'The Gambler' headlines 2013 Tulip Time

HOLLAND, Mich. (WOOD) - The Tulip Time Festival has released its performance schedule for next year's event in Holland.

The Festival will be May 4-11. Detailed program and event information is available at www.tuliptime.com or in 2013 Tulip Time Festival Preview brochures that can be picked up at many downtown Holland merchants during the Holiday Open House from 6-9 p.m. on Nov. 17.

Singer Kenny Rogers will headline the performances and take the Central Wesleyan Auditorium stage at 8 p.m. May 10.

"We are extremely excited to welcome Kenny Rogers to the Tulip Time Festival," Gwen Auwerda, executive director, said in a news release. "He's a legendary music icon whose music spans a unique variety of genres giving him a remarkably broad audience appeal."

The Festival has added some new venues and altered some of the programs to include a dinner, and even a dessert show --

-- FiddleFire, featuring the Panning Family, at Knickerbocker Theatre. FiddleFire fuses Bluegrass, Irish, Classical and French Canadian music to create their own unique contemporary folk sound. They perform May 7 at the Knickerbocker Theatre.

-- Chris Linn ignites the Knickerbocker Theatre on May 8 as he blends magic and comedy to create a performance for all ages.

-- Comedians from Chicago's legendary sketch comedy theatre, The Second City, will have two shows -- May 9 and May 10 at 8 p.m at the Knickerbocker Theatre.

-- "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do" -- a musical by Erik Jackson and Ben H. Winters featuring songs of Neil Sedaka, opens May 4 at the Holland Civic Theatre for its week-long run.  

-- The Windmill Chorus welcomes barbershop quartets from near and far to join in a Barbershop Harmony Gala on May 4 to celebrate the Barbershop Harmony Society's 75th anniversary.

-- An evening of jazz, musical theatre, spirituals and folk tunes from the Holland Chorale, which presents "It's a Grand Night for Singing" on May 5 and May 6, featuring their special guest jazz vocalist Edye Evans Hyde. Top off the evening with an after-show dessert served in the atrium.

-- New this year, the Dutch Celebration! dinner show begins with a culinary adventure in the Dutch tradition followed by a one-of-a-kind performance portraying times in provincial Holland. Performances are May 7 and May 8. Tickets are available with or without dinner.

-- Evergreen Commons presents this year's luncheon show Celebrate America! – a fast-moving song and dance musical featuring special guest artists the "Ah! Men" male quartet and armed forces salute. The afternoon performance runs May 6 through May 10.

-- Four area high schools perform the Tulip Time Salute musical collage on May 7.

-- Holland High School's Vocal Dimensions present the Wooden Shoe-Be-Doo collection of popular songs in two performances on May 11 at the Knickerbocker Theatre.

-- The New Odyssey Dinner Show is back beginning May 6 through May 10. These three guys play no less than 30 instruments through the course of this show.

-- The Holland Jazz Orchestra will perform The Big Band Jazz Experience featuring the sounds of Calloway, Dorsey, Ellington and other favorites on May 6 at the Knickerbocker Theatre.

------

Tickets for the performance are $55 and go on sale Thursday. They can be purchased online at www.tuliptime.com, at the Tulip Time Festival box office at 74 W. Eighth St. in Holland, or by calling 800.822.2770.