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2009-2010 Performing Arts Series Schedule
Download the 2009-2010 Performing Arts Series Flyer!
Jesse Blumberg - Thursday, Feb. 11,
RESCHEDULED -April 29, 2010 @ 7:30pm
This internationally acclaimed baritone is equally at home on opera, concert and recital stages. He boasts an impressive list of awards, operatic roles, concert and recital apearances on stages throughout the United States and Europe. Commanding the stage, physically and vocally, his virile baritone grabs the melodic... lines with remarkable dynamic force, lighting up the hall with every appearance.
Visit the artist's website to hear music clips and learn more about the artist!
Previous Shows
Stephanie Jordan - Thursday, October 15, 2009
Stephanie Jordan, whom critics have placed in the company of Nancy Wilson and Diana Krall, began to receive noted prominence following the national televised Jazz at the Lincoln Center Higher Ground Hurricane Relief Benefit Concert for victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Bill Milkowski of JazzTimes Magazine writes “Stephanie Jordan, a standout here, was the real discovery of the evening. Her haunting rendition of this bittersweet ode associated with Shirley Horn was delivered with uncanny poise and a depth of understated soul that mesmerized the crowd and registered to the back rows. Singing with a clarity of diction that recalled Nat “King” Cole . . .”
Stephanie Jordan's current show; "A Tribute to Lena Horne" continues her signature trademark of singing jazz standards. Stephanie who has had the privileged of mentoring under the guidance of Shirley Horn says that it was "Lena Horne who actually served as her first introduction to great jazz singers. As a little girl I wanted to be Lena Horne and now I want to do something in her honor while she is still with us. That is why I have chosen to include some of Lena Horn’s favorite tunes to my show."
Jordan performed at the private celebration ‘Oprah Winfrey and Friends of Susan Taylor’ at New York City's ESPACE in honor of Susan Taylor's 37 years of service to Essence magazine. Jordan was invited specifically to sing Susan’s favorite jazz tune, Here’s to Life. Jordan has turned the tune most identified with her mentor Shirley Horn into her signature song. As one critic pointed out, “Jordan killed it on the mic.”
Following her performance at the 2008 NBA All-Star game, columnist Chris Rose of the Times-Picayune wrote, "Local chanteuse Stephanie Jordan set the anthem on a slow burn Sunday night, delivering the most smoldering rendition of the song since Marvin Gaye performed it at another NBA All-Star Game more than 20 years ago... Another blazing light in our constellation.”
Selected for the cover of the World’s Who’s Who in Jazz; “SHOWBIZ, PIONEERS, BEST SINGERS, ENTERTAINERS AND MUSICIANS FROM 1606 TO THE PRESENT,” the London Monthly Herald declares, “Ms. Stephanie Jordan in her silk green dress catches your eyes. She reminds me of the flashy dashy days of Josephine Baker at the Lido in Paris, the author referred to Jordan as “The classy lady of modern Jazz!”
The Washington Post boasts of her Kennedy Center performance, “Contributing intimate and thoroughly enjoyable interludes were . . . A poised, soulfully articulate vocalist, Jordan turned in a performance that warmly evoked the influence of Abbey Lincoln, Shirley Horn, Carmen McRae and other jazz greats.”
The Bacon Brothers - Thursday, November 19, 2009
Long before Kevin Bacon launched his prolific stage and screen career, and before Michael Bacon became known as a go-to composer for film and television, they were just two brothers, born nine years apart, coming of age in Center City Philadelphia. By the late 1960s, Michael, already a professional musician, would gig with his band at the city's famed Electric Factory with a young Kevin tagging along when he could. It's a time preserved in the cover art for The Bacon Brothers' latest, New Year's Day, with a preteen Kevin singing alongside a mandolin-strumming Michael. The record, laden with the brothers' trademark gritty rock and a touch of Philly soul, hearkens back to those roots in the City of Brotherly Love, when life was less complicated and music filled the air.
With 2009 marking 14 years of the Bacon Brothers band's existence, any cynical preconceptions about well-known actors "dabbling" in music now can safely be discarded. The band has gigged relentlessly to build up a following, and New Year's Day represents their sixth LP release. Along the way, the younger brother has apparently caught up with his elder sibling in some ways.
Taken from Bacon Brothers Official Website
American Idol Stars in Concert for the Holidays
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
"American Idol" finalists Michael Sarver (Season 8), Alexis Grace (Season 8) David Hernandez (Season 7) and Gina Glocksen (Season 6) will be entertaining the masses once again as they embark on a Holiday Tour, which launches DECEMBER 2, 2009 AT THE POLK THEATRE IN LAKELAND FL and will make stops in 12 cities across the U.S!
The American Stars in Concert for the Holidays tour will feature a combination of four of the top twelve finalists from Seasons 1 through 8 who will take to the stage for an exciting night of solo, duet and ensemble performances. This production will be a great way to see and hear the Idols up close and personal, in an intimate theatrical setting. Audiences will get a chance to relive their favorite former Idol moments as these talented artists perform an array of holiday favorites.
Steve Lippia in Simply Sinatra! - Friday*, January 22, 2010
Steve Lippia relives the heyday of Frank Sinatra, with standards engraved in the American History of Music: I’ve Got You Under My Skin, The Lady Is A Tramp, That’s Life, My Way, introducing a new generation to this timeless music and transporting long-time listeners back to the era of “Old Blue Eyes.” Reserved seats: $40, $30 & $20
Visit the artist's website to hear music clips and learn more about the artist!
*Please see correction from originial PAS Brochures
A Night at the Oscars with Shirley Jones
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Academy Award winning artist, Shirley Jones, will be hosting and performing some of her most memorable songs from the many movie musicals in which she starred over her career. The Hollywood Concert Orchestra, one of the premier ensembles in the world, made up of some of America's finest musicians, will join Ms. Jones in presenting the music from your favorite musicals.
Visit the artist's website to hear music clips and learn more about the artist!
Subscription and Ticketing Information
All performances begin at 7:30 p.m.
Single tickets for the Performaing Arts Series are on sale! Visit our ticket sales page or call the Theatre! There is a $3.00 handling fee per order for all advance ticket sales through the theatre office.
Click here to view Polk Theatre seating charts.
2009-2010 PERFORMING ARTS SERIES SPONSORS
Gold Performing Arts Series Sponsor
- Publix Charities
Performing Arts Series Presenters
- Drummond Company
- The Hudson Family Fund [George & Rosemary, Robert & Karen] within the Community Foundation of Greater Lakeland
Media Presenters
- The Ledger
- The Big 4 WONN-WPCV-WLKF-WWRZ
Series Sponsors
- CenterState Bank
- Crowe Horwath, L.L.P.
- GEICO
- GrayRobinson, P.A.
- J. H. Ham Engineering, Inc.
KAfE Sponsors
- The Glenn W. and Hazelle Paxson Morrison Foundation
- Target
- Dr. and Mrs. Corey Arredondo
- Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan B. Trohn
- James H. Ham III
- Drummond Company
- Valenti, Campbell, Trohn, Tamayo, and Aranda, Attorneys at Law
Playbill Advertisers
- The Ledger
- Terrace Hotel
- Ross Vecchio, Attorneys at Law
- Vine
- The Hudson Family Fund
- Crowe Horwath, L.L.P.
- Valenti, Campbell, Trohn, Tamayo & Aranda, Attorneys at Law
- All About Blinds
- Dreamward Travel
- Lakeland Commercial Realty/Joyce M. Tubb
- A Woman’s Choice
- Hauger Bunch Realtor
- Innovative Ink
- NuJak Construction
- Best Music Venues/Roi Cornish
- Micheline SalonSpa
- Family & Cosmetic Dentistry/Belkis Musalen-Jones D.M.D.
- Peterson & Myers, P.A.
- Broadway Real Estate Services
- Hilliard Orthodontics
- John Gerber, Videographer
- Harry E. Bopp, D.M.D. and Jordan Tarver, D.M.D.
- Central Florida’s Big 4 Radio
- Oakbridge