Press ReleaseThe historic Peoples Bank Theatre announces its 2018 Summer-Fall Spotlight Series, featuring the return of several audience favorites, as well as award winning artists from the genres of classic rock, country, bluegrass, and folk.
The season’s headliners include Wynonna & The Big Noise, Lorrie Morgan, Mountain Stage, Paula Poundstone, Randy Bachman, Peter Yarrow, Kathy Mattea, The Glenn Miller Orchestra, Hot Rize, Hot Tuna, and the return of Cirque-tacular. This series will also be the first to take advantage of The Stage Door, Peoples Bank Theatre’s new space for member and VIP events before and after select performances.
Tickets for the Summer-Fall Spotlight Series go on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. on Monday, April 30. Theatre member sales open on April 23.
Guys and Dolls
Fri June 29 – 8:00 p.m.
Sat June 30 – 2:30 p.m.
Sun July 1 – 2:30 p.m.
Fri July 6 – 8:00 p.m.
Sat July 7 – 8:00 p.m.
Sun July 8 – 2:30 p.m.
The Marietta Summer Theatre Festival presents Guys and Dolls, the classic Frank Loesser musical comedy about two couples who roll the dice on romance. New York’s most infamous crap game organizer, Nathan Detroit, hoping for a big pay day, challenges notorious gambler Sky Masterson to a bet he’s sure he’ll win: take mission girl Sarah Brown to dinner in Havana, Cuba. Sky accepts and pursues her, seemingly hopelessly, while Nathan deals with his own situation – his 14-year fiancée, Adelaide, who’s tired of waiting for a wedding. When bets and love seem at odds, the characters are called to question their priorities to make things right.
Guys and Dolls is presented with its Marietta Summer Theatre companion production of William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, with free performances in Muskingum Park June 21-23 and June 28, 30, and July 1 at 8:30 p.m. each evening.
Lorrie Morgan
Saturday, July 14 at 8:00 p.m.
Peoples Bank Theatre presents Lorrie Morgan. One of the biggest country music stars of the past 20 years, Lorrie has sold more than 5 million albums and scored more than 15 Top 10 country hits. A member of the Grand Ole Opry, Lorrie is recognized as one of the greatest female singers of her generation.
The first woman in her genre to begin her career with three consecutive Platinum albums, Lorrie re-emerged recently on Shanachie Entertainment with a new album, Letting Go….Slow. The album is a collection that showcases a rainbow of emotions, from darkest heartache to bright, shiny humor.
Cirque-tacular presents The Art of Circus
Friday, August 10 at 7:00 p.m.
Peoples Bank Theatre welcomes the return of the very first group to perform for the theatre’s Grand Reopening weekned in January 2016. The Art Of Circus, Cirque-tacular’s newest theatrical production, is inspired by the world’s great visual art masterpieces, the artists who created them, and the eras that birthed the most iconic images over the last 500 years. Featuring dazzling dancers, thrilling acrobatics, world record holders, internationally renowned circus performers, and an original score by 4 time ASCAP award winner, Jesse Elder (Postmodern Jukebox) performed by live musicians. Audiences will enter the worlds and works of Da Vinci, Van Gogh, Warhol and more, in an acrobatic fantasy vision that is at once familiar, unexpected, and timeless.
Wynonna & The Big Noise
Saturday, August 18 at 8:00 p.m.
Wynonna’s rich and commanding voice has sold over 30-million albums worldwide spanning her remarkable 34-year career. As one-half of the legendary mother/daughter duo “The Judds,” Wynonna was once dubbed by Rolling Stone as “the greatest female country singer since Patsy Cline.” This iconic performer has received over 60 industry awards, with countless charting singles, including 20 No.1 hits such as “Mama He’s Crazy,” “Why Not me,” and “Grandpa, (Tell Me ‘Bout The Good Ole Days).”
Wynonna and her band The Big Noise, led by her husband/drummer/producer, Cactus Moser, released their debut full-length album in February 2016 via Curb Records to critical acclaim. Wynonna has described the new sound as “vintage yet modern” and a “return to the well.” It’s a rootsy work encompassing country, Americana, blues, soul and rock. The album features special guests Derek Trucks, Jason Isbell, Susan Tedeschi and Timothy B. Schmit. NPR’s Ann Powers noted that, “With her tight band behind her after touring together for several years, she just sounds like she’s home…You can just feel the grin on her face.”
Mountain Stage
Sunday, August 19 at 7:00 p.m.
For more than 30 years Mountain Stage with Larry Groce has been the home of live music on public radio. The two-hour radio show isProduced by West Virginia Public Broadcasting and distributed by National Public Radio weekly on more than 240 stations across America and around the world via NPR Music and mountainstage.org. The show, which is recorded before a live audience, features performances by seasoned legends and emerging stars in genres ranging from folk, blues and country to indie rock, synth pop, world and alternative music, and beyond. The show’s guest artists will be announced later this spring.
Paula Poundstone
Saturday, August 25 at 8:00 p.m.
Peoples Bank Theatre is excited to welcome Paula Poundstone back to Marietta, Ohio, for an engaging night of comedy. Poundstone’s wit and impeccable timing has earned her a spot as a regular panelist on NPR’s #1 show, the weekly comedy news quiz, “Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me!” Her commentaries appear on CBS Sunday Morningand guest appearances include Late Night with Stephen Colbert, Last Call with Carson Daly, Nerdist with Chris Hardwick, Weekend Edition and ‘Puzzle Master’ with Will Shortz. Paula is recognized on Comedy Central’s list of The 100 Best Standup Comics of All Time. She won an American Comedy Award for Best Female Standup Comic, and she is included in a number oflists, documentaries, and literary compendiums noting influential standup comedians.
Randy Bachman
Friday, August 31 at 8:00 p.m.
In a rare, intimate setting, Randy Bachman weaves together the iconic hits of the Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive with the often-humorous stories that brought the songs to life. Inspired by his award-winning radio program Vinyl Tap, Bachman takes his master story-telling and musical knowledge on the road and takes fans on a retrospective of his career. A visual backdrop illustrating Bachman’s legendary rock n’ roll journey will accompany each song. Bachman has earned over 120 gold and platinum album/singles awards around the world. His song writing has garnered him the coveted #1 spot on radio play lists in more than 20 countries, and he has amassed more than 40 million records sold. Joining Randy Bachman is the trio of Brent Howard, Marc LaFrance and Mick Dalla-Vee, who have been performing together for more than 20 years.
Lonesome Traveler: The Concert – With special guest Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul & Mary
Friday, September 14 at 8:00 p.m.
Experience the enduring power and popularity of American folk music with Lonesome Traveler, the stirring concert version of the acclaimed Off-Broadway musical that the New York Times called “illuminating…revelatory…
Glenn Miller Orchestra
Saturday, September 29 at 8:00 p.m.
The Glenn Miller Orchestra brings timeless classics such as “In the Mood,” “Moonlight Serenade,” “Chattanooga Choo Choo,” “Pennsylvania 6-5000,” “String of Pearls,” and “Tuxedo Junction” back to the stage. More than 20 musicians and singers bring the unforgettable Glenn Miller sound to life in a must-see show for jazz and swing fans alike and for the incurable romantics who want to step back in time. The legendary Glenn Miller was the most successful of all the dance bandleaders during the Swing Era of the 1930s and 40s.
Kathy Mattea
Friday, October 26 at 8:00 p.m.
Grammy Award-winning singer Kathy Mattea and her band present a unique blend of bluegrass, gospel and Celtic influences that have earned her multiple Country Music Awards, as well as Single of the Year, Song of the Year, and Top Female Vocalist from The Academy of Country Music. A genuine storyteller, Kathy’s latest album celebrates the Appalachian culture of her native West Virginia and expands the vocabulary of acoustic roots music. The beloved singer has produced such number one hits classics as ‘18 Wheels and A Dozen Roses,’ ‘Where’ve You Been,’ ‘Goin’ Gone,’ Untold Stories,’ and ‘Life as We Knew It.’ Not content to dominate in one genre, Mattea has also been award the Grammy for Best Southern, Country, or Bluegrass Gospel Album. A genuine storyteller, she draws inspiration from her Appalachian roots and the celebration of the culture of her native West Virginia while expanding the acoustic music that has always served as her artistic center.
Hot Rize featuring Red Knuckles and The Trailblazers
Friday, November 9 at 8:00 p.m.
Hot Rize has been astounding the bluegrass world with their fresh, contemporary approach to traditional music ever since their formation in 1978. The band’s unique and progressive style of bluegrass, powerful original songs, tight-as-a-drum ensemble playing, and dynamic stage show quickly made them stars on the major festival circuit and far beyond. In 1990, Hot Rize won the first-ever International Bluegrass Association’s Entertainer of the Year Award and in 1991 they picked up a Grammy nomination for Best Bluegrass album and won IBMA Song of the Year. Since the 90s, this all-star band has kept their legend alive by performing at only the most prestigious festivals (like Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, Telluride, Bonnaroo, and GreyFox) and a few select venues.
Hot Tuna
Friday, November 30 at 8:00 p.m.
Started as a side project during their Jefferson Airplane days, the constant, the very definition of Hot Tuna, has always been Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady. The two boyhood pals have never wavered in one of the most enduring friendships in Rock history. From their days playing together as teenagers in the Washington, DC area, through years of inventive psychedelic rock in San Francisco (1996 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductees), to their current acoustic and electric blues sound, no one has more consistently led American music for the last 50 years than Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady, the founders and continuing core members of Hot Tuna. At the 2016 Grammys, Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady were honored with Lifetime Achievement Awards.
Full event details and ticket information for these events and more are available online at peoplesbanktheatre.com or by calling the box office at 740-371-5152. Walk-up hours at the box office are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday and one-to-two hours prior to most performances.
Located at 222 Putnam Street in historic downtown Marietta, Peoples Bank Theatre is managed by the nonprofit Hippodrome/Colony Historical Theatre Association.