CURTAINS Highlights Diablo Light Opera's 51st Season

The Diablo Light Opera Company (DLOC) announced that its 51st season, beginning in the fall of 2009, will be highlighted by the Northern California premiere of the recent Broadway hit CURTAINS and three other major musicals, one in concert.

ON THE TOWN: the 65th anniversary of Leonard Bernstein's first Broadway musical about the 24-hour adventure involving three sailors on leave from their ship in New York. The show introduced popular and classic songs, including "New York, New York" and "Lonely Town," and dynamic dancing. "On the Town" was Jerome Robbins' first assignment as a musical comedy choreographer. The show is regarded as an extension of his ballet "Fancy-Free." Five years after the musical opened, it was produced as a top movie starring Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Ann Miller and Betty Garrett. It will be the first time the musical has been presented at the Lesher Center for the Arts, Walnut Creek, where the other productions will also be staged. Scheduled for fall, 2009.

CURTAINS: the Northern California premiere of the 2007-08 Broadway musical comedy whodunit with music by the legendary team of Fred Kander and the late lyricist Fred Ebb and additional music by Rupert Holmes. The show is characterized as an "inventive new work" and an old-fashioned musical comedy with rousing production numbers. The Broadway cast featured TV star David Hyde Pierce. Said one critic: "The show has audiences cheering before the curtain comes down. "Scheduled for spring, 2010.

INTO THE WOODS: Stephen Sondheim's Tony Award-winning musical that intricately reworks familiar fairy tales "Cinderella," "Little Red Riding Hood," "Jack and the Beanstalk," and "Rapunzel" -- with the story of a childless baker and his wife who attempt to reverse a curse on their family so they can have a child. When the show opened on Broadway in 1987, Time magazine called it a "joyous...nonstop pleasure...the best show yet from the most creative mind in the musical theater today." Scheduled for summer, 2010.

FUNNY GIRL: a concert version of the show that starred Barbra Streisand singing a score by Julie Styne and Bob Merrill that included "People," a song that has become one of her signature numbers. The show is a semi-biographical musical based on the life of comedienne Fanny Brice, the famed star of Broadway, films and radio. DLOC's staged concert version, with full orchestra, will feature the musical hits from the show, including "I'm the Greatest Star," "Don't Rain On My Parade," and "My Man." Dates to be announced.

DLOC's current 50th anniversary season, ending next fall, continues February. 13, 2009, with 23 performances of the East Bay premiere of THE PRODUCERS, the madcap Mel Brooks musical that won the most Tony Awards ever. Performances will continue through March 15.

Performances for all DLOC shows will be in the Lesher Center for the Arts, 1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek, California.

Stars 2000, DLOC's teen theater company, will present two shows in 2009: Andrew Lloyd Webber's JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT, opening January 21 at the Las Lomas High School performing arts center in Walnut Creek; and GUYS AND DOLLS in July, 2009, at the Diablo Valley College Performing Arts Center in Pleasant Hill.

For more information, visit http://www.dloc.org.

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