Thu, Fri, Sat & Sun, May 15 – 18

Program

Join our email list!

Get upcoming events updates.

Join!

Event Sponsor

Tom Franke Gala

The Tom Franke Gala is an annual fundraiser event for The Franke Center For The Arts. Join your fellow supporters of the arts for a magical night of music, entertainment, food and drinks benefitting The Franke Center–all in memory of one of The Franke Center’s founders and champions, Tom Franke.

The Gala is a two-part event. The first part is a mixer with dinner, special cocktails, a silent auction, and live entertainment in the Franke Center’s Downstage Club. The second part will be a Mainstage performance by The Dave Bennett Quartet.

Dave Bennett Quartet

The Dave Bennett Quartet presents an intense and emotional musical experience. Bennett and his band perform hard driving swing, rockabilly, jazz, pop, gospel, and original songs. Listeners will recognize the influences of Benny Goodman, Pete Fountain, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Beatles, Chris Isaak, Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins.

“We cover different genres.So our audiences can have a ball hearing songs that they’ve grown up with and while introducing them to my own original music. My band and I have the greatest job in the world!”

Meet Dave

“Bennett is a player superbly well balanced between purity and power. Bennett injects three heady shots of adrenalin that bring the music sharply to life.”

Downbeat Magazine

Dave Bennett doesn’t fit the mold.

For starters, you don’t find many jazz clarinet players who name Alice Cooper, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Chris Isaak among their influences. You won’t find many musicians who are equally conversant with the music of Benny Goodman (the “King of Swing”) and Roy Orbison (“The Soul of Rock and Roll”). In fact, you may not find even one other clarinet virtuoso who breaks from his Swing Era repertoire to sing rockabilly hits while accompanying himself at the piano or electric guitar.

Dave began his national touring career at the age of 14. He has been a featured soloist at Carnegie Hall with The New York Pops(2013) and has been featured with 35 other US and Canadian orchestras including Nashville, Houston, Detroit, Rochester, Omaha, Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver, Orlando, San Antonio, Jacksonville, Portland, OR and Portland, ME. Some of his annual appearances include The Elkhart Jazz Festival, The Suncoast Classic Jazz Festival, The Arizona Classic Jazz Festival, The Sacramento Hot Jazz Jubilee, The Clambake Music Festival, and The Redwood Coast Music Festival.

Dave has been featured on NPR Radio’s “Jazz at Riverwalk.” He made his European debut in 2008 at The Bern Jazz Festival(Switzerland) in a combo with jazz legends and Benny Goodman alumni guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli and vibraphonist Peter Appleyard. He has also shared the stage with Ken Peplowski, Byron Stripling, Marcus Printup, Aaron Diehl, and Bria Skonberg.

He has been featured soloist on several jazz cruises, performing with Harry Allen, Warren Vache, Allan Vache, Banu Gibson, and Tardo Hammer.

Dave is a recording artist on jazz label Mack Avenue Records. His second release, Blood Moon reached No. 24 on the Billboard Jazz charts in 2018.

In March 2022, Dave and his band performed to a sold-out audience at New York City’s Birdland Theater.

During the isolation of the pandemic, fate steered Dave’s time off the road into a bold new direction. He put his guitar pedal to the metal and stepped away from his beloved clarinet. A songwriter stepped forward. Road songs, reverb-laded guitar solos that could power a surf documentary, and memories of loves and lives lost are the mile markers that makeup his latest release “Nowhere Fast”. His first full-length rock album is a deep, soul-searching joyride through the back streets of his mind.

Dave has recently joined forces with guitarist/vocalist/pastor Tom Hampton for Dave’s first gospel project. Release is planned for late 2024.

Gala Entertainment : Josh Vreeland

Josh Vreeland is a music director, educator, and performer with deep roots in the Marshall community. Having grown up performing on this very stage, Josh is thrilled to return as a musician, bringing his passion for storytelling through music full circle.

A graduate of NYU’s Steinhardt School with a Master’s degree in Voice Performance and an advanced certificate in Voice Pedagogy, Josh has dedicated his career to shaping young artists while continuing his own performing journey. As a music director and educator, he has led numerous productions, helping performers find their voice and connect with audiences in meaningful ways.

Now, coming back to the theatre that first inspired him, Josh is grateful for the opportunity to make music in a place that will always feel like home.

Thank you to our Season Sponsors

First Lastname, Role

Nemo enim ipsam voluptatem quia voluptas sit aspernatur aut odit aut fugit, sed quia consequuntur magni dolores eos qui ratione voluptatem sequi nesciunt. Neque porro quisquam est, qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit, sed quia non numquam eius modi tempora incidunt ut labore et dolore magnam aliquam quaerat voluptatem.

First Lastname, Role

Details

Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo.

Letter from the Director

Ut enim ad minima veniam, quis nostrum exercitationem ullam corporis suscipit laboriosam, nisi ut aliquid ex ea commodi consequatur? Quis autem vel eum iure reprehenderit qui in ea voluptate velit esse quam nihil molestiae consequatur, vel illum qui dolorem eum fugiat quo voluptas nulla pariatur?”

Letter from the Choreographer

Cast List