Celebrate The Season Part 1 - Spectacular December Performances At The Broward Center For The Performing Arts

In a show that was rescheduled due the hurricane, El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico brings its Latin music sounds to the Au-Rene Theater on Sunday, December 1st at 8:00 p.m. as part of the Mosaic Series. Decades after its inception, the 13-piece salsa group continues to inspire dancers with its horn-punctuated Latin rhythms and lush vocal harmonies. Officially named "Ambassadors of Our Music" by the Puerto Rican Senate, El Gran Combo's many hits include such classics as "El Menu" and "Timablero." Their 1978 album, “En Las Vegas,” sold more than one million copies, while its follow-up, “In Alaska: Breaking the Ice,” was nominated for a Grammy® Award. A longtime member of popular Latin band Cortijo y Su Combo, Ithier formed El Gran Combo in 1962 with eight of his bandmates, including Percussionist, Dancer, Chorus singer, and Salsa Bandleader Roberto Roena. This legendary Puerto Rican Salsa Orchestra is now over six decades old, and they are showing no signs of slowing down. These revered Salsa gods will be pumping out their unrivaled and florid arrangements of colorful, horn-driven music all night long.

Students who take classes in the Rose Miniaci Arts Education Center take the Amaturo Theater stage for the Broward Center Education 10th Anniversary Student Spectacular on Tuesday, December 3rd at 7:00 p.m. Celebrating 10 years of classes and the 10-year anniversary of the Rose Miniaci Arts Education Center, this fun-filled and family-friendly performance features students of all ages, who will showcase song and dance from favorite Broadway shows. Audiences can expect spectacular performances from the top-level vocal ensemble The Broward Center Spotlights, the Advanced Musical Theater Workshop and Adult Musical Theater Singing class. The Broward Center Spotlights are supported by Funding Arts Broward, supporting innovative local visual and performing arts in Broward County.

AEG and the Broward Center for the Performing Arts present The Outlaws as they return to celebrate their 10th annual homecoming concert, "Green Grass and Yuletide Jam," with special guest John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band, part of the Cleveland Clinic Rock series, on Wednesday, December 4th at 8:00 p.m. in the Amaturo Theater. Formed in Tampa in 1972, The Outlaws, known for their triple-guitar rock attack and three-part country harmonies, became one of the first acts signed by Clive Davis at the urging of Ronnie Van Zant. The band’s first three albums, “The Outlaws,” “Lady In Waiting” and “Hurry Sundown,” featuring such rock radio favorites as “There Goes Another Love Song,” “Green Grass & High Tides,” “Knoxville Girl” and “Freeborn Man,” would become worldwide gold and platinum landmarks of the Southern rock era. Known as The Florida Guitar Army by their fans, The Outlaws earned a formidable reputation as an incendiary live act while touring with friends The Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Marshall Tucker Band and The Charlie Daniels Band, as well as The Doobie Brothers, The Who, Eagles and The Rolling Stones.

Tony® Award Winner Levi Kreis brings his Home for The Holidays Tour to the Amaturo Theater as part of the Baptist Health Red Carpet Series on Thursday, December 5th at 8:00 p.m. With a seamless blend of Jazz, Gospel, Country and Rockabilly, Kreis delivers a fresh and unique perspective to a flawless collection of Christmas classics and holiday favorites. From uproarious storytelling to soul-stirring renditions, Kreis will leave audiences laughing, crying and filled with the spirit of the season.

Comedian and podcaster Ryan Sickler brings his Live and Alive tour to the Amaturo Theater on Friday, December 6th at 8:00 p.m. as part of the Truist Comedy Series. After creating three thriving podcasts (“The HoneyDew,” “The HoneyDew with Y'all” and “The CrabFeast”), Sickler launched “The Wayback” in 2024 and immediately claimed the number one spot on the charts among comedy interview podcasts in the U.S., the U.K. and Canada. His comedic credentials include skillfully guiding stand-up comics and storytellers through humorous explorations of life's lowlights on “The HoneyDew.” Sickler secured the number one spot on the Billboard and iTunes comedy charts with his album “Get a Hold of Yourself.” In 2023, he starred in, directed and produced the standup special “Lefty's Son.” This event contains adult language or content.

The Broward Center for the Performing Arts and Emery Entertainment present Christmas with C.S. Lewis starring David Payne in the Amaturo Theater on Saturday, December 7th at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. The year is 1962, and C.S. Lewis, the famous British author who gave the world “The Chronicles of Narnia” and a Christian legacy that few can match, is hosting a group of American writers at his home just outside of Oxford during the twilight years of his life. They have come to hear him speak about significant events and people that shaped his life. As it is Christmas time, Lewis also reflects on how he views this festive season in a display of oratory and humor that made Lewis one of England's most famous public speakers.

One of the world’s most spectacular Queen tribute bands comes to the Au-Rene Theater with One Vision of Queen featuring Marc Martel, part of the Cleveland Clinic Rock Series on Sunday, December 8th at 7:00 p.m. “We Will Rock You,” “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” “We are the Champions” and the legendary “Bohemian Rhapsody” are songs that just scratch the surface of Queen’s legacy. The one and only Freddie Mercury’s unique vocals have made it nearly impossible to perform his music as he did. Finally, Marc Martel and One Vision of Queen perform Mercury’s music the way it is meant to be performed. Legendary Queen drummer Roger Taylor remarked to the Daily Record, “That voice. You listen, close your eyes and you think it’s Freddie. It’s really uncanny.” Martel performs vocals on the Oscar®-Winning Queen biopic film, “Bohemian Rhapsody.” With unique theatrical performance style and eye-popping production, One Vision of Queen gives audiences a front row seat to one of the greatest bands of all time. Generously underwritten by Richard Herter & Dennis Baney and by Rachel & Ron Antevy.

The Broward Center for the Performing Arts and Live Nation present the Whiskey Myers Acoustic Tour 2024 with special guests Cody Canada and Wade Bowen on Tuesday, December 10th at 8:00 p.m. in the Au-Rene Theater. Described by USA Today as “a riff-heavy blend of Southern rock and gritty country that has earned comparisons to the Allman Brothers Band and Led Zeppelin,” genre-bending band Whiskey Myers has played more than 2,500 live shows to ever-increasing crowd sizes since their emergence in 2007. In addition to headlining their own sold-out shows from coast to coast at iconic venues such as Red Rocks Amphitheater and Ryman Auditorium and performing at marquee festivals Bonnaroo, Stagecoach, Download and more, the six-piece opened for The Rolling Stones’ 2019 Chicago stadium show. Their self-produced album “Tornillo,” available via the band’s own Wiggy Thump Records, features the number 17 most-played Americana song of 2022 “John Wayne,” and follows their fifth studio album, “Whiskey Myers,” which debuted at number one on the country and Americana/Folk sales charts, at number two on the rock chart and number six on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart. Whiskey Myers has sold more than 1.65 million albums and amassed more than 2.25 billion streams while earning six RIAA Gold & Platinum certifications as an independent band. Known for their high-energy live show and unique sound, the band, praised by Esquire as “the real damn deal,” has also earned sync success with features and an on-screen appearance in Paramount’s hit show “Yellowstone” as well as the Netflix series “What/If,” Angelina Jolie film “Those Who Wish Me Dead” and CBS series “SEAL Team.” As Rolling Stone noted of Whiskey Myers, “it’s the seminal combination of twang and crunchy Rock & Roll guitars that hits a perfect sweet spot.”

The Broward Center for the Performing Arts, AEG Presents and Emporium Presents bring The Fab Four: U.S.A. Meets the Beatles to the Au-Rene Theater as part of the Cleveland Clinic Rock Series on Friday, December 13th at 7:30 p.m. Acknowledged as the ultimate tribute to The Beatles, The Fab Four delivers uncanny, note-for-note live renditions of Beatles classics such as "Can't Buy Me Love," "Yesterday," "A Day In The Life," "Twist And Shout," "Here Comes The Sun," and "Hey Jude." Their stage performance combined with three costume changes representing every era of The Beatles has amazed audiences in countries around the world including in Japan, Australia, France, Hong Kong, the UK, Germany, Mexico and Brazil.

The Broward Center for the Performing Arts and the Performance Project present “Narnia,” a musical adaptation of “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” as part of the Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital Imagination Series on Friday, December 13th at 7:00 p.m. and Sunday, December 15th at 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. The first and most famous novel of acclaimed British author C.S. Lewis’s “The Chronicles of Narnia” series, the musical follows four English schoolchildren, brothers and sisters, sent away from London during World War II to stay in the manor house of their uncle. They stumble upon the magical kingdom of Narnia held in the power of the White Witch, whose evil spell has frozen the land so that it is “always winter – and never Christmas.” In this spellbound landscape, filled with creatures of myth and fable, the children learn deep lessons of courage, unselfishness and wisdom that help them grow in spirit and prepare them for life in our world. Featuring the Performance Project students and the professional actors who mentor them, the musical soars from the excitement of the opening number, "Doors and Windows," to the poetry of "Narnia (You Can't Imagine)" to the stirring "To Make the World Right Again."

Also at the Broward Center in December: Men Who Dance from November 30th – December 1st, Florida Grand Opera: The Magic Flute on December 5th, Symphony of the Americas: Holiday POPS! on December 8th & December 10th and Gold Coast Jazz: Bobby Watson Quartet, Post Motown Bop on December 11th.

Ticketmaster is the only official ticketing service of the Broward Center and The Parker. Buy tickets online at: www.BrowardCenter.org - Or: www.Ticketmaster.com - By phone at: (954) 462-0222; in person at the Broward Center’s AutoNation Box Office.

The Broward Center for the Performing Arts is located at 201 Southwest Fifth Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33312.

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