Tony Winners Diane Paulus, Warren Carlyle & More to Create All-New Radio City Spring Spectacular

MSG Entertainment (MSGE) announces the launch of the New York Spring Spectacular starring the Rockettes, presented by Chase, at Radio City Music Hall to debut in March 2015. The New York Spring Spectacular, created by an unprecedented Tony and Drama Desk Award-winning team for Radio City Music Hall, inspired by the magic of spring - a time when people fall in love - set against a dazzling musical celebration about the energy, places, people, passion and promise that make this city spectacular. This extraordinary show features one of a kind puppetry, state-of-the-art technology and dynamic dance numbers performed by the legendary Rockettes, which has been boldly re-imagined from the originally conceived Heart and Lights. This all-new show at Radio City Music Hall takes audiences on a whirlwind adventure across New York City while telling an inspiring and hopeful narrative about three New Yorkers who change each other's lives in unexpectedly wonderful ways. The brand-new live theatrical production is led by an award-winning creative team that includes Tony and Drama Desk Award winner Warren Carlyle as director and choreographer, Tony Award winning director and Artistic Director of the American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) Diane Paulus and American playwright and Drama Desk Award winner Randy Weiner as the show's co-creative directors and up-and-coming playwright Joshua Harmon. The production is being produced jointly by MSG Entertainment and Weinstein Live Entertainment. The limited seven-week engagement begins previews Thursday, March 12, 2015, opens on Thursday, March 26 and runs through Sunday, May 3, 2015. For more information visit www.rockettes.com.

"We are fortunate to have brought together one of the most creative teams assembled for live theatre," said Tad Smith, president and chief executive officer of The Madison Square Garden Company. "We are confident the New York Spring Spectacular will become a treasured entertainment tradition for New Yorkers and the millions of people that visit our city each year."

"On behalf of the creative team, we are honored to bring the passion of our amazing city center stage at Radio City Music Hall," said Warren Carlyle, director and choreographer, and Diane Paulus, co-creative director, New York Spring Spectacular in a joint statement."With New York City and Radio City Music Hall as the backdrop for this whirlwind and heartwarming New York production, which features the Rockettes, coupled with fantastic music and dance sequences, costumes, technology and one-of-a-kind puppetry - our collective creative inspirations for New York Spring Spectacular are limitless. We look forward to delivering an unforgettable experience that audiences will treasure each spring."

"Together with Warren, Diane, Randy, and Josh we hope to create an experience that families from around the world will love as they come and experience all the joys and excitement of our hometown New York City," said Harvey Weinstein, co-chairman, The Weinstein Company. "We are thrilled to work with MSG Entertainment and look forward to honoring the rich legacy of Radio City that dates back to creative visionaries like Vincente Minnelli, and creating another New York tradition for generations to come."

Writer Joshua Harmon has fashioned a heartwarming and wondrous journey through New York City.

Bernie has been giving old fashioned tours of New York for decades, but his company was just bought by Jenna, a whipsmart techie with plans to fire Bernie and turn his tours into a virtual reality wonderland. Bernie's in trouble. Enter Jack, a spirited young man with a secret agenda of his own: If he can help Bernie keep his job, Jack will get an eternal reward. With the assistance of the legendary Rockettes, and guest appearances by some of your favorite New Yorkers, Bernie takes Jenna-- and the audience-- on the tour of a lifetime, from the Statue of Liberty to Central Park to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. By the last stop of this whirlwind adventure, these three people will be forever changed, and they will never look at the city the same way again.

Bursting with invigorating new Rockettes dance numbers, incredible 3D special effects, sophisticated large-scale puppetry and an exciting soundtrack of original songs, classics and pop hits, the New York Spring Spectacular is as rejuvenating, energetic and uplifting as spring itself - and a reminder that while things may change, nothing can take away the timeless magic and romance of the one and only New York City!

"We know that with MSG and The Weinstein Company behind it, the New York Spring Spectacular will become an instant classic," said Kristin Lemkau, Chief Marketing Officer of JPMorgan Chase, MSG's Marquee Partner. "New York is our global headquarters, and our home. We are proud to support this exciting new production and celebrate everything that makes this city so special."

The New York Spring Spectacular is led by Director and Choreographer Warren Carlyle, a Tony and Drama Desk Award winning director and choreographer, including for such popular Broadway productions as The Mystery of Edwin Drood, A Christmas Story: The Musical and After Midnight, which he also directed and for which he won both the Tony Award and Drama Desk Award for Best Choreographer. Working by his side are Co-Creative Directors Diane Paulus and Randy Weiner. Paulus is a Tony Award winning Director for the A.R.T.'s Pippin and was among 2014's TIME 100, TIME Magazine's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Weiner is the creator of the Off-Broadway extravaganza Queen of the Night at the Paramount Hotel and is a frequent collaborator with Paulus, most recently working together to create Amaluna for Cirque Du Soleil. Weiner is also the producer of the Drama Desk Award winning New York premiere of Punchdrunk's Sleep No More. Writer Joshua Harmon made his professional New York playwriting debut with the critically acclaimed play Bad Jews, which was produced by Roundabout Underground and was the first play to transfer to the Roundabout's Laura Pels Theatre in October 2013. It received Outer Critics Circle and Lortel nominations for Best Play. Harmon earned degrees in playwriting from Northwestern and Carnegie Mellon and studied at Julliard's Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights program.

Ticket Information

Preview performances of the New York Spring Spectacular begin March 12, 2015 at Radio City Music Hall®. Opens March 26, 2015and runs for a limited engagement ending May 3, 2015. Prices range from $46 - $100 for previews and regular box office pricing from $50 - $150, depending on show date and time. Exclusive access to advance tickets for Chase Visa credit and debit card members begins November 3, 2014. Tickets go on sale to the general public on November 17, 2014. Tickets will be available online atwww.rockettes.com , by phone via Ticketmaster at 866-858-0007, or at Radio City's Box Office (50th St. & Avenue of the Americas). Group tickets for 9+ are now on sale. For more information contact Group Sales at 212-465-6080 or group.sales@msg.com. Box Office hours are daily, 10:00 a.m. to 8:00pm. Tickets purchased via Ticketmaster are subject to service charges.

About MSG Entertainment

MSG Entertainment (MSGE), the live entertainment arm of The Madison Square Garden Company (Nasdaq: MSG), is a worldwide entertainment company recognized for its signature combination of event production and entertainment marketing. In addition to the nearly 900 entertainment concerts and events that take place each year at Radio City Music Hall, Madison Square Garden, The Theater at Madison Square Garden, the Beacon Theatre, The Chicago Theatre, and the Forum in Inglewood, California, MSGE has an exclusive co-booking agreement with Boston's Citi Performing Arts Center/ Wang Theatre. MSG Entertainment's live events include the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, which has played to more than 75 million people in 77 different cities across North America. More than five million people attend MSG Entertainment branded events annually including concerts, special events, and family attractions.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos