McCallum Theatre Announces Exciting 2021-2022 Season
CONTACT:
Jeffrey Norman (760) 776-6192 / jnorman@mccallum-theatre.org
David Perry (415) 676-7007 / news@davidperry.com
Note: Photos available at https://mccallumtheatre.com/index.php/media
INTERMISSION IS ALMOST OVER!
McCALLUM THEATRE ANNOUNCES EXCITING 2021-2022 SEASON
Tickets are available by phone and online at www.mccallumtheatre.com beginning
Thursday, May 13 at 6pm
McCALLUM TO WELCOME AUDIENCES BACK IN DECEMBER WITH A SEASON FULL OF FAVORITES!
BEST OF BROADWAY BRINGS BACK-BY-POPULAR-DEMAND ENGAGEMENTS OF HAIRSPRAY, JERSEY BOYS, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF AND BEAUTIFUL: THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC LIVE RETURNS WITH A SERIES FOCUSED ON BEARS, VIEWS FROM THE SPACE STATION, THE REBIRTH OF A LOST EDEN AND THE BOLDEST SKI RUN OF ALL TIME
MULTI-PERFORMANCE RUNS FROM MCCALLUM FAVORITES THE TEN TENORS AND PINK MARTINI, FEATURING SINGERS CHINA FORBES AND STORM LARGE
SUPERSTAR PERFORMANCES BY LEANN RIMES, THE LETTERMEN, PATTI LUPONE, VANESSA WILLIAMS, JACKIE EVANCHO, JUDY COLLINS, KRISTIN CHENOWETH, LINDA EDER, THE MANHATTAN TRANSFER CELEBRATING THEIR 50TH ANNIVERSARY, AND MARILYN MCCOO & BILLY DAVIS, JR.
LONG-AWAITED SPECIAL TRIBUTE TO CHERISHED McCALLUM FRIENDS STEVE LAWRENCE AND EYDIE GORMÉ BY THEIR SON DAVID LAWRENCE AND BROADWAY STAR DEBBIE GRAVITTE
MICHAEL FEINSTEIN CELEBRATES THE JUDY GARLAND CENTENNIAL
16-TIME GRAMMY AWARD-WINNER DAVID FOSTER RETURNS TO THE DESERT FOR THREE PERFORMANCES
RETURN OF FULL OPERA TO THE VALLEY WITH TEATRO LIRICO D’EUROPA’S THE BARBER OF SEVILLE
ADDITIONAL EXCITING TRIBUTES TO RAY CHARLES, THE HIGHWAYMEN AND QUEEN
RETURN OF JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER ORCHESTRA WITH WYNTON MARSALIS, ALONG WITH PERFORMANCES BY McCALLUM JAZZ FAVORITES STEVE TYRELL AND CHRIS BOTTI
McCALLUM DEBUT OF CELEBRATED SINGER-SONGWRITER ROSANNE CASH WITH COLLABORATOR JOHN LEVENTHAL
VALLEY FAVORITE HERSHEY FELDER BRINGS AN ILLUMINATING TRIBUTE TO CHOPIN TO THE McCALLUM
JEFFREY SIEGEL’S 19TH SEASON AT THE McCALLUM CELEBRATES BEETHOVEN AND CHOPIN
FUNNY BONE TICKLERS JEANNE ROBERTSON, JAY LENO AND STEVE SOLOMON’S MY MOTHER’S ITALIAN, MY FATHER’S JEWISH AND I’M STILL IN THERAPY!
POPULAR PRODUCER NEIL BERG RETURNS WITH TWO MUSICAL CAVALCADES:
102 YEARS OF BROADWAY AND 50 YEARS OF ROCK-N-ROLL, PART 2
GREAT INTERNATIONAL PERFORMANCES BY LES BALLETS TROCKADERO DE MONTE CARLO AND MEOW MEOW
PLUS, STORM LARGE WITH LE BONHEUR, A CAPPELLA SENSATIONS VOCTAVE AND STRAIGHT NO CHASER, NEW EDITIONS OF IT’S MAGIC AND PALM SPRINGS LEGENDS AND THE UKULELE ORCHESTRA OF GREAT BRITAIN
9 May 2021 – PALM DESERT, CA: The McCallum Theatre announced today its new lineup for the 2021-2022 season, which will bring audiences and artists back together to the Palm Desert venue beginning on December 3, 2021: six hundred and thirty-two days after its last pre-COVID-19 performance.
The new season includes an assortment of McCallum “greatest hits,” including iconic superstars, long-awaited return visits from show business royalty, plus a robust music and variety lineup and an impressive array of Broadway’s most cherished, long-running shows.
Tickets are available by phone or online at www.McCallumTheatre.combeginning on Thursday, May 13 at 6pm. There are no walk-up orders. The Box Office located at the McCallum Theatre is open solely for ticket information and order support. The only way to purchase tickets is through the Theatre’s official website.
“It’s virtually impossible to think about the Theatre being empty for over a year, and closer to two years by the time the curtain rises again,” said McCallum Theatre President & CEO Jamie Grant. “We have lived through the most challenging period in most of our lifetimes, but through the generosity of so many people who genuinely care about the Theatre, the McCallum will emerge from this horrific pandemic stronger than ever. We have been working hard to put together a season that is all at once exciting, familiar, and celebratory. We believe we are finally at a place where we can imagine the safe return to live performance in a full audience chamber. We are thrilled to share our new season (a little bit later than normal) with our Coachella Valley neighbors who are eager to return to the Theatre. We can’t wait to do what we do again.”
“We want to express our heartfelt gratitude to our Board of Trustees, Founders, Annual Fund donors, members of our Legacy, President’s and Friends Circles, The Muses & Patroness Circle of McCallum Theatre, along with our staff, volunteers and ticket buyers for supporting the McCallum Theatre continually and generously,” said Grant. “We are so heartened by the outpouring of good wishes, philanthropy and general concern for the future of the Theatre. As a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, we are deeply grateful to everyone who continues to make the McCallum an important part of their social and charitable lives. It is more important now than ever before.”
“It is also important for the community to know that the McCallum leadership team has spent months and months working closely with public health officials, as well as our friends at Eisenhower Health to ensure that not only will you be safe when you return to the McCallum, but you will feel safe,” Grant continued. “Safety of audiences, artists, staff and volunteers is our top priority. All appropriate safety protocols will be well in place (and adjusted as necessary) by the time audiences return including new air filtration systems, touchless technology throughout the facility and state-of-the-art cleaning and protection procedures.”
“Additionally, ticket-buyers need not be concerned about receiving a refund should performances get canceled,” said Grant. “The McCallum was one of few theaters in the nation to refund every penny for all of the canceled shows in the 2020-21 season, and we are committed to continuing that policy should events preclude a show to be presented.”
“We know that when life returns to normal, The McCallum Theatre will be here doing what we have done for over 30 years – providing the best in world-class performances to our community and life-changing arts education for our children throughout Riverside County,” added Grant. “As the new guy in town, I can’t wait to meet our audiences and welcome them back personally to their McCallum Theatre.”
The official start of the 2021-2022 McCallum Theatre season will be from December 3-5 when the hit musical, Hairspray comes to town with the joyous story of 16-year-old Tracy Turnblad’s goal to dance her way onto TV in the 1960s. The new touring production reunites the original creative team of Director Jack O’Brien and Choreographer Jerry Mitchell to prove to a new generation that “You Can’t Stop the Beat.” A special returning December highlight will be Barry Manilow’s A Gift of Love V, the hottest holiday show in the Valley, with all proceeds going to support 25 local charities. Tickets for Mr. Manilow’s performances are not available through the McCallum Theatre website. They must be purchased online only at www.AGOL5.com.
The 2021-2022 McCallum Theatre Broadway season continues with one of the most beloved shows in musical theater history, Fiddler on the Roof (January 28-30, 2022 for five performances). This masterpiece which beautifully depicts the story of fathers and daughters, husbands and wives, and lives threatened by unthinkable turmoil features an unforgettable score by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick. To life! From February 25-27, 2022, for five performances, the most successful musical theater show in McCallum history returns as Jersey Boys retells the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons and their successes and struggles onstage and off as they attained international stardom. Finally, desert audiences will have another chance to enjoy the sellout sensation, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, when this exuberant tribute to the soundtrack of a generation returns to the McCallum for five performances from April 1-3, 2022.
An additional theater event is the zaniness of longtime McCallum friend Steve Solomon who returns to the desert with an all-new version of his show, My Mother’s Italian, My Father’s Jewish & I’m Still in Therapy for three performances, January 25 and 26, 2022. And two of the most delicious divas of the Great White Way will delight McCallum audiences when Patti LuPone (Don’t Monkey with Broadway) and Kristin Chenoweth (For the Girls) take to the McCallum stage on January 18, 2022 and February 18 & 19, respectively. For good measure, add in two other leading ladies who have won legions of fans from their appearances on Broadway and television: Vanessa Williams (January 22, 2022) and Linda Eder (March 18, 2022).
The glory of the female voice is celebrated several more times this season with an extraordinary lineup of some of the most talented ladies of song including LeAnn Rimes (January 8, 2022); the McCallum debut of Rosanne Cash, along with her husband John Leventhal (February 17, 2022); the deliciously playful Storm Large, with her band Le Bonheur (February 21, 2022); Jackie Evancho (March 4, 2022); andthe luminous and legendary Judy Collins (March 11, 2022).
The new McCallum season is a big year for major tribute shows including two first timers at the Theatre and two blockbuster favorites. Presented through the generosity of the City of Rancho Mirage, Ray on My Mind is a concert/theater piece that brings the story of the great Ray Charles to vivid life. With an eleven-piece orchestra and three sultry singers (a la The Raylettes), the show depicts Ray’s struggles and successes through interweaving his memorable songs with monologues (January 20, 2022). McCallum royalty are honored in A Tribute to Steve Lawrence & Eydie Gormé, a loving look at two legends who considered the McCallum their home away from home. The show is created by and stars their son, composer David Lawrence and Tony Award-winner Debbie Gravitte, along with a 32-piece orchestra, original orchestrations and classic, exclusive video (January 21, 2022). The greatest supergroup in country music history is saluted with The Highwaymen LIVE, a musical tribute to Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings on February 2, 2022. And One Night of Queen brings back Gary Mullen & The Works (March 1, 2022) in a spectacular live concert recreating the look, sound, pomp and showmanship of arguably the greatest rock band of all time.
Coming out of a pandemic, one of our most basic collective needs will be pure, unadulterated laughter. Two of the finest and funniest practitioners of the comic arts return to the McCallum to help us get our silly on this season. The fun gets underway on January 7, 2022 with the six-foot-two charmer and humorist, Jeanne Robertson, a YouTube sensation whose videos include “Don’t Bungee Jump Naked” and “Don’t Send a Man to the Grocery Store.” Former “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno, who gave a shout out to the McCallum in its free Ghostlight virtual series earlier this year, brings his unique charm, comedy and charisma back to the McCallum for two shows on February 20, 2022.
The enormously successful National Geographic LIVE series returns for another season in 2021-2022 with a fourth program added to the roster. This engaging series brings to the McCallum thought-provoking presentations by today’s leading explorers, scientists and photographers. The new season includes: Secret Lives of Bears, featuring Carnivore Ecologist Rae Wynn-Grant who works in the expansive American Prairie Reserve to protect and restore iconic wildlife populations (January 24, 2022); A View from Above, with former International Space Station Commander Terry Virts, who took hours of video and hundreds of thousands of still images from the station’s 360-degree viewing module (February 28, 2022); Nature Roars Back, with wildlife filmmaker Bob Poole, who documents the rebirth of a lost Eden: Mozambique’s Gorongosa National Park, a jewel of Africa’s parks system until civil war almost destroyed it (March 14, 2022); and Skiing the Dream Line, with mountaineer Hilaree Nelson, National Geographic’s 2018 Adventurer of the Year, one of the first people to complete the epic descent of the “Dream Line,” considered to be one of the boldest ski runs of all time (April 4, 2022).
Now in his 19th McCallum season, Jeffrey Siegel’s Keyboard Conversations® continues to delight audiences with its insider look at classical composers and compositions and their intriguing history. For 2021-2022, Siegel is back with two programs including: Celebrating Beethoven (February 7, 2022) and The Glorious Music of Chopin (March 7, 2022). Additionally, McCallum favorite Hershey Felder will bring his one-man show, Monsieur Chopin to the McCallum for two performances on February 15 and 16, 2022. The San Diego Tribune praised the “delicate beauty and dynamic range” of his performance in this show, adding that Felder plays with “supreme confidence and brio.”
In celebrating our collective return to live performance after the long, mandated hiatus, things will be gloriously back to normal on the McCallum stage as the world’s finest and most popular artists come back to the Valley. A number of the artists in the 2021-2022 season appeared in the McCallum’s free virtual Ghostlight Series during the pandemic, each sharing a personal message to McCallum audiences expressing their delight to return to a place where they feel so warmly welcomed by ticket buyers and the McCallum staff. The new season’s roster represents the best of the best and includes performers that span the spectrum of the performing arts from country to jazz to R&B to Broadway/cabaret with a little “Pandemonium” thrown in for good measure.
The New Year brings An Intimate Evening with David Foster HITMAN TOUR back to the McCallum for three performances. On his last visit to the Theatre, the 16-time Grammy Award winner sold out very quickly and he is expected to do the same this season as he is joined by special guest artists singing songs from his unparalleled catalogue of popular hits (January 14 & 15, 2022). For pure, joyful nostalgia, nothing beats The Lettermen whose harmonies have garnered 18 Gold albums worldwide and a popularity that has endured generations. Their performance on January 16, 2022 is made possible through the generosity of The City of Rancho Mirage.
For the first time since 2013, the world-renowned Jazz at Lincoln Center with Wynton Marsalis returns to the McCallum on January 23, 2022. Comprised of fifteen of the finest jazz soloists and ensemble players today, this remarkably versatile orchestra performs a vast repertoire ranging from original compositions to commissioned works to masterworks. Keeping in the jazz realm, McCallum perennials Steve Tyrell and Chris Botti will return on February 24 and April 9, respectively. The latest edition of Palm Springs Legends (January 27, 2022) will feature some of the best tribute artists honoring the Desert’s most famous stars including Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Keely Smith, Jack Benny, Elvis Presley, and more. Closing out January is the long-awaited return of Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo (January 31, 2022). Audiences across the globe have been entranced by the troupe’s technical mastery, impeccable comic approach, and the astounding fact that men can, indeed, dance en pointe without falling flat on their faces.
In February, McCallum audiences can look forward to their favorite Aussies when The TEN Tenors come “home” to Palm Desert just in time for Valentine’s Day with a show featuring their greatest hits from the past 25 years, from “Waltzing Matilda” to “Nessun Dorma and much, much more.” (Seven performances beginning from February 9-14, 2022). With one less singer, but no less talent, the amazing a cappella group, Straight No Chaser visits the McCallum on February 23, 2022. The group has a massive international fanbase, numerous national TV appearances and proven success with CD releases. Straight No Chaser is the real deal, the captivating sound of nine unadulterated human voices coming together to make extraordinary music. One other a cappella phenom hits the McCallum stage on March 10, 2022 when Voctave, an eleven-member group hailing from Central Florida, brings their extraordinary harmonies to the desert. The group has over 150 million views on YouTube and has toured with some of the top stars in the business.
Early March also brings the return of opera to the McCallum Theatre as Teatro Lirico d’ Europa brings its celebrated production of The Barber of Seville to the desert. Gioachino Rossini’s comic masterpiece will fill the stage (and the orchestra pit) with beautiful sets, costumes and superb internationally-acclaimed voices (March 3, 2022). The legendary Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis, Jr. bring their Up, Up & Away show to the McCallum on March 5, 2022. The undisputed “First Couple of Pop and Soul” will sing all of the songs they made popular with The Fifth Dimension in the 1960s and 1970s including “Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine In,” “One Less Bell to Answer,” “Sweet Blindness,” and “Stone Soul Picnic,” along with their own top selling hit, “You Don’t Have to be a Star (to be in my Show).” They will be followed by another McCallum superstar paying tribute to one of the most iconic performers in history when Get Happy: Michael Feinstein Celebrates the Judy Garland Centennial comes to town in a memorable pairing of one exceptional artist sharing the legacy of another (March 12, 2022).
Variety is definitely the buzzword for the remaining performances in March which include: the smoldering international dance sensation, Luis Bravo’s Forever Tango (March 13, 2022); one of the most innovative vocal groups of all time, The Manhattan Transfer, celebrating their 50th anniversary (March 19, 2022); the 64th edition of It’s Magic!, presented through the generosity of the City of Rancho Mirage (March 20, 2022); and a McCallum sellout in 2019, Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain returns with an eclectic virtuosic repertoire that ranges from Lady Gaga to “The Ride of Valkyries” (March 21, 2022).
Producer Neil Berg has entertained McCallum audiences over the years with his fast-paced, entertaining salutes to both Broadway and rock-n-roll. In the 2021-2022 season, he’ll offer tributes to both with Neil Berg’s 102 Years of Broadway (March 22 and 23, 2022) and Neil Berg’s 50 Years of Rock-N-Roll, Part 2 (March 23 and 24, 2022). Both shows have been hailed as “hypnotic and historical.”
Finally, McCallum audiences can look forward to return visits by favorites Pink Martini with singers China Forbes and Storm Large (five performances from March 25-28, 2022). As bandleader/pianist Thomas Lauderdale likes to say, “If the United Nations had a house band in 1962, Pink Martini would be that band.” And McCallum audiences absolutely adore them. And the indescribably, irresistibly, incandescent Meow Meow makes her triumphant diva return to the McCallum on April 5, 2022 with her show, Pandemonium, an evening of pure chaos, with crowd surfing, gloriously subversive and exquisite music, and much mayhem, as seen on the stages of Lincoln Center, London’s West End, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the Sydney Opera House.
Performances are subject to change. Once again, tickets are available by phone or online at www.McCallumTheatre.com. There are no walk-up orders. The Box Office located at the McCallum Theatre is closed. The only way to purchase tickets is through the McCallum Theatre official website, which is the ONLY safe and secure place to purchase tickets for all performances.
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May 9, 2021