Edison Theatre at Washington University in St. Louis will celebrate its 33rd year of exuberant dance, rich musical traditions and classic and cutting-edge theatre with the 2005-06 OVATIONS! Series.
Founded in 1973, OVATIONS! serves both campus and St. Louis communities by presenting the highest caliber national and international artists performing works intended to challenge, educate and inspire. The series highlights the interdisciplinary, the multicultural and the experimental, through new works and innovative interpretations of classical material not otherwise seen in St. Louis.
The new season will open Oct. 21-22 with Slanguage, the latest boundary-smashing creation by Universes, a troupe of five brilliant wordsmiths from the South Bronx. Fusing poetry, jazz riffs, hip-hop, politics, down-home blues and Spanish boleros, Slanguage represents the evolution of poetic language from childhood rhymes to literary gospel, integrating theatre and street talk with humor and truth and turning the poem into a communal act.
The season continues Oct. 28-29 with Diavolo, the 10-member Los Angeles dance company whose multimedia spectacles combine dynamic movement with the adventurous, high-wire attitude of extreme sports.
Dance lovers also can look forward to three events co-sponsored by OVATIONS! and Dance St. Louis, beginning Nov. 18-20 with Noche Flamenca, one of Spain’s most successful Flamenco companies. Eight-time Bessie Award-winners Doug Varone & Dancers display their signature mix of wit, humanity and romanticism March 31-April 2, followed by LINES Ballet, the company of San Francisco choreographer Alonzo King, April 21-23.
New York’s acclaimed SITI Company returns to Edison Theatre Nov. 11-12 with an all-new production of the 15th-century German classic Death and the Ploughman. Theatre lovers also can look forward to Synapse Productions’ Animal Farm: The Puppet Musical, based on George Orwell’s classic political parable, March 10-11.
For music lovers, the classically trained, boundary-pushing Turtle Island String Quartet will join forces with the Ying Quartet, quartet-in-residence at the Eastman School of Music, for a special, one-night-only performance Jan. 20. South Africa’s renowned, 26-member Soweto Gospel Choir take the stage Feb. 11.
The OVATIONS! Season concludes April 28 when jazz vocalist René Marie joins the innovative African- and Latin-American ensemble Imani Winds for The Josephine Baker Project: Le Jazz Hot, celebrating the 100th birthday of the legendary St. Louis-born performer.
The 2005-06 the ovations! for young people series, which offers specially priced Saturday matinees for audiences of all ages, opens with Diavolo Oct. 29. On Jan. 21, the Turtle Island String Quartet will present The Art of the Groove, an exploration of rhythm stretching from Beethoven to Jimi Hendrix. On April 29, Imani Winds presents How Jeff Got His Groove Back, a musical adventure that follows Jeff, a young French horn player beset by a bassoon-riding witch.
Individual tickets are $28, $24 for seniors and Washington University faculty and staff; and $18 for students and children. Subscriptions are available at the basic level (three, four or five events at $24 per ticket) and at the premiere level (six or more events at $20 per ticket). Ovations! for young people events are $7 each or $15 for tickets to all three events.
For more information or to order, call the Edison Theatre Box Office at (314) 935-6543, or email Edison@wustl.edu.
OVATIONS! 2005-06 Season
Oct. 21-22
Universes
Slanguage
Oct. 28-29
Diavolo
Nov. 11-12
SITI Company
Death and the Ploughman
Nov. 18-20
Noche Flamenca
Jan. 20
Turtle Island String Quartet & Ying Quartet
Feb. 11
Soweto Gospel Choir
March 10-11
Synapse Productions
Animal Farm: The Puppet Musical
March 31-April 2
Doug Varone & Dancers
April 21-23
Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet
April 28
Imani Winds featuring René Marie
The Josephine Baker Project: Le Jazz Hot
ovations! for young people
Oct. 29
Diavolo
Jan. 21
Turtle Island String Quartet
The Art of the Groove
April 29
Imani Winds
How Jeff Got His Groove Back