The Spoleto Festival USA, America’s premiere performing arts extravaganza, is just around the corner. The 41st season will run in Charleston, South Carolina, from May 26 through June 11. Festival Director Nigel Redden says, “On the heels of our successful 40th season, this year’s festival promises to build on that momentum with even more theater and dance performances than in previous years.”
More than 160 ticketed events will be held in 12 historic venues, including the intimate Woolfe Street Playhouse, the Dock Street Theatre and the recently renovated Gaillard Center.
Highlights include the festival’s capstone opera, Tchikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, staged at the renovated Gaillard Center. The Dock Street Theatre will showcase both the U.S. premiere of Vivaldi’s most popular opera, Farnace, and the acclaimed production of Samuel Beckett’s masterpiece, Waiting for Godot by the Irish theater company Druid.
Other noteworthy performances include New York-based Gallim Dance’s WHALE, which features Andrea Miller’s radical physical language; Argentinian singer Sofía Rei’s eclectic music of the Americas; and Georgian playwright Rezo Gabriadze’s Ramona, a marionette drama about love. Additionally, the College of Charleston will host a variety of jazz and contemporary dance performances, including France’s ballet-meets-hip-hop duo Wang Ramirez.
A spectacular, festival finale will take place across the Ashley River at Middleton Place, a National Historic Landmark and home to America’s oldest landscaped gardens. There, a lineup of local and regional bands will be headlined by The Revivalists—the high octane, seven-piece New Orleans band whose musicians are known for their instrumental virtuosity and dynamic vocals. Dazzling fireworks will follow the performance. As a bonus, attendees will be able to explore this former plantation’s expansive grounds and beautiful gardens.
For more information and tickets: spoletousa.org, 843-579-3100