Prepare to be Inspired by the 2013-14 Season

Earlier this week, the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center

in Appleton, Wisconsin announced its 2013-14 Season!

KIMBERLY-CLARK BROADWAY ACROSS AMERICA - FOX CITIES SERIES AND

BOLDT ARTS ALIVE! SERIES 

SEASON TICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW!

Getting to Know The Addams Family

The Addams Family is moving in February 26 - March 3 at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center, but before you put your house up for sale, let's say hello and get to know the man who created them, Charles Addams. 

The Broadway musical was inspired by the creations of the legendary American cartoonist Charles Addams, who lived from 1912 until 1988. In 1933, when he was just 21, his work was published in The New Yorker, and over the course of nearly six decades, he became one of the magazine’s most cherished contributors.

Bizarre, macabre and weird are all words that have been used to describe Charles Addams’ cartoons. Yet adjectives such as charming, enchanting and tender can just as accurately be employed to depict the same body of work, as well as the man himself.

His unique style and wonderfully crafted cartoons enabled his work to transcend such dichotomies for his millions of fans worldwide.

Charles Addams is most widely known for his characters that came to be called The Addams Family, a group that evolved into multiple television shows, motion pictures and now this Broadway musical. Gomez, Morticia, Uncle Fester, Wednesday, Pugsley, Grandma and Lurch existed in various forms and aspects of Addams’ cartoons dating back to the 1930’s but were not actually named by him until the early 1960’s, then the television series was created. 

Surprisingly, The Addams Family characters appear in only a small number of the artist’s several thousand works. The majority of his cartoons are occupied by hundreds of other characters, but there is little doubt that those that come to life on this stage are his most beloved creations.   

Over 15 books of his drawings have been published around the world, including the new collection, "The Addams Family: An Evilution," the first complete history of The Addams Family, including more than 200 cartoons, many never previously published. The collection also includes Addams’ own incisive character descriptions (originally penned for the benefit of the television show producers) that remind us where these oddly lovable characters came from and, in doing so, offer a lasting tribute to one of America’s greatest humorists.

Tickets for The Addams Family start at $54 and are on sale now!

No One Spells Romance Like Jane Austen

This Thursday, Jane Austen has a date at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center.  

Celebrating with a classic romantic comedy on Valentine's Day, L.A. Theatre Works' radio theater style performance of Pride and Prejudice promises to be as entertaining as the author intended 200 years ago.

The British novel is in good hands with this renowned company. Under the leadership of Producing Director, Susan Albert Loewenberg, L.A. Theatre Works (LATW) has been the foremost radio theater company in the United States for more than two decades. 

L.A. Theatre Works is broadcast weekly in America on public radio stations, daily in China on the Radio Beijing Network, streamed online at latw.org and programs are aired internationally on the BBC, CBC, and many other English language networks. LATW has single handedly brought the finest recorded dramatic literature into the homes of millions. 

The company records the majority of its productions annually in Los Angeles before an enthusiastic and loyal audience of season subscribers. Works by Arthur Miller, Tom Stoppard, Lillian Hellman, Athol Fugard, Joyce Carol Oates, Wendy Wasserstein, Neil Simon, David Mamet, Lynn Nottage and others have been performed and recorded by LATW with casts of the most critically acclaimed film and stage actors. 

On the road, LATW has delighted audiences with its unique live radio theater style performances in over 300 small towns and major cities, including New York, Boston, San Francisco, Washington and Chicago, Beijing and Shanghai. An L.A. Theatre Works performance is immediate, spontaneous, and features a first-rate cast, live sound effects, and a connection to the audience rarely felt in a traditional theater setting. This theater is an event.

Today, LATW’s Audio Theatre Collection includes more than 500 classic and contemporary titles – the largest library of its kind in the world. Much lauded, the L.A. Theatre Works Audio Theatre Collection is available in over 9,000 libraries and has received awards from the Audio Publishers Association, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Publisher’s Weekly, Writer’s Guild of America, American Library Association, GRAMMY® Awards and many others. 

Additionally, over 3,000 high schools nationwide use the recordings and accompanying study guides to teach language arts, literature, history and civics through LATW’s Alive & Aloud educational outreach program. LATW’s newest initiative, The Play’s the Thing for Higher Education, makes over 300 digitized works from their collection available to universities and colleges across the country for use in a variety of disciplines. 

For more information on these programs, LATW’s Audio Theatre Collection, national radio broadcast information and other exciting projects, visit latw.org.

Tickets are still available for L.A. Theatre Works' Pride and Prejudice 

Thursday, February 14!

 Biography provided by Baylin Artist Management

Show & Tell Review: The Flying Karamazov Brothers

The Flying Karamazov Brothers have been around for over 30 years, and yet I have never seen them perform. It’s not to say I haven’t wanted to see them; it just never worked out. I’m positively fascinated by juggling because it’s one of those things I have always wanted to be able to do, but never have been able to master. I am intrigued by one’s ability to not only juggle, but moreover, to master the art of juggling unlike objects.

It was with this hope, of gaining insight as to how to learn to juggle, that Max, my 14-year-old son, his two friends, Paige and George, and I attended the preshow event in the Kimberly Clark Theater. Too timid to try with the juggling balls they had set to the side for practice, two talented local jugglers shared onstage their tips for learning how to juggle with the packed-in crowd whom I’m sure, like us, were hoping to find a little latent talent hidden inside ourselves. Tucking away the information for future reference should we need it, we moved on to the Thrivent Hall to watch The Flying Karamazov Brothers perform their magic.

The Flying Karamazov Brothers derive their name from the famous Dostoevsky novel, but are not Russian, are brothers only in name, and they do not fly. They are, however, an amazingly talented troupe of comedic jugglers who, with their decidedly un-glitzy stage set of packing boxes, allowed the four of us and the crowd to be positively mesmerized as they juggled practically anything and everything. From an assembled pile of possibilities donated by the audience, they juggled butter, a violin, and a bar of slippery wet soap. If we thought that was impressive, the final act of juggling the nine objects of “Terror” assembled throughout their show made us realize that their talent is in a league of its own.

Intermixed with their juggling feats they also sang, danced (ballet in tutus, nonetheless), performed taiko-like drumming on cardboard boxes, “drummed” with a juggling pin while it was in motion, and, while standing in a line, blew into their musical instrument of choice with the one next to them doing the fingering as the two end members juggled between themselves. Clearly, their talent extends well beyond just juggling.

What I love most about The Flying Karamazov Brothers is not only the humor and intense talent they possess, but the larger message they share. They describe their art as a “flirtation with failure” and demonstrate that nothing is impossible. People can work together in harmony and if one should fail, or drop something, that it’s easy enough to pick things back up, to get back in sync, and to still find the humor in the process. This morning as the four of us stood in the kitchen in our own “flirtation with failure,” we tried not to focus on the drops, but rather, in keeping with The Flying Karamazov Brothers, with a smile on our face.

Have a Laugh at the Fox Cities P.A.C.

From drama to musicals, cultural performances to choirs – there’s a lot to experience at the Fox Cities P.A.C., and this week, the focus is on making you laugh! 

Menopause The Musical
Wednesday, April 11 at 8:00 p.m.

Thursday, April 12 at 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.

If you’re “of a certain age,” Menopause The Musical has laughs you’ll think are meant just for you. Four women meet at a lingerie sale with nothing in common but a black lace bra and discover they share more than you might think – memory loss, hot flashes, night sweats, not enough sex, too much sex and more. With music from the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, there’s a good chance you’ll be dancing in the aisles before the night ends!

Comedians from “Chelsea Lately”
Friday, April 13 at 8:00 p.m.

No, Chelsea Handler will not be appearing this week at the Fox Cities P.A.C., but her entourage will be here with Comedians from “Chelsea Lately” on Friday night. Josh Wolf, Brad Wollack and Jen Kirkman are hilarious in their own right, and with a chance to shine in the spotlight, you know they’ll bring their best standup.

The Flying Karamazov Brothers
Saturday, April 14 at 7:30 p.m.
 

Their name is a mouthful, but their show is simply funny. Take a close look and you might recognize them from appearances on the “Late Show with David Letterman,” “Seinfeld,” “Ellen” and even “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood.” They’ve been making people laugh for decades, and the fun is just beginning with high stakes juggling, highbrow high jinks and impromptu “funny,” as they call it. With tickets starting at only $20, it’s a great show to share with friends and family. By the end, you’ll be asking yourself, “How did they do that?,” and more importantly, “Why?”

Tickets for this week’s shows are still available! Visit foxcitiespac.com to learn more and make plans to have a laugh this week at the Fox Cities P.A.C.