Events from the 2009-2010 Season
Leach Special Event
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Todd Oliver "Dogs Gone Wild" |
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Have you ever met a talking dog, a real talking dog? Relay for Life Fundraiser sponsored by PCRMC |
School Outreach Series
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Butterfly: The Story of A Life Cycle |
Back by popular demand! This production follows the transformation of a caterpillar, which hatches from its egg under the leaf of a milkweed plant, forms a chrysalis and emerges as a beautiful monarch butterfly. As winter approaches, this butterfly makes the long journey to Mexico to hibernate, wakes in the spring and lays her eggs to start the whole cycle over again. Larger than life puppets and fun danceable tunes make this show a delight for all. |
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Take a microscopic look at the insect world on the big stage! From her tiny egg we will follow the Monarch Butterfly as she grows through her caterpillar state and makes the amazing metamorphosis in the chrysalis and her incredible 1,500 mile journey to Mexico. With her insect companions she will learn about her symbiotic relationship with Milkweed. She depends on it for food, home, and her unique form of defense against predators. |
Family Film Series
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Tale of Despereaux Small Hero. Big Heart. |
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Campus Performing Arts Series
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Of Mice and Men Wednesday/ September 30, 2009/ 7:30 pm |
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America’s longest-running Equity theatre is proudly revitalizing its touring tradition beginning in the fall of 2009 with John Steinbeck’s masterpiece Of Mice and Men. A unique friendship... As all too often happens, Sponsored in part by: Additional funding provided by:
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October 2009
School Outreach and Family Series
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Jungle Jack Hanna School Outreach Friday/ October 9, 2009/ 9:30 am and 1:00 pm Family Series Friday/ October 9, 2009/ 7:00 pm |
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Zoologist Jack Hanna, a frequent guest on “The Late Show with David Letterman”, got his start in the zoo business in Florida, but made his name as director of Ohio’s Columbus Zoo. Today Hanna hosts his own syndicated television series “Jack Hanna’s Animal Adventures”. In his popular live presentations, Hanna shares globetrotting experiences and timeless tales. Hanna has a dynamic stage presence and shares his undeniable and infectious love of animals through video clips highlighting his many adventures, inspirational storytelling, and introducing animals to audience members. Tickets for this event will go on sale beginning at 9am September 8th. Please plan to call or visit the box office early to purchase tickets for this highly anticipated event. |
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Campus Performing Arts Series
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Cypress String Quartet Wednesday/ October 14, 2009/ 7:30 pm |
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They’ve captivated audiences around the world with their virtuoso performances. Now the critically acclaimed Cypress String Quartet fuses tradition with technology in Inspired by America , a spirited multimedia collaboration with best-selling author Jacob Needleman and Emmy Award winning film producer Michael Schwarz. Supported by funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, and combining live music, original film and spoken word, Inspired by America creates an evocative, thought provoking portrait of the American spirit. Sponsored by: Additional funding provided by: |
Family Film Series
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Pooh’s Heffalump Halloween Movie Your favorite friends from The Hundred Acre Wood are back in the all-new original feature, POOH'S HEFFALUMP HALLOWEEN MOVIE. It's a hilariously haunted Halloween in the Hundred Acre Wood, and Roo's best new pal, Lumpy, is excited to trick-or-treat for the first time. That is, until Tigger warns them about the dreaded Gobloon who'll turn you into a jaggedy lantern if he catches you. But if they catch the Gobloon before it catches them, they get to make a wish. When Pooh eats all the Halloween candy, Lumpy and Roo decide to be "brave together, brave forever” and catch the Gobloon. Celebrate the bumpity and spookable Halloween season with Pooh and his pals in their first Halloween-themed film in eight years. Plot synopsis courtesy of IMDb.com
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Campus Performing Arts Series
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I Love a Piano Friday/ October 30, 2009/ 7:30 pm |
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I Love a Piano is an enchanting musical journey spanning seven decades of American history as seen through the perceptive and hopeful eyes of Irving Berlin. Using 64 of Berlin’s enduring and popular favorites, I Love a Piano captures the spirit of America from the Ragtime rhythms of the early 20th century moving us through the swinging sophistication of the 1920’s and ’30s, into the sentimental songs that inspired a nation during two World Wars, and finally reaching the optimism of the 1950s. Timeless classics such as “White Christmas,” “God Bless America,” “Puttin’ on the Ritz” and “There’s No Business like Show Business” do more than define the music of a generation: they define the music of our country. "Irving Berlin has no place in American music. He is American Music!" —Jerome Kern Sponsored in part by: Additional funding provided by:
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November 2009
Campus Performing Arts Series
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Franc D'Ambrosio's Hollywood Sunday/ November 15, 2009/ 2:00 pm |
Franc D’Ambrosio grew up in the Bronx, New York, in a family of bakers. He is best known for his role in The Phantom of the Opera, for which he earned the title, “The World’s Longest Running Phantom”, after playing the role over 3000 times, including the national tour and the San Francisco run for over 5 years. For the past three years D'Ambrosio has been on the road with his one-man show, "Franc D'Ambrosio's Broadway" in which D'Ambrosio artfully wove together stories of his childhood in the Bronx with great songs from Broadway shows. Now, there's a new show -- "Franc D'Ambrosio's Hollywood" -- that will continue the story. "We're visiting the Bronx again," he says, but with great movie songs to add another dimension or two to the story of a guy who grew up over a bakery in a big Italian family.
This performance will also feature the winners of the "Call for Christine / Raoul" competition. The final round of the competition will be part of the Master Class that will be held at Castleman Hall November 14th 2009. For more information about preliminary auditions please keep watching this site!
Sponsored in part by: Additional funding provided by:
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Family Film Series
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Jungle Book The Jungle is Jumpin'
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December 2009
Campus Performing Arts Series
Leach Special Event
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Steve Lippia has become one of the most prominent, in-demand vocalists and has quickly established his place among the finest interpreters of “standards” and traditional pop music in the nation. Steve’s youthful, energetic talent and powerful show creates a perfect blend of “classic” with “today”. His show introduces a new generation to this timeless music, while appealing to long-time listeners. Additional Funding provided by:
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Monday/ December 7, 2009/ 7:30 pm  |
Family Film Series
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Mickey's Christmas Carol Saturday/ December 12, 2009/ 11:00 AM Following the film, Santa's Workshop and Pictures with Santa will be available in the lobby.
Plot Synopsis courtesy of IMDb.com |
January 2010
Leach Special Event
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Yesterday and Today |
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Rock to the music of the Beatles in an all new interactive concert experience where the audience creates the play list for the night, EVERY NIGHT! There’s no denying that everyone has a Beatles song attached to at least one event in his or her life. Through laughter, tears, and personal stories, Yesterday & Today will connect the audience and performers in a way that no other Beatles show can. Each performance becomes a unique and remarkable event. With dead on musical precision and stunning lighting and set designs, you instantly will be immersed in the sights, sounds and memories of the 1960’s. |
Family Film Series
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Bee Movie
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February 2010
Campus Performing Arts Series
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Jesus Christ Superstar |
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JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, the first masterpiece from the legendary writing team of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber, exploded onto the scene in 1971 changing the world of musical theatre forever. With a score of amazing songs - “I Don’t Know How to Love Him”, “Hosanna”, “Everything’s Alright”, “What’s the Buzz”, “Superstar”, and “Heaven on Their Mind”, this original groundbreaking production starring Ted Neeley in the title role, is as relevant and timeless as ever.
Sponsored in part by: Additional funding provided by:
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Family Film Series
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Thumbelina
Saturday/ February 13, 2010/ 11:00 AM Follow your heart and nothing is impossible. A girl no bigger than her mother's thumb feels all alone in the world knowing she is the only person her size. Her wish for a companion at last comes true when the prince of the faerys arrives at her window sill. However, the naive Thumbelina's life goes downward from there when a toad kidnaps her. While she tries to find a way home, she begins to grow up and learns about hope with the help of the friends she always wanted.
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Leach Theatre Special Event and School Outreach
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m-pact m-pact |
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Hailed "one of the best pop-jazz vocal groups in the world" by the San Francisco Chronicle, m-pact is respected worldwide as a cutting edge trailblazer in the realm of vocal music. Emerging from an age of auto-tune and overproduction, this Los Angeles-based sextet has cultivated a new generation of ears hungry for the fresh raw power of nature's "first instrument" - the human voice. |
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School Outreach Series
| Garry Krinsky's Toying with Science Wednesday/ February 24, 2010 9:30 am and 1:00 pm and Thursday/ February 25, 2010 9:30 am Grades 3-6 $3.50 |
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Garry and his audience investigate basic scientific information and delve into the imaginations of scientists who explore our world. During the program, Garry brings his science toys to life with motion, music, humor and insight. He turns audience members into stars as he playfully shares the stage, juggling, balancing and welcoming them into his colorful world. He performs original up-beat songs that explore fulcrums, levers and basic mechanics. He balances five ladders at one time on his chin as he demonstrates how to find the center of gravity! It is incredible how much action, fun and learning takes place in so little time!!
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Family Series
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The Aluminum Show is a new performance combining movement, dance and visual theater unique to the stage. Through the use of special effects, creative mechanisms and acrobatic dance, inanimate objects come to life with energy, emotion and even personality, as silver industrial materials create a luminous and reflective world. |
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March 2010
Campus Performing Arts Series
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St. Louis Sunday/ March 7, 2010/ 7:30 pm The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra will come to Rolla for one performance on Sunday, March 7th, 2010 at 7:30pm. David Robertson will be conducting and among the pieces that will be performed are Stravinsky's Danses Concertantes and Mozart's Symphony No. 36, "Linz". |
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Family Film Series
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The Rescuers
A bottle containing a plea for help arrives at the Rescue Aid Society, an organization of mice from all over the world whose mission is to help those in need. Bernard and Miss Bianca are chosen for the task and after gathering the needed clues and information, they fly on the back of albatross Orville to the gloomy and uncharted Devil's Beyou. There, together with Ellie Mae and other swamp folk, they must work together to save a little orphan girl from the evil Madame Medusa.
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Leach Theatre Special Event
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Rolla Natives to Perform for Leach Theatre Benefit Concert March 18th, 2010/ 8:00 pm Rolla natives, Rob Barefield, Baritone and Gail Andrews Hintz, Piano, will return to Rolla to perform a Leach Theatre Benefit Concert at 8:00PM on March 18, at Leach Theatre on the Missouri S&T campus. Graduates of Rolla High School, both Barefield and Andrews-Hintz are accomplished classical musicians who have built successful careers in their specialties. Baritone, Robert Barefield has performed as soloist with organizations throughout the United States and in Europe, including the New Orleans Opera, the Mississippi Symphony, the Arizona Opera, the Dorian Opera Theatre, the Central City Opera, the Ohio Light Opera and Operafestival di Roma in Italy. Operatic roles have included Don Giovanni, Danilo in The Merry Widow, Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Sid in Albert Herring, Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus, the title role in Gianni Schicchi and John Proctor in Robert Ward’s The Crucible. In 2008, Barefield was featured in the role of Bishop Zumarraga in premiere performances of James DeMar’s new opera, Guadalupe – Our Lady of the Roses. Barefield received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where he was a Corbett Opera Scholar. He is currently a member of the music faculty at Arizona State University, where he is Coordinator of the Voice Area. His current and former voice students are active as performers and educators throughout the country. |
Gail grew up in Rolla, where she studied piano for many years with Muriel Hatfield. In 1981, she earned a piano performance degree at Webster College as a student of Gail Delente, which was followed by a year of piano study in Paris at the Ecole Normale de Musique. She then earned her Master of Music degree in vocal accompanying and coaching with John Wustman at the University of Illinois in 1984, followed by several years spent as a free-lance accompanist in New York City, working in voice studios, music directing, and playing opera tours. In 1987 she co-founded an Equity small professional theatre in Rolla, the Ozark Actors Theatre and helped run the company for the first few years of its existence. In 1989, Gail moved from New York back to St. Louis, where she joined the accompanying staff of Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, the St. Louis Conservatory and School for the Arts, and later Washington University. Since 1997, she has served as rehearsal pianist for the Saint Louis Symphony Chorus at Powell Hall. Gail coordinates the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis Artists-in-Training program, which since 1990 has encouraged and trained talented high school singers in the St. Louis area. The reunion concert by these two outstanding musicians will benefit Leach Theatre and will help to subsidize the 2010-2011 season. A $5.00 minimum donation will be required. Tickets can be purchased at the Leach Theatre Box Office or by calling 573-341-4219. |
April 2010
Family Series
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The Wizard of Oz
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Dorothy and her dog Toto are caught in a tornado's path and somehow end up in the Land of Oz. Here she meets some memorable friends and foes in her journey to meet the Wizard of Oz who everyone says can help her return home and possibly grant her new friends their goals of a brain, heart and courage. American Family Theater’s production of Wizard of Oz is an original telling of the American classic. |
Family Series
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Beauty and the Beast
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Step into the enchanted world of Broadway's modern classic! Based on the Academy-Award winning animated feature, the stage version of Disney's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST includes all of the wonderful songs written by Alan Menken and the late Howard Ashman along with new songs by Mr. Menken and Tim Rice. You will be transported to the heart of provincial life in a lovely French town. When Maurice becomes lost in the woods on the way to the fair, he seeks shelter in an old castle, but the master of the castle is a horrible beast that takes him captive. Maurice’s daughter, Belle, must then give up her freedom to save his life. Brought to life by the Missouri S&T Miner League Players, this is truly family theatre at its best. |
June 2010
Leach Special Event
| Ronald Radford The Power of Ole!  June 4, 2010 / 7:30 pm Financial assistance for this project has been provided by the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency.
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Ronald Radford, one of the few American masters of the flamenco guitar, is a protégé of Carlos Montoya and the only person ever to be awarded a Fulbright scholarship in flamenco. The grant gave him an opportunity to study with the flamenco guitar masters of Spain, including Diego del Gastor and Paco de Lucia. Noted guitarist Oscar Ghiglia said, "It is rare, even for a Gypsy, to have the gift to lead one into the somber, unforgettable world of sounds of the real flamenco, and yet he--an Oklahoman--is among the few who have given me this artistic experience." This brilliant American Flamenco virtuoso has evoked standing ovations on four continents. He has been acclaimed in Mexico City for performances, “equal to those on any Flamenco stage in Madrid, Seville or Andalusia.” His Carnegie Recital Hall and Kennedy Center concerts were enthusiastically received, but perhaps the highest tribute comes from Madrid: “He has duende, the Spanish equivalent of soul!” Radford was born in California, grew up in Oklahoma and now lives in St. Louis, Missouri (USA) where he continues his career as one of the most successful ambassadors of Flamenco music in the world. He has lived and traveled in Spain where he immersed himself in the musical wisdom of the Gypsy Flamenco guitar masters, in addition to classical studies with Andres Segovia and Jose Thomas. His international tours have taken him to fifteen countries and he toured for the U.S. State Department as a musical ambassador in Mexico, Guatemala and other Latin American countries. He is currently on tour to colleges and concert series across the United States, and his exciting new CD, Viva Flamenco, is available world-wide. This gifted artist takes you far beyond the usual guitar concert. Radford complements his masterful technique with an illuminating narration which recreates the very essence of this ancient folklore, Flamenco - the heartbeat of Spain. |
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