The Segerstrom Center’s 2012-13 season, announced today, contains some familiar names as well as a few new artists who are potential box office winners.
The Jazz and Cabaret series are particularly strong, while the Broadway series contains the expected line-up of recent musical theater hits and the dance season consists of companies that have visited the Center in the recent past.
“War Horse,” a stirring saga set in World War I, and the hugely popular “Billy Elliot the Musical” highlight the Broadway series. As in previous seasons, the Center will offer a reliable crowd pleaser, “Wicked,” which will play for a month early next year.
The jazz series reads like a Who’s Who of late-20th-century masters: Pat Metheny, Charlie Haden, Ahmad Jamal and his quartet.
The cabaret series features giants of a more recent vintage, including Jane Monheit, Michael Feinstein and “Miss Saigon” star Lea Salonga, in addition to shows that celebrate more seasoned stars: Betty Buckley is scheduled, and there’ll be a special concert to celebrate 85th birthday of Broadway legend Barbara Cook.
“Things really fell into place very nicely for us this year,” said Center president Terrence W. Dwyer. “I think we have quite an extraordinary range of artists, especially in the jazz and cabaret programs.”
The dance season doesn’t contain anything with the feel of a grand special event such as this season’s American Ballet Theatre world premiere of a new “Firebird” or the popular superstar evenings, “Reflections” and “Kings of the Dance.”
“Those kinds of events depend on scheduling. They can’t happen every year,” Dwyer said.
Still, any line-up that features the Hamburg Ballet, the Mariinsky Ballet and the Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg is sure to excite O.C.’s dance community. And there will be one significant world premiere by the Boise-based Trey McIntyre Project.
“It will be quite large and ambitious,” Dwyer said. “Like the last (work) that his company premiered here it will have an outdoor component.”
The program for the 2013 Off Center Festival of offbeat work will be announced later this year, Dwyer said.
Segerstrom Center for the Arts 2012-13 season:
International Dance Series
Mariinsky Ballet and Orchestra (Oct. 2-7)
Trey McIntyre Project (Nov. 23-25)
Hamburg Ballet (Feb. 8-10)
Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg (May 3-5, 2013)
Broadway Series
“Memphis” (Nov. 6-18)
“The Addams Family” (Dec. 18-30)
“War Horse” (Jan. 22-Feb. 3)
“Billy Elliot the Musical” (April 16-28, 2013)
“Flashdance” (May 7-19, 2013)
“Sister Act” (Aug. 6-18, 2013)
Curtain Call Series
“Wicked” (Feb. 19-March 17, 2013)
“Catch Me If You Can” (June 25-30, 2013)
“Anything Goes” (Sept. 20-15, 2013)
Jazz Series
Pat Metheny, Chris Potter, Antonio Sanchez and Ben Williams (Sept. 28)
Charlie Haden and Quartet West (Nov. 3)
Ahmad Jamal Quartet (Nov. 24)
Ninety Miles (Dec. 14 and 15)
Monterey Jazz Festival 55th Anniversary Concert (Jan. 13)
Blues at the Crossroads II: Muddy and the Wolf (March 13, 2013)
Cabaret Series
Jane Monheit & John Pizzarelli Quartet (Oct. 5)
Michael Feinstein: The Sinatra Project (Oct. 27)
Lea Salonga (Jan. 19)
Marin Mazzie and Jason Danieley: A Cabaret Valentine (Feb. 14-16)
Barbara Cook 85th Birthday Concert (April 13, 2013)
Betty Buckley (May 16-18, 2013)
Concert Series
Emerson String Quartet (Oct. 6)
David Finckel, Wu Han and Philip Setzer (Nov. 2)
Takács Quartet (Jan. 18)
Szymanowski String Quartet with Adam Golka, piano (Feb. 7)
Elias String Quartet with Jonathan Biss, piano (March 28, 2013)
Bonus Event
“Stomp” (Oct. 4-9)
Call 714-556-2787 or visit scfta.org for more information about these events or the Segerstrom Center’s two 2012-13 family series.
Contact the writer: 714-796-7979 or phodgins@ocregister.com
