ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL

Big Band Western Swing

The nine-time Grammy Award winning Asleep at the Wheel, who recently collaborated with Willie Nelson on Willie and the Wheel, received the 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award for Performance presented by the American Music Award membership. Founder Ray Benson has led an ever-changing lineup (over 80 members) of talented musicians for nearly forty years in his quest to keep alive the authentic  sound of Big Band Western Swing Music.

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BJ THOMAS

Five-Time Grammy Award Winner

Reminisce with award winning pop, rock and country artist BJ Thomas, one of the most recognized voices of his generation.  The five-time Grammy Award winner has produced two platinum and eleven gold records, since his first hit recording I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry. The hits continued with Eyes of a New York Woman, Hooked on a Feeling, Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head (for the Academy Award winning movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid), I Just Can't Help Believing and (Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song.

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Tim Sample in our "Living Room"

New England's Premier Native Humorist and Rochester Opera House regular Tim Sample comes Back in Spite of Popular Demand to our stage to regale the audience with his off beat stories delivered with his distinct brand of Downeast Maine humor.  Master storyteller Tim Sample delivers deliciously wry humor with a decidedly clever wit.

"Unless you've traveled and performed as much as I have you really can't appreciate the magic of the Rochester Opera House. This place has a warmth, intimacy and comfort which just draws the audience together. It's the perfect hall for the type of monologue I do. Although there's a real grandeur to the Rochester Opera House and a palpable connection to our past and our New England culture, it's also as intimate and friendly as your own living room. I can't explain it. But, I feel that magic every time I walk through the curtain to greet a new audience at the Rochester Opera House. I've enjoyed every single show I've done there and I always get genuinely excited about coming back for another one."  ~ Tim Sample

JOIN TIM FOR AN AFTER-SHOW MEET & GREET

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Beauty and the Beast

Join beauty, her family and the Beast, of course, as they learn that Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Musical Adaptation by Get-A-Clue Productions.

Click here for more information on our A&E Series.

The longest running musical revue in Broadway history Smokey Joe's Cafe celebrates the classic rock 'n' roll songs of Leiber and Stoller. In an idealized 50s setting, these greatest hits, capturing the emotions of love won and lost, are cleverly blended together with dance and comedy. Relive the brilliance of the red-hot rock 'n' roll era. Stop in at Smokey Joe's Cafe for a serving of Love Potion #9 and forty favorites like Fools Fall in Love, Stand by Me, Poison Ivy, Love Me/Don't, Yakity-Yak, and Jailhouse Rock.

ANIMAL FARM

An Original Stage Adaptation by Playwright Andrew Periale

The Rochester Opera House stage transforms into a barnyard and places the audience within the drama as the animals on Manor Farm plan a new society based on the seven principles of animalism. Audience members are compelled to ask themselves: "What kind of animal am I?" "Would I follow or lead?" "Would I rebel or fall in line?" The cast, at times, addresses the audience directly, asking them to sing, chant or play along with the action of the play.

"Andrew Periale has translated this well-known tale into something wonderfully theatrical...brought back the book's questions about freedom and equality into 21st-century America." ~ Cynthia Meier, Director of Animal Farm at the Rogue Theatre in Tuscon, AZ

Playwright and Rochester, NH Poet Laureate Andrew Periale has worked in theatre since the 1970s and with his wife, Bonnie, founded the Emmy-nominated Perry Alley Theatre in 1986.  Among Periale's scripts are Beo/Wolf, Share and Share Alike, Chinese Take-Out Theatre and a translation of Duerrenmatt's The Visit. Periale has also produced a CD of humorous cowboy songs for his alter ego, Woody-Boy Johnson.

FIVE LIVE!!!

Aaron Lee Marshall
The war hero returned from Iraq with a Purple Heart...and a hurting heart. Music became his therapy. Aaron Lee Marshall began purging his emotional demons, with singing and playing his acoustic guitar. The musical balm led the singer/songwriter with a voice like Dave Mathews to record his first album Now Maybe, a collection of original, emotionally charged pop rock songs with an 80s influence.

The Lucas Cates Band
The acoustic rock band with touches of rock, pop, alt, folk, jazz and R&B blends three and four part harmonies that feel like surround sound. The nationally touring Madison WI based band has released albums All the Pieces and Contradictory and has won ten Madison Area Music Awards including Artist of the Year 2009. The band members include: Lucas Cates on lead vocals/acoustic guitar; Kenny Leiser on vocals/electric guitar/violin; Mark Noxon on vocals/bass guitar; Jesse Warmka on vocals/drums.

Sweatpants in Public
The Portsmouth based rock, reggae and indie band are family. Jerry on vocals and guitar is the songwriting dad of Jake on bass and Jed on drums. The band cultivated their own feel-good-rock style and a strong following by playing parties and backyard gigs. In 2009 the trio was crowned The PAGEapalooza Battle of the Bands Champions. Recently, the high energy, dance-friendly band released the six-song Life of Leisure.

Maybe Utah
The music of the electrified alternative rock band, led by award winning singer/songwriter Matt Newburg, ranges from heart-tugging ballads to ragin' rock tunes. Their sound is reminiscent of Neil Young, Ryan Adams, Wilko and The Band. The line-up includes: Matt Newburg on vocals/guitar; Darren Finnegan on bass; Mason Thayer on keyboards/vocals and Alex Milts on drums.

Dave Emeney
Singer/songwriter Emeney describes his sound as "melodic acoustic rock with a bit of dirt thrown in from the northern plains and desert", the place where he first picked up a guitar. He has spent equal parts of his life in Eastern Montana and New Hampshire and for over fifteen years he has strived to write emotion-invoking music and songs.