Escape from the cold and get that blood pumping this January at Centenary Stage Company’s January “THAW” Music Fest, a three-week event that kicks off with the can’t-help-but-dance music of The Duke Ellington Center Big Band.

“Duke Ellington: Composer Beyond Category” is an exciting, hand-clapping, finger-snapping, dynamic musical journey from the jazz clubs of Harlem and the Apollo Theater, to the downtown night clubs and Broadway stages. The Duke Ellington Center Big Band is under the direction of Mercedes Ellington, Duke Ellington’s granddaughter.  

Mercedes Ellington, Duke’s granddaughter, is the director, choreographer, and producer of “Duke Ellington: Composer Beyond Category.”

The performance will be held in the Sitnik Theater of Centenary Stage Company’s Lackland Center on Saturday, Jan. 16, at 2pm.

This all-Ellington program features legendary jazz/blues singers such as Antoinette Montague and a host of incredible international, New York, Broadway, jazz, blues and “beyond category” dancers and musicians.  With dance stars from the Broadway stage and championship ballroom competitions, and tap dance virtuosos all performing to a classic Duke Ellington score presented with a modern theatrical flair.

Mercedes Ellington, director/dancer/choreographer/producer, leads this exciting musical production, which is described by Ms. Ellington as “a cross between a Broadway theatrical musical revue and a jazz concert.” It will bring back fond memories and ignite new ones.  This is a great chance for Duke Ellington fans to hear his music in an incredible live performance while introducing new fans to his music.

Ellington was hailed worldwide during his lifetime as “the Global Ambassador of Jazz and Peace!”

Tickets for this show are $35 for orchestra seating and $30 for balcony seating.  Tickets purchased on the day of the performance will be $40 and $35, respectively. All ticket sales are final.

Tickets can be purchased online or via the box office at (908) 979-0900. The Centenary Stage Company box office is open Monday through Friday from 1–5 p.m. and two hours prior to every performance. The box office is located in the Lackland Center at 715 Grand Ave. Hackettstown, NJ 07840.

The 2015-16 season at the Centenary Stage Company is made possible through the support of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the NJ State Council on the Arts, the Shubert Foundation, the Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, the Sandra Kupperman Foundation, and CSC corporate sponsors, including Premier Season Sponsor Heath Village Retirement Community, Silver Sponsors Hackettstown Regional Medical Center, Home Instead Senior Care (Washington), The Holiday Inn in Budd Lake, and Fulton Bank of New Jersey, and Centenary Stage Company members and supporters.