Bensonhurst native Kerry Butler, the star of Broadway's musical hit XANADU, Brooklyn Borough President MARTY MARKOWITZ and Assemblywoman JOAN MILLMAN (52nd Assembly District, Brooklyn, NY) will lend a hand to help cut the ribbon at the opening ceremony for Theatre Development Fund's new TKTS Downtown Brooklyn Discount Ticket Booth on Thursday, July 10 at 10:15am. The cast of FORBIDDEN BROADWAY will perform songs from this summer's edition of the long-running, award winning hit, entitled FORBIDDEN BROADWAY DANCES WITH THE STARS!
TKTS Downtown Brooklyn is located on the ground floor of 1 MetroTech Center at the corner of Jay Street and Myrtle Avenue. TKTS Downtown Brooklyn will offer Broadway, Off Broadway, music, dance and Brooklyn performing arts events at discounted prices to Brooklyn residents and visitors. TKTS offers same-day evening and next-day matinee tickets at discounts of up to 50% off.
TKTS Downtown Brooklyn will be open Monday - Friday from 11am to 6pm. TKTS will sell tickets to same-day evening performances and next-day matinee performances. TKTS Downtown Brooklyn will accept credit cards, cash and travelers checks.* It is located right outside of the Jay Street-Borough Hall station of the A, C and F trains and near the Court Street – Borough Hall station of the M, R, 2, 3, 4, 5 trains and the
Lawrence Street station of the M, and R trains.
Kerry Butler received a 2008 Tony nomination as Best Actress in a Musical as well as a Drama League nomination for Distinguished Performance for her role in the hit musical, XANADU, currently at the
Helen Hayes Theatre. She has also starred on Broadway as Audrey in LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, was the original "Penny" in HAIRSPRAY, as well as playing Belle in BEAUTY & THE BEAST, Eponine in
Les Miserables and
Mrs. Jones in BLOOD BROTHERS. She recently released her solo CD, "Faith, Trust and Pixie Dust" on PS Classics.
Gerard Alessandrini's FORBIDDEN BROADWAY, which won the 2008 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revue, is currently performing its summer edition entitled FORBIDDEN BROADWAY DANCES WITH THE STARS!, at the 47th Street Theatre (304 West 47th Street). Performing at the event will be cast members: CHRISTIANA BIANCO,
Jared Bradshaw,
Gina Kreiezmar,
Bill Selby and
Michael West, with musical direction by
David Caldwell. FORBIDDEN BROADWAY DANCES WITH THE STARS is created, written and directed by
Gerard Alessandrini and co-directed by
Phillip George. Costumes are by
Alvin Colt with additional costumes by
David Moyer. Sets are by
Megan K. Halpern and lighting is by
Mark T. Simpson.
TKTS is a project of Theatre Development Fund (TDF), a not-for-profit service organization for the performing arts. TDF has two other TKTS Discount Booths: a new Times Square TKTS Booth will reopen this summer within the newly renovated Duffy Square (it is temporarily located outside the NY Marriott Marquis); and the Lower Manhattan TKTS Booth is located at South Street Seaport at the corner of Front and John Streets. Since TKTS first opened for business 35 years ago on June 25, 1973, over 50 million tickets have been sold at discount prices to millions New Yorkers and visitors who, without TKTS may not have been able to attend live performances. Those admissions represent nearly $1.4 billion in revenue returned to thousands of productions.
TDF has played a unique role in strengthening New York City's performing arts. Since 1968, TDF's combined programs have filled over 73 million theatre seats and returned over 1.6 billion dollars in revenue to theatre, dance and music organizations. In addition to TKTS, TDF's membership and voucher programs touch the lives of nearly 100,000 theatregoers who might not otherwise be able to enjoy the unique experience of live theatre. Each month, over 2 million people visit TDF's Web site, www.tdf.org, to learn more about the performing arts in New York City. Additionally, TDF has provided subsidy support to over 900 plays, including 29 productions that later went on to win the Pulitzer Prize. Through their Access Programs which helps theatregoers with physical disabilities, TDF presents highly regarded sign language interpreted and open captioned performances for theatregoers with mild to severe hearing loss. Their award-winning arts education programs serve over 6,000 NYC high school students each year. They also sponsor comprehensive training courses for future producers and maintain a 65,000 item costume collection. For more information, go to www.tdf.org.
The MetroTech Business Improvement District (BID) is a non-profit community development organization founded in 1992 to further revitalization of Downtown Brooklyn. Based at MetroTech Center, the BID provides public safety, sanitation, economic development, marketing and promotional services throughout a 25-block District made up of diverse businesses, universities and government agencies.
Photo Credit Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.
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