Elizabeth Eckert and Matthew Vala (pictured) take the lead in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat during six performances at the Hoogland Center for the Arts. The popular Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice musical is based on the biblical story of Joseph and his multi-colored coat. The production features a multitude of musical genres from […]
hoogland center for the arts
Posted inArts & Culture
Melting-pot musical
Joshua Ratz, Mary Kate Smith, Doug Hahn (standing), Gerrah Caldwell and Joel Tinsley-Hall (seated) are just a few of the dazzling local talent in a cast of more than 50 performing the Tony-award winning musical Ragtime at the Hoogland Center for the Arts. Go on a journey with three families as they confront wealth and […]
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Fab flicks
Watch 62 of the best independent films from 11 countries and 16 states, as well as Illinois, during this three-day film festival held at the Hoogland Center for the Arts. About 30 filmmakers, along with some of their cast and crew, are expected to attend including some from Hollywood: writer/director/actor Michael Worth and Springfield native […]
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Gospel music
Gordon Productions brings another fine musical comedy to the Hoogland Center for the Arts for six performances. Set in a North Carolina church in 1938, the Sanders Family Singers will have you clapping, singing, laughing and cheering with their stories and traditional and bluegrass gospel music. Local talent includes: Tara Cowan, Kelsi Frost, Sherry Frachey, […]
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Electric jazz
Local five-piece Grammy-nominated band David Cain & Senses performs a free concert that includes video and animation at the Hoogland to raise money for the center through donations. Senses might be categorized as playing new wave, ambient, or contemporary jazz music. The concert is titled Soundadelic, but front man and vocalist/saxophonist David Cain always seems […]
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Springfield idol
As a child, Springfield’s own Elizabeth Eckert was a finalist on Ed McMahan’s television contest, “Next Big Star,” and later sang her way to the Hollywood rounds on “American Idol” season seven. If that doesn’t tell you how much talent she has, nothing will; she out-performed hundreds-of-thousands. Recently she collaborated with renowned Atlanta producer Brad […]
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Opposites attract
The classic Neil Simon romantic comedy finds a pair of newly married lovers, who embody Oscar and Felix-like traits, trying to live with each other’s idiosyncrasies. Six performances are slated at the Hoogland Center for the Arts for this Gordon Productions play sponsored by Staab Funeral Home and 970AM WMAY. Jenn Wellhausen and Matthew T. […]
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Adventures of an American luminary
A dynamic look at Mark Twain portrayed by Cincinnati-based actor Bill Hartnett and directed by Eleanor Shepherd. Samuel Clemens lived a remarkable life—as a printer, riverboat pilot, silver miner in Nevada, gold miner in California, reporter, editor, foreign correspondent, lecturer and author. Take a further look inside Twain’s trials and tribulations, pride and glory from […]
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A living legacy
Everything but the basic framework may be new, but the 60-year-old auditorium at 101 E. Lawrence Avenue will reopen next month with due honor to the past, says Scott Richardson, director with local community theater group Roxy Theatricals and the new private owner of the former Springfield Theatre Centre building. For $58,000, Richardson purchased the […]
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A killer
June 18 in the Hoogland Center for the Arts Club Room view the film Paranoia directed by central Illinois native and Hollywood veteran Ryan Mitchelle. Brought to Springfield by Walkaway Entertainment, the movie is a psychological thriller about a man who kills a home intruder during a time that a serial killer has been terrorizing […]
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Creative quarters
Prairie Art Alliance allows you to take a peek inside five of its artists’ studios and their private gardens. Included on the tour is Roland and Hazen Folse’s woodworking shop, ceramics and firing and painting studios and Bonsai garden; Sonia Lang painting and sculpture studio and husband George’s garden; Daniel McCarthy woodwork studio and garden; […]
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Make-up game
ComedySportz, a Chicago improv company, takes on two shows April 9 at the Hoogland Center for the Arts. Set up as a sports competition, complete with referee and halftime, two teams of ComedySportz players vie for the win. You, the audience, will shout out plays from the stands (seats) and select the game winner based […]
