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Taft Theatre

Comedian Chris Rock Announces Cincy Concert Date

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Grammy and Emmy Award winning comedian, actor, director, writer and producer, Chris Rock has announced the “Ego Death World Tour”, his first in 5 years. The 38-date North American leg of the tour kicks off April 2nd in Atlantic City and includes a stop at Taft Theatre in Cincinnati on Thursday, June 9th.

Lauded by peers and critics alike, Chris Rock is one of our generation’s strongest comedic voices. With a career spanning more than three decades, Rock has enjoyed ongoing success in both film and television as a comedian, actor, writer, producer and director.

Rock recently wrapped production on the upcoming Higher Ground produced biopic, “Rustin ” and David O’Russell’s Untitled film. He is also set to direct an Untitled Chris Rock project in 2023.

In 2021 Rock starred as Loy Cannon in season 4 of FX’s Emmy-winning drama series “Fargo.” He also teamed up with Lionsgate and Twisted Pictures in the reimagining of the newest Saw franchise movie, “Spiral,” in which he produced and starred in. His most recent standup special, “Total Blackout: The Tamborine Extended Cut,” is currently streaming on Netflix.

In 2014 he led the ensemble cast of “Top Five,” a critically acclaimed comedy feature that he also wrote and directed. In 2009 Rock ventured into the documentary world as a writer and producer of “Good Hair,” and in 2014 he executive produced “Eat Drink Laugh: The Story of the Comic Strip,” a documentary recounting the history of one of New York’s most famous comedy venues. His feature acting credits include The Week Of, the Grown Ups and Madagascar franchises, 2 Days in New York, Death at a Funeral, Nurse Betty, Dogma, the hip-hop comedy CB4, and New Jack City.

His television work includes serving as a cast member on “Saturday Night Live” from 1989 – 1993 and as executive producer, writer and narrator for the series “Everybody Hates Chris.” The series ran from 2005 – 2009 and is still one of the highest rated syndicated shows in the world.

In 2011, Rock made his Broadway debut starring in Stephen Adly Guirgis’s The Motherf**ker With The Hat.

Rock has won four Emmy Awards, three Grammy Awards, and is a New York Times Best-Selling Author. In addition, he received two nominations for the 2016 Emmy Awards, for Outstanding Director for a Variety Special for “Amy Schumer: Live at the Apollo,” and Outstanding Special Class Program for the 88th Annual Academy Awards.

Tickets will go on sale to the public beginning at 10am on Friday, February 25 at Ticketmaster.com. Tickets can also be purchased without service fees at the Taft Theatre box office during regular box office hours.

Tickets on Sale Friday for Tori Amos at Taft Theatre

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A trailblazing musician, author and activist, Tori Amos has announced a massive North American 2022 tour today, which includes a stop at Taft Theatre in Cincinnati, Ohio on Tuesday, May 24, 2022.

Ocean to Ocean was released digitally and on CD in October and had been made available as a beautiful vinyl package last Friday, January 28. The record received widespread acclaim by fans and media alike, with features spanning Pitchfork, Entertainment Weekly, Stereogum, SPIN and NPR. The record debuted at #2 on the Billboard Current Alternative Albums Chart and #6 on the Billboard Album Sales Chart, marking her tenth “Top 10”appearance.

Ocean to Ocean is Amos’ most personal work in years – an album bursting with warmth and connection, with deep roots in her earliest song writing. As communities around the world suffered the loss of life, live music, travel, and much at all to observe, Tori had a difficult time during the pandemic. She descended to an emotional state lower than she had been to for a long time – but the depths became creative, forcing a return to the kind of introspection she recognized from her debut album Little Earthquakes. The new collection is an expression of kinship and love, of emotional and geographical dislocation. It explores environmental concerns, the restraints of the pandemic for those on the cusp of adulthood, empowerment, loss & healing delivered with Tori’s trademark urgency and passion.

A pioneer across multiple platforms, Tori Amos’ second book RESISTANCE, a New York Times Bestseller, was released in 2020. Unrepentant Geraldines was her eighth studio album to debut in the Top 10 of the Billboard 200 Chart. Her decidedly feminist stage musical The Light Princess debuted at #2 on the Broadway Billboard Chart. Nominated for multiple Grammy Awards, she was the first major label artist to offer a single for download, has had her songs turned into graphic novels and has produced ground-breaking videos throughout her career. In late 2016 she released the title song “Flicker” to the acclaimed Netflix documentary Audrie and Daisy, addressing issues of high school rape. A noted humanitarian, Tori was the first public voice for RAINN (Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network), which is the United States’ largest anti-sexual assault organization and continues to be member of its National Leadership Council.

Tickets will go on sale to the public beginning at 10am on Friday, February 4 at Ticketmaster.com. Tickets can also be purchased without service fees at the Taft Theatre box office during regular box office hours. 

Gladys Knight To Perform at Cincy’s Taft Theatre

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The great ones endure, and Gladys Knight has long been one of the greatest. Very few singers over the last fifty years have matched her unassailable artistry. This seven-time Grammy winner has enjoyed #1 hits in Pop, Gospel, R&B and Adult Contemporary, and has triumphed in film, television and live performance.

 

THE EMPRESS OF SOUL MAKES
HER WAY TO CINCINNATI FOR AN UNFORGETTABLE NIGHT AT THE TAFT THEATRE

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2019

In her first effort since 2013’s “Another Journey” – Knight’s 8th solo effort – this summer marked the release of “Where My Heart Belongs”, a new inspiration gospel album. Knight is a two-time Grammy winner in the gospel category, and “Where My Heart Belongs” dropped on September 9th from Deseret Book, and recently won an NAACP Image Award for “Outstanding Gospel Album.”

 

“Another Journey” enjoyed success from the hit “I Who Have Nothing” as well as the up-tempo track “Settle,” produced by Randy Jackson, with whom she previously collaborated with on her Grammy-winning album, “At Last.” Knight also enjoyed the success of her song “You and I Ain’t Nothin’ No More” which appeared over the end credits of the critically-acclaimed Lee Daniels film THE BUTLER.

 

Last month, Knight returned to the small screen in the Lifetime original movie “Seasons of Love”. In the story about two lovers as they journey through life, love and family, Knight stars alongside Oscar-nominee Taraji P. Henson and fellow Grammy winner Cliff “Method Man” Smith. In the New Year she will guest on Lee Daniels and FOX TV’s new series “Empire” opposite Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson.

 

Also on the small screen, Knight recently shared her musical expertise on the second season of Centric’s original series “Apollo Live.” Joining judges Doug E. Fresh and Michael Bivins, the legendary songstress gave guidance to contestants as they took the stage with the hope to jumpstart their career in the entertainment industry.

 

No stranger to performing and light choreography over the course of her career, Knight raised the stakes when she put on her dancing shoes in the spring of 2012. She joined the cast of ABC’s hit reality competition “Dancing with the Stars” for season 14, partnering with Tristan MacManus.

 

Knight, known as the “Empress of Soul,” a longtime Las Vegas resident, returned to the Strip in the late-2000s to the famed Tropicana Hotel for a special engagement that ran in the newly named Gladys Knight Theater, making her the first African-American performer to have a venue named after her in Las Vegas. This followed a successful four-year show run at The Flamingo, which the Las Vegas Review-Journal praised as “the number-one show on the Strip.” A tireless humanitarian, Knight is an iconic supporter of the Boys & Girls Club of America, to which she donated a Randy Jackson-produced song, “The Dream.” As the celebrated singer of the timeless song “Midnight Train to Georgia,” Knight was a natural fit as national spokesperson and host of Amtrak’s National Train Day, the celebration of which took place Washington, DC’s famed Union Station.

 

A tireless performer who still wows audiences around the country and the world, Knight also finds the time to make forays into film and television. Her version of “I Hope You Dance” played during the end credits of Tyler Perry’s THE FAMILY THAT PREYS TOGETHER, and she appeared in his film I CAN DO BAD ALL BY MYSELF (which featured her song “The Need to Be”). She also starred in the holiday-themed HOLIDAZE, her first animated project to which she also contributed a track, UNBEATABLE HAROLD, and the Harrison Ford film HOLLYWOOD HOMICIDE. On the small screen, Knight did a cameo on the Emmy-winning NBC hit comedy “30 Rock”, and also appeared in NBC’s “Las Vegas,” former CBS hit “JAG,” and former FOX talent competitions “American Juniors” and “Duets.” She also starred as Jamie Foxx’s mother on “The Jamie Foxx Show.” Knight has appeared as a guest judge on FOX’s smash hit “American Idol,” and has performed in the show’s always star-studded finale. In season two of “Idol,” Knight famously dubbed eventual winner Ruben Studdard the ‘Velvet Teddy Bear” while she sat in the guest judge’s chair.

 

Georgia-born, Knight began performing gospel music at age four in the Mount Mariah Baptist Church and sang as a guest soloist with the Morris Brown College Choir. Three years later, she won the grand prize on television’s “Ted Mack’s Amateur Hour,” and the following year, her mother Elizabeth Knight created the group consisting of Gladys, her brother Bubba, her sister Brenda and her cousins William and Elenor Guest.

 

They called themselves The Pips in honor of their cousin/manager, James Pip Woods. In 1959, Brenda and Elenor left the group, replaced by cousin Edward Patten and friend Langston George. The group was renamed Gladys Knight & The Pips, and following George’s departure in 1962, the classic line-up was in place.

 

The group debuted their first album in 1960, when Knight was just sixteen. With Knight singing lead and The Pips providing lush harmonies and graceful choreography, the group went on to achieve icon status, having recorded some of the most memorable songs of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Top 20 hits, like “Every Beat of My Heart,” “Letter Full of Tears,” “I Heard it Through the Grapevine” and “If I Were Your Woman,” set the stage for an amazing run in the mid-1970s, with Top 10 gold-certified singles like “Neither One of Us (Wants to be the First to Say Goodbye),” “I’ve Got to Use My Imagination,” “Best Thing to Ever Happen to Me” and the #1 smash “Midnight Train to Georgia” established Gladys Knight and The Pips as the premiere pop/R&B vocal ensemble in the world. The party kept rolling with hits like “On and On” from the Academy Award nominated soundtrack of Curtis Mayfield’s “Claudine,” the 1974 comedy about love in the inner city. Knight enjoyed another #1 hit in 1985 when she teamed with Stevie Wonder, Elton John and Dionne Warwick on “That’s What Friends are For.” She and Stevie Wonder sang together again for the successful Frank Sinatra Duets II album, joining his voice for the song “For Once in My Life” in 1994.

 

All told, Knight has recorded more than 38 albums over the years, including four solo albums during the past decade: “Good Woman” (1991); “Just for You” (1994); the inspirational “Many Different Roads” (1999); and “At Last” (2001). “At Last” showed the world that she still has what it takes to record a hit album, employing the talents of contemporary producers like Randy Jackson, Gary Brown and James D.C. Williams III, Jon John, Jamey Jaz, Keith Thomas, Tom Dowd and Tiger Roberts.

 

Her involvement in other creative undertakings, business ventures and humanitarian activities has been extensive, and has brought her honors from industry and community alike. In 1986, she produced and starred in the Cable Ace Award-winning “Sisters in the Name of Love,” an HBO special co-starring Dionne Warwick and Patti LaBelle. That same year, she showcased her acting ability when she co-starred with Flip Wilson in the CBS comedy “Charlie & Co.” Other acting roles followed on such TV shows as “Benson,” “The Jefferson’s” and “New York Undercover,” and in such television films as “Pipe Dreams,” “An Enemy Among Us” and “Desperado.” She recorded the title theme for the James Bond movie “License to Kill” (1989). In 1999, she completed a starring run on Broadway in the smash musical hit “Smokey Joe’s Café.”

 

In 1995, Knight earned her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and the next year, Gladys Knight & The Pips were inducted into the Rock ‘N’ Roll Hall of Fame. Knight published an autobiography, “Between Each Line of Pain and Glory” (a line taken from her million selling recording “Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me”), in 1997, and the next year, she and The Pips were presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame. In 2004, Knight received the “Lifetime Achievement Award” at the annual BET Awards ceremony.

 

A humanitarian and philanthropist, Knight has devoted to various worthy causes, including the American Diabetes Association – for which she is a national spokesperson, the American Cancer Society, the Minority AIDS Project, amFAR and Crisis Intervention, and The Boys and Girls Club. She has been honored by numerous organizations as well, including the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), B’Nai Brith, and is a recent recipient of BET’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

 

Today, Knight and husband William, along with various other members of the family, oversee her busy career from the Las Vegas headquarters of Shakeji, Inc., her personal entertainment corporation. She is a wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, performer, restaurateur, and businesswoman with a spiritual outlook on her life. Her faith in God has been the driving force behind all of Knight’s endeavors, guiding her through her many successes.

 

Reserved tickets: $75.00, $59.50, $49.50 & $39.50 (plus applicable fees), go on sale Friday, April 5th at 11AM at www.tafttheatre.org, the Taft Theatre Box Office, and www.ticketmaster.com.  Charge by phone at 1.800.745.3000.

Lewis Black Joke’s On Us Tour

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Following the highly successful 2018 “The Joke’s On Us Tour,” Lewis Black has added Spring 2019 dates to the tour.  He’ll be in Cincinnati on Saturday, March 23 at 8pm
Taft Theatre.  His live performances provide a cathartic release of anger and disillusionment for his audience. He is a passionate performer who is a more pissed-off optimist than a mean-spirited curmudgeon. Lewis is the rare comic who can cause an audience to laugh themselves into incontinence while making compelling points about the absurdity of our world.

The GRAMMY Award-winning, stand-up comedian, is one of the most prolific and popular performers working today. He executes a brilliant trifecta as a stand-up comedian, actor and author. Receiving critical acclaim, he performs more than 200 nights annually, to sold-out audiences throughout Europe, New Zealand, Canada and the United States. He is one of a few performers to sell out multiple renowned theaters, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Brooks Atkinson Theatre, New York City Center, the Main Stage at the Mirage in Las Vegas and most recently, a sold-out Broadway run at the Richard Rodgers Theatre in New York City.

Reserved tickets: $65.00, $49.50 & $39.50 (plus applicable fees), go on sale Friday, October 26 at 11AM at www.tafttheatre.org, the Taft Theatre Box Office, and www.ticketmaster.com.  Charge by phone at 1.800.745.3000.

Black’s live performances provide a cathartic release of anger and disillusionment for his audience. He is a passionate performer who is a more pissed-off optimist than a mean-spirited curmudgeon. Lewis is the rare comic who can cause an audience to laugh themselves into incontinence while making compelling points about the absurdity of our world.

LEWIS BLACK came into national prominence with his appearances on THE DAILY SHOW in 1996. Those appearances on THE DAILY SHOW led to comedy specials on HBO, Comedy Central, Showtime and Epix. In 2001, he won Best Male Stand-Up at the American Comedy Awards. He has released eight comedy albums, including the 2007 GRAMMY Award-winning The Carnegie Hall Performance. He won his second GRAMMY Award for his album Stark Raving Black and has published three bestselling books: Nothing’s Sacred (Simon & Schuster, 2005), Me of Little Faith (Riverhead Books, 2008) and I’m Dreaming of a Black Christmas (Riverhead Books, 2010). In 2012, he performed eight sell-out shows at Richard Rodgers Theatre on Broadway as well as did one of his two HBO Specials BLACK ON BROADWAY. In 2015, Black notably voiced the character “Anger” in the Academy Award winning film from Pixar, “Inside Out.”

Additionally, Lewis Black does a live streaming show on Audible called THE RANT IS DUE. There is behind-the-scenes moments from the Lewis Black tour bus, as well as occasional phone calls to the people behind the rants. From hate for pickles to disdain for online dating, this show channels the rage of 300 million neighbors and truly has something for everybody. More show info can be found here.

Dancing With The Stars Comes To Cincy

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TV’s biggest dance show returns on tour this winter with “Dancing with the Stars: Live!” The show will feature fan favorite professional and troupe dancers in a brand-new production showcasing every type of dance style as seen on ABC’s hit show Dancing with the Stars, ranging from ballroom and jazz to modern and hip-hop. Choreographed and creative directed by Emmy© Award-winning choreographer Mandy Moore and Dancing with the Stars Executive Producer Ashley Edens-Shaffer, audiences will have the opportunity to experience the excitement, glamour and glitz they see in the ballroom every Monday night live at the Taft Theatre on January 31.

 

The tour delivers a spectacular night of show-stopping dance performances from world-renowned dancers including Brandon Armstrong, Alan Bersten, Witney Carson, Artem Chigvintsev, Sasha Farber, Jenna Johnson, Gleb Savchenko, Emma Slater, Hayley Erbert and Britt Stewart, with more surprise casting to be announced.*

 

Reserved tickets: $79.00, $69.00 & $49.50 (plus applicable fees) are on sale now at www.tafttheatre.org, the Taft Theatre Box Office, and www.ticketmaster.com.  Charge by phone at 1.800.745.3000. VIP packages will be available throughVIPNation.com, giving fans the chance to purchase premium tickets, meet and greet opportunities with the cast, exclusive merchandise and photo opportunities.