August 28, 2024
Shawnee State University’s Vern Riffe Center for the Arts (VRCFA) has announced its lineup for the 2024-2025 Performing Arts Series.
Opening this year’s Performing Arts Series will be “Always Loretta”, an intimate evening of songs and stories of Loretta Lynn, on Wednesday, Sept. 25. Broadway will return to the VRCFA stage on Thursday, Oct. 17 with “Shrek, The Musical”, a musical adaptation of the hit movie that is ogre-sized family fun as this fairytale comes to life. Ringing in the holiday season on Tuesday, Nov. 26, the world’s most famous brass quintet, “Canadian Brass” will share their holiday show.
Starting off 2025, Broadway will once again take the stage with “Pretty Woman, The Musical”, based on the 1990 hit movie starring Richard Gere and Julia Roberts, on Tuesday, Jan. 21. Celebrating the bestselling duo in rock’n’roll history, “Forever Simon & Garfunkel, A Tribute” on Thursday, Feb. 13, will lead the audience through the group’s early success to their global dominance as hit-makers. Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day, a VRCFA favorite, “Celtic Angels Ireland”, once again takes the Eloise Covert Smith Theater stage on Thursday, Mar. 13 to showcase their award-winning Irish and world champion singers, dancers, and musicians. Rounding out this year’s series will be “Here Comes the Sun” on Thursday, Apr. 24, a musical celebration of a decade of Beatles music by a five-person band of multi-instrumentalist and vocalists from Broadway, Lincoln Center, and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.
This year’s lineup will also feature two World Fest performances – Farah Siraj from Jordan on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024 and LADAMA a South American trio, on Thursday, Apr. 3, 2025. The VRCFA has been a selected partner with Arts Midwest for the 2022-2025 World Fest cycle. During the three-year partnership, Arts Midwest has brought six music ensembles from inside and outside the United States to Portsmouth for week-long residencies.
To learn more about each show coming to the Vern Riffe Center for the Arts, visit vrcfa.com.