Events for September 1, 2016 - March 31, 2018

EDUCATORS AND HOMESCHOOL PARENTS! Attend our FREE one day (10AM to 2PM) storytelling arts integration Professional Development Workshop for early elementary educators and homeschool parents preK-2nd grade. We will model how educators at each grade level can use I Love My Little Storybook to incorporate multiple learning modalities through the performing arts to cultivate curiosity and…

Calling all Portland Instagrammers! Come join us for BANDALOOP'S performances Sept 28-29. Want to win a: • $100 gift certificate to Bandaloop Restaurant in Kennebunkport • a pair of tickets to each performance of Portland Ovations dance series • AND 2 intro to climbing classes from Salt Pump Climbing Co. (total value $425)? Here’s how…

Portland Ovations continues its season kickoff with a performance by vertical dance pioneers, Bandaloop, on Friday, September 29 at One City Center. Get all the details here. After the performance on Friday 9/29, join us for a post-performance Open House at MJ’s Wine Bar, located in the lower level of One City Center. Mix and…

“Too good to be true!” raves The New York Post for Jersey Boys, the 2006 Tony, Grammy and Olivier Award®-winning Best Musical about Rock and Roll Hall of Famers The Four Seasons: Frankie Valli, Bob Gaudio, Tommy DeVito and Nick Massi. This is the true story of how four blue-collar kids became one of the…

"The Money Tree" Study GuideWhen Shasta’s father loses his job, she is devastated to learn that plans for her upcoming birthday party must be significantly downsized. After Shasta and her friend Simon meet a mysterious Traveler who gives them a seed that will make a tree grow leaves of money, their friendship is put to…

"Guess How Much I Love You" & "I Love My Little Storybook" : Offstage Activities Presented by Ovations Offstage Teaching Artists, participants explore the world of two classic children’s books: Guess How Much I Love You & I Love My Little Storybook. Listen to the stories and make the characters come alive by creating your…

"Guess How Much I Love You" & "I Love My Little Storybook" : Offstage Activities Presented by Ovations Offstage Teaching Artists, participants explore the world of two classic children’s books: <a href="https://portlandovations.org/event/guess-how-much-i-love-you-i-love-my-little-storybook/"><em>Guess How Much I Love You</em> &amp; <em>I Love My Little Storybook</em></a>. Listen to the stories and make the characters come alive by creating…

Leslie Odom Jr. : Offstage Activities Ed Reichert, faculty member of the USM School of Music, takes us on a journey through the nine musicals that have won the Pulitzer Prize for best Drama since 1932. Performed by musical theatre majors attending USM, highlights will include selections from Of Thee I Sing, Fiorello, South Pacific,…

Critically acclaimed performer Leslie Odom Jr. helped revolutionize the Great White Way with his starring role in the Broadway hit musical, Hamilton. “A theater-world rock star” (NPR), Odom is the winner of the 2016 Tony Award® for Best Leading Actor in a Musical for his portrayal of Aaron Burr and a Grammy for the Original…

I Love My Little Storybook & Guess How Much I Love You Study Guide In I Love My Little Storybook, an eager little bunny lies on the grass and opens his book, and within moments the story he’s reading comes alive in fascinating detail. From author Anita Jeram comes this endearing celebration of the imagination…

Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia’s innovative puppetry, stunning scenic effects and lively original music have delighted families around the globe for nearly two decades. Back by popular demand, this Ovations audience favorite returns with adaptations of two children’s books to delight and inspire the youngest theatergoers. Sam McBratney’s award-winning classic is brought to life when…

Yo-Yo Ma & Kathryn Stott : Offstage Activities Stravinsky, Prokofiev, and Rachmaninoff were born nine years apart in Russia. They were not friends and they wrote music that was distinctly different from each other. All three shaped the music history of the 20th century in their separate ways. Dr. Anthony Antolini, a faculty member of…

International treasure and Ovations favorite Yo-Yo Ma and his longtime collaborator, pianist Kathryn Stott, make their highly anticipated return to our classical series for the first time in 15 years. Since 1984, Ma and Stott have developed a connection that thrives in live performances. Recognized for his incomparable virtuosity, innovation and warmth—Ma has performed for…

Simon Shaheen : Offstage Activities Join us for a Q&A right after the performance with Simon Shaheen and Professor Eric Hooglund (Bowdoin and Bates College) internationally known expert on Islam and politics of the Middle East. For more information about Offstage activities, please call 207.773.3150 or email offstage@portlandovations.org.

Simon Shaheen : Offstage Activities Local oud player Amos Libby explores the oud (fretless Middle Eastern lute), the central instrument in much of Arabic music and other musical traditions within the Middle East and Northern Africa. Libby spotlights the oud’s ability to produce the microtonal musical intervals unique to Arabic and Middle Eastern music, and…

Enthralling audiences with his brilliant improvisations and mastery of both the oud and violin, Simon Shaheen is recognized as one of the great ambassadors of music from the Arab world. His latest project, Zafir, renews a relationship that began more than a thousand years ago. Zafir reveals the commonalities of music born in the cultural…

Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn have a musical partnership like no other. Touted by many as the world’s premier banjo player, Fleck has the virtuosic, jazz-to-classical ingenuity of an iconic instrumentalist and the originality, expertise and warmth of a composer with bluegrass roots. Washburn exudes the earthy sophistication of a postmodern singer-songwriter, drawing critical acclaim…

Sock & Glove Drive Win a chance for an Exclusive Meet and Greet with Natalie and Donnell! Join Portland Ovations in a holiday sock and glove drive to benefit Preble Street. Bring a NEW pair or package of socks or gloves (for adult men or women) to the performance and be entered in a raffle…

Banda Magda bursts with humor and a quirky sensibility, powered by unflagging energy. Their songs, sung in French (with forays into six other languages), harken back to the golden age of Brazilian bossa, the best of cinematic arranging, and the lush chic of vintage French pop, all while drawing on the band’s global background. Led…

Lukáš Vondráček : Offstage Activities Composers for the piano have long drawn inspiration from orchestral colors and textures. Laura Kargul Professor of Music at USM discusses and demonstrates how the piano functions as a complete “orchestra” in the hands of great composers, and the ways in which a pianist can bring “the orchestra in the…

We regret to inform you Behzod Abduraimov will not join us on Sunday, January 7 due to illness. He is visiting his family in Tashkent for the holidays and is not able to travel yet, let alone perform. We even have a note from his doctor … albeit in Uzbek! However, we remain steadfast in…

Roomful of Teeth : Offstage Activities Emily Isaacson, Artistic Director of Oratorio Chorale, interviews founder and director of Roomful of Teeth, Brad Wells. Roomful of Teeth does not follow any previously established models of a successful music ensemble. Emily and Brad discuss what inspired Brad to create Roomful of Teeth, why he thought there was…

“Roomful of Teeth is making some of the most rigorously venturesome and thrillingly inventive music being made by any ensemble, vocal or instrumental.” (The Nation) The Grammy Award-winning octet is dedicated to mining the expressive potential of the human voice and is perhaps the most currently talked about ensemble today. Their electrifying and “sensually stunning”…

Travis Wall's Shaping Sound: "After the Curtain" : Offstage Activities Join Channing Cooke, Associate Choreographer of Travis Wall’s Shaping Sound in a dance masterclass. Trained in Boston under the direction of Karla Pattavina, her credits include: Dancing With the Stars, The XFactor, Billy Bell’s Lunge Dance Collective, SYTYCD, The 82nd Annual Academy Awards, Two and…

Travis Wall's Shaping Sound: "After the Curtain" : Offstage Activities Andrea Michaud Tracy, explores the evolution of contemporary dance and compares it's approach to storytelling against classical ballet. For more information about Offstage activities, please call 207.773.3150 or email offstage@portlandovations.org.

In After the Curtain, these visual musicians continue to dazzle audiences as they tell the story of a man fighting to find his creative voice after the death of his one true love. Heart-wrenching, breath-taking and ultimately uplifting, this is one dance show that audiences will remember forever. Under the artistic direction of Emmy Award-winner,…

"Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella" : Offstage Activities What comes to mind when you hear the word Cinderella? Do you break out in “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo?” Or are you more of a Rodgers + Hammerstein fan? Is Helena Bonham Carter or Whitney Houston your favorite portrayal of the Fairy Godmother? Perhaps the more gruesome Brothers Grim version of…

Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet : Offstage Activities George Lopez, Artist in Residence at Bowdoin College, discusses the evening’s program as well as the history of the wind quintet from its early inception in 18th century Vienna to the rise of the genre through the works of Reicha and the rich modern works of recent decades…

The Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet astonishes audiences with their range of expression, their tonal spectrum and their conceptual unity, and redefines the sound of the classic wind quintet. Their repertoire covers the entire spectrum of wind quintet literature as well as works for larger ensembles, including the Sextets of Janácek and Reinicke and the Septets…

Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella is the Tony Award®-winning Broadway musical from the creators of The Sound of Music and South Pacific that’s delighting audiences with its contemporary take on the classic tale. This lush production features an incredible orchestra, jaw-dropping transformations and all the moments you love—the pumpkin, the glass slipper, the masked ball and…

"Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella" : Offstage Activities Join other Cinderella enthusiasts for a festive foray through favorite songs from various versions of this beloved story including “Bibbidi-Bobbedi-Boo” and “Impossible it’s Possible.” Costumes welcome but bundle up! For more information about Offstage activities, please call 207.773.3150 or email offstage@portlandovations.org.

BJM—Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal : Offstage Activities Bryan Matluck, head of the Exchange Street Studio and ballet instructor, discusses the history and development of ballet in the 20th and 21st centuries. Videos will be used to highlight technical developments as well as to compare and contrast different styles. He will also discuss the future…

Rooted in classical ballet, yet wholly contemporary in its approach, BJM thrills audiences with performances that are sexy, kinetically explosive, and entirely original. The international repertory company finds inspiration in their dance laboratory where innovative, choreographic ideas are tested and brought to life through energizing and physically challenging works. Their exciting programs showcase the breathtaking…

From Vermont’s renowned Sandglass Theater comes their latest work, Babylon, a Portland Ovations co-commission. A powerful and evocative work, Babylon tells the story of today’s refugees: their sense of home, their arduous journeys and the challenges of resettlement. Performed by puppets and actors with moving panoramas known as crankies, Babylon weaves together the stories of…

Babylon: an ancient city in what is now Iraq. Its ruins lie 59 miles southwest of Baghdad. This fallen mythic civilization is a metaphor for the destruction and destabilization that is leading much of the world into a refugee crisis of epic proportion. Using puppets and moving panoramic scrolls, Sandglass Theater’s production of Babylon tells…

Ladysmith Black Mambazo: Offstage Activities Oscar Mokeme, Founding Director of the Museum of African Culture, discusses how Ladysmith Black Mambazo—with great love and compassion—has used its songs as prayers to bridge the barriers of hate, ethnic divisiveness and other challenges in South Africa and around the world. He also explores the essence and significance of…

South Africa’s Ladysmith Black Mambazo has shared its uplifting vocal harmonies, signature dance moves, and charming onstage banter for over 50 years. Winners of four GRAMMY Awards since they became famous worldwide from their work with Paul Simon and his Graceland album in 1986, the group combines its native South African musical traditions with the…

Beloved Maine author E.B. White’s classic story of the improbable friendship between a runty pig named Wilbur, a clever spider named Charlotte and a brave little girl. Charlotte, a fine writer and true friend, hits on a plan to fool Farmer Zuckerman into sparing Wilbur’s life. Spinning the words “Some Pig” into her web, Charlotte…

Charlotte's Web Study GuideTheatreworks USA’s production of Charlotte’s Web is based on E.B. White’s loving story of the friendship between a pig named Wilbur and a little gray spider named Charlotte. Wilbur has a problem: how to avoid winding up as pork chops! Charlotte, a fine writer and true friend, hits on a plan to…

Charlie Price has suddenly inherited his father’s shoe factory, which is on the verge of bankruptcy. Trying to live up to his father’s legacy and save his family business, Charlie finds inspiration in the form of Lola. A fabulous entertainer in need of some sturdy stilettos, Lola turns out to be the one person who…