Tickets for the performances—on stage September 2013 through April 2014 at Eisenhower and Schwab auditoriums and Pasquerilla Spiritual Center—will be available online at www.cpa.psu.edu; by phone at 814-863-0255 or 1-800-ARTS-TIX; and in person at Eisenhower (weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.), Penn State Downtown Theatre Center (weekdays 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturdays 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.), and the Bryce Jordan Center (weekdays 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.). Tickets also will be on sale for two Penn State School of Music featured concerts.
Three touring Broadway musicals make their Center for the Performing Arts premieres. Disney’s Beauty and Beast is on stage for two performances Feb. 25 and 26, the Tony Award-winning best musical "Memphis" arrives March 27 and "Bring it On: The Musical" comes April 17. A new adaptation of "West Side Story," based on the recent Tony-winning Broadway revival, launches the musical theater offerings Nov. 19, and "Rock of Ages" returns Jan. 22.
Foster makes her Penn State debut in a Feb. 15 concert with her trio. Foster, who won Tonys for outstanding actress in the musicals "Anything Goes" and "Thoroughly Modern Millie," has performed in 10 Broadway shows and starred in the ABC Family series "Bunheads."
Carpenter and Colvin’s acoustic concert, on stage Oct. 19, features the friends performing material spanning their vast catalogues as well as some of their favorite songs by others.
Cirkopolis, the newest creation from Montreal’s Cirque Éloize, dives into a vibrant imaginary world and pushes the boundaries of visual and audio innovation Sept. 27. Dance, circus, music and theater meet in this scenic universe co-commissioned by the Center for the Performing Arts.
Momix performs Botanica, a 90-minute dance-theater work that follows the cycle of seasons, Sept. 12. Compagnie Käfig makes its Penn State debut Feb. 4 performing two works, Correria and Agwa, which blend hip-hop and Brazilian influences. Moscow Festival Ballet performs Swan Lake March 20.
Trumpeter Doc Severinsen, leader of The Tonight Show Band for a quarter century, fronts his own orchestra Oct. 22. The Count Basie Orchestra, directed by Bill Hughes, returns April 3 in a concert featuring the Grammy Award-winning vocal group New York Voices.
The Classical Music Project, now in its third season, features seven concerts plus free related activities. From the final parts (St. Lawrence String Quartet Oct. 9 and Brentano String Quartet Feb. 21) of a three-season presentation of the complete Beethoven string quartets and a dramatic rendering of five of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos (Apollo’s Fire, The Cleveland Baroque Orchestra, Nov. 7) to the American debut tour of a heralded Austrian ensemble (Vienna Concert-Verein Orchestra with German pianist Sebastian Knauer Feb. 6) and the sublime singing of a male vocal ensemble (Cantus April 1), the project brings a diverse roster of artists to central Pennsylvania audiences. Learn more about the project at www.cmp.psu.edu.
Family entertainment is also on the menu. Yamato, a group of mixed-gender Japanese drummers, combine the energy of a rock ’n’ roll concert with samurai-serious percussion playing in a Nov. 12 concert. Dinosaur Train Live!, a stage production based on a Jim Henson Company-produced PBS Kids program, embraces the fascination preschoolers have with both trains and dinosaurs. ERTH’s Dinosaur Zoo™, a performance featuring a cast of large-scale dinosaur puppets brought to “life” by sophisticated design, electronics and theatrical presentation, revives prehistoric times April 6.