From Bill's Desk
Coming To A Theatre Near You:
One Fabulous February
(with something for everyone!)
If there ever was a single month in which McCarter could demonstrate its commitment to presenting the best in every genre of the performing arts for every audience, this February is it! Our calendar of presented events covers everything from music (classical, pop, and jazz), comedy, dance, spoken word, and even Broadway—not to mention our own mainstage production of The Niceties, which closes on February 10. Just take a look and be amazed!
February 1: The Midtown Men / Four stars from the original cast of The Jersey Boys celebrate their favorite 1960’s hits—and yours! Move over, Frankie Valli!
February 8: Andy Borowitz / The renowned humorist and commentator, in conversation with Princeton University professor and historian Sean Wilentz—but if you don’t already have tickets, sorry! It’s sold out.
February 9: Savoyards, rejoice! Gilbert & Sullivan returns to McCarter for the first time since 2011 with The Pirates of Penzance—with an orchestra and the very model of a modern Major-General!
February 10: The National Ballet Theater of Odessa, Ukraine is coming to McCarter with their production of Swan Lake.
February 13: Jazz vocalist Dianne Reeves invites you to be her Valentine—an invitation you can’t resist!
February 15-16-17: GATZ / For more reasons why this is one of the great theatrical events of the century, see here. Suffice it to say, it puts the tired “not to be missed” cliché to shame!
February 18: Pop on the Cutting Edge: I’m With Her introduces three singer-songwriter-instrumentalists (Sara Watkins, Sarah Jarosz, and Aoife O’Donovan) who constitute a band of extraordinary chemistry and musicianship. The result: the epitome of collaboration (with nothing to do with you-know-who).
February 22: A McCarter music debut: Jordi Savall, the master of the viola da gamba (no one who can touch him) and his Les Concert de Nations colleagues in a concert of Renaissance music from the 1992 French film Tous les matins du monde. You’ve forgotten the film, but you will remember the music.
February 23: The flamenco dance legend Farruquito joins us with a live flamenco band. Think Baryshnikov or Savion Glover, and you get the idea.
February 24: The operatic planets collide! Two mega-stars of today’s opera stages, bass-baritone Eric Owens and tenor Lawrence Brownlee, join forces in recital, the vocal equivalent of having Lang Lang and Yo-Yo Ma together in concert.
February 26: A fixture of any McCarter season is always the annual celebration of all things Irish with Paddy Moloney and The Chieftains. Get ready for an evening of step dancing, bagpipers, choirs, and more (if possible!).
I think this is probably enough, at least for one month. If you agree and we don’t have a blizzard, I hope to see you often.
W. W. Lockwood Jr.