‘Chicago’ to be the ‘big one’ in arts alliance’s new season

Chuck Stinnett
·6 min read

HENDERSON, Ky. − From a classical orchestra featuring a famed mandolin player to one of the biggest musicals to ever appear on stage, the Henderson Area Arts Alliance’s newly announced 2023-24 season packs in its signature wide variety of entertainment for a variety of audiences.

“That’s been the goal for many years,” HAAA Executive Director Natalie Singer said in an interview. “We’ve been very intentional. We want something for everyone.

“This is very family friendly,” she said of the season. “I love to see the young people in here, dressed up.”

Season tickets went on sale July 17 while most single-show tickets go on sale July 31. Every show will begin at 7:30 p.m. at the Preston Arts Center on the Henderson Community College campus.

Season tickets remain $212 for main floor seats, $185 for balcony seats or $162 for students or groups of eight or more plus a $10 fee. Single-show tickets prices vary by show and carry a $5 fee each.

Here is the HAAA season lineup in chronological order:

Sept. 23: Louisville Orchestra with special guest Chris Thile

This 86-year-old orchestra returns to the Preston stage, this time accompanied by mandolin virtuoso Thile, who gained famed performing with progressive groups such as Nickel Creek and Punch Brothers.

The Louisville Orchestra was on tour earlier this month and performed pieces ranging from Leonard Bernstein and Bill Monroe to George Gershwin and Tchaikovsky, but the program for the September tour has yet to be announced.

The Louisville Orchestra and coductor Teddy Abrams performed at Louisville's 4th of July celebration on the Great Lawn on Tuesday, July 4, 2023.
The Louisville Orchestra and coductor Teddy Abrams performed at Louisville's 4th of July celebration on the Great Lawn on Tuesday, July 4, 2023.

“What they’re telling me is there will be really classical, really traditional pieces that you hear for orchestra, then they’ll go more contemporary,” Singer said. “Because of Chris Thile, they’ll probably go more Bluegrass.”

This a bonus show funded by a federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) grant that is sending the Louisville Orchestra to dozens of communities across Kentucky over two years as part of its “In Harmony” tour.

Tickets: Free.

Oct. 6: Morgan Evans

“He is an Australian country singer who has several hits,” Singer said.

Evans was named the Country Music Association’s Global Country Artist in 2014, and his 2017 U.S. debut single, “Kiss Somebody,” peaked at No. 3 on Billboard’s U.S. Country Airplay chart.

“Our goal this year was to find someone who was up and coming, so this is a good match,” Singer said.

“We were really lucky to get him on a Friday night,” she said. “It will be a country Friday night.”

Single tickets (available starting July 24): Main $35, balcony or students/group $30.

Nov. 11: Hiplet Ballerinas

This dance troupe (“Hiplet” is pronounced hip-LAY, as in hip-hop ballet) is the professional company of the Chicago Multi-Cultural Dance Center. It draws from hip-hop, jazz, Latin and African influences while dancing in classical ballet discipline.

Hiplet (pronounced "hip-lay") combines ballet and hiphop dance.
Hiplet (pronounced "hip-lay") combines ballet and hiphop dance.

Ballet historically is associated with classical music, so “their outreach is to match ballet with hip-hop, which makes it more accessible to a lot of people,” Singer said. “They’ve been on ‘America’s Got Talent.’”

Single tickets: Main $35, balcony $30 or students/group $25.

Dec. 7: Christmas in Killarney

This holiday show draws its name from a 1950 Irish-American Christmas song made popular by legendary crooner Bing Crosby.

This stage show features “super-traditional Christmas music,” Singer said. “It’s set in the 1920s” with an Irish family observing its holiday traditions.

“It’s traditional Christmas music and a lot of ‘River Dance’,” she said. “It’s a big show with a big cast. From what I’ve seen, it has every Christmas song you know from the 1920s back.”

“It’s one of those feel-good shows” that will feature both secular Christmas songs and hymns.

“We haven’t had a holiday show in a couple of years” — the 2020-21 season was cancelled because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the 2021-22 season lacked a Christmas-themed show when the planned Drumline Live! Holiday Spectacular planned for last December had to be rescheduled as a non-holiday show.

Single tickets: Main $45, balcony $40, students/group $30.

Feb. 18, 2024: Cirque Zuma Zuma

Like many cirque-style presentations, this show will feature acrobats, gymnasts, strongmen and contortionists doing the seemingly impossible, from building outrageous human pyramids to juggling with their feet, all to the beat of African rhythms.

“It’s an African-style cirque show,” Singer said. “I think they went to Africa to cast the show. They’ve toured Europe. They do a lot with their bodies … It’s very funny, very entertaining and impressive.”

Single tickets: Main $35, balcony $30, balcony or students/group $25.

March 2, 2024: Vienna Boys Choir

Nothing is more traditional than this choral group, which was founded pursuant to an Imperial decree of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I on July 7, 1498.

The all-boy choir has traveled to all six inhabited continents and toured the U.S. more than 50 times since 1932.

“They have a really unique sound,” Singer said. “They’ll perform a lot of classical pieces but there will also be a lot of contemporary. They probably won’t do holiday songs because the show is in the spring, but they might.”

While she’s well-familiar with their televised performances, “I’ve never heard them live. I’ll probably cry.”

Single tickets: Main $40, balcony $35, balcony or students/group $30.

April 30, 2024: Chicago the Musical

“We all know ‘Chicago,’ don’t we?” Singer said.

The current Broadway show, a revival based on a 1975 American musical, is the second-longest running show in Broadway history with more than 10,000 performances.

The character Velma Kelly (center) and company perform “All That Jazz,” the opening number in “Chicago the Musical,” which is coming to the Preston Arts Center on April 30, 2024.
The character Velma Kelly (center) and company perform “All That Jazz,” the opening number in “Chicago the Musical,” which is coming to the Preston Arts Center on April 30, 2024.

The story (co-written by the legendary Bob Fosse) is set in 1920s Chicago, where chorus girl Roxie Hart has murdered her lover when he tries to break off their affair and faces a trial that quickly turns into a media circus. It’s all murderesses, bathtub gin, prison cells, bribery, corruption, sass and trickery (and some adult themes not appropriate for kids) set to a collection of now-classic vaudeville-style song-and-dance numbers featuring dicey characters such as Roxie, Velma Kelly, Billy Flynn, matron Mama Morton, and, well, “All That Jazz.”

“There’s a lot of really big numbers,” Singer said, and it’s “definitely the biggest show in terms of cast and crew” that will require hiring 55 crew members to prepare the show.

“I think this will be a big one,” Singer said of season’s closer. “This one got the biggest audible gasps when we played the (preview) video at the (HAAA) fundraiser” in May.

Single tickets: Main $45, balcony or students/group $40.

Here are ways to purchase tickets

  • Online at haaa.org

  • In-person at HAAA’s box office at the lakeside entrance to the Preston Arts Center. It is open 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 9 a.m. to noon Fridays. (On show nights, the box office is located at the front entrance to the arts center.)

  • By phone at 270-826-5916

This article originally appeared on Henderson Gleaner: ‘Chicago’ to be the ‘big one’ in arts alliance’s new season