Broadway behemoth The Book of Mormon arrives at the KenCen next summer. Photograph by Flickr user jenny8lee.
The Kennedy Center announced its 2012–13 season this morning, and if you haven’t seen a Broadway show in a good few years, let’s just say now is your chance to make up for it.The Book of Mormon— Trey Parker, Robert Lopez, and Matt Stone’s Broadway mega-smash—will arrive at the KenCen next summer, while War Horse, Anything Goes, Irving Berlin’s White Christmas, and Million Dollar Quartet are also on the schedule. This fall, the Kennedy Center will host a pre-Broadway production of Jekyll and Hyde starring American Idol alum Constantine Maroulis, as well as an original production of Ferenc Molnár’s The Guardsman, directed by Gregory Mosher, next spring.
In non-theater news, KenCen president Michael Kaiser also announced a Nordic Cool festival celebrating culture from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Greenland, and the Faroe and Aland Islands. The festival will present theater, ballet, dance, and other offerings from companies including Norway’s National Theatre, the Göteborg Ballet, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, and more. The National Symphony Orchestra will host Chinese pianist Lang Lang for a weeklong residency, while the NSO Pops will perform concerts with Roberta Flack, jazz musician Chris Botti, the Chieftains, and Seth McFarlane (Family Guy, American Dad), who’ll perform in a tribute concert to songwriter Sammy Cahn.
The Washington National Opera’s season kicks off with Donizetti’s Anna Bolena, and also includes Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Puccini’s Manon Lescault, Bellini’s Norma, and a company premiere of Show Boat by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein. The WNO also announced plans for a new holiday-focused family opera, which this year will be Engelbert Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, sung in English.The Opera in the Outfield program will return, bringing a free performance of Don Giovanni to Nationals Stadium.
In addition to a full slate of touring and local ballet companies, including a run of Christopher Wheeldon’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by the National Ballet of Canada, the third annual Ballet Across America festival is scheduled for next summer, bringing nine companies from across the country to the Opera House. The Suzanne Farrell Ballet will present two all-Balanchine productions, the Mariinsky Ballet will perform Alexei Ratmansky’s Cinderella, and the San Francisco Ballet will present Romeo & Juliet. Contemporary dance companies Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, the Lars Lubovitch Dance Company, Malavika Sarukkai, and others are also scheduled to perform.
In contemporary-ish music news, a “Songs of Conscience” series will host two performances celebrating great 20th-century songwriters Woody Guthrie and Bob Marley. The first concert, “Woody Guthrie at 100,” will feature Arlo Guthrie and John Mellencamp performing in the Concert Hall.
For more information on the Kennedy Center’s full 2012–13 season announcement, visit the KenCen’s website.
