Auditorium Theatre 2019-2020 Trinity Irish Dance Company

8 | AUDITORIUM THEATRE 2019-20 | January 18 - March 8, 2020 Too Hot To Handel: The Jazz-Gospel Messiah Celebrates 15 Years! Too Hot to Handel: The Jazz-Gospel Messiah celebrates 15 YEARS in Chicago in 2020! The show was first performed at the Auditorium Theatre in 2006 and has been inspiring performers and audience members alike since it first arrived in our city. Fifteen people (in honor of 15 years of Too Hot ) told us what the production means to them and what keeps them coming back year after year! Rodrick Dixon and Alfreda Burke ( Too Hot to Handel soloists): “This exhilarating take on Handel’s Messiah unites people and uplifts and ignites hope. You are never the same as you experience Martin Luther King Jr.’s idea of ’beloved community’ both onstage and in the audience. We are also thankful that Too Hot has been live-streamed to correctional facilities for four years. The spirit and collective efforts of the people make Too Hot to Handel phenomenal.” Jacquelynn Scales (Program assistant, Harmony, Hope & Healing, a community group that attends Too Hot annually through theAuditorium’sADMITONEprogram): “ Too Hot is a work that has a feeling to it. The songs were delivered with such conviction, strength, and hope in these modern times and this frequency on which we are traveling. The instruments are played with thunder and the singers give lightning, and the energy is high throughout the show.” Suzanne Mallare Acton ( Too Hot conductor): “From the first time I experienced Too Hot in New York some 20 years ago, it soon became an integral part of my musical life. The work is a masterful combination of musical styles, and a perfect vehicle to showcase the diverse talent we have in Chicago. In an era with so much divisiveness, through our music, we unite in a community celebration, and as a Filipino-American female, I am proud and thankful for the opportunity to be at the helm. In the words of Dr. King: ‘ We will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. ’” Too Hot to Handel: The Jazz-Gospel Messiah KRISTIE KAHNS