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Carl Acuff Jr.

Glen Campbell Tribute

Sunday, September 22 - 3 PM

Woodland Oakwood Hall

The Carl Acuff Jr. Show has been entertaining audiences all over the US since 1992 performing in 47 states and traveling over 2 million miles on our nation’s highways, along with headlining their own Music Theater in Branson, MO. In those 30+ years the group has made their mark in the music industry, recording 10 albums, 3 charted independent singles and a #1 hit overseas. In 2011 Carl won the ORAE Entertainer of the year award and the ORAE Male Vocalist of the Year award.

Glen Campbell entertained audiences for 50 years with songs like, “Gentle On My Mind”, “By The Time I Get To Pheonix”, “Wichita Lineman”, “Dreams of an Everyday Housewife”, “Galveston”, “Rhinestone Cowboy” and “Southern Nights”. Carl Acuff Jr., along with a notable group of musicians, put together a tribute show to entertainment legend Glen Campbell, featuring his wonderful catalog of music. In Carl’s Glen Campbell Experience “The Wichita Lineman”, Carl and his musicians perform Campbell’s big hits, including his last recording, “I’m Not Going To Miss You”.

Le Travaillant

Zydeco Band

Monday, October 7 - 7 PM

Woodland Oakwood Hall

Le Travaillant plays Cajun, Creole, and zydeco music, the dance music of French-speaking Louisiana. Although the band is based hundreds of miles from Cajun country in Chicago, its mission is to "Bring the Bayou Down By You." Le Travaillant's debut EP features lively sounds and original compositions by the late bandleader Ethan Sellers about his Cajun family life. Guitarist/singer Stewart Gehring has been active as a Cajun musician for more than 30 years and has raised his son, accordionist/fiddler Dorian Gehring, in the musical tradition. The younger Gehring also picked up accordion in his teens, and began playing on the Chicago Cajun scene when he was ten. Guitarist/Keyboardist/Vocalist Ethan Sellers studied French in high school and college, that was later useful in learning Cajun/Creole songs.

Le Travaillant's name means "the working man," and is a nod to both hard-working people who need to cut loose in their leisure time and to the old Chicago slogan - "Chicago, the City That Works."

Girls Like Us: Christmas Show

A Little Naughty, Mostly Nice

Friday, November 22 - 7 PM

Portage HS West Auditorium

Laura Freeman, creator of tributes to Doris Day and Julie Andrews, has toured the US and Europe extensively in such productions as Into the Woods and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Locally she has worked at Chicago Dramatists, Theatre at the Center, Ravinia, The Metropolis, Freedom Hall and various concert venues throughout the Midwest.

Beckie Menzie is an award-winning concert artist and has appeared at some of the nation’s top venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and Birdland in NYC; and Chicago’s Auditorium Theatre and Park West. Beckie’s Carnegie Hall debut was featured in Michael Feinstein’s Now & Then Series. She tours the Midwest and US with Tom Michael and they have been called “one of the most compelling duos in cabaret”.

Marianne Murphy Orland has performed as a Cabaret artist, Voice actor, Show band and Society Orchestra singer, locally and nationally. Her critically acclaimed and sold-out performances have included: Chicago’s famed Auditorium Theatre, Park West, Victory Gardens, Drury Lane, The Acorn, Omaha Playhouse, Davenport’s Piano Bar and Cabaret, Metropolis Center for Performing Arts, Skokie Theatre, multiple college fine arts seasons, and international venues. Her popular tribute shows include the Life and Music of Karen Carpenter, Petula Clark, and Dolly Parton.

Bisenius & Dunleavy

Violin Á Guitar

Thursday, April 17 - 7 PM

Woodland Sycamore Hall

Violinist Daniela Bisenius was born in Bucharest, Romania. Her parents started her on violin at the age of five. She attended Music School George Enescu,and performed with Frankfurter Opera, Munick Philharmonic, Bayerisches Rundfunk and RTL Luxembourg. At the Musikhochschule Saarbrucken, she studied with Valerie Gradov and attended Violin Master Classes in Nice, France. In 1988 she came to the US, where she was awarded full scholarship to University of Iowa. She performed with many professional and prestigious orchestras in her impressive career and shared the stage with many great stars such as Natalie Cole, Luther Vandross, Smoky Robinson and Kurt Elling.

Marcus Dunleavy has performed professionally as a solo and ensemble guitarist for the past 20 years. He has been a featured artist at the Chicago Latino Music Festival and at many venues throughout Chicago and abroad, including The Chicago Cultural Center, Old Town School of Folk Music, the Auditorium Theater, the Skokie Center for the Performing Arts, and SGI’s Ikeda Auditorium. Dunleavy’s guitar is featured on the debut album of 2010’s American Idol winner Lee Dewyze. He also produced four CDs and received an Honorary Professorship from San Salvador National School of the Arts. Dunleavy’s storied history includes studying under and performing with many well-known masters such as Paul Henry, David Russell and Pepe Romero.