, Come out toaka ‘The Orchard’ to watch the
Hendersonville Honeycrisps defend their 2022 Western Division title in The Old North State League. You are bound to see great
plays & big hits while you and your family make memories and are entertained at the ball park! $10, Season runs through July 30th,
Click here for the full schedule: https://www.hendersonvillehoneycrisps.com/schedule

The 57th season of Shindig on the Green, a free event in the heart of downtown Asheville with a stage show and informal jam sessions, takes place on Saturday evenings July 1 through August 26, 2023.

Locals and visitors alike come together at downtown’s Pack Square Park “along about sundown,” or at 7:00 pm for those who wear a watch, and continues until 10:00 pm. Concessions are available! The remaining Shindig on the Green events will be held on July 1, 8, 15, 22 and August 12, 19, 26, 2023.

The stage show takes place on the Bascom Lamar Lunsford stage, named for the founder of the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival. Since the outdoor event’s inception in 1967, hundreds of thousands of individuals from across the region and throughout the world have shared and enjoyed the rich traditional music and dance heritage of the Southern Appalachian Mountains in this outdoor setting.

Shindig on the Green remains a free event due in part to net proceeds from ticket sales to the nation’s longest continually running festival, the granddaddy of all festivals, the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival.

Rainy Night Theatre Presents:
“The ART of Comedy”
An all comedy open mic event. Featuring comedians from both Carolinas! With MC, Brendan from Long Island and DJ Paul Ain’t Right. Open donation.
Come for the nuances and neuroses…

It’s the Asheville 48 Hour Film Project, AWARDS NIGHT GALA!

The 48 Hour Film Project, the largest independent film competition in the world, has returned to Asheville for its 18th year.

Each year, filmmakers from Western North Carolina and the surrounding area write, shoot, and edit a short film in just 48 hours. The Best Film from Asheville moves on to represent Asheville at the international Filmapalooza festival, and earns a chance to be screened at the Cannes Film Festival “Short Film Corner”.

The Awards Night Gala will include a screening of the “Best Of” Asheville’s short films, followed by an “Oscar’s” style awards ceremony. Come out and support our creative local actors, writers, and filmmaking teams, and see who takes home the Award for Best Film!

Before Rent, there was Tick, Tick… Boom!. This autobiographical musical by Jonathan Larson, the Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning composer of Rent, is the story of a composer and the sacrifices that he made to achieve his big break in theatre. Containing fourteen songs, ten characters, and three actors, Tick, Tick… Boom! takes you on the playwright/composer’s journey that led to a Broadway blockbuster.

TICK, TICK… BOOM! Is presented through special arrangement with Musical Theatre International (MTI).

All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI. www.mtishows.com

Head to www.avlmt.org or @avlmusicals for more information.

Bat Boy: The Musical

Book by: Keythe Farley and Brian Flemming; Music and Lyrics by: Laurence O’Keefe

A rock musical, Bat Boy: The Musical expands on a June 23, 1992 Weekly World News tabloid story about a bat boy – half-boy, half-bat – found in a cave and forced into society. The musical – at turns both haunting and hilarious – deals with themes of racism and revenge, hypocrisy and forgiveness. This darkly quirky, compelling musical is not to be missed!

Content Warning: Bat Boy: the Musical contains violence, drug use, and sexual references. Viewer discretion is advised.

Accessibility:

All performances: Accessible wheelchair/scooter seating available.

Saturday, Aug 5, 2023: ASL-Interpreted Performance

BMC Artistic Director Keith Lockhart continues his cycle of Mahler symphonies with the one that started it all, “The Titan.” Arguably the greatest first symphony ever written, Mahler continues the Romantic traditions of Beethoven, Brahms, and Bruckner, while injecting the modern ideas of Liszt and Wagner. The result is an exciting and masterful work that firmly celebrates the heroic, and delivers one of the most epic concert endings ever heard. Jeremy Denk opens the concert with Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto, one of the pinnacles of the concerto repertoire. The public premiere took place at one of the most famous concerts in music history, which also witnessed the premieres of the Choral Fantasy, as well as the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies.

PERFORMANCE & ARTIST DETAILS
Brevard Music Center Orchestra
Keith Lockhart, conductor
Jeremy Denk, piano

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58
GUSTAV MAHLER Symphony No. 1, “Titan”

Auditorium seating is reserved.  Lawn seating is general admission.

All shows will be at the Hazel Robinson Amphitheater in the Montford District of Asheville, and all will be presented absolutely FREE of charge!

Written by William Shakespeare
Directed by Fable Wilde Day
Always an audience favorite, Twelfth Night returns to the MPP stage with all of the mistaken identity, love triangles and general wackiness you may already know and love!

All shows will run Fridays through Sundays and all will be presented at 7:30pm and prime seats can be reserved.

Montford Park Players has been bringing some of theater’s greatest works to Western North Carolina for over 50 years. Montford Park Players continues its mission of bring free theater to the community. The summer season allows everyone to come spend an evening under the stars, seeing some of the best live performances presented in Asheville.

Montford Park Players allows patrons to bring their favorite food and beverages to their shows and sells beer, wine and concessions at the shows. If you’ve never been to the Hazel Robinson Amphitheatre for a Montford show, there’s no better season than this one. If you have been, you know why you should come back and catch everything we have to offer!

Book by Chris D’Arienzo
Arrangements and Orchestrations by Ethan Popp
Presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals
www.concordtheatricals.com

Director: Victoria Lamberth

This five-time Tony Award-nominated musical tells the story of a small-town girl, a city boy, and a rock ‘n’ roll romance on the Sunset Strip. But when the bar where rock reigns supreme is set to be demolished, it’s up to these wannabe rockers and their band of friends to save the day – and the music. Rock of Ages takes you back to the time of big bands with big egos playing big guitar solos and sporting even bigger hair! This jukebox musical features all of your favorite ‘80s rock anthems and power ballads from bands including Styx, Journey, Bon Jovi, Whitesnake, Night Ranger, REO Speedwagon, Pat Benatar, Twisted Sister and more.

Approximate Run Time: 2 hours, 15 minutes

Rating: PG-13 due to adult content, alcohol use, and language.

The “One Singular Sensation,” A Chorus Line, is coming to Flat Rock Playhouse for the first time and we are thrilled to share this award-winning musical with everyone! A Chorus Line is a celebration of those unsung heroes of the American Musical Theatre: the chorus dancers. The show follows 17 would-be dancers in their quest to make the cut for a new Broadway Musical. One by one, the dancers come forward to share the stories of their lives, giving it their all and putting themselves on the line to make the cut. Only eight will remain. Capturing the spirit, tension, and hope of an audition, A Chorus Line is the musical for everyone who’s ever had a dream and put it all out there to make it come true!

A Chorus Line once held the record as the longest running show on Broadway with over 6000 performances, and heralds nine Tony® Awards including Best Musical, Best Director and Best Choreographer, as well as the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Conceived and Originally Directed and Choreographed by Michael Bennett. Book by James Kirkwood & Nicholas Dante, Music by Marvin Hamlisch, Lyrics by Edward Kleban. Co-Choreographed by Bob Avian. Original Broadway production produced by the New York Shakespeare Festival, Joseph Papp, Producer, in association with Plum Productions, Inc.

Fans of Wendy Jones featured vocals as a member of The Asheville Jazz Orchestra are going to be excited to hear Wendy in a full show of her own…. a tribute to one of Wendy’s heroes, the immortal ROSEMARY CLOONEY.

“Everything is Rosie” featuring WENDY JONES tells the story of Rosemary Clooney’s rise to top of the Billboard charts in the 50’s, her success in Hollywood in films like WHITE CHRISTMAS followed by her mental breakdown, and finally her triumphant return to the top of the jazz charts in the 80’s and 90’s. It is a compelling story of heartbreak, tragedy, perseverance, and triumph. As Wendy takes the audience on a riveting trip through Rosemary’s life, she interweaves some of Rosemary’s most beloved hits such as “Come On A My House”, “Half as Much”, “Hey There”, and Tenderly” as well as songs from her movie musicals including WHITE CHRISTMAS and jazz standards by composers such as George Gershwin, Duke Ellington, and Harold Arlen.

Performers for this special event at:

Michael Jefry Stevens – piano

Bob Songster – bass

Rick Dilling – drums

and of course

Wendy Jones doing the vocals

Many of you know Wendy Jones as the featured singer of the Asheville Jazz Orchestra. She’s a much beloved part of the orchestra and her vocals are audience favorites.

Wendy is a professional vocalist, arranger, songwriter, producer, and commercial voice specialist. She has appeared on stages from New York to Tokyo and has performed with artists such as NEA Jazz Master Jamey Aebersold, The New York Voices, legendary jazz guitarist Howard Alden, jazz violinist Christian Howes, the Page Brothers, Crystal Gale, and has sung backup for the alternative hip hop group Deltron 3030 and for Las Vegas Elvis Impersonator, Donnie Edwards. She has appeared at Club Bonafide in NYC, the Jazz Arts Initiative, the Mountain Oasis Music Festival, the Spartanburg Jazz Festival, Our World Festival, and the Django Reinhardt Festival in Asheville, NC

In addition to singing with her own jazz quartet, she is the featured vocalist with the Asheville Jazz Orchestra, the Ole ’74 big Band, the Russ Wilson Orchestra, the Michael Jefry Stevens Trio, the Richard Shulman Group and is often a guest vocalist with the Greenville Jazz Collective big band.

She has recorded her own projects as well as with Darmon Meader of the New York Voices, the Richard Shulman Group, Michael Jefry Stevens, and Steve Watson.

Wendy has served on the executive boards for the North Carolina Chapter and the Mid-Atlantic Region of the National Association of Teachers of Singing and as a mentor teacher as part of the NATS Mentored Teaching program. She a member of ASCAP, a voting member of the Recording Academy (GRAMMY’S), Actors’ Equity Association, and the Jazz Education Network.

Wendy received a B.M. and an M.M. in vocal Performance from Appalachian State University and then joined the voice faculty there where she taught for 8 years before embarking on a full time, professional singing/acting career. Having sung with Opera Carolina, Appalachian Opera Theatre, and the Brevard Music Center Opera, her favorite roles include Adina in L’Elisir d’Amore, Laetitia in The Old Maid and the Thief, and Papagena in Die Zauberflöte. An accomplished Equity actor as well as singer, Wendy has appeared in leading roles on stage of many professional theatres throughout the U.S. including Florida Repertory Theatre, Flat Rock Playhouse, Little Theatre on the Square, Temple Theatre, and Blowing Rock Stage Company in roles such as Miss Sandra in All Shook Up, Brenda in Smokey Joe’s Cafe, Luisa in The Fantasticks, Fiona in Brigadoon, and Eliza in My Fair Lady.

Wendy has also appeared as a soloist with the The Symphony of the Mountains, the Western Piedmont Symphony, the Asheville Choral Society, and the Carolina Concert Choir in works such as Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem, John Corgliano’s Fern Hill, Bach’s Magnificat, and Mozart’s Great Mass in C Minor.

From Tudor Queens to Pop Icons, the six wives of Henry VIII take the microphone to remix five hundred years of historical heartbreak into a Euphoric Celebration of 21st-century girl power! This new original musical is a global sensation that everyone is losing their head over! Featuring an all-woman cast and all-woman band, SIX has won 23 awards in the 2021/2022 Broadway season, including the Tony Award® for Best Original Score (Music and Lyrics) and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Musical. The New York Times says SIX “TOTALLY RULES!” (Critic’s Pick), and The Washington Post hails SIX as “Exactly the kind of energizing, inspirational illumination this town aches for!”  The SIX: LIVE ON OPENING NIGHT Broadway album debuted at Number 1 on the Billboard cast album charts and surpassed 6 Million streams in its first month.