Mothers and Daughters

Sorkin focuses on themes that are still relevant and have new meaning now. Atticus as the protagonist believes good can be found in everyone but as the play goes on, he realizes he doesn’t know his neighbors as well as he may have thought. Sorkin also gives the two Black characters larger roles, with more to say.

Yaegel T. Welch, who plays Tom Robinson, the trial defendant, says, “With everything happening in America today, it feels like an honor to be able to tell this story. It’s as much about how racism transforms a white community as it is about how it destroys a Black family.”

“I don’t think it’s possible to experience this story and not feel something,” says Jacqueline Williams, who plays Calpurnia, the Finchs’ housekeeper, who has much more to say than she did in the book. “Part of me wishes we didn’t need this story as much as we do.”

“Patrons will be surprised by what happens when they are in the theater,” says Sorkin. “It’s very much about us today.”

SEGERSTROM HALL December 27–January 8 | Tickets start at $29

“The last leading man”

BRIAN STOKES MITCHELL has nothing to prove when he performs at the Center for one night only next month in the Center’s Headliners Series. He’s what we would refer to as a singing, acting multi-tasker.

Stokes (as he likes to be called) has been described as “the last leading man” by The New York Times, having starred in numerous top Broadway musicals and taken home two Tony Awards. His concerts are sell-outs, and he has appeared with the country’s leading conductors and orchestras. With his powerful baritone, he sings every genre from contemporary to jazz, opera, pop and the Great American Songbook. He has starred in films and on television. During the pandemic he often spent time on his balcony serenading his neighbors. He even knows how to ride a bicycle on a high wire.

He doesn’t just sing the songs. He inhabits the song and its character, sometimes in surprising ways. “Mr. Mitchell is a storyteller of the highest order, informed by the heart, and delivered with passion and humor … so much humor,” says Broadwayworld.com. “To sit in a room with him and watch the overwhelming displays of emotion that wash over his face and that effectively alter his physicality is a special treat.” His acting chops are certainly used as he connects strongly with his audience through a song’s words.

Call it the Brian Stokes Mitchell effect. You will want to fall under his spell, even if it’s just for one evening.

RENÉE AND HENRY SEGERSTROM CONCERT HALL January 6 | Tickets start at $39