E & M Presents a New Season of Family-Friendly Shows

Dan & Claudia Zanes

There’s nothing quite like live performance to inspire a new generation of future performing artists. E & M Presents is bringing a new crop of shows that aim to do just that in 2023.

For the past eight years, E & M Presents has treated Napa Valley and Bay Area audiences to nationally-acclaimed touring shows created specifically for kids and families.

Past examples include: Zoppe Italian Family Circus; Erth’s Dinosaur Zoo; Doktor Kaboom; Lightwire Theater; Story Pirates, and The Amazing Bubble Man, to name a few.

The new season showcases three different musical genres plus an added attraction chock full of live performing animals sure to elicit laughs, oohs and ahhs!

To date, 2023 performances include:

THE T SISTERS

Sunday, Feb. 19 | 1pm & 3pm

Yountville Community Center

tsisters.com

The talented, terrific Oakland-based T Sisters are on the brink of recording their first album of songs just for kids and families, and they’re coming to Yountville for a trial run. The Tietjen’s -- Erika and twins Rachel and Chloe -- are no strangers to the stage having toured their mellifluous harmonies and catchy melodies for over a decade. From Taylor Swift to their rendition of the classic song “Harvest Moon,” audiences are in for tasty, curated musical selections spanning original tunes and covers – pop to country to Americana. You’ll be invited to sing along and shake your free tambourine to the beats. Guaranteed to suit you to a T!

GREGORY POPOVICH COMEDY PET THEATER

Saturday, March 4 | 2:00pm

Empress Theatre/Vallejo

comedypet.com

By popular demand, E & M Presents is pleased to bring back the wildly entertaining, fun-filled, family-friendly extravaganza that is Comedy Pet Theater featuring a menagerie of cats, white mice, dogs, parrots and even a miniature horse. All performing pets were rescued from animal shelters and now enjoy life in the limelight as Las Vegas headliners with co-star, Gregory Popovich, who incorporates world-class juggling, gymnastics and balancing acts into the production. Popovich is a fifth-generation Russian performer who has toured with the Moscow Circus and Ringling Brothers / Barnum & Bailey Circus. Comedy Pet Theater has wowed audiences in more than 20 countries. Come and see what makes this one-of-a-kind show a perennial family favorite!

DAN & CLAUDIA ZANES

Saturday, April 29 | 1pm & 3pm

Yountville Community Center

danandclaudia.com

Grammy Award-winner Dan Zanes and Haitian-American jazz vocalist Claudia Zanes specialize in a style they call “all-ages social music,” mixing old and new songs. Every performance is a party when “… the best new thing in Family Music” comes to town! Their selections are drawn from Dan’s celebrated music catalogue, their Kennedy Center-commissioned folk opera named “Night Train 57,” the House Party songbook and their Smithsonian Folkways album “Let Love Be Your Guide.” This highly interactive concert will inspire dancing and singing along as the duo performs homespun, artful and joyful music for all to enjoy.

THE OKEE DOKEE BROTHERS

Sunday, July 2 | 1pm & 3pm

Yountville Community Center

okeedokee.org

Born adventurers Joe Mailander and Justin Lansing spent their childhoods exploring the great outdoors in Denver, CO, rafting down neighborhood creeks and discovering hiking trails through the Rocky Mountains. Now, as the Grammy Award-winning Okee Dokee Brothers, this passion for the outdoors lives at the heart of their special brand of Americana folk music. Five-time Parents’ Choice-award winners, Joe and Justin aim to inspire children and their parents to “step outside and get creative!” Come ready to have your kids be motivated to gain a greater respect for the natural world, their communities and themselves – and to have a great time along the way.

All shows are recommended for ages five and above (please, no babies), and each performance will be followed by a Q & A and post-show opportunity to meet the artists. Tickets are available through Eventbrite.com, with additional information and a link to ticketing at eandmpresents.org.

Special thanks to Napa County Arts & Culture Grants, California Arts Commission, the Gasser Foundation, Mechanics Bank and this publication.