Tickets now on sale for 2008-2009 Marshall Artists Series shows

HUNTINGTON — Individual tickets are now on sale for the 72nd season of the Marshall Artists Series.

 Tickets went on sale at 10 this morning for the individual shows in the Marshall Artists Series 2008-2009 season.

Tickets can be purchased through the Marshall Artists Series box office, located in the Joan C. Edwards Performing Arts Center, or by calling (304) 696-6656 or (304) 523-5757. Patrons can also visit www.marshallartistsseries.org for ticket information.

The box office is open noon to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday. Tickets can also be purchased online at www.ticketmaster.com. Patrons can pick up tickets at any Ticketmaster outlet, as well as FYE stores in the Huntington Mall and Ashland Town Center, and at Macy’s in the Charleston Town Center.

For additional information please call the Marshall Artists Series at (304) 696-3326 or send us an email at artistsseries@marshall.edu.

Here’s a look at this season’s shows:

The fall season kicks off with one of the most recognized faces in contemporary comedy, Jim Gaffigan, who will be at the Keith Albee Performing Arts Center at 8 p.m., Wednesday, October 1.  A frequent guest on popular talk shows such as CBS’s Late Show with David Letterman and NBC’s Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Gaffigan’s comedy will appeal to a variety of audiences; without stretching the use of “four-letter words,” he makes everyday subjects wildly funny.  Tickets are $47.50 & $35.

Two-time Emmy award-winning actress Sally Struthers joins the cast of the hit musical comedy Nunsense for its national 25th anniversary tour at the Keith-Albee Performing Arts Center at 8 p.m., Wednesday October 22.

This zany musical comedy features the antics of the Little Sisters of Hoboken as they discover that their beloved cook, Sister Julia, has accidentally poisoned 52 of their fellow sisters! In order to do their sisterly duty and arrange proper burials for so many of their order, the imaginative survivors put on a variety show to raise money for the burials. Meet the wacky former circus performer, Reverend Mother Regina, Sister Mary Hubert, a streetwise nun named Sister Robert Anne, the ballerina novice Sister Mary Leo, and the spacey Sister Mary Amnesia, who lost her memory after a freak crucifix accident. Tickets are $55, $50, & $45. Youth tickets (17 & under) are $27.50, $25, & $22.50.

Get ready for a unique film experience as Marshall Artists Series presents an evening of silent film at 7 p.m. October 30 at the Keith-Albee Performing Arts Center.  The Keith-Albee’s mighty Wurlitzer Pipe Organ will come to life at the hands of Scott Foppiano, 2007 A.T.O.S. Theatre Organist of the Year as he accompanies the classic silent film “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.”

This well-known film classic, starring the man of mystery himself, Lon Chaney, tells the story of the timeless novel by Victor Hugo.  The tortured and misunderstood hunchback, Quasimodo dwells within the sanctuary of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Ridiculed and shunned by the world outside, he devotes his life to passionately ringing the cathedral’s famous bells as an expression of his feelings. Tickets are $10.

Celebrate good times…come on and dance, dance, dance!  Sit back and relax or put your dancing shoes on and get ready to boogie the night away as Beford Ford & Airgas welcome Kool & The Gang to the Big Sandy Superstore Arena, Friday, November 7 at 7:30 p.m for a dance party extravaganza with multiple stages and performers.

 A musical staple of the 1970’s and 1980’s, Kool and the Gang will bring their hits Celebration, Cherish, Ladies Night, Get Down On It and many more, along with other special guests to local audiences.  In a concert experience like no other, the performance will feature multiple stages with music and dancing from Myrtle Beach’s premier Shag band, Jim Quick and Coastline Premium Soul, while DC’s hip-hop dancers, Cultureshock will get the dance party started and teach you some new dance moves.  Tickets are $57.50

Charles Dickens’ larger than life characters take the stage as Chesapeake Energy presents the beloved Broadway musical Oliver! at the Keith-Albee Performing Arts Center, 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, November. Tickets are $55, $50, & $45.  Youth tickets (17 & under) are $27.50, $25, & $22.50.

Follow the yellow brick road all the way to the Keith-Albee Performing Arts Center at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, December 9 as Chase Bank and Cabell Huntington Hospital present the spectacular Broadway musical, The Wizard of Oz.  Get ready for tornados, flying monkeys, witches both good and evil, Dorothy, Toto, the Cowardly Lion, the Tinman, Scarecrow and all their unforgettable friends as Oz comes to life. Tickets are $55, $50, & $45.  Youth tickets (17 & under) are $27.50, $25, & $22.50.

Brazilian jazz music legend Sergio Mendes is at the Keith-Albee Performing Arts Center at 8 p.m., Saturday, January 31. The Grammy-award winning band leader and composer will help celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Marshall University’s Winter Jazz Festival, dedicated this season to J.D. Folson, founder of the Marshall Jazz Ensemble and its annual winter festival. Known for his ear for infectious rhythms and irresistible melodies, Mendes provides his audiences with a kaleidoscope view of jazz, pop, and Brazilian favorites. Tickets are $60 & $45.  Youth tickets (17 & under) are $30 & $22.50.

Be prepared for the excitement of Sweeney Todd as the Broadway musical thriller Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street plies his trade on the stage of the Keith-Albee Performing Arts Center, 8 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 5, 2009. Tckets are $55, $50, & $45.  Youth tickets (17 & under) are $27.50, $25, & $22.50.

Four-time Tony-Award nominee Tovah Feldshuh stars in her award-winning performance in William Gibson’s play, Golda’s Balcony at the Keith-Albee Performing Arts Center, 8 p.m., Saturday, March 7. The one woman tour-de-force is a portrait of the indomitable Golda Meir, the Russian immigrant who became an American schoolteacher and a leader of international politics as the fourth Prime Minister of Israel in 1969.  The longest running one-woman show in Broadway history. Tickets are $55, $50, & $45.  Youth tickets (17 & under) are $27.50, $25, & $22.50.

The John F. Kennedy Center, West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission, West Virginia Department of Education, and Heiner’s Bakery present the stunning Blues Journey, a family-oriented musical and poetic voyage through the history of the blues. The Kennedy Center’s Blues Journey will appear at 8 p.m., Monday, March 9, 2009 at the Keith-Albee Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $25; Youth tickets (17 & under) are $15.

Huntington prepares to welcome the reigning #1 artists on Billboard’s classical charts for 21 weeks, a group of 5 twenty-something siblings who make up classical music’s first family of piano virtuosos. The 5 Browns will take Huntington by storm at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 22 at the Keith-Albee Performing Arts Center.

The five brothers and sisters began their astonishing careers when they came to notice at the famous New York Julliard School of Music by breathing new life into old classics, and have since performed sold-out concerts all over the world and have topped the charts with a succession of gorgeous albums. The 5 Browns will bring their immense talent and their 5 Steinway pianos to the Keith-Albee stage for a performance not to be missed. Tickets are $45, $40, & $35.  Youth tickets (17 & under) are $22.50, $20, & $17.50.

Get ready, set…Spell! Broadway’s Tony-Award winning new musical comedy, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is taking the stage at the Keith-Albee Performing Arts Center, 8 p.m., Tuesday, April 28.  The new exciting musical breaks the mold as it follows the story of six young spelling stars in the throes of puberty, dealing with grownups lost in their own childhoods, as they partake in the all important county spelling bee.  Tickets are $55, $50, & $45.  Youth tickets (17 & under) are $27.50, $25, & $22.50.