{"id":165167,"date":"2026-08-20T10:24:58","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T15:24:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=165167"},"modified":"2026-08-20T10:29:49","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T15:29:49","slug":"ford-center-sets-the-stage-for-a-new-season-of-entertainment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/ford-center-sets-the-stage-for-a-new-season-of-entertainment\/","title":{"rendered":"Ford Center Sets the Stage for a New Season of Entertainment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Shows range from the Gatlin Brothers to <em>Clue<\/em> to Dolly Parton Christmas<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">by Marisa C. Atkinson<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/olemiss.edu\/fordcenter\/\">Gertrude C. Ford Center for Performing Arts<\/a><\/strong> is raising its curtain on a new season at the <strong>University of Mississippi<\/strong>, with events for all ages and interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Seeing performances live gives audiences a fundamentally different experience than watching on a screen or listening to a recording,&#8221; said <strong>Kate Meacham<\/strong>, Ford Center marketing director. &#8220;It&#8217;s a shared experience not just with other audience members but also with the performers. In a way, it becomes a collaboration with both the audience and the performers as participants.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The season opens September 8 with <strong>&#8220;Larry, Steve &amp; Rudy: The Gatlin Brothers.&#8221;<\/strong> The Grammy-winning trio, who has shaped country music for seven decades, is celebrating the milestone with their Farewell Celebration Tour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Throughout their career, the Gatlin brothers have earned a Grammy for Best Country Song for &#8220;Broken Lady,&#8221; along with multiple <strong>Academy of Country Music<\/strong> awards; had seven No. 1 hits and 32 Top 40 singles; and released more 22 studio albums. Their hits include &#8220;All the Gold in California&#8221; and &#8220;Houston (Means I&#8217;m One Step Closer to You),&#8221; which helped define an era. Larry Gatlin also wrote songs recorded by artists such Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Barbra Streisand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The complete Ford Center fall season is:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list has-very-light-gray-to-cyan-bluish-gray-gradient-background has-background\">\n<li>September 8 \u2014 &#8220;Larry, Steve &amp; Rudy: The Gatlin Brothers&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>October 20 \u2014 &#8220;Don&#8217;t Stop Me Now: A Celebration of Rock Musicals&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>October 22 \u2014 &#8220;Clue&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>October 26 \u2014 Dover String Quartet <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>November 5 \u2014 &#8220;Hotel California: A Salute to the Eagles&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>October 13 \u2014 &#8220;Bee Gees Gold&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>October 3 \u2014 &#8220;Dolly Parton&#8217;s Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The upcoming Spring season includes:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul style=\"background:linear-gradient(135deg,rgb(240,240,240) 0%,rgb(253,242,242) 50%,rgb(155,214,221) 100%)\" class=\"wp-block-list has-background\">\n<li>January 26 \u2013 Glenn Miller Orchestra<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>February 27 \u2013 &#8220;Clifford, the Big Red Dog: The Musical&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>March 17 \u2013<strong>&nbsp;&#8220;<\/strong>Mystic Pizza, the Musical&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>March 30 \u2013 &#8220;Gravity, London&#8217;s Iconic Leading Ladies from &#8216;Wicked'&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>April 4 \u2013 U.S. Army Field Band and Soldiers&#8217; Chorus<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>April 6 \u2013 &#8220;The Sleeping Beauty and Raymonda Excerpts&#8221; by the Houston Ballet II<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>April 19 \u2013 Bill Charlap Jazz Trio<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For more information or to purchase tickets, visit the <a href=\"https:\/\/olemissboxoffice.universitytickets.com\/\">UM Box Office <\/a>or call the Ford Center Ticket Office at 662-915-7411.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"25\" height=\"16\" class=\"wp-image-14544\" style=\"width: 25px;\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/TheLocalVoiceLigature-25web.jpg?resize=25%2C16\" alt=\"\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Shows range from the Gatlin Brothers to Clue to Dolly Parton Christmas by Marisa C. Atkinson The Gertrude<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123462,"featured_media":165173,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[52,17687],"tags":[11710,1662,655],"class_list":["post-165167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music-shows","category-university-of-mississippi","tag-academy-of-country-music","tag-ford-center-for-performing-arts","tag-university-of-mississippi"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Clue-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1708&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/123462"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165167"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":165203,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165167\/revisions\/165203"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/165173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}