trademark red curls and an awe-inspiring vocal range, Tony Award-winning actress Bernadette Peters has long been the sweetheart of the American stage and screen.

Since Peters made her Broadway debut in 1967 in Johnny No-Trump, she has racked up an impressive seven Tony Award nominations and winning two for Best Actress in 1985 for Andrew Lloyd Webber's Song and Dance and in 1999 for in Annie Get Your Gun. She will perform a variety of Broadway hits as a fitting opener for the 2011-2012 Auditorium season.

In The Heights
Tuesday-Wednesday, February 28-29
8 p.m.
General Public: $38-$60
IU Bloomington Students: $20-$41

Tony and Grammy Award-winning In The Heights tells a story of aspiration through the members of a close-knit Latin immigrant community in New York City, who remain hopeful despite social unrest and hard economic times. This groundbreaking hip-hop and Latin music-infused production evokes the transcendent themes of tradition, opportunity, and hope.

"In The Heights is a classic American story. It's really a celebration of this neighborhood at the top of Manhattan," said Lin-Manuel Miranda, the show's creator. "We see people fall in love, we see people fight and argue … it's really about these three generations trying to find home and what that means to them."

With a book by Quiara Alegria Hudes, choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler and direction by Thomas Kail, Miranda created a musical that uplifts, inspires and resonates with his optimistic world view: "Every day has the potential to be the greatest day of your life."

South Pacific
Tuesday-Wednesday, March 27-28
8 p.m.
General Public: $38-$60
IU Bloomington Students: $20-$41

Lincoln Center Theater's revival of Rodgers & Hammerstein's beloved South Pacific gives the musical a light tap into the 21st century, by adding new dimensions of racial prejudice and feelings of isolation that were overshadowed in the original.

It's World War II on a lush tropical island, and Nellie, a nurse, falls in love with a local planter named de Becque -- only to have second thoughts when she learns he is a widower with two children. Meanwhile, U.S. Marine Lieutenant Cable falls in love with Liat, a Polynesian girl. When Cable and de Bacque go off together on a spy mission, the two women longingly await their return.

A sweeping romantic story of these two couples and how their happiness is threatened by the realities of war and by their own prejudices, this timeless musical contains core themes -- prejudice, loneliness, heroism and cowardice, war and men waiting for war -- that clearly resonate still to this day.

European Union Youth Orchestra
Sunday, April 22
7 p.m.
General Public: $29-$49
IU Bloomington Students: $15-$29
Family Friendly

The European Union Youth Orchestra combines raw talent with world-class conductors in a performance that transcends social, economic and cultural boundaries in the common pursuit of musical excellence.

Since the European Union Youth Orchestra was founded in 1976, audiences around the world have been impressed with the level of mastery present in the 18- to 29-year-olds who compose the ensemble. The only orchestra in the world to contain members from all 27 European Union countries, the group unites 135 of Europe's top young musical talents under the musical direction of renowned conductor-pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy.

Young Frankenstein
Thursday-Friday, April 26-27
8 p.m.
General Public: $38-$60
IU Bloomington Students: $20-$41

Madcap comedy meets showbiz sparkle in this double-entendre-laden musical performance of Broadway's Young Frankenstein.

Based on Mel Brooks' 1974 film by the same name, Young Frankenstein debuted on Broadway in 2007, a creation of the same Tony Award-winning team behind the record-breaking The Producers. Brooks drafted the music and lyrics and co-wrote the Frankenstein book with Thomas Meehan (Annie, Hairspray), with direction and choreography by Susan Stroman (Oklahoma!).

Dr. Frankenstein -- pronounced FronkenSTEEN -- and his humpbacked helper, Igor, seek to complete the unfulfilled mission of the good doctor's grandfather: to bring a corpse to life. Throw in a curvy lab assistant, Inga, and Frankenstein's self-centered fiance, Elizabeth and the vaudevillian comedy intensifies, with numbers that include tap-dancing monsters and a touch-free ballroom dance scene in which women fall to the floor when dipped.

The IU Auditorium 2010-2011 season is presented by Curry Auto Center, B97, the Herald-Times, Indiana University Document Service Center and Indiana University Residential Programs and Services.

To see the complete list of shows for the 2011-2012 season, visit IUauditorium.com. The website features video clips and a selection of songs from next season's performances, in addition to a direct link to the IU Auditorium Facebook Fan Page and Twitter page, whose members receive exclusive benefits throughout the year. Purchase tickets online at IUauditorium.com, by calling (812) 855-1103, or by visiting the IU Auditorium box office, open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.