December Events at the Kimmel

The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, in association with Live Nation, welcomes John Mulaney to the Academy of Music on Friday, December 1, 2017 and Saturday December 2, 2017. Best-known for his work on Saturday Night Live, Mulaney’s much anticipated new tour Kid Gorgeous reached capacity, causing a second and third performance to be added. Mulaney recently starred in the Broadway hit, Oh Hello  and released his third stand-up special, a Netflix original entitled The Comeback Kid.

The Jazz Orchestra of Philadelphia returns to the Perelman Theater on the Cultural Kimmel Center Campus Saturday, December 2, at 8:00 p.m. The Jazz Orchestra of Philadelphia led by Terell Stafford and joined by special guest pianist Orrin Evans and Eric Reed will celebrate the music of renowned jazz pianist and composer Thelonious Monk in Monk’s Dream. Stafford is also the Director of Jazz Studies and Chair of Instrumental Studies at the Boyer College of Music at Temple University. The Jazz Orchestra of Philadelphia is a non-profit organization dedicated to presenting the highest quality of jazz to the greatest number of people.

The National will be appearing in Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center on December 4^th. Their appearance will be part of a world tour in support of their 7^th studio album, Sleep Well Beast. The album was recorded in Hudson Valley, New York; Berlin; Paris and Los Angeles. They are debuting their track “The System Only dreams in Total Darkness,” which was released in a Cases Reas-directed video.

American Gospel Singer Lady Tremaine Hawkins will be honored at the Philadelphia holiday tradition, A Soulful Christmas, in Verizon Hall on Tuesday, December 12, 2017 at 7:30 p.m. This event returns for its fifth year with a communal gathering of regional singers performing holiday spiritual, gospel and classic favorites. This year’s performance will also feature special guest Marvin Mills on the Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ. Lady Tremaine Hawkins was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1999. Audiences will be invited to sing along with some of the songs during the concert. There will also be performances from the Philadelphia Heritage Chorale Youth Choir, Philadelphia A.M.E Mass Choir, Citywide Praise Dance Collaborative and several others.

The North American Tour of the Tony Award-winning revival of The Color Purple returns to Philadelphia December 12-17, 2017 as part of Broadway Philadelphia, presented collaboratively by the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts and the Shubert Organization. The Color Purple is the tale of 40 years in the life of a family in rural Georgia. It celebrates the healing power of love and the importance of a zest for life. Cast members from the 2016 Broadway revival lead the touring company. The Color Purple won two 2016 Tony Awards and the 2017 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album

Kimmel Center’s resident dance company PHILADANCO will perform its fall program at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts’ Perelman Theater December 15-17, 2017. H_I_S_T_O_R_Y will feature Walking with Pearl about historic choreographer and dancer Pearl Primus; the world premiere of Pieces of My Heart, choreographed by Sonia Hawkins and a piece performed by special guest artist and Kennedy Center Honors Award winner, Carmen de Lavallade. The Philadelphia Dance Company presents the highest quality of professional dance  performance and improves the skills of emerging and professional dancers and choreographers. PHILADANCO is celebrated across the nation and around the world for its innovation, creativity and preservation of predominately African-American traditions in dance

Brian Reed, co-creator and host of ground-breaking podcast S-Town, will appear at the Merriam Theater on Sunday, December 17 at 7:00 p.m. In An Evening with Brian Reed:Creating S-Town: A New Way to Tell a Story,  Reed will give fans an opportunity to hear how this podcast was created.  He will let his audience know how this innovative podcast was created and how he and his collaborators developed an entirely innovative type of storytelling. S-Town recently reached a new industry high with downloads of 16 million within the first week. Reed spent more than three years collating content for S-Town which has won critical acclaim for elevating audio storytelling into the realm of great literary works.

STOMP, the international percussion sensation, will be returning to the Merriam Theater from Tuesday, December 26 through Sunday, December 31, 2017. STOMP, which started as a group of street performers 25 years ago in the UK, has performed in more than 50 countries and has received numerous prestigious awards worldwide. Playing to enthusiastic audiences and rave reviews, Stomp creates rhythmic sounds from everyday household and industrial objects including brooms, hubcaps, radiators and shopping carts as they dance their way across the stage. Eight zippo lighters create a mesmerizing light and sound show. STOMP creates an exciting journey through sound.