MIAC unveils dazzling lineup of fan favorites for 2024-2025 season

As the curtain rises on a new season of the Mercyhurst Institute for Arts & Culture, prepare to be swept away by the electrifying energy of “MIAC’s Greatest Hits.” 
 
That’s right. MIAC is bringing back some of your favs, starting Saturday, Sept. 7, with the ever-popular Aaron Tveit, Tony Award-winning luminary of both stage and screen who performed before a sell-out crowd last May at the Mary D’Angelo Performing Arts Center, attracting patrons from 25 states and four foreign countries. 
 
Best known for his work in theatre, television, and film, Tveit earned a Tony Award and Outer Critics Circle award leading the cast of the world premiere production of “Moulin Rouge! The Musical.” Other Broadway credits include “Sweeney Todd,” “Wicked,” “Hairspray,” “Catch Me If You Can,” and “Next to Normal.” Television audiences know him from the beloved Apple TV+ series “Schmigadoon,” the FOX TV musical “Grease: Live,” the USA network series “Graceland,” the CBS comic thriller “Braindead,” and the CW show “Gossip Girl.” His film credits include the Oscar-winning “Les Misérables,” in which he portrayed the character Enjolras alongside Anne Hathaway, Hugh Jackman, and Russell Crowe. Tveit has performed solo concerts across the country at notable venues such as Webster Hall, Irving Plaza, LCT American Songbook, The Belasco (L.A.), Barns at Wolf Trap D.C., and more. He will be making his debut at the Café Carlyle this June. 
 
While Tveit’s concert is the season opener, it will also be part of The Season Soirée, MIAC’s signature event for 501 and Silver Circle members, who will receive two tickets to Tveit’s concert and a post-concert party in Trinity Green, as part of their membership package. (See more details later in press release). 
 
Tveit’s performance is just the beginning of the 2024-2025 season’s spectacular journey through “MIAC’s Greatest Hits.” 
 
“Because we have chosen to feature encore performances by our patrons’ favorite entertainers, we anticipate sell-out crowds throughout the season and urge our many fans to get their tickets early,” said MIAC Artistic Director Dr. Brett D. Johnson.  
 
Next, on Wednesday, Oct. 16, Pink Martini featuring China Forbes brings the group’s 30th anniversary tour to the Mary D’Angelo Performing Arts Center. 
 
Featuring a dozen musicians, with songs in 25 languages, Pink Martini performs its multilingual repertoire on concert stages on six continents. After making its European debut at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997 and its orchestral debut with the Oregon Symphony in 1998, the band has gone on to play with more than 50 orchestras around the world, including multiple engagements with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, the Boston Pops, the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center, the San Francisco Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the BBC Concert Orchestra at Royal Albert Hall in London. In 2014, Pink Martini was inducted into both the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame and the Oregon Music Hall of Fame. Pink Martini has released 11 studio albums on its own independent label Heinz Records (named after Lauderdale’s dog), selling over three million albums worldwide. 
 
On Thursday, Nov. 7, beloved MIAC artist Melissa Errico returns to Mercyhurst University’s Walker Recital Hall and her favorite songwriter with an entirely new program of Sondheim songs, celebrating her new album, praised in The New York Times as “a New York house tour of thrill and heartbreak…from one of Sondheim’s deepest-hearted yet lightest-touch interpreters.” 
 
“Sondheim in the City” is the Sondheim of smart, sophisticated New York, the Sondheim of the quick, witty, sardonic, love-seeking, and sex-driven city that he recorded and worked in through his long life. From the anthem of city busyness, “Another Hundred People,” to the bittersweet hymns of city marriage, “Sorry, Grateful” and “Good Thing Going,” with time for hardboiled surprises like “Uptown, Downtown” and surprisingly soft-centered ballads like “All That I Need” and “Dawn,” Errico will sound out New York as she rounds out her portrait of Stephen—and, as always in an Errico show, there will be smart talk from the celebrated New York Times columnist to go along with her sublime singing. Come and hear why BroadwayWorld says that Melissa Errico is “a poet, a painter, a walking work of art that lives and breathes to tell stories, and we all the lucky benefactors of her passion.” 
 
On Wednesday, Dec. 11, “Pop Music in a Time Machine” concert act Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox brings The ‘10’ Tour to the Mary D’Angelo Performing Arts Center, celebrating the dual milestone of their 10th anniversary of touring and their 1,000th show. 
 
When pianist Scott Bradlee started the time-twisting musical collective Postmodern Jukebox from a basement apartment in Queens, New York, an online viral success story was born—one that quickly led to sold-out shows across North America and Europe in the summer of 2014. Ten years and two billion views on their YouTube channel later, a Postmodern Jukebox show has become something of an annual musical tradition for hundreds of thousands of dedicated fans all over the world—fans that often show up dressed to the nines in their vintage best, eager to immerse themselves in the experience. Concertgoers can expect a dazzling, inspiring trip through the PMJ universe, where modern-day earworms and iconic pop hits alike are reimagined in classic genres like 1920s jazz, swing, doo-wop, and Motown, and brought to life by a cast of some of the world’s best singers, dancers, and instrumentalists. Think “The Great Gatsby” meets “Sinatra at the Sands” meets “Back! …To The Future.” 
 
The spring season begins on Tuesday, Feb. 4, when Yamato, the Drummers of Japan, returns to Mercyhurst University with a thrilling new production, “Hito no Chikara”—The Power of Human Strength.” 
 
Yamato is a Japanese Taiko drumming group based in Asuka-mura Nara Prefecture. On stage, they stand with more than 40 Taiko drums, each with a different character. Yamato does more than simply make their Taiko drums explode; they produce delicate music that gives the listener a palette of meticulously crafted sound. At once intense, then sad, and even comforting and comical, you’re more than a bystander when you experience Yamato. You’re engulfed in the sound of the Taiko, becoming one with the performers. The group’s newest production, “Hito no Chikara,” explores how “the power of human strength” encompasses emotions, ethics, creativity, intuition, physical limitations, and the richness of personal experiences. Committed to preserving Taiko tradition, while also adding some of their own style, the group has performed in 54 countries and for roughly eight million people. 
 
On Saturday, March 29, legendary, multi-award-winning actress and singer—and Mercyhurst artist-in-residence—Betty Buckley returns to Mercyhurst for a concert with SiriusXM host, pianist, conductor, writer, and performer Seth Rudetsky. 
 
Dubbed “The Voice of Broadway,” Betty Buckley helped to revolutionize modern musical theatre through her acclaimed performances in “1776,” “Pippin,” “The Mystery of Edwin Drood,” “Carrie,” and “Cats,” which earned her the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. She received her second Tony nomination for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance as Hesione in “Triumph of Love” and received an Olivier Award nomination for her critically acclaimed interpretation of Norma Desmond in the London production of “Sunset Boulevard,” which she repeated to more rave reviews on Broadway. Her film credits include Brian de Palma’s “Carrie,” Bruce Beresford’s “Tender Mercies,” M. Night Shyamalan’s “Split,” and, most recently, the Blumhouse horror film “Imaginary.” Her recent T.V. credits include “Law & Order: SVU,” “The Cleaning Lady,” and “Preacher,” and she starred for four seasons as Abby Bradford on the hit series “Eight is Enough.” 
 
Seth Rudetsky spent many years on Broadway as a pianist and conductor, as well as two years as a comedy writer on “The Rosie O’Donnell Show,” for which he received three Emmy nominations with his co-writers. He is now the afternoon deejay on the SiriusXM Broadway channel, as well as the host of “Seth Speaks.” He has performed his show “Deconstructing Broadway” in London, Boston (Irne award), and L.A. (with Barbra Streisand in the audience!). He co-wrote and co-starred in “Disaster!” (NY TIMES critics’ pick) on Broadway, which was licensed by Music Theatre International and is being performed around the country. His books include “Seth’s Broadway Diary Volume 1 and 2” (Dress Circle publishing), “My Awesome/Awful Popularity Plan” and “The Rise and Fall of a Theatre Geek” (Random House), as well as the recently released “Musical Theatre for Dummies.”  
 
The season concludes in grand fashion on Thursday, April 10, when Tony, Grammy, and Olivier Award winner Patti LuPone returns to Mercyhurst with “Patti LuPone: A Life in Notes.” 
 
Patti LuPone is a three-time Tony Award winner for her performances as Joanne in Marianne Elliott’s award-winning production of the Stephen Sondheim-George Furth musical “Company,” Madame Rose in the most recent Broadway revival of the Jule Styne-Stephen Sondheim-Arthur Laurents classic “Gypsy,” and the title role in the original Broadway production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s “Evita.” In her new concert, “Patti LuPone: A Life in Notes,” she performs an array of songs that are touchstones and reflections on her life growing up in America—from a young girl during the burgeoning rock and roll scene of the fifties, to coming of age in the politically and socially turbulent sixties, to eventually achieving success with both career and family. Conceived and directed by Scott Wittman and written by Jeffrey Richman, “Patti LuPone: A Life in Notes” features LuPone's longtime Music Director Joseph Thalken and String Soloist Brad Phillips. 
 
THE 501 & THE SILVER CIRCLE 
Patrons can gain first access to tickets and enjoy other exclusive benefits, including premium seats, private receptions, valet parking, and an invitation to MIAC’s signature event, The Season Soirée, by joining The 501 or The Silver Circle.  
 
Through their generosity, 501 and Silver Circle members sustain the Mercyhurst Institute for Arts & Culture. One hundred percent of each membership supports the Institute’s mission of strengthening the vibrancy of the Erie region through richly varied, inclusive cultural experiences.  
 
This year’s soirée, scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 7, will include a concert by Tony Award-winning star of stage and screen Aaron Tveit and a post-concert party in Trinity Green.  
 
Memberships are available now at https://miac.mercyhurst.edu/501. Current members wishing to keep or upgrade their seats must renew by Tuesday, July 9. New memberships will be processed in the order in which they are received. 
 
Because the 2024-2025 season features so many audience favorites, tickets are expected to go fast.   
 
The Mary D’Angelo Performing Arts Center box office will be closed, May 10-27 but will reopen Tuesday, May 28 (Tues.-Wed., noon-3 p.m.) for any patrons wishing to renew or register in person or by phone (814-824-3000). 
 
SEASON SUBSCRIPTIONS 
With the purchase of tickets to four or more MIAC Live performances, subscribers save 10 percent on single ticket prices. Season subscriptions will be available beginning Tuesday, July 9, at noon.  
 
MORE INFORMATION 
Single tickets go on sale Tuesday, Aug. 13, at noon and can be purchased online at https://miac.universitytickets.com, by phone at 814-824-3000, or at the box office in the Mary D’Angelo Performing Arts Center.  
 
AARON TVEIT 
Saturday, Sept. 7 @ 7:30 p.m. 
Mary D’Angelo Performing Arts Center 
 
PINK MARTINI FEATURING CHINA FORBES 
Wednesday, Oct. 16 @ 7:30 p.m. 
Mary D’Angelo Performing Arts Center 
 
MELISSA ERRICO: SONDHEIM IN THE CITY 
Thursday, Nov. 7 @ 7:30 p.m. 
Walker Recital Hall 
 
SCOTT BRADLEE’S POSTMODERN JUKEBOX: THE ‘10’ TOUR 
Wednesday, Dec. 11 @ 7:30 p.m. 
Mary D’Angelo Performing Arts Center 
 
YAMATO, THE DRUMMERS OF JAPAN 
Tuesday, Feb. 4 @ 7:30 p.m. 
Mary D’Angelo Performing Arts Center 
 
BETTY BUCKLEY AND SETH RUDETSKY 
Saturday, March 29 @ 7:30 p.m. 
Walker Recital Hall 
 
PATTI LUPONE: A LIFE IN NOTES 
Thursday, April 10 @ 7:30 p.m. 
Mary D’Angelo Performing Arts Center