News

Apollo Theater Announces 85th Anniversary Programming

Posted January 23, 2019

To celebrate the 85^th anniversary season, the Apollo Theater will present an Open House on Saturday, February 2 at 2:00 p.m. Apollo Open House, free and open to the public, will be hosted by Billy “Mr. Apollo” Mitchell and will feature presentations by Brad San Martin, the Apollo’s Digital Archivist, and Ted Fox and James Otis Smith, the creators of the Showtime at the Apollo graphic novel.  In addition to the presentations, there will be performances by Rachel Kara Pérez, JSWISS, Jazzmobile and the Sugar Hill Children's Museum of Art & Storytelling. The Open House comes on the heels of the Apollo Performing Arts Center announcement last month, which begins its first phase with the opening of the theaters at the Victoria. Scheduled for fall 2020, this project marks the first physical expansion in the theater’s history. For more information about the theaters at the Victoria and the Apollo’s mission to work with and support a greater number of emerging and established artists of color across disciplines, click here.

“From Africa Now! and Amateur Night, to the premiere of Twisted Melodies, and all the important work our education team is doing with teens and young adults, I am thrilled that our spring season continues to advance our mission and advocacy for African American and Harlem-based artists,” said Kamilah Forbes, Apollo Theater Executive Producer.

The season kicks off with the 85^th season of Apollo’s famed Amateur Night at the Apollo, the original, large-scale talent show and one of the longest-running continuous events in New York City. The season opener begins on February 20 and will feature special guest, R&B artist Raheem DeVaughn. Legends such as Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Luther Vandross, and D’Angelo have all rubbed the famed tree of hope before taking the stage. A brand-new line-up of contestants will compete for an ultimate cash prize of $20,000. To celebrate the new season and the legends it helped propel, tickets for the February Amateur Night will be available for $8.50, made possible with support from sponsor Coca-Cola.

Beginning February 21, the Apollo, in conjunction with AFROPUNK, will present Race Music weekend, a powerful event that will explore the intersection of music, film, and politics, using the approach of co-opting a concept meant to separate and transforming it to a call-to-arms that brings people together. The weekend will feature films curated by ImageNation Cinema Foundation with a special screening of Mr. Soul! presented in collaboration with Firelight Media. Race Music will culminate in a special performance by progressive musician Kamasi Washington on Saturday, February 23 at 8:00 p.m.

The third annual WOW – Women of the World Festival returns to the Apollo March 12 through 17, with a host of programming, including a special concert featuring Alice Smith on Friday, March 15 at 8:00 p.m. and a talk with Suze Orman on Saturday, March 16 at 8:00 p.m. The six-day event features performances, talks, mentoring sessions, and programs that celebrate the achievements of women and girls from all walks of life and all parts of the world. With more than 60 WOW Festivals on five continents, the event extends the Apollo’s role as a cultural and civic anchor dedicated to providing forums for meaningful discussion and exchange of ideas. WOW – Women of the World Festival is presented in partnership with the WOW Foundation. WOW Festivals are presented by arrangement with Southbank Centre, London. Visit www.apollowow.com for more updates and more information.  

On Saturday, April 13 the Apollo will present Africa Now! – Dancehall, its annual concert celebrating the best of today’s African contemporary music and spotlighting how the music of the diaspora has impacted the continent of Africa. The dance hall theme will feature contemporary African musicians who have been influenced by the traditions of reggae, dancehall, and soca, including Patoranking (Nigeria), Buffalo Souljah (South African/Zimbabwe), Seyi Shay (Nigeria) and Kaleta, and the Super Yamba Band (Benin/Brooklyn). The weekend will also include a film series in partnership with the New York African Film Festival, late-night performances, and DJ sets in the Apollo Music Café, continuing the Apollo’s mission to serve as a partner in the articulation and projection of the African American narrative and its role in the development of American and global culture, advancing its impact worldwide.

The Apollo Theater Salon Series returns in April to present WiLDFLOWER, a work-in-progress being developed as part of National Black Theater’s Soul L.A.B. Residency and the Apollo, which began in 2016 to support innovative artists and new projects. With book, music, and lyrics by Jason Michael Webb and Lelund Durond Thompson, WiLDFLOWER will be workshopped at the Apollo for three days, culminating in two staged readings on Friday, April 26 and Saturday, April 27 at 7:30 p.m.

The spring season will culminate with Twisted Melodies, written and performed by Kelvin Roston, Jr. and directed by Derrick Sanders. The intimate one-man theater production highlights the life, artistry, and struggles of 1970s soul singer and composer Donny Hathaway. The show, running Thursday, May 30 through Sunday, June 2, premieres on the iconic stage 45 years after Hathaway himself last performed on it, providing an additional opportunity to celebrate African American arts and culture and serve as a cultural resource for the community. Twisted Melodies is co-presented with Baltimore Center Stage and Mosaic Theater.

Celebrating the theater’s comedic roots, The Apollo Comedy Club, presented in partnership with the legendary Bob Sumner (producer of Def Comedy Jam, creator of LaffMobb on Aspire), features the best up-and-coming talent in comedy today with more than 15 comedians, including JoJo Collins, Cookie Hull, Edgar Rivera, and others. The comedy shows precedes the Apollo’s weekend music series, The Apollo Music Café, extending the theater’s late-night offerings.

Presenting new artists on the Apollo’s intimate Soundstage, The Apollo Music Café returns monthly on Fridays and Saturdays to feature over a dozen forward-thinking, innovative artists and diverse performances across genres, from R&B, hip-hop, soul, and jazz to pop, funk, and rock. Highlights include Harlem to Hollywood featuring Malik Yoba on Feb. 8 and special performances by Young Paris, Butterscotch, and more.

The Apollo’s robust year-round education and community programs continue this spring with Apollo’s Uptown Hall and Livewire gatherings and discussions that tackle key issues of our day. The theater will also present a special Family Showtime event with Dance Theatre of Harlem, celebrating their 50^th anniversary on Sunday, February 16 at 1:00 p.m. with a special presentation of its legendary lecture demonstration originally created by Arthur Mitchell.

For the complete 85th Anniversary Spring Season Visit: https://www.apollotheater.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/ApolloSpringseason2019_Final.pdf

TICKET INFO

Tickets for Amateur Night at the Apollo, Apollo Comedy Club, Apollo Music Café, Kamasi Washington, Alice Smith, and Twisted Melodies are available now at the Apollo Theater Box Office: (212) 531-5305, 253 West 125th Street, and Ticketmaster at 1-800-745-3000 or www.ticketmaster.com. Please check www.apollotheater.org for updates on ticket availability to additional 85^th Anniversary season programming.

ABOUT WOW – WOMEN OF THE WORLD FESTIVAL

WOW was founded in 2010 by Jude Kelly, then Artistic Director of Southbank Centre, London. In 2018 she founded The WOW Foundation to further build, convene, and sustain the WOW global movement that believes a gender equal world is possible and desirable. There are now over 60 festivals on 5 continents.

ABOUT THE APOLLO THEATER

The legendary Apollo Theater—the soul of American culture—plays a vital role in cultivating emerging artists and launching legends. Since its founding, the Apollo has served as a center of innovation and a creative catalyst for Harlem, the city of New York, and the world.

With music at its core, the Apollo’s programming extends to dance, theater, spoken word, and more. This includes special programs such as the blockbuster concert Bruno Mars Live at the Apollo, the world premiere theatrical reading of Ta-Nehisi Coates’s National Book Award-winning Between the World and Me, 100: The Apollo Celebrates Ella, the annual Africa Now! Festival, and the recent New York premiere of the opera We Shall Not Be Moved. The Apollo is a performing arts presenting organization that also produces festivals and large-scale dance and music works organized around a set of core initiatives that celebrate and extend the Apollo’s legacy through a contemporary lens; global festivals including the Women of the World (WOW) Festival and Breakin’ Convention; international and U.S.-based artist presentations focused on a specific theme; and Special Projects, multidisciplinary collaborations with partner organizations.

Since introducing the first Amateur Night contests in 1934, the Apollo Theater has served as a testing ground for new artists working across a variety of art forms and has ushered in the emergence of many new musical genres—including jazz, swing, bebop, R&B, gospel, blues, soul, and hip-hop. Among the countless legendary performers who launched their careers at the Apollo are Michael Jackson, Ella Fitzgerald, Stevie Wonder, Billie Holiday, James Brown, D’Angelo, Lauryn Hill, Dave Chappelle, Machine Gun Kelly, Miri Ben Ari, Sarah Vaughan, Gladys Knight, and Luther Vandross; and the Apollo’s forward-looking artistic vision continues to build on this legacy. For more information visit https://www.apollotheater.org/

SUPPORT

The Apollo's season is made possible by leadership support from Coca-Cola, Citi, Ford Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation and the Jerome L. Greene Foundation.

Public support for the Apollo Theater is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, and from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

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For more information, please contact:                                               

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