The schedule for The Alden’s next season has arrived.
Highlights of the McLean performing arts theater’s 2024-2025 Professional Series will include the world premiere of “The Remember Balloons,” a hybrid dance/theater production based on a picture book of the same name.
Written by Jessie Oliveros and illustrated by Diana Wulfekotte, the book follows a boy named James who begins to share his grandfather’s stories — symbolized by the titular balloons — when Grandpa starts struggling to hold onto them.
“We are thrilled to present this new, beautiful and moving original work by award-winning choreographer Dominic Moore-Dunson,” The Alden Director of Youth Theatre Programs Danielle Van Hook said in a press release.
Named one of Dance Magazine’s 25 artists to watch in 2023, Moore-Dunson developed the show during a residency at the Alden earlier this year. Using an original score by Theron Brown, he directs and choreographs “The Remember Balloons,” which will make its world premiere at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 18.
Tickets will cost $20 with a $3 discount for students and seniors and a $5 discount for residents of the tax district that funds the McLean Community Center.
The upcoming season will kick off on Saturday, Sept. 14 with Koo Koo, a comedic dance band “described as the Beastie Boys meets Sesame Street.” The duo will perform at 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. that day at MCC’s Old Firehouse Center (1440 Chain Bridge Road).
To close the series on June 14, 2025, Tony Award-winning musical theater composer, lyricist, director and performer Jason Robert Brown will discuss his career working on shows like “Parade” and “The Bridges of Madison County” with his “longtime trio and special guests.”
In between, the series will bring a variety of musical offerings, from chamber musicians to jazz singers, as well as the magician Bill Blagg (Feb. 21), a reimagined adaptation of “Peter Pan” called “Underneath the Magical Moon” by the British theater company Tutti Frutti Productions (April 27), and the street culture showcase 360 Allstars (May 7).
The Alden will celebrate Día de los Muertos on Oct. 30 with the bilingual musical “Sugar Skull!” and Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Jan. 18, 2025 with Collage Dance Company’s “RISE Project,” a ballet that uses the civil rights leader’s final “I’ve been to the mountaintop” speech as a backdrop.
For Christmas time, the theater is bringing back two shows that proved popular in the past. First, a quartet of Broadway singers will highlight the contributions of Jewish composers on Dec. 15 with “L’Chaim II: A Tribute to the Jewish Legacy of Broadway (and Christmas).” Then, saxophonist Lil’ Maceo, gospel violist Eric Taylor and other jazz musicians will return for “It’s a Jazzy Christmas!” on Dec. 21.
Aside from Koo Koo’s concert, all shows will take place at The Alden in the McLean Community Center (1234 Ingleside Avenue). The full lineup of performances can be found on the theater’s website.
