May Events at the Kimmel

Lea Michele, best known for her performance as “Rachel Barry” on the critically acclaimed Golden Globe, Grammy and SAG award-winning Fox television series Glee, is kicking off a limited North American tour May 1 at the Merriam Theater in Philadelphia. She will reprise her successful Intimate Evening With series with music from her upcoming album, ‘Places’. Lea debuted her first album, ‘Louder’, in March of 2014; it was  no. 1 on itunes and in the top 5 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums. Tickets are on sale now at KimmelCenter.org, 215-893-1999 and at the Kimmel Center box office.  Every pair of tickets purchased online for Lea Michele’s tour includes a copy of her forthcoming album 'Places'. Visit www.leamichelemusic.com for all details. 

Jomama Jones will make her Kimmel Center debut in Black Light at the SEI Innovation Studio, Thursday May 4-6, 2017 at 8:00 p.m.  The show was developed as part of the Kimmel Center’s Theatre Residency program in partnership with Joe’s Pub at The Public. Portrayed by the versatile Daniel Alexander Jones,  Jomama will sing original songs from her album Flowering as well as brand new compositions. Accompanied by an exciting band, vocalists and some special guests, Jomama will explore those signs found in the darkest parts of the night. Daniel Alexander Jones is an accomplished actor, singer and creator of performance art.  His alter-ego Jomama Jones returned to the stage in 2010 following a 15 year hiatus. This is a designated BYOB performance, with a limit of one six-pack of beer and/or one 750 ml bottle of wine per two patrons.

Emmy and Tony Award®-winning actor Hal Holbrook brings his one-man play Mark Twain Tonight! to the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts' Merriam Theater for one night only on Thursday May 4, 2017 at 7:30 p.m. Now 92 years old, Holbrook has performed Mark Twain Tonight! more than 2,200 times over 62 years, adjusting the material to stay relevant and topical. Holbrook portrays Mark Twin by reciting excerpts from many works from his career, including favorites like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Hal Holbrook first received critical acclaim for Mark Twain Tonight! in 1954 after developing the show while in college. He won a Tony Award® for his portrayal of Twain in 1966. Mark Twain Tonight! was revived in 1977 and 2005 and continued to tour around the country with Holbrook reciting from his repertoire of over fifteen hours of memorized Twain material.

Following a sold-out show at Carnegie Hall as part of the New York Comedy Festival, his appearance on ‘Joe Swanberg’s acclaimed series Easy, and the announcement of his role on the forthcoming Netflix original GLOW, Marc Maron adds new dates to his current run of THE TOO REAL TOUR including a stop in Philadelphia at the Merriam Theater on Friday, May 12^th. Tickets are currently on sale at Kimmelcenter.org, AEGLive.com and the Kimmel Center box office. Maron is best known for his podcast WTF with Marc Maron which averages over 6.5 million downloads on itunes each month. Marc has interviewed such people as President Barack Obama, Julia Louise Dreyfus, Jeff Goldblum and Keith Richards. His new show will include meditations on his family, his cats, relationships, music, the media, grocery stores, fashion and our current political climate.

The staged production of Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story on Stage – will play the Kimmel Center’s Merriam Theater May 16-21 2017. The production is part of Broadway Philadelphia, presented collaboratively by the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts and the Shubert Organization. Christopher Tierney of Broadway’s Spiderman will star as Johnny Castle alongside Bronwyn Reed as Frances “Baby” Houseman. The 26 member company will be belting out 36 numbers of live music and performing sensational dancing accompanied by an eight piece live band on stage.

Philadelphia native and University of Arts alumnus Norman Mackenzie will return to the Kimmel Center for a solo performance on the Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ in Verizon Hall on Saturday, May 20, 2017 at 2:00 p.m. A music  collaborator, conductor and renowned concert organist, Mackenzie made his first appearance with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the age of 12 and then again as an organist at the age of 20. He has been Director of Chorus for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra since 2000.  During his tenure with them he has made numerous tours and received several Grammy Awards®, including Best Classical Album and Best Choral Performance.

 

International Irish superstar Daniel O’Donnell celebrates the release of his new CD/DVD Back Home Again at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts’ Academy of Music on Tuesday, May 23, 2017 at 7:30 p.m. O’Donnell has been featured in 12 PBS specials and has charted at least one new album every year since 1988, becoming the first artist in the history of the UK Artist Album Chart to do so. He has received various Lifetime Achievement and Entertainer of the Year Awards including an honorary MBE from Queen Elizabeth and is involved in philanthropic charitable causes.

Motown the Musical marked the best-selling two week engagement in Kimmel Center history during its 2015 run. Producers Kevin McCollum, Doug Morris, Motown Founder Berry Gordy and Broadway Philadelphia announce the return engagement of Motown the Musical for a two week engagement May 30 - June 11, 2017 at the Academy of Music, presented collaboratively by The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts and the Shubert Organization. Directed by Charles Randolph-Wright, Motown the Musical is the true American dream story of Motown founder Barry Gordy’s journey from featherweight boxer to heavyweight music mogul who launched the careers of Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson and Marvin Gaye among others.