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OPAS Season 51 promises to be ASTONISHING! Music Will Fill the Rudder Complex

October 3, 2023

 

There’s no way to expect that the team at Texas A&M’s MSC OPAS could surpass last year’s 50 th anniversary season, but they have, and they’ve already sold out a special event in March 2024!

Season 51 begins this evening at Rudder Auditorium, with The Barricade Boys’ West End Party. If you like the harmonies of four singers who perform Motown to doo wop to rock and roll, this is the concert to kick off the season in Rudder Auditorium. Students can still get $10 rush tickets if you haven’t purchased yours yet.

Then, if you are ready for the comedy of Tina Fey, you have two chances to catch the musical comedy, “Mean Girls,” and you can imagine the dialogue and music that will accompany the story of a group of performers who sing and dance their way into poking fun at the girls who picked on everyone during those growing up days. November 1 and 2. Ann Cobb Wiatt Main Stage.

Two weeks later, get ready for Jesus Christ Superstar and go back to 1970 and remember the lyrics of the  musical that Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber created, and some 52 years later is still going strong. Who can forget “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” and “Superstar”? (note: Mature audiences). November 15 and 16. Ann Cobb Wiatt Main Stage.

Just in time for the Holidays, there’s Cirque Dreams Holidaze, where Broadway meets circus arts. The entire family will be enthralled with this amazing production. December 5 and 6. Ann Cobb Wiatt Main Stage.

In Spring 2024, get ready for Richard Thomas to star as Atticus Finch in Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird,” with the script by Aaron Sorkin, directed by Bart Sher. Mature audiences will appreciate this one. January 16 and 17, 2024. Ann Cobb Wiatt Main Stage.

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, treat your ladies to “Little Women” and enjoy the rich history of Louisa May Alcott’s creation of life in a large American family. For all audiences. February 13 and 14. Ann Cobb Wiatt Main Stage.

The final show of the series is a musical “Come From Away” that takes you to a town of 7,000 stranded passengers and a small town in Newfoundland that welcomes them. As described, “On 9/11, the world stopped. On 9/12, their stories moved us all.” June 25 and 26. Ann Cobb Wiatt Main Stage.

Two “Singular Sensations” are “The  Doo Wop Project with a night of immersion in 1950s harmonies and smooth dance steps set to old and new songs alike. February 21.

If you are multilingual then you can sing along in any one of 25 languages for the evening called “Pink Martini,” where 12 musicians will blow your mind with jazz, world music, cabaret, and film scores from the ‘50s,” and yes, you can sing along! March 21.

Three entries in the Intimate Gatherings Series include: singer Stacey Kent (October 18) for a night of jazz from a stunning vocalist who has sold over 2,000,000 albums internationally. Then, Voctave takes the stage November 9, with 11 singers who deliver a cappella versions of songs from “the corner of Broadway and Main Street.” They’re all across social media so you’ve seen them there. Now see them here, November 9.  Finally, Forever Young rounds out the series with vocalists who combine songs from The Beatles to Billy Joel, from Johnny Cash to Brooks & Dunn and Bon Jovi to boot. There’s a story to go with the music that you’ll enjoy. All Intimate Gatherings performances are in Rudder Theatre.

Two special events define the season. Bluey’s Big Play is set for March 2 and 3, 2024 and every child in the Brazos Valley likely knows the TV show, but this is a full-scale stage show presented by the BBC Studios and Andrew Kay with Windmill Theatre. This production is one sponsored by OPAS encore, the fund-raising guild of the MSC Opera and Performing Arts Society, where your donations and gifts go to make possible extraordinary programming for children as their mission.

A few days later, if you were smart and moved fast enough, or were already a season ticketholder, you knew about “An Evening with Yo-Yo Ma,” set for March 6, 2024. He returns to Texas A&M after 20 years and of course the evening is sold out. People are definitely hoping to find tickets available, so if your schedule changes, don’t be shy. Please contact the MSC OPAS ticket office and let them know! Something like this doesn’t last long in the “availability” department for sure, and true to form, the Aggie community moved fast and snapped up the available tickets. Another good reason to be a season ticketholder, right?

The entire season is made possible by a largely unseen group of dedicated volunteers who work year-round to plan for the coming year. Funds are raised by special events including the annual OPAS Gala each January, and other special events in the year. OPAS Executive Director Anne Black has had substantial experience in programming outstanding seasons of entertainment and works closely with an OPAS Board of Directors and her outstanding staff to make all this happen.

Callaway-Jones is proud to be one of many community sponsors each season as they bring so much of the arts to the Brazos Valley, and we don’t have to drive all the way to Austin or Houston for “big city” programs! Our deep thanks to OPAS volunteers and we’ll see you soon at Rudder! For tickets and all program information, visit https://www.opastickets.org/

 

New Beginnings, Clean Slate Begin This New School Year

August 27, 2024
As longtime Brazos Valley residents know, we’ve been taking the back streets the past two weeks now, and until after the first home game traffic settles back, you can count on our staying there. The annual ritual of Back-to-School brings yet another 1500 Aggies to the community, much to the delight of local business owners, who survive the summer to reach the thriving days of fall and summer.

Olympic Times and Trials —What We Learn and Can Teach From Them

July 29, 2024
It’s an exciting first weekend we just experienced, with the opening of the Summer Olympic Games in Paris, France. The week of the Olympics landed in the midst of a very busy series of news cycles that document world events and daily news. Good and bad news abounds, everywhere you look it seems. You just have to pick and choose what you want to let into your day. Yet, it’s important to be aware of the world around us, because the earliest displays of the lessons we teach our children revolve around how we respond to the ups and downs of life.

Independence, Freedom, and Choices

July 4, 2024
This is the day when we break out the red, white, and blue décor and display our pride in being Americans with the rest of our community, same as we do every year at this time. Across the Brazos Valley some of our neighborhoods are staging their own parades and parents have helped their children decorate their bike handles with streamers. Sound systems are playing “The Stars and Stripes Forever” as a parade route forms. Pedal cars are moving into position behind the four- and five-year-old drivers maneuvering into position. Electric cars driven by Batman or John Deere III slide into view.

Why We Attend — The Value of a Visitation

July 1, 2024

The Love Wrapped Inside My Father’s Arms

June 16, 2024
Just looking at these two photos, separated by three decades, I’m overwhelmed to think of how it still just seems like yesterday that my dad was loading up the station wagon, ready to drive me and our soccer team all across the back roads of Texas as we competed across the state, trying our best to stand out.

Mother’s Day — A Promise of Remembrance

May 12, 2024
Of all the women in our lives, mothers certainly hold a position of supreme love and regard that often are set far above others we hold dear in life. Mothers are, frankly, our first very best friends and throughout life, others may come close but there’s a place that only they can hold dear in our hearts.

Who Will Be Your Informant (When the time comes)?

April 29, 2024
In the past few weeks, I’ve heard from high school friends that two of our classmates had died. This is not uncommon by itself, but the surprise came as I learned that one of our classmates had died two years ago, and another some three months ago. Yet, not one person we knew in common had known of their passing before now, so none of us who grew up together had any idea that we’d lost two “of our own.” That meant sorrow upon sorrow at the delay in learning of their passing.

Joy in the Morning: Easter Blessings for All

March 31, 2024
Just as excitedly as children rush from their beds on Easter morning to see what might be awaiting them in their Easter baskets from the Easter bunny, adults have reason to approach this blessed Sunday with similar enthusiasm. The promise of the memory of the stone that was rolled back, revealing an empty tomb brings to all of us the reminder that Christ rose from the dead and God took him back home to be with him. The victory of the resurrection is our guarantee as adults that we can celebrate each year.

Teaching Our Children About Holy Week — Introduction to Palm Sunday

March 24, 2024
Now that our son Rowen is two years old, Chelsea and I are beginning to introduce him to the elements of a regular church worship service that occur with regularity each year. True, one can only make a preliminary impression on a youngster with respect to helping him or her understand the rituals we as adults have grown up with, all of our lives. The occasion of Palm Sunday gives us a chance to help Rowen know that on Palm Sunday, we are going to be seeing everyone we know waving a large palm frond as we come into the church.

Social Media Footprints — Have You Planned for What Happens When You’re Not Here?

March 19, 2024
Over the years we’ve all become more friendly with social media, whether we’re texting our family and friends or whether or not we are adding a smiley face to the post of our latest grandchild playing a sport, and we share it on all our outlets too, because you know, we are proud!
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