American Ballet Theatre, Yo-Yo Ma and 'Winnie The Pooh' highlight Lied's 2022-23 season (2022)

American Ballet Theatre, Yo-Yo Ma and Danny Elfman will return to the Lied Center for Performing Arts, while Diana Krall, Alton Brown and “Winnie The Pooh” will make their Lincoln debuts over the next year.

Those events, along with the Lincoln premiere of “Hamilton” and seven other musicals, are part of the Lied Center's 2022-23 season, which, as always, will feature groups and solo artists in nearly every performing art form.

“We take the theme of something for everyone very seriously,” said Bill Stephan, the Lied's executive director. “That's been the theme of the Lied Center since before it was created, that this would be a space where you would see the greatest artists in the world and every type of genre.

“When I do programming, we literally have sections for every kind of art— we have classical, we have popular, we have Broadway, we have jazz, we have theater, we have dance, comedy, family shows, you know, and the list goes on.”

The May 2-3 booking of the American Ballet Theatre performing “Gisele” continues the Lied’s special relationship with “America’s ballet.” The ballet company played a special performance in the summer of 2021 at Pioneers Park.

“It’s been so inspiring to see how Nebraska is so excited about ABT,” Stephan said. “It started with ‘Firebird,’ when we sold out all of our tickets in one day. Then, the park, having over 6,000 people, the biggest crowd ABT has had in decades, maybe ever. … Now we’re having them back with one of the greatest classical ballets of all time.”

Ma, who will perform March 30 with his longtime pianist Kathryn Stott, missed last year’s 30th anniversary of the Lied but is making his return the earliest he could be booked.

“He’s the most famous classical musician in the world and he’s been interwoven with the Lied Center’s history,” Stephan said. “He’s been a part of almost all of our anniversary seasons, including the 25th anniversary, when they filmed the movie, 'The Music of Strangers.’ We’re the only performing arts center in the United States featured in Yo-Yo Ma’s movie.”

Elfman was at the Lied in 2018 for the world premiere of a piece he composed performed by the Berlin Philharmonic Piano Quartet. On Oct. 8, Elfman, the leader of the new-wave band Oingo Boingo, will be performing in the production of “Music from the Films of Tim Burton,” that includes his compositions from “Batman,” “Edward Scissorhands," “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and “Alice in Wonderland.”

It will be preceded Oct. 5 by Third Coast Percussion, which will perform an Elfman piece in its “Perspectives” program,

“We're having a Danny Elfman week; one day was not enough,” Stephan said. “It's culminating in this giant production that currently has only been seen in places like the Hollywood Bowl and Lincoln Center."

Elfman’s concert will be in collaboration with the Lincoln Symphony Orchestra, which also will perform with the ballet company.

“Winnie The Pooh,” a show that uses life-size puppets playing Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, Tigger and the rest of the Hundred Acre Wood dwellers, is the highlight of the Lied’s family programming for the season, while REZA, the world’s top touring illusionist, will bring “Edge of Illusion” to the Lied and make motorcycles and helicopters magically materialize on stage.

So where does Food Network chef and cookbook author Brown fit into the “arts” mix?

“Sometimes we like to present artists that lots of people are excited about," Stephan said. "Maybe it's a little something different, because we don't want to present the same thing year after year. He's an artist that brings spectacle to the stage and comedy, cooking and science.”

The season will open Oct. 2 with the Lincoln debut of Krall.

“She’s one of the greatest jazz singers of all time,” Stephan said. “So we're thrilled to be opening our season with her.”

Single-event tickets for the 2022-23 season won’t be available until August. However, “Create Your Own Season” packages go on sale Monday at 11 a.m. at liedcenter.org, by phone at 402-472-4747 or at the Lied ticket office.

To become a “Create Your Own Season” subscriber, patrons choose any of four or more shows, receive a discount of up to 20% off the entire order and are guaranteed tickets for the most in-demand shows.

Reach the writer at 402-473-7244 or kwolgamott@journalstar.com. On Twitter @KentWolgamott