The Pablo Center’s Third-Season Lineup is Here to Inspire Audiences
The Pablo Center at the Confluence is offering three words to serve as themes for its upcoming third season: “Dream. Create. Inspire.”
After having to cancel the latter part of its second season earlier this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, the downtown Eau Claire arts center plans to come roaring back this fall in its third season with a large array of national and local acts, from touring Broadway productions to legendary jazz musicians to innovative dance performances.
“Waitress” will become the first Broadway production to appear at the Pablo Center. Other highlights will include the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, the percussive performance of STOMP (rescheduled from Season 2), L.A.-based dance troupe Diavolo (seen by millions on “America’s Got Talent”), and a joint performance by singer-songwriters Anais Mitchell, Duncan Sheik, and Shaina Taub. Add to that scores of other performances – including local favorites such as Michael Perry and Chris Kroeze – and Chippewa Valley audiences are in for some amazing artistic experiences.
You can learn about the upcoming season and see the entire schedule here.
In a media release, Jason Jon Anderson, the Pablo Center’s executive director reflected on the upcoming season’s “Dream. Create. Inspire.” theme.
“This powerful triad of creative process words serves as the core to the greater Pablo Center mission,” Anderson said. “They were present through the construction of the building, our grand opening 20 short months ago, and they ensure we keep the horizon in focus, always moving us forward. These three words are crucial descriptors in the cyclical, non-stop creative process each of us possess and utilize every day. They embolden the entrepreneurial spirit. They serve as reflection points to stay in touch with our inner child. They highlight some of the best qualities within humanity and encourage us to challenge one another to push the human race forward. These three words dare us as individuals and as a whole to be more. They remind us that we are all makers and part of the creative process. They serve as the title for Season 3.”
While the season was announced today, tickets won’t go on sale to the general public until July 27. However, Pablo Center members will be able to make presale purchases on the following dates:
- Producer Circle: July 13
- Director Circle: July 15
- Designer Circle: July 16
- Artist Circle: July 17
- Partner: July 20
- Advocate: July 21
- and Supporter: July 22
Memberships can be purchased online at pablocenter.org.
SEASON HIGHLIGHTS
Here’s a list of some of the most notable performances scheduled for the 2020-21 season at the Pablo Center, which will run from October to June. Be sure to follow the link above for a full list of shows, including performances by local groups such as Eau Claire Children’s Theatre, Chippewa Valley Jazz Orchestra, UW-Eau Claire ensembles, and more, as well as to learn about the season’s art exhibits and other programming at the Pablo Center.
THIRD COAST PERCUSSION • Oct. 2, 2020 • RCU Theatre • As the percussion section has moved from the back of the orchestra to center stage, Grammy-winning Third Coast Percussion has been leading the way. Incorporating their classical training with stylistic influences ranging from Zimbabwean mbira music to art rock, the ensemble lights up the stage at every concert with “an inspirational sense of fun and curiosity” (Minnesota Star Tribune).
MICHAEL PERRY AND THE LONG BEDS • Oct. 3, 2020 • Jamf Theatre • Michael Perry’s music beats with the same heart as his New York Times bestselling books: blue-collar roughneck meets joker with a library card as he is backed by his band The Long Beds.
THE WORLD FAMOUS GLENN MILLER ORCHESTRA • Oct. 8, 2020 • RCU Theatre • The legendary Glenn Miller Orchestra makes a stop at Pablo Center’s RCU Theatre to bring big band classics and history to Eau Claire. Just as it was in Glenn’s day, the Glenn Miller Orchestra – with its 18 member ensemble – is still the most sought-after big band in the world.
JAY WHITE – THE ULTIMATE NEIL DIAMOND CONCERT EXPERIENCE Oct. 10, 2020 • RCU Theatre • Jay White is the only officially-sanctioned Neil Diamond tribute in the world and we’re bringing him and his band to Eau Claire for one solid night of sing-along hits! A 25-year veteran of performing Neil Diamond, Jay White has even portrayed Neil in major motion pictures like Frost/Nixon.
SHAKE & HOLLA • Oct. 25, 2020 • RCU Theatre • Shake & Holla is a brand-new, curated tour that showcases foot-stomping Mississippi “hill country” blues and the funky, syncopated sounds of New Orleans brass. Touring together for the first time, the award-winning North Mississippi Allstars will be joined by legendary Rebirth Brass Band in a musical celebration of two great Southern musical traditions.
JAMES IGNACIO & SHANE LEONARD • Oct. 29, 2020 • Jamf Theatre • Local singer-songwriters Shane Leonard and James Ignacio bring their craft to the Jamf Theatre to showcase a slice of the Eau Claire music scene. Shane Leonard is a producer, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter who lives in a modest two-story bungalow on the Eastside Hill of Eau Claire. James Ignacio, a California native, has been playing and recording in the Chippewa Valley for over 20 years.
KAIA STRING QUARTET • Nov. 17, 2020 • Jamf Theatre • Chicago-based KAIA is devoted to capturing the essence of Latin American culture through the medium of the string quartet. This fall, KAIA brings their world-class technique and unique style to Pablo Center with a program featuring works by Astor Piazzolla, Jose Bragato, and Claudio Santoro among others. The flavors and colors of Latin American music come to the Jamf Theatre for an evening that will please both classical music connoisseurs and those with a taste for the unexpected.
VIC FERRARI: SYMPHONY ON THE ROCKS • Nov. 19, 2020 • RCU Theatre • Symphony on the Rocks is Vic Ferrari and 26 of the best classical and pop musicians from the Midwest. The huge symphony sound is backed by outstanding audio and video production that will leave the Symphony on the Rocks playing in your mind for weeks after the show.
THEM COULEE BOYS • Nov. 27, 2020 • Jamf Theatre • Crowd-favorite Them Coulee Boys craft a brand of Americana that blends punk, bluegrass, and rock ’n’ roll. Somewhere underneath the energy, the exuberance, the wit, and the passion of Them Coulee Boys lies a heart. It’s a heart filled with sincerity, honesty, and the will to make the world a better place.
FOUND FOOTAGE FILM FESTIVAL • Nov. 20, 2020 • Jamf Theatre • Curators Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher take audiences on a guided tour of their latest and greatest VHS finds, providing live commentary and where-are-they-now updates on the people in these videotaped obscurities from curiously-produced training
video to the forsaken home movie donated to Goodwill.
CLARA OSOWKSI • Dec. 1, 2020 • Jamf Theatre • Minneapolis-based mezzo-soprano Clara Osowski, sings “from inside the music with unaffected purity and sincerity” and is an in-demand soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States and Europe. Clara was a recipient of the prestigious 2018-19 McKnight Artist Fellowships for Musicians administered by MacPhail Center for Music. Enjoy an evening of Schubert and other favorites as a true virtuoso makes her Pablo Center debut.
JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER ORCHESTRA WITH WYNTON MARSALIS – BIG BAND HOLIDAYS • Dec. 5, 2020 • RCU Theatre • It’s the most wonderful time of year in the House of Swing! The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis continue a beloved New York tradition with Big Band Holidays. Featuring soulful, big band versions of classics like “Jingle Bells,” “Joy to the World,” and “Brazilian Sleigh Ride,” Big Band Holidays is an uplifting holiday program that plays to sold-out audiences every December.
DANÚ: AN EMERALD ISLE CHRISTMAS • Dec. 6, 2020 • RCU Theatre • The acclaimed Irish ensemble, Danú, celebrates Christmas and the New Year in an all new concert for the holidays: An Emerald Isle Christmas. Celtic music lovers around the globe have been thrilled by Danú’s virtuoso players on fiddle, flutes, button accordion, percussion, and pipes and the gorgeous voice of Nell Ní Chróinín. Danú celebrates its 25th anniversary with a new celebration of the holidays from their homeland.
SOUND AND STORIES PRESENTS: JOY TO THE WORD • Dec. 17, 2020 • Riverfront Room • Tis the season for good tidings, good cheer, and good music and stories, too! Join The Chippewa Valley Writers Guild as they host regional writers and the UKE Klub for an evening of warmth and wonder with words.
CHRIS KROEZE • Dec. 18, 2020 • RCU Theatre • A Pablo Center Holiday Tradition! Local favorite and The Voice alumnus Chris Kroeze returns to Pablo Center for the third year in a row for an amazing night celebrating the Christmas spirit in hometown style. This lineup will delight fans with old and new seasonal favorites.
AN OLDE ENGLISH CHRISTMAS WITH HERMAN’S HERMITS • Dec. 19, 2020 • RCU Theatre • An Olde English Christmas with Herman’s Hermits starring Peter Noone is a must-see concert experience, perfect for the holidays. As rock’s premiere raconteur, Noone delivers a broad palette of music, all gems, that through his voice defined a generation.
THE FRONTMEN OF COUNTRY • Jan. 8, 2021 • RCU Theatre • The Frontmen features three singers who were THE voices of three of the Top Country bands of the ’90s: Richie McDonald of Lonestar, Larry Stewart of Restless Heart, and Tim Rushlow, formerly of Little Texas. From their rave review performances around the globe for our troops, to casinos, fairs, and corporate events, to their globally televised performance on the steps of the hallowed Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., The Frontmen are making their mark on the country music scene.
THE MUSIC OF PATSY CLINE • Jan. 9, 2021 • Jamf Theatre • In this powerful stage performance, Joyann Parker and her seasoned band showcase the most popular and best-loved of Patsy’s songs. Enjoy a nostalgic trip back in time as Joyann beautifully weaves the stories of Patsy’s life and career in and out of the music you know and love. Vintage costumes and ambiance enhance Joyann’s uncanny and authentic channeling of the classic vocals of the legendary Patsy Cline. This is a must-see show that has sold out over and over again.
STEELY DANE • Jan. 22, 2021 • RCU Theatre • Winner of the MAMA award for best cover band and Madison Magazine’s Best Cover Band, Steely Dane is dedicated to not only faithfully reproducing the Steely Dan and Donald Fagen songbook, but to bringing an energetic live-show experience to the crowd.
SYBARITE5 • Jan. 23, 2021 • Jamf Theatre • “Their rock-star status … is well deserved. Their classically honed technique mixed with grit and all out passionate attack transfixes the audience.” A self-described “string quartet and a bass,” SYBARITE5 has taken audiences by storm all across the U.S., forever changing the perception of chamber music performance. Dubbed the “Millennial Kronos,” SYBARITE5’s eclectic repertoire from Bowie to Radiohead and Akiho to Assad combined with its commanding performance style is turning heads throughout the music world.
JOHN MUELLER’S WINTER DANCE PARTY • Jan. 28, 2021• RCU Theatre • John Mueller’s Winter Dance Party is the official live and authentic re-creation of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper’s final tour and the only show endorsed by the Holly, Valens, and Richardson estates. Each live concert performance includes over two hours of unbridled, high voltage entertainment featuring all the hit songs of the ’50s era: “That’ll Be The Day,” “Peggy Sue,” “Oh, Boy,” “Rave On,” “La Bamba,” “Chantilly Lace,: and many, many more.
THE SIMON & GARFUNKEL STORY • Jan. 30, 2021 • RCU Theatre • The immersive concert-style theater show chronicles the amazing journey shared by the folk-rock duo, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel. It tells the story from their humble beginnings as Tom & Jerry to their incredible success as one of the best-selling music groups of the ’60s to their dramatic split in 1970.
LUCY LOVES DESI: A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE SITCOM • Feb. 4, 2021 • RCU Theatre • “Lucy Loves Desi: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Sitcom” is the hilarious and true story behind one of America’s most-beloved TV comedies with as much heart and humor as an episode of “I Love Lucy” itself. This crowd-pleasing show, written for L.A. Theatre Works, played to sold-out houses during its world premiere run at the James Bridges Theater in Los Angeles in 2018.
DIAVOLO • Feb. 10, 2021 • RCU Theatre • Seen by over 95 million people as one of the top 10 finalists on NBC’s America’s Got Talent, DIAVOLO shatters boundaries and soars beyond the grasps of gravity. The Los Angeles based company continues to push a new edge of performance with the inventive and ingenious Jacques Heim at the helm.
MAKING THE MUSIC: ANAÏS MITCHEL, DUNCAN SHEIK, & SHAINA TAUB • Feb. 11, 2021 • RCU Theatre • Sharing their songs and stories in an intimate and unique collaborative concert, Making the Music features three outstanding contemporary singer-songwriters and world-class performers whose musical visions are currently energizing the stages of Broadway with Anaïs Mitchell (Hadestown), Duncan Sheik (Spring Awakening), and Shaina Taub (Devil Wears Prada).
ALICIA OLATUJA • Feb. 13, 2021 | Jamf Theatre • Once you have listened to acclaimed vocalist, composer, and arranger Alicia Olatuja (A-LEE-see-ah Oh-la-TU-ja), you won’t soon forget her. Praised in The New York Times as “a singer with a strong and luscious tone,” Olatuja combines the earthy with the sublime, bringing a grounded relatability to genres as lofty as classical, as venerated as jazz, and as gritty as R&B.
MAKIN’ CAKE WITH DASHA KELLY HAMILTON • Feb. 17, 2021 • Jamf Theatre • Slice into a community conversation on culture, class, race, and cake. With the aide of two bakers on the Jamf stage, Milwaukee Poet Laureate Dasha Kelly Hamilton explores the story of America through a journey through a history of cake.
BESSIE, BILLIE, & NINA: PIONEERING WOMEN IN JAZZ • Feb. 27, 2021 • Jamf Theatre • The musical and social legacies of Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, and Nina Simone remain as relevant as ever. Their contributions resonate with today’s artists across many genres, as well as with ongoing movements toward progress and equality for women, African-Americans, and the LGBTQ community. Bessie, Billie, and Nina will entertain, inspire, and empower audiences during this pivotal time in our own history.
SOUND AND STORIES PRESENTS: CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL • March 9, 2021 • Riverfront Room • Animals possess the power to make us laugh, make us cry, and make us better humans, too. Join regional writers and musicians for an evening in celebration of creatures great and small.
WAITRESS: THE HIT BROADWAY MUSICAL • March 24, 2021 • RCU Theatre • Meet Jenna, a waitress and expert pie-maker who dreams of a way out of her small town and rocky marriage. Pouring her heart into her pies, she crafts desserts that mirror her topsy-turvy life such as “The Key (Lime) to Happiness Pie” and “Betrayed By My Eggs Pie.” When a baking contest in a nearby county – and a satisfying encounter with someone new – show Jenna a chance at a fresh start, she must find the courage to seize it. Change is on the menu, as long as Jenna can write her own perfectly personal recipe for happiness. Brought to life by a groundbreaking all-female creative team, this hilarious hit Broadway musical features original music and lyrics by Grammy Award winner Sara Bareilles (“Brave,” “Love Song”), a book by acclaimed screenwriter Jessie Nelson (“I Am Sam”), original choreography by Lorin Latarro (“Les Liaisons Dangereuses,” “Waiting For Godot”), recreated by tour choreographer Abbey O’Brien and original direction by Tony Award® winner Diane Paulus (“Hair,” “Pippin”), recreated by tour director Susanna Wolk. “Waitress is a little slice of heaven!” says Entertainment Weekly, and is “sweet, sassy and passionate,” according to New York Magazine. Don’t miss this uplifting and hilarious musical celebrating friendship, motherhood, and the magic of a well-made pie.
TRIBUTE TO ARETHA FRANKLIN • March 12, 2021 • RCU Theatre • A tribute to the Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin performed by four-time GRAMMY® Award-winner and multiple Stellar and GMA Dove Award winner Karen Clark Sheard. A gospel music legend and a part of a musical dynasty, Clark Sheard is renowned throughout the music industry for her signature, one-of-a-kind multi-octave vocal range and ability.
STOMP • March 26-28, 2021 • RCU Theatre • STOMP is explosive, inventive, provocative, witty, and utterly unique – an unforgettable experience for audiences of all ages. The international percussion sensation has garnered armfuls of awards and rave reviews and has appeared on numerous national television shows. The eight-member troupe uses everything but conventional percussion instruments – matchboxes, wooden poles, brooms, garbage cans, Zippo lighters, hubcaps – to fill the stage with magnificent rhythms.
THE BRUBECK BROTHERS • March 27, 2021 • JAMF Theatre • Chris and Dan Brubeck have been making music together practically all their lives. Drummer Dan and bassist, trombonist, and composer Chris cut their first record together in 1966 – more than a half century ago. They’ve subsequently played a variety of styles in a number of different groups, as well as with their father, jazz giant Dave Brubeck, and with their own Brubeck Brothers Quartet. With Dan and Chris as the foundation, guitarist Mike DeMicco and pianist Chuck Lamb, complete this dynamic quartet.
CONDITION BLUE: THE ACOUSTICS OF AQUATICS • April 14, 2020 • RCU Theatre • Condition Blue: The Acoustics of Aquatics is an innovative multimedia event features the dramatic live music of CORDIS creatively affected and enhanced by the boundless properties of water. The music comes to life amidst breathtaking aquatic imagery curated by The National Geographic Society. Condition Blue is part of a multi project the ensemble has embarked on in an effort to raise awareness of our earth and its precious resources.
KINGDOM CHOIR • April 15, 2021 • RCU Theatre • Known for its united sound, warm energy, and enthusiastic performance, the London based The Kingdom Choir is a group of likeminded artists dedicated to creating a sound that demonstrates the community they share. Over this time, the choir has become known for its united sound, warm energy and enthusiastic performance. Led by one of the UK’s most respected gospel tutors and choir conductors, Karen Gibson.
SOUND AND STORIES PRESENTS: SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW • May 4, 2021 • Riverfront Room • How can the Chippewa Valley of yesterday help us envision tomorrow? Join as the Chippewa Valley Writers Guild brings in regional writers, visionaries, and musicians for an evening of exploring our local past in search of a brighter future.
THE SECRET SISTERS • May 19, 2021 • Jamf Theatre • The Secret Sisters – Laura and Lydia Rogers – grapple with love and loss with their new album, Saturn Returns. The elements that made listeners fall in love with the band’s 2010 self-titled debut album – sweet, strong voices, carefully crafted musical arrangements, and soul-baring songwriting – are still present, but there’s also newfound confidence and individuality. Don’t miss the chance to see them on tour at Pablo Center.
WHOSE LIVE ANYWAY? • May 23, 2021 • RCU Theatre • Whose Live Anyway? is back with 90 minutes of hilarious improvised comedy and song all based on audience suggestions Cast members Ryan Stiles, Jeff B. Davis, Dave Foley, and Joel Murray will leave you gasping with the very witty scenes they invent before your eyes. Audience participation is key to the show so bring your suggestions and you might be asked to join the cast onstage! Whose Live Anyway? showcases some of the improv games made famous on the long-running TV show as well as some exciting new ones.
