The holidays are a great time to get out and enjoy live music. The folks at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center and their War Memorial Auditorium unit are offering two unique opportunities to groove over the coming weeks.
A holiday mash-up for the entire family, The Hip Hop Nutcracker, a contemporary reimagination of Tchaikovsky’s timeless music, returns to the Tennessee Performing Arts Center’s James K. Polk Theater for two performances, on Nov. 25 at 3:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. The Hip Hop Nutcracker returns to Nashville as part of a third national tour following the success of two previous sold-out tours, and an extremely popular two-show engagement at TPAC last year.
The production is performed by a supercharged cast of a dozen all-star dancers, DJ and violinist. Through the spells cast by the mysterious Drosselmeyer, Maria-Clara and her Nutcracker Prince travel back in time to the moment when her parents first meet in a nightclub. Digital scenery transforms E.T.A. Hoffmann’s story of sugarplums into 1980s Brooklyn.
The Hip Hop Nutcracker celebrates love, community and the magic of New Year’s Eve. Special guest MC Kurtis Blow, one of hip hop’s founding fathers, once again will open the show with a short set before rapping the introduction to The Hip Hop Nutcracker.
Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Experience will be at War Memorial Auditorium on Wednesday, December 13, 2017 at 8:00 p.m. for an all ages show. A lot of talented children have probably been asked by a parent to entertain family and friends, maybe in the living room, maybe sing a little, play an instrument. No big deal and a good way to get used to performing for others. But when Jason Bonham was a small child and got called in to entertain, the family friends he played his drums for could be anyone from Jimmy Page to some of the guys from the group Bad Company. That’s what happens when your father is drummer John Bonham, one of the original members of the legendary rock band Led Zeppelin.
At the age of only five, Jason could play the drums, at least a scaled-down set of them, with skill. John Bonham died in 1980, but Jason, who has marked a few places in music history himself, has stepped in from time to time to help keep his father’s memory alive. In 1988, Jason took his father’s spot in the televised, first-ever Led Zeppelin reunion at the Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary concert, which included Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, and John Paul Jones. Jason represented his father when Led Zeppelin was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in January 1995, with his sister Zoe by his side. Most recently, Jason has performed and recorded with Foreigner.
On December 10th, 2007, Jason played drums in perhaps the most anticipated concert of all time – the Led Zeppelin reunion at London’s O2 arena with surviving members Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and Robert Plant. Coming off a summer tour as a special guest on Foreigner’s 40th Anniversary Tour, Jason Bonham, son of the late Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham, carries on his father’s legacy in Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Experience, coming to Nashville for a one-night-only event at 8:00 p.m. in the historic War Memorial Auditorium at 301 – 6th Ave. North on Wednesday, December 13, 2017.
Tickets to both shows are available now at the TPAC website, or by phone at (615) 782-4030, and in person at the TPAC Box Office, 505 Deaderick St., in downtown Nashville.
