What do Bill Cosby, Vince Gill, Mama Mia, and the world’s oldest continuously operating orchestra all have in common? Indiana, of course! Clarification: Indiana University Auditorium. I did not attend Indiana University, but I plan on attending several shows at the IU Auditorium during the 2008-09 Season. When I discovered the impressive names that grace the stage in Bloomington, I decided this would be a fitting opportunity for Tripodder.com to spotlight talent from across the country and the world that all look forward to performing in Indiana.          

            The Director of IU Auditorium Doug Booher joins me for the first podcast to share a preview of the upcoming season. “We’ve been able to include some of the finest performers in popular entertainment for this season,” explains Booher. “Having Bill Cosby here to kick off the season demonstrates that this will be a season to be filled with very memorable evenings at the IU Auditorium.”

            Bill Cosby’s September 19th appearance will be followed by an acoustic evening with Vince Gill on the 24th of September. Days later on the 30th, the first Broadway show of the season will open with Sweeney Todd. Other Broadway components of the rest of the season will be strong combining newer Broadway with older shows. Mama Mia is another hit that will have dazzled many audiences on the big screen by the time the North America tour cast performs in Bloomington in March of next year.  

            For the Mama Mia podcast, I interview actor Brad Whitfield, who has been with the cast of Mama Mia for longer than almost anyone currently on the tour. After traveling across the United States and visiting a different theatre every week for two years, Whitfield says he is especially looking forward to returning to the IU Auditorium. “To be in the middle of Indiana, you might think you were in a Broadway house in larger city. Bloomington has one of the nicest theatres I’ve ever performed in,” says Whitfield.

            The passion of being on the road with a musical that Whitfield always dreamed of being in is one ingredient of his desire to stay on tour with Mama Mia. There is also a “magical” quality that Whitfield explains as being another reason for staying with the show. “The music of ABBA is timeless. I’ve seen everyone from age seventy down to age seven knowing the words to ‘Dancing Queen,’ ‘Waterloo,’ and other songs. They dance and mimic our choreography and come up with their own dance moves. This makes me realize what it is all about. For these minute they are in the audience, people are unaware of what is going on in their lives. That makes it really easy to be up on that stage.”

            Newer Broadway shows will also entertain audiences at the IU Auditorium. One that has created buzz and is coming to IU in the spring of 2009 is the hilarious Drowsy Chaperone, which has won five Tony awards. The other new Broadway offering in the season is the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. This humorous cast will have the audience believing they are back in middle school. Hairspray and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels are another pair of musicals where one inspired a film, and a film that inspired a musical. They will aim inspire at IU Auditorium during the season as well.

The Dresden Staatskapelle is a mouthful to say. Try pronouncing it in a thick Austrian accent like the famous Austrian pianist and orchestra soloist Rudolf Buchbinder says it as I interview him from his home in Vienna. It’s that oldest continuously operating orchestra I mentioned earlier, dating back to 1548. In addition to IU, their other tour stops are mainly only the biggest cities in the country.

            Paul Simon’s 1986 Graceland album popularized the African group Ladysmith Black Mambazo here in America. Ladysmith’s soulful sounds are regarded as the finest in world music and they will be journeying from Africa to and bringing their one of a kind sound to the IU Auditorium.

Terry Gross of NPR’s Fresh Air is one of America’s most famous and skilled interviewers. She will giving a special presentation at IU to talk about some of her most favorite and least favorite interviews while giving the audience the chance to interview her.

            The above are only peak at what you can experience during the 2008-09 season at IU. Log on to www.IUAuditorium.com to review all the offerings as tickets are already on sale. Individual show tickets can be purchased, but if a number of shows catch your eye you’ll have an advantage to subscribing to five or more shows. First, it entitles you to a free and easy ticket exchange giving you flexibility to trade for another show in advance if you see you are unable to make it to a performance. Second, if you stay as a subscriber for a number of years, your seats will become better.

            To listen to our IU Auditorium podcast series, keep visiting our podcast channel on Tripodder.com as we follow these and other stories throughout the season. As always, we’ll be continuing with our regular coverage here in the Tri-State and beyond.