2018-19
The McLennan Steinway Series presents
Gail Wade & Donald Balmos
Nov. 16 7:30 p.m.
Ball Performing Arts Center Join us for an evening of dueling Steinways with McLennan’s own piano duo, Gail Wade and Donnie Balmos. Balmos served MCC as Director of Visual & Performing Arts, Dean of Arts & Sciences, and Vice President of Instruction and is an Opening Notes lecturer and pianist for the Waco Symphony. Wade is Coordinator of Music at MCC in addition to teaching Music Theory courses and making frequent appearances as a pianist, both solo and collaborative. Balmos and Wade were one of the first performers in MCC’s Steinway Series. So this is sure to be an entertaining and educational evening as the duo returns with music of Mozart, Poulenc, and Brubeck. Presenting featuring
Beegie Adair
Roger Spencer
Jan. 24 7:30 p.m.
Ball Performing Arts Center Once in a while, a musician comes along with impeccable technique, a deep understanding of the jazz repertoire, an innate tendency to swing, and the rare ability to communicate the heart and soul of a tune to listeners. That musician is Steinway Artist Beegie Adair. Michael Feinstein calls her “a marvelously understated player whose interpretations of standards are just brilliant.” Christopher Louden of Jazz Times magazine says Adair is “an accomplished artist with a delicate touch.” The Los Angeles Times calls her music “Elegant.” Entertainment News writes, “Beegie Adair is one of the finest piano players in the world.” Adair’s solo concerts at Steinway & Sons galleries across the United States sell out within days and attract fans from all around the world. The Beegie Adair Trio’s sold-out Carnegie-Hall debut performance on Oct. 7, 2016, was the first appearance by a Nashville-based jazz trio in Carnegie’s history. Join us for an evening of music from the Steinway that is elegantly nonchalant and always swinging.
Feb. 28-March 2 7:30 p.m.
by Jessica Swale
by Gilbert & Sullivan Coproduced by
McLennan Opera & Theatre
Oct. 4-6 7:30 p.m.
Ball Performing Arts Center The year is 1896 at Girton College, Cambridge. Tess Moffat and her cohort are the first women admitted to collegiate study in Great Britain; however, embarking on this watershed moment is only the beginning of their story. Throughout their first year of study, these intrepid pioneers brave not only rigorous academics, but unbridled chauvinism, social class discrimination, and romantic dalliances – all while fighting for their right to receive qualified degrees. Playwright Jessica Swale’s premiere work masterfully weaves profoundly personal emotional drama within the broader landscape of a society resisting transformation. Join the “Girton Girls” as they trailblaze, in their blue stockings, a new age for women’s education and equality.
Special performance:
Thursday, Feb. 28
MCC Foundation Hearts in the Arts Theatre Gala Call 299-8604 for more information.
2018-19
www.mclennan.edu/theatre 254-299-8200
[email protected]
by William Shakespeare
Nov. 8-10
April 25-28
Music & Theatre Arts building Laughter and mayhem are on the menu in Bess Wohl’s darkly toasted satire. In a newly established sandwich shop, we find a surly millennial, a single mother, and a washed-up banker trying to make sense out of their unfulfilling lives and their unenviable paychecks. As they attempt to serve a bizarre cavalcade of customers, their manager abandons them without warning, and their supplies run out. Will our working-class heroes survive to fulfill their customers’ orders or be submarined by a corporation that has forgotten they even exist?
Music & Theatre Arts building “If music be the food of love, play on.” This immortal line begins one of William Shakespeare’s most beloved and intriguing comedies. Our journey finds Viola and Sebastian, twin siblings, shipwrecked, separated, and cast on the shores of the perilous isle of Illyria. Viola, fearing for her safety, disguises herself as Cesario, a young man, and joins the court of the melancholy Duke Orsino. Distraught over unrequited love, Orsino sends Viola to woo the withdrawn Countess Olivia in his place. With this madcap setup, Shakespeare launches his characters into a circuitous plot involving awkward love triangles, mistaken identities, malicious pranks, and fantastic duels.
7:30 p.m.
by Bess Wohl
Ball Performing Arts Center All hands on deck as McLennan Opera and Theatre combine forces in Gilbert & Sullivan’s witty, enduring, comedic masterpiece, The Pirates of Penzance. The operetta begins on the rocky shores of Cornwall where Frederic (a pirate-in-training) is celebrating his 21st birthday. Problems arise when Frederic, now of age, suddenly declares his disgust for piracy and, with his devoted nursemaid Ruth, leaves his scallywag companions to their nefarious affairs. Once on shore, Frederic encounters a group of young maidens, daughters of Major-General Stanley, and falls madly in love with all of them until he is thunderstruck by the arrival of the effervescent and adoring Mabel. However, unbeknownst to the lovebirds, Frederic’s shunned shipmates, led by the infamous Pirate King, lurk in the shadows, and when they leap into action, topsy-turvy hilarity sets sail!
7:30 p.m.
Photography by Doug Fitzjarrell
McLennan Box Office Ball Performing Arts Center 254-299-8200
[email protected] Theatre and Steinway concert tickets are $10-12. Senior, student, & alumni discounts available. For reservations, season tickets, & more information, please call the McLennan Box Office at 254-299-8200 and leave a message, or email
[email protected]. Your call or email will be returned by a Box Office representative.
1400 College Drive • Waco, Texas 76708
www.mclennan.edu/theatre
McLennan Community College is an equal opportunity provider and employer (Nondiscrimination Policy, E-XXXIV).