The kitchens we all dream of – sleek and contemporary, cozy and traditional, packed with innovation and imagination – become a reality for one day as we present our popular Kitchen Tour – an annual spring benefit for The Music Hall!

Reggie Watts, internationally renowned vocalist/ beatboxer/ musician/ comedian/ improvisor, amazes audiences with his unpredictable performances, which are created on-the-spot using only his formidable voice and looping pedals. Blending and blurring the lines between comedy and music with his unique lyrical style, LA Weekly calls Reggie ”the most wildly inventive new talent of the past five years.”

On screen, Reggie has appeared on Conan, Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, HBO’s The Yes Men Save The World, Comedy Central’s Michael and Michael Have Issues, Iceland TV, UK’s Funny Or Die, PBS’ Electric Company, and currently stars as house band leader on the IFC original series Comedy Bang Bang with Scott Aukerman.

Check out Reggie Watts online:

Facebook, Twitter, ReggieWatts.com

The Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer of Charles Lindbergh, Katharine Hepburn, Max Perkins and Sam Goldwyn visits with his new work on Woodrow Wilson. Ten years in the making, Wilson is the most personal and penetrating biography ever written of the 28th US President, an intimate portrait drawn from a particularly contemporary point of view. Don’t miss hearing from this celebrated biographer about one of the most influential figures of the twentieth century… and one of the most enigmatic.

Book: Wilson($40, hardcover, $36 advance voucher)

About Writers on a New England Stage:

Each literary evening features an author presentation followed by an onstage interview with Virginia Prescott, host of New Hampshire Public Radio’s “Word of Mouth”. Live music performed by the award-winning house band Dreadnaught. Shows are rebroadcast on NH Public Radio. Companion bookstore: RiverRun in Portsmouth

Presenting Sponsor

In Partnership With

Ah, the sweet life – full of pleasure and indulgence, no? Join us for a night of romance on Valentine’s Day, featuring the Gaudy Baubles and their marvelous chanteuse, Renee. Escape to Italia for the evening with this retro cabaret—great songs and a great vibe! This one’s for you and your baby.

Celebrate the season as this “quintessential New Orleans institution” (NY Times) brings its wildly popular, hot and spicy show to our stage. The band struts its stuff and sprinkles the evening with its most requested, timeless, holiday classics with a New Orleans twist.

Check out Preservation Hall Jazz Band online:

Facebook, PreservationHall.com/Band

Three master guitarists meet to perform an exquisite evening of Latin, Brazilian, and jazz. Three-time Grammy Award-winning Sharon Isbin teams up with the iconic jazz master Stanley Jordan and Brazil’s leading guitarist Romero Lubambo for an electrifying experience that’s not to be missed.

Check out Sharon Isbin online:

Facebook, Twitter, SharonIsbin.com

Check out Stanley Jordan online:

Facebook, Twitter, StanleyJordan.com

Check out Romero Lubambo online:

Facebook, Romero Lubambo.com

One of the most admired nonfiction writers of our time retells the story of America in the summer of 1927, one truly fabulous year in the life of America. 1927 was the year our still-young country stepped out onto the global stage and Bryson animates his story with larger-than-life characters; great accomplishments; beautifully told anecdotes; witty asides; and fascinating facts. ONE SUMMER is a gripping narrative featuring such outsized American heroes as Charles Lindbergh, Babe Ruth, Herbert Hoover, and a gallery of criminals (Al Capone), eccentrics (Shipwreck Kelly), and close-mouthed politicians (Calvin Coolidge). It was the year Americans attempted and accomplished outsized things and came of age in a big, brawling manner. What a country. What a summer. And what a writer to bring it all so vividly alive for us.

Book: One Summer: America, 1927
For each 1-2 tickets sold, the purchase of a book voucher ($28.95) is required. Vouchers can be redeemed on the night of the event for a signed copy of Once Summer, America, 1927. Tickets & vouchers NOT available online, call or come by the box office.

About Writers on a New England Stage:

Each literary evening features an author presentation followed by an onstage interview with Virginia Prescott, host of New Hampshire Public Radio’s “Word of Mouth”. Live music performed by the award-winning house band Dreadnaught. Shows are rebroadcast on NH Public Radio. Companion bookstore: RiverRun in Portsmouth

Presenting Sponsor

In Partnership With

Music lovers will experience the sounds of award-winning hit-maker, pianist and recording artist as he brings one of the most entertaining and romantic concert events of the year with The Love Tour.

Brickman’s engaging stage presence seamlessly blends mood and music to touch the heart in a special way, letting fan’s imaginations take them wherever they want to go. With dazzling solo piano and star-studded vocal collaborations, Brickman will wow audience members with his hits including “Valentine,” “If You Believe,” “Love of My Life” and more. The Love Tour strikes the perfect balance between musical intimacy, compelling storytelling and audience interaction.

Vocalist: John Trones

Actor, musician, and writer John Trones sang throughout Southeast Asia with pianist Jim Brickman, and nationally with Olivia Newton-John and Brickman. He has been performing, and touring for the past fifteen years and released five CDs. John can be seen in film roles in Father Knows Best and StreetHassle and on TV commercials for Target, Great Clips, Slumberland, and others. He is co-founder of 8 Ball Productions producing plays, musicals and concerts across the country. John can currently be seen in “Yesterday Once More – A Musical Tribute to the Carpenters” across the country. Visit John online at johntrones.com

Check out Jim Brickman online:

Facebook, Twitter, JimBrickman.com

Swing into the true spirit of the season! Bring the family to see the eight remarkable Leahy siblings in their unique musical performance of Celtic melodies and Christmas favorites — from sacred hymns to fiery Celtic tunes – it’s a holiday journey of song, dance, and stories. Don’t miss this magical, uplifting holiday adventure!

Check out the Leahy Family online:

Facebook, LeahyMusic.com

Get in the spirit of the season with Kent Stephens’ STAGE FORCE’s holiday celebration of stories, laughter, poetry, and song - featuring new material and old favorites from a wide array of both classic and contemporary sources. Audiences will love the intimate feeling of this readers’ theatre.

The internationally acclaimed, award-winning novelist returns with the third book in her MaddAddam series, about the activist group that breaks away from “the God’s Gardeners.” Atwood has written more than 40 books including the Booker Prize winner The Blind Assassin.

Combining adventure, humour, romance, superb storytelling, and an imagination that is at once dazzlingly inventive and grounded in a recognizable world, MaddAddam is vintage Atwood, and a moving and dramatic conclusion to her internationally celebrated dystopian trilogy.

Book: MaddAddam
For each 1-2 tickets sold, the purchase of a book voucher ($27.95) is required. Vouchers can be redeemed on the night of the event for a signed copy of MaddAddam. Tickets & vouchers NOT available online, call or come by the box office.

About Writers on a New England Stage:

Each literary evening features an author presentation followed by an onstage interview with Virginia Prescott, host of New Hampshire Public Radio’s “Word of Mouth”. Live music performed by the award-winning house band Dreadnaught. Shows are rebroadcast on NH Public Radio. Companion bookstore: RiverRun in Portsmouth

Presenting Sponsor

In Partnership With

Some say Béla is the world’s premiere banjo player, while Abigail is a singing, songwriting, clawhammer banjo player. They’ll be playing music they developed as a couple, a mix of traditional and original songs in this rare live duo performance!

About Béla
A powerfully creative force in bluegrass, jazz, pop, rock and world beat, Béla has virtually reinvented the image and the sound of the banjo through a remarkable performing and recording career that has taken him all over the musical map and on a range of solo projects and collaborations. The recipient of Multiple Grammy Awards going back to 1998, his total Grammy count is 15 Grammys won, and 30 nominations. He has been nominated in more different musical categories than anyone in Grammy history.

Check out Béla Fleck online:

Facebook, Twitter, BelaFleck.com

About Abigail
If American old-time music is about taking earlier, simpler ways of life and music-making as one’s model, Abigail Washburn has proven herself to be a bracing revelation to that tradition. She pairs venerable folk elements with far-flung sounds, and the results feel both strangely familiar and unlike anything anybody’s ever heard before.

Check out Abigail Washburn online:

Facebook, Twitter, AbigailWashburn.com

Elegant. Understated. Astonishing. The pioneering troupe that captured our imaginations on their last visit returns. From performing at the Academy Awards to choreographing the Rockettes, this radically innovative and acclaimed dance company is renowned the world over for its imaginative exploration of what the New York Times called “a conversation between art and athletics.”

Check out Pilobolus online:

Facebook, Twitter, Pilobolus.com

Evening Sponsor

Piscataqua Savings Bank

Each Spring, The Music Hall’s ballet becomes a special occasion in Portsmouth when families get dressed up and come out on the town. With a special “$15 for 15 and under” ticket and great restaurants, families can make a day of dinner and ballet!

Farmer, businessman, politician, photographer and philanthropist Howard G. Buffett, the oldest son of multibillionaire Warren Buffett, joins us to talk about his new book, 40 Chances: Finding Hope in a Hungry World. This insightful memoir recounts Buffett’s journey from college dropout to leader in the fight to end world hunger. He takes the stage with his son and fellow farmer, Howard W. Buffett.

About Innovation and Leadership Forums

In this Age of Participation, The Music Hall expands on the lively and informative conversations around issues that are part of its celebrated Film Matters Series with a new program Innovation and Leadership Forums. The new program sprang from the creation of Digital Portsmouth, the popular Music Hall gathering that brings together the best and the brightest of the Seacoast’s e-coast on a quarterly basis with presentations on the art of all things digital combined with social networking.  Other Forums feature local and regional leaders talking about sustainability, innovation, mindfulness, and leadership in the casual chic setting of the Music Hall Loft. Larger events with national and international thought-leaders and authors will be hosted in the Historic Theater. The Music Hall is committed to community building and personal flourishing and Innovation and Leadership Forums are part of that commitment.

About Writers in the Loft

Akin to The Music Hall’s anchor author series, Writers on a New England Stage, Writers in the Loft features well-known authors but in a smaller, more intimate space. The series brings audiences today’s top authors, the best of fiction and nonfiction. The evening package includes a reserved seat and bar beverage, author presentation and Q+A, a copy of the book, and a meet-and-greet book signing with the featured writer. Presenting Sponsor: Citizens Bank.

Writers in the Loft Series Sponsor