Liz Callaway Leads SUNSET BOULEVARD at Pittsburgh CLO Next Summer

Pittsburgh CLO will welcome Liz Callaway back to Pittsburgh in 2012 to star as Norma Desmond in Pittsburgh CLO's inaugural production of Sunset Boulevard. Ms. Callaway charmed audiences and critics alike last summer in Pittsburgh CLO's premiere of Love Changes Everything: The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber. The remainder of the cast for this extraordinary production will be announced in the coming months.

Award-winning actress, singer, and recording artist Liz Callaway made her Broadway debut in Stephen Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along. She received a Tony Award® nomination for her performance in Baby, and for five years, appeared as Grizabella in Cats. She has also starred in the original casts of Miss Saigon, The Three Musketeers, and The Look of Love. Off-Broadway, she received a Drama Desk nomination for her performance in The Spitfire Grill, and also appeared in No Way to Treat a Lady, Marry Me a Little, and Brownstone. Other New York appearances include Hair in Concert, the legendary Follies in Concert at Lincoln Center, A Stephen Sondheim Evening, and Fiorello! at Encores!

Liz and her sister Ann Hampton Callaway premiered their new show, Boom! to a sold-out audience at New York's famed Town Hall. Their award-winning Sibling Revelry was presented at the Donmar Warehouse in London. She had the pleasure of co-starring with Jimmy Webb & Paul Williams in their critically acclaimed engagement at Feinstein's in New York. Her concert and symphony work includes appearances at Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, The Hollywood Bowl, and on tour with the Boston Pops. Worldwide, she has performed in China, Iceland, Estonia, France, Slovenia, Seoul, South Korea, Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, and Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. She recently returned from Tasmania, Sydney, and Adelaide, Australia where she appeared in concert with Stephen Schwartz as well as in solo concerts at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival.

Liz sang the Academy Award-nominated song "Journey to the Past" in the animated feature Anastasia. She is also the singing voice of Princess Jasmine in Disney's Aladdin and the King of Thieves and The Return of Jafar. Other film work includes the singing voice of the title character in The Swan Princess, Lion King 2: Simba's Pride, Beauty and the Beast, and The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars. She received an Emmy Award for hosting Ready to Go, a daily, live children's program on CBS in Boston. Other TV credits include In Performance at the White House, Inside the Actor's Studio: Stephen Sondheim, The David Letterman Show, and Senior Trip (CBS Movie of the Week).

Liz has 4 solo recordings: Passage of Time, The Beat Goes On, The Story Goes On: Liz Callaway On and Off- Broadway, and Anywhere I Wander: Liz Callaway Sings Frank Loesser. This summer, Boom! Live at Birdland (with Ann Hampton Callaway) was released on PS Classics.

Sunset Boulevard will run from July 24 - 29. The musical features music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, book and lyrics by Don Black & Christopher Hampton and is based on the Billy Wilder film.

Sunset Boulevard weaves a magnificent tale of faded glory and unfulfilled ambition. Having been discarded by tinsel town with the advent of "talkies," silent movie star Norma Desmond longs for a return to the big screen. By the time she meets struggling Hollywood screenwriter Joe Gillis, the glitz and glamour of her Hollywood life has faded in all but her mind. Their passionate and volatile relationship leads to an unforeseen and tragic curtain call, perfectly captured by Andrew Lloyd Webber's sweeping score including "With One Look" and "As If We Never Said Goodbye."

For tickets and more information, visit www.pittsburghCLO.org.

Since 1946, the Pittsburgh CLO has been the driving force behind live musical theater in Pittsburgh and the entire Southwestern Pennsylvania region. Under the direction of Van Kaplan since 1997, this not-for-profit arts organization appreciates the support of nearly 200,000 patrons each year and produces a subscription series, educational programs, national tours and develops and invests in new works, including 13 Broadway shows (13 Tony Awards®) featuring the recent productions of Catch Me If You Can and The Addams Family. Its dedication to the musical theater art form extends to include such programs as the CLO Academy, the CLO Mini Stars, the Gene Kelly Awards, the Richard Rodgers Award the National High School Musical Theater Awards, the Construction Center for the Arts and the CLO Cabaret.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/WM Photos