Texas A&M's OPAS performing arts series starts its 54th season Wednesday night with a concert built around the music of Phil Collins.
"The Phil Collins Story" takes the stage at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 7, in Rudder Auditorium on the A&M campus. It is the first half of what OPAS is calling "Rocktober in Rudder," a pair of rock-themed shows this month.
A concert with a story
The production comes from the same team behind the touring show "The Simon & Garfunkel Story," according to OPAS. It follows Collins from his years with Genesis through his solo career and the Academy Award-winning songs he wrote for Disney, using a cast of touring musicians along with staged lighting, sound and video projections.
"Picture a rock concert combined with some storytelling and immersive lights, sound and imagery," OPAS Executive Director Monica Elliott told KBTX. She said she expects people to be dancing in the aisles by the end, and that the show traces Collins' path "from Genesis to his solo career" to his work on Disney's "Tarzan."
The show is part of OPAS' Singular Sensations series, which also includes the Kodo "One Earth Tour: Luminance" later in the season.
Fraggles on Halloween
The second "Rocktober" show is "Jim Henson's Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock Live," a family musical at 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 31, also in Rudder Auditorium. The story sends the Fraggles in search of the pieces of a shattered treasure called the Celebration Stone, with walk-around Fraggle characters, puppet Doozers and a giant Gorg from the Jim Henson's Creature Shop.
John Tartaglia wrote and directed it.
