Invitation to Jan. 15 benefit performance of 'Smokey Joe's Cafe' Invitation to Jan. 15 benefit performance of 'Smokey Joe's Cafe'

The WSU School of Performing Arts production of "Smokey Joe's Cafe" has been selected to perform at the Regional Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival in Minneapolis, Minnesota, this month. We will represent Shocker Nation as one of six productions out of a seven state region invited to perform at the festival.

Join us for a benefit performance of "Smokey Joe's Cafe" one last time for Wichita audiences in hopes of raising the money needed for travel expenses. The benefit show will be 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 15, in Wilner Auditorium. Tickets will be $25. Seating is reserved, so call 978-3233 or go online to http://www.wichita.edu/fineartsboxoffice to reserve your tickets.

Director/Choreographer Amy Baker Schwiethale also invites you to join us after the show for light refreshments and a meet-and-greet with the cast and crew in the Wilner Lounge.

"Smokey Joe's Cafe" is a musical revue that features the legendary 1950s and 1960s music of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, such as "Jailhouse Rock," "Stand By Me," "There Goes My Baby," "On Broadway," and many more pop standards made famous by musical icons such as The Drifters, The Coasters, Elvis Presley, Dion of Dion and the Belmonts, and Big Mama Thornton to name a few.

It was the longest running musical revue on Broadway with 2,036 performances and opened in 1995. The original Broadway cast recording also won a Grammy Award in 1996. Audience members will take a high-energy trip down memory lane and are invited to snap, clap and groove to the beats as they are sittin' diggin' all the scenes at "Smokey Joe's Cafe."