Wednesday, October 20 at 9 p.m. – A Broadway Celebration: In Performance at the White House
(Rochester, NY) –— WXXI presents “A Broadway Celebration: In Performance at the White House,” a PBS music special in the East Room of the White House on Wednesday, October 20 at 9 p.m. on WXXI-TV/HD (DT 21.1/cable 1011 and 11). President and Mrs. Obama hosted the event last July, inviting major Broadway artists and new talent to perform selections from American musicals that reflect the spirit, energy and ambition of America. The evening included Nathan Lane, Idina Menzel, Brian d’Arcy James, Audra McDonald, Chad Kimball, Marvin Hamlisch, Karen Olivo, Tonya Pinkins, Assata Alston, and a youth ensemble from the Joy of Motion Dance Center.
“A Broadway Celebration: In Performance at the White House” is the fifth “In Performance at the White House” program during President Barack Obama’s administration.
Produced by WETA since 1978, and spanning every administration since President Carter’s, the series began with an East Room recital by the legendary pianist Vladimir Horowitz. Since then, “In Performance at the White House” has embraced virtually every genre of American performance: pop, country, gospel, jazz, blues, theatre, and dance among them. The series was created to showcase the rich fabric of American culture in the setting of the nation’s most famous home. Past programs have showcased such talent as cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, dancer/choreographer Mikhail Baryshnikov, popular music singers Linda Ronstadt and Alison Krauss, jazz pianist and composer Thelonious Monk, the United States Marine Band, soul and jazz singers Natalie Cole and Aretha Franklin, leading Broadway performers, and the Dance Theatre of Harlem.
Pictured: Students from the Joy of Motion Dance Center and the Duke Ellington School of the Arts perform “Can’t Stop the Beat” from Hairspray during “A Broadway Celebration: In Performance at the White House” in the East Room of the White House, July 19, 2010.
Credit: Courtesy of Mark Credit: Courtesy of Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson
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