5/15/2019
Broadway Las Vegas
Las Vegas resident Risa Zucker can quickly list her reasons for remaining a season ticket holder with The Smith Center’s Broadway Las Vegas Series. An ardent Broadway fan, Zucker appreciates how a season subscription guarantees her seats to each Broadway production, including high-demand musicals like “Hamilton.”
5/11/2019
Community Impact
As a little girl, Rayanne Mulieri had an immediate answer when asked about her career goals. “I would always say, ‘I want to work behind the scenes on Broadway,’” recalls Mulieri, now marketing assistant at The Smith Center.
5/3/2019
Performances and Artists
Steve Tyrell knows the Great American Songbook better than most “Standards were my mother’s music,” recalls the Grammy-winning singer. “I’m Italian, and I grew up with God and Frank Sinatra, and not necessarily in that order.” It’s only fitting that his career took off by recording his first-ever standard – though the opportunity was unexpected.
4/29/2019
Education and Outreach
Beyond performances by comedy legend George Wallace and the show’s emcee, stage-and-screen star Erich Bergen of the CBS show “Madam Secretary,” the awards event celebrating outstanding Clark County School District (CCSD) teachers offered a stirring address by surprise keynote speaker Laura Bush, former first lady of the United States.
4/25/2019
Community Impact / Education and Outreach
In her first three years as a professional teaching artist with The Smith Center’s Disney Musicals in Schools program, Kathy Ortiz found endless joy. Except for one thing. Ortiz noticed that educators often paid out-of-pocket for set materials, costumes and props to ensure their schools continued to put on student musicals.
4/17/2019
National Geographic Live / Performances and Artists
To say Steve Winter has seen some wild times in his career as a National Geographic photographer is an understatement. Flying over a volcano in a helicopter? He’s been there. Being charged by a 12-foot-tall bear in Siberia? He’s done that. Running from an irate herd of elephants? He’s been there, too.
4/16/2019
Education and Outreach / Supporting the Arts
Thanks to donor support for The Smith Center, the nonprofit gave over 8,000 Southern Nevada students a magical experience this month introducing them to the world of Jane Goodall. It also provided many with their very first live theater experience.
4/15/2019
Broadway Las Vegas / Performances and Artists / Family Programming
This whimsical show offers tasty morsels for every generation to enjoy, including the beloved characters of Roald Dahl’s popular children’s book, and favorite tunes from the hit 1971 movie such as “The Candy Man” and “Pure Imagination.” It also offers fun, new music by the creative team behind smash musical “Hairspray.”
4/9/2019
Supporting the Arts
As a nonprofit, The Smith Center relies on philanthropic support to cover 25 percent of its overall operations, including presenting world-class performances, providing education and outreach initiatives, offering accessible ticket prices, and maintaining its campus that serves as a community hub.
4/9/2019
Performances and Artists
While singer-songwriter legend Paul Anka has left a long trail of hits over his 60-year career, he admits that early on, he was terrified to pen a tune for Frank Sinatra. “He’d always tease me, ‘hey kid, when are you going to write me a song?’” Anka remembers. “But I couldn’t. I was scared to death. I was writing all this teen stuff.”