Calendar of Events

You can capsulize most pop music acts by reciting how many hits they’ve had and how many millions of albums they’ve sold. But these conventional measurements fall short when you’re assessing the impact of The Beach Boys. To be sure, this band has birthed a torrent of hit singles and sold albums by the tens of millions. But its greater significance lies in the fact that it changed the musical landscape so profoundly that every pop act since has been in its debt. Happily for us all, The Beach Boys continue to create and perform with the same bold imagination and style that marked their explosive debut 40 years ago. And now in 2006, their latest Capitol Records release, Sounds of Summer (RIAA certified double platinum with over two million in sales and climbing), marks a resurgence in Beach Boys interest that has again rocked the world.

VIP Tickets include premium seating; a reception with hors d’oeuvres, wine, beer and a festive signature cocktail; and a silent auction featuring autographed instruments, music memorabilia, and other surprises. VIP reception begins at 5pm. Proceeds from this event benefit the Historic Tennessee Theatre Foundation whose mission is to preserve, maintain, and operate the Official State Theatre of Tennessee as a performing arts and entertainment venue for the benefit and enjoyment of all. The Stars on Stage Gala is one way the Foundation raises money to support these efforts. .

At the Tennessee Theatre, 604 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. For information: 865-684-1200, www.tennesseetheatre.com

Billboard #1 artist Dr. Josh Wright has delighted audiences across the U.S. and in Europe with what the Washington Post described as “rarer gifts — touch, intelligence and the ability to surprise.” His diversity is evidenced by his debut recitals at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center in 2014, by topping the Billboard Classical Traditional chart just 3 weeks after the release of his self-titled album in 2011, and by his performance on America’s Got Talent Season 9. Josh earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Michigan, and bachelors and masters degrees from the University of Utah. His numerous prizes include the 2015 National Chopin Competition and Mazurka prize, third and audience prize at the 2014 Washington International, firsts at the 2013 Heida Hermanns International and the Rosamond P. Haeberle Piano Award competitions, gold at the 2010 Seattle International, and first at the 2010 American Protége International Competition of Romantic Music. He has released five albums, beginning with Josh Wright Debut in 2000. Josh is passionate about teaching, broadening his studio through online lessons
where he teaches students on five continents.

Adult season tickets $65; single tickets $25. Students can receive their free ticket at the door; college-age students must present their student ID card.

Sandra G. Powell Recital Hall in the University of Tennessee’s Natalie L. Haslam Music Center, 1741 Volunteer Blvd., Knoxville 37996. Parking is available in Lot 23 behind the Natalie L. Haslam Music Center or on the street. On occasion, there may be a small fee to park in Lot 23. Tickets/information: 865-408-8083 or www.youngpianistseries.com

The McClung Museum’s 6th annual Civil War Lecture series is titled “An All-American City Endures: Knoxvillians at War 1860-1865,” and will examine Knoxville families before, during, and after the upheaval of war.

This month’s lecture examines the war through the lens of lawyers and lawmakers, and is titled “Politicians and Lawmakers: Attempting to Maintain Control.”

Our historic community, with a total population of less than 4,000 in 1861, will be examined through the standing and experiences of the ‘head of family’; how his war time decisions and actions influenced the multiple lives within his kinship web. A wealth of documentation from many diverse primary sources, including many photographic portraits, has been compiled to compare and contrast the choices made by the people of Knoxville. Loyalty, military service, whether to stay or to flee, service to the dominant government, determination and enforcement of the law, money management, the feeding and sheltering of resident armies, the protection of the infrastructure of a battered town, meeting the needs of suffering civilians, spiritual leadership of religious congregations, keeping the populace informed, the running of daily business concerns–in fact, all aspects of sustaining and surviving in a community were affected by the coming, staying and ending of war. This lecture series will look at the men and women forced to make life and death decisions in the midst of social turmoil.

The lectures will be held at 2pm one Sunday each month, January–April 2016 in the McClung Museum Auditorium. The lectures are free and open to the public. McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture, 1327 Circle Park Dr on the UT campus, Knoxville, TN 37996. Hours: Monday-Saturday, 9AM-5PM, Sunday, 1-5PM. Information: 865-974-2144, http://mcclungmuseum.utk.edu

A documentary featuring rare historic footage of African American life during Knoxville’s civil rights era. Introduction by Louisa Trott, film editor and co-founder of Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound

Sunday, February 21, 2 p.m. at UT’s John C. Hodges Library Auditorium, 1015 Volunteer Boulevard - Free and open to the public

The Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest. The Big Read aims to encourage reading for pleasure and enrichment by providing citizens with the opportunity to read and discuss a single book in their communities. The grant for The Big Read 2016 was awarded to Friends of the Knox County Public Library. A full schedule of events can be found at www.knoxlib.org/bigread.

Knox County Public Library: 500 West Church Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information: 865-215-8750, www.knoxlib.org

Tuesday, February 21, 2017, at 7:30 p.m.
Music for Piano and Organ

Church Street’s organist, Edie Johnson, along with Fay Adams, emeritus
Professor of Piano at University of Tennessee and Church Street member,
will present a unique program of works for piano and organ. The concert will
feature music by French composers Charles–Marie Widor, Marcel Dupré, and
César Franck, along with a work by American composer Emma Lou Diemer.

Church Street United Methodist Church
900 Henley at Main, Knoxville, TN 37902
865.524.3048 www.churchstreetunc.org

Oak Ridge Playhouse is seeks a cast of 20-25 Singer/Actors who move well/dance and have strong comic skills.
Saturday, February 20 at 2:00 PM & Monday February 22 at 6:30 PM.

Bring sheet music for 16 bars of a prepared Broadway-style song. Please dress or bring change of clothes for movement. Cold reading from script. Please bring recent photo or headshot. Be prepared to provide schedule conflicts March 7 - May 8

Please enter at the Green Room door at the rear of the building off the parking lot on Tennessee Avenue.

Performances are April 22 - May 8 and rehearsals begin March 7 (There will be rehearsals during Spring Break.)

This funny show with the funny name is a hilarious side-splitting take on greed, love, revolution - and musicals! Set in a time when water is worth its weight in gold, a Gotham-like city is facing a 20-year drought that leads to a government-enforced ban on private toilets. As a result, the citizens must use public amenities, regulated by a single malevolent company that profits by charging admission for one of humanity's most basic needs. But those who fail to pay are sentenced to a dreaded penal colony. A hero decides he's had enough, and plans a revolution to lead them all to freedom! An irreverently humorous satire in which no one is safe from scrutiny.

http://www.orplayhouse.com/auditions
Oak Ridge Playhouse, 227 Broadway, Oak Ridge, TN 37830. Information and tickets: 865-482-9999, www.orplayhouse.comhttp://www.orplayhouse.com/auditions

An off-Broadway hit comedy-drama by Jack Heifner. The story follows three young girls as they journey from high school in the 1960s to college days and beyond in this sharply sad and funny play. Tickets: 423-586-9260.

Performed at Rose Center, 442 West Second North St., Morristown, TN, 37814. www.rosecenter.org

Athens Community Theatre presents Rodgers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma! February 18 - 28, 2016 in the Sue E. Trotter Theater at The Arts Center in Athens, TN.

Rodgers & Hammerstein's first collaboration remains, in many ways, their most innovative having set the standards and established the rules of musical theatre still being followed today. Set in a Western Indian Territory just after the turn of the century, the high–spirited rivalry between the local farmers and cowboys provides the colorful background against which Curly, a handsome cowboy, and Laurey, a winsome farm girl, play out their love story. Although the road to true love never runs smooth, with these two headstrong romantics holding the reins, love's journey is as bumpy as a surrey ride down a country road. That they will succeed in making a new life together we have no doubt, and that this new life will begin in a brand–new state provides the ultimate climax to the triumphant Oklahoma!

Oklahoma! is directed by recent Steel Magnolias star and ACT veteran director, Melonie Carideo, with music direction by AACA Executive Director Emeritus, Ellen Kimball, and choreography by Pippin choreographer, Angie Hudson .The score is played by a live orchestra led by Ellen Kimball.

Performances are February 18, 19, 20, 21, 25, 26, and 27 at 7:00pm and February 21 and 28 at 2:00pm. Tickets for all performances are $15 for adults, $8 for students. Tickets are available online at athensartscouncil.org, by phone at 423-745-8781, or in person at The Arts Center, 320 N. White St., Athens, Tennessee. For more information, contact The Arts Center at 423-745-8781.
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Music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown. An emotionally powerful and intimate musical about two New Yorkers in their twenties who fall in and out of love over the course of five years. The show's unconventional structure consists of Cathy, the woman, telling her story backwards while Jamie, the man, tells his story chronologically; the two characters only meet once, at their wedding in the middle of the show.

"I can't think of any better way to celebrate the arrival of spring than by spending 90 exhilarating minutes with The Last Five Years, Jason Robert Brown's giddily sorrowful eulogy for a brief marriage."
—Bloomberg News

"It's instantly clear […] that this poignant, richly dramatic and piercingly honest two-character show is destined to be a hit."
—The Chicago Sun-Times

"Jaw-dropping! A gem of a show from Jason Robert Brown."
—New York Magazine

Theatre Knoxville Downtown, 319 North Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37917. Information & tickets: 865-544-1999, www.theatreknoxville.com

William Shakespeare’s “Titus Andronicus” will play on the CBT mainstage February 10-28 with 7:30 pm and 2:00 pm performances. A Pay What You Wish Preview performance will be held Wednesday, February 10, a talk back with the actors will take place Sunday, February 21 following the matinee, and the Open Captioned performance is Sunday, February 28 at 2:00 pm. The production is for mature audiences only.

Believed to be Shakespeare’s first tragedy and most graphically violent, “Titus Andronicus” was created as a crowd-pleasing shocker, full of murder, intrigue, betrayal, and revenge. Returning victorious from war, Titus has lost many sons in battle. And he has no idea that his worst nightmare is yet to take place. His prisoner of war, Tamora, Queen of the Goths, is bent on getting revenge for the loss of her son at Titus’ hands. The two become tangled in a cruel cycle of revenge in which they lose more than either one could ever imagine. Although the tragedy is consistently popular, it is rarely performed.

“The central idea in the play is that when justice and rule of law is subverted by man’s pursuit of revenge, man is capable of unspeakable violence. Even the most principled and civilized man (like Titus) can become barbaric,” said Director John Sipes.

Clarence Brown Theatre / Carousel Theatre, 1714 Andy Holt Ave on the UT campus, Knoxville, TN 37996. For information: 865-974-5161, www.clarencebrowntheatre.com. For tickets: 865-974-5161, 865-656-4444, www.knoxvilletickets.com

Edward S. Albers, Jr. has a unique way of capturing travel memories. Rather than the traditional camera, he travels with paints, a sketchbook, and a folding stool and often skips shopping for a scenic spot and an hour of sketching. Visitors to the Museum of East Tennessee History can vicariously travel the world with Bud Albers through a selection of his most interesting and beautiful paintings, such as Dublin Doorway, Saint Basil’s Cathedral, Russia, and Hong Kong Harbor from Victoria. Local pieces include a painting of Bud’s grandfather Andrew J. Albers, seated in his carriage and holding his small son, Edward S. Albers, Sr., who became Bud’s father. In the background is the family’s beautiful home that stood on the corner of Market and Locust, until torn down to make way for the present Medical Arts Building. The painting reproduces the scene from an old photograph. The exhibition, Bud Albers Recollections: Works from Life and Travels, is on view in the Bilo Nelson Auditorium of the East Tennessee History Center.

Albers is a retired businessman, philanthropist, and artist, whose family is deeply rooted in Knoxville and East Tennessee. He has a strong interest in history, and his vision was instrumental in the creation of the Museum of East Tennessee History.

East Tennessee Historical Society, 601 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. Museum hours: M-F 9-4, Sa 10-4, Su 1-5. Information: 865-215-8824, www.easttnhistory.org

The Farragut Museum Committee and Farragut Arts Council will host two free events in honor of Black History Month this February at Farragut Town Hall. The theme for this year's celebration is "Honoring Service and Talent."

An art show featuring the work of Gwendolyn Campbell-Johnson, a Tennessee artist and art teacher at Farragut Middle School, will be on display starting Monday, Feb. 8 through Friday, Feb. 19 during regular Town Hall hours (Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.). Campbell-Johnson holds a bachelor's degree in art education from Tennessee State University; her art focuses upon African American origins, history and identity development.

On Sunday, Feb. 21, a reception will take place at 2 p.m. to honor Campbell-Johnson as well as Bill Valentine, who will give a presentation following the reception at 3 p.m. A Vietnam Veteran dedicated to teaching about soldiers from a past era, Valentine will present an entertaining and informative one-man act entitled "The Buffalo Soldier." Buffalo Soldier is the name synonymous with the all African American regiments in the United States Army established by Congress in 1866. Valentine has presented this lecture at no charge to bring history alive in local schools, churches, colleges and civic organizations.

The reception will also feature museum tours and light refreshments.

The Farragut Museum is committed to preserving the heritage of its East Tennessee community and features a remarkable collection of artifacts from the area, including an extensive collection of the personal belongings of Admiral David Glasgow Farragut, first Admiral of the U.S Navy and hero of the Civil War. Housed in the Farragut Town Hall located at 11408 Municipal Center Drive, the museum is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and offers free admission. For more information, visit www.townoffarragut.org/museum, like Farragut Museum on Facebook, or contact Museum Coordinator Julia Barham at jbarham@townoffarragut.org or 966-7057.