Missoula Children’s Theatre – Blackbeard the Pirate

blackbeard-missoulaTalladega, AL – Missoula Children’s Theatre (MCT) will be in Talladega next week for their 18th annual week-long residency at the Historic Ritz Theatre.

On Monday, November 17, the Missoula directors will hold open auditions for area students ages 5 to 14 who may wish to appear in MCT’s original production of “Blackbeard The Pirate.”

Auditions will begin at 4:00 pm sharp on The Ritz stage.  A rigorous after-school and early evening rehearsal schedule throughout the week will culminate with two public performances complete with sets, costumes, props, plus an original score on Saturday, November 22.

NO advance preparation is required of students who audition.  The MCT director’s cast selection is based on those students who they believe can best fill some 55-60 available roles after a two-hour audition process.  The ability to concentrate and focus, take directions, listen carefully, work well in a team, show orderly behavior, plus voice projection and a warm smile are important criteria used in selecting the members of the cast.

The two public performances of “Blackbeard The Pirate” will be on Saturday, November 22 at 12 Noon and 2:00 pm.  Tickets are $5 for adults, and $3 for students.

The annual MCT residency at The Ritz is sponsored by Callie’s Kid Foundation, who provided additional funding this year toward the Willy Coker Arts Education Memorial Fund, which will also help underwrite MCT’s 2014 production of “Blackbeard The Pirate.”

The mission of Missoula Children’s Theatre is “the development of life skills in children through participation in the performing arts.”  In 2014, MCT touring companies will work with 65,000 children in some 1200 communities in all fifty states and 17 countries.

For more information call George Culver, Ritz E.D., at 356-315-0000

Missoula Children’s Theatre Auditions

blackbeard-missoulaTalladega, AL – Missoula Children’s Theatre (MCT) will be in Talladega next week for their 18th annual week-long residency at the Historic Ritz Theatre.

On Monday, November 17, the Missoula directors will hold open auditions for area students ages 5 to 14 who may wish to appear in MCT’s original production of “Blackbeard The Pirate.”

Auditions will begin at 4:00 pm sharp on The Ritz stage.  A rigorous after-school and early evening rehearsal schedule throughout the week will culminate with two public performances complete with sets, costumes, props, plus an original score on Saturday, November 22.

NO advance preparation is required of students who audition.  The MCT director’s cast selection is based on those students who they believe can best fill some 55-60 available roles after a two-hour audition process.  The ability to concentrate and focus, take directions, listen carefully, work well in a team, show orderly behavior, plus voice projection and a warm smile are important criteria used in selecting the members of the cast.

The two public performances of “Blackbeard The Pirate” will be on Saturday, November 22 at 12 Noon and 2:00 pm.  Tickets are $5 for adults, and $3 for students.

The annual MCT residency at The Ritz is sponsored by Callie’s Kid Foundation, who provided additional funding this year toward the Willy Coker Arts Education Memorial Fund, which will also help underwrite MCT’s 2014 production of “Blackbeard The Pirate.”

The mission of Missoula Children’s Theatre is “the development of life skills in children through participation in the performing arts.”  In 2014, MCT touring companies will work with 65,000 children in some 1200 communities in all fifty states and 17 countries.

For more information call George Culver, Ritz E.D., at 356-315-0000

Marquee Gospel Series: Guy Penrod

Grammy and GMA Dove Award-winning recording artist GUY PENROD is a vocal powerhouse and one of the most in-demand touring artists in Christian music. The Ritz is proud to have such a beloved and accomplished gospel artist help us reinstitute the Marquee Gospel Series after a several year hiatus. Penrod spent 14 years as the lead singer of the Gaither Vocal Band before launching his successful solo ministry, which includes having the top-selling southern gospel album of 2012, Hymns. Known for his country styling, Penrod’s music has been applauded in the gospel as well as country formats. He is an inductee in both the Texas Gospel Music Hall of Fame and, as a member the Gaither Vocal Band, the Gospel Music Hall of Fame.

Black Jacket Symphony

An amazing musical phenomenon started in Birmingham a few years back as the brainchild of musician and radio personality J. Willoughby. He was passionate about the notion that classic rock is our generation’s classical music, deserving the same detailed care and attention required of a Beethoven symphony. If a symphony orchestra performs key pieces of an essential repertoire, Willoughby reasoned, could not a world-class rock ensemble do the same? Black Jacket Symphony (BJS) was born, and that’s what they do – give classic rock its due.

In performance BJS delivers the exhilarating live experience of top-notch rock musicians recreating legendary classic albums note for note, sound for sound, guitar lick for guitar lick. There is no attempt to create the look or accent of original artists like a tribute band, which BJS is not, but rather to focus exclusively on the music and artistic mission to be as accurate as possible to the original studio recording.

In only a few short years, BJS has mastered some 15 classic albums by such iconic musicians as Fleetwood Mac, Prince, Michael Jackson, The Eagles, Pink Floyd and The Beatles among others. The extraordinary diversity in sound and style BJS must realize in concerts comes from rotating a cast of A-list musicians enlisted as needed to recreate the original album.

Among legendary rock groups over the last seven decades, The Beatles is universally recognized as one the most innovative and influential. Because 2014 is the ‘50th Anniversary of The Beatle’s First American Tour,’ The Ritz felt the perfect BJS concert should be the final album by the ‘Fab four’ as a band — ABBY ROAD. BJS’s Ritz performance will be in two sets. The first features the album recreated as a true symphonic piece. A second, more laid back set will showcase some of The Beatles’ “greatest hits” to top off an unforgettable evening.

Caution! This is a certain sell-out event, so order tickets early.

“No, Black Jacket Symphony doesn’t look a thing like The Beatles. They don’t begin to try. But what they offered last night was pure, superb Beatles music.” –Jude Kesslere, John Lennon Biographer

“Word spreads quickly when a new BJS show is announced, and it’s a tough ticket to get.” – The Birmingham News

“Black Jacket Symphony reminds everyone just how magical the art of the album can be.” – Scott Register, Reg’s Coffeehouse on Birmingham Mountain Radio

March Fourth Marching Band

With a rallying cry of “JOY NOW,” MarchFourth Marching Band (known as M4 by their growing legions of fans) throws itself and the audience into a swirling volcano of high-energy music and spectacle like you’ve never seen before. What began as a crazy Fat Tuesday party on March 4, 2003 in Portland, Oregon, MarchFourth has evolved into a kaleidoscope of musical and visual energy mere “mortal” bands cannot compete with and, in the process, became one of the nation’s best live touring acts.

Aside from their marching band themed costumes, and the drum (5) and brass corps (8) backed by bass and guitars, M4 is far from a “marching band” in any traditional sense. Their show takes you on a journey from the swamps of Louisiana to the gypsy camps of Eastern Europe by way of Brazil — along the way stopping to sample the deepest grooves of American funk, rock and jazz – then boils it all together in cinematic fashion with high-stepping stilt-acrobatics and dazzling dancers.

M4 amazes audiences of all ages whether as a festival headliner, playing prestigious venues like The Kennedy Center, or as US cultural ambassadors to China. For the 700 Ritz patrons awed by the Rythmic Circus performances a few seasons back, think next progression in spectacular contemporary entertainment, and then some!

The show’s October 28 date is a weeknight because M4 is a hot act and dates are difficult to book. Yet this is a terrific family outing even on a school night , and the kids – who will never forget this experience — can still make bedtime with a 7:00pm curtain.

“The kind of spectacle that deserves the word awesome.” – Atlanta Journal Constitution

Jeckyll and Hyde

The epic struggle between good and evil comes to life on the stage in this all new national tour of the Broadway musical hit, Jekyll & Hyde. Based on the classic story by Robert Louis Stevenson and featuring a thrilling score of rock hits from multi-Grammy and Tony nominated Frank Wildhorn and double Oscar and Grammy winning Leslie Bricusse, Jekyll & Hyde has mesmerized audiences the world over.

An evocative tale of two men – one a doctor, passionate and romantic – the other, a terrifying madman; and two women – one, beautiful and trusting – the other, beautiful and trusting only herself. Both women are in love with the same man. Both unaware of his dark secret.

Their story unfolds in this gripping musical thriller resplendent with a sumptuous score including the unforgettable, “This Is the Moment,” “Someone Like You,” and “A New Life.”

With a Grammy nominated score, the original Tony nominated Broadway production is the longest running show in the history of Broadway’s Plymouth Theatre. This show is glamorous, sexy, deliciously wicked — and at The Ritz just in time for HALLOWEEN!

“The show’s great strength is its score.” – The Chicago Tribune

An Afternoon of Praise

Dove Award Nominee Richard Kingsmore
will lead an Orchestra and Choir of over
100 local singers and musicians in a
Community-Wide Praise Experience

The Historic Talladega Ritz Theatre
Sunday Afternoon
August 24, 2014
Performances at 2:30 and 4:30 pm

Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at The Ritz Theatre,
The First National Bank and First United Methodist Church

Find us on www.facebook.com/afternoonofpraise
Proceeds will benefit The Red Door Kitchen and Guests are asked to bring a bag of non-perishable food items which will help to support The Samaritan House