Billy Crystal's 700 SUNDAYS Comes To The Cobb Center 12/16-20, Tickets On Sale 9/25

As a 2009-2010 season special for Atlanta Broadway Series, Billy Crystal will bring 700 SUNDAYS, his Tony Award-winning Broadway blockbuster, to Atlanta's Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre December 16-20, 2009. 700 SUNDAYS, a play performed and written by Mr. Crystal with additional content by Alan Zweibel is directed by two-time Tony Award winner Des McAnuff.

Tickets go on sale on September 25 and can be purchased at www.ticketmaster.com, by calling 800-982-2787 or at the Cobb Energy Centre box office. Prices start at $55.

The show schedule for 700 SUNDAYS is as follows:

Wednesday, December 16 8 p.m.

Thursday, December 17 8 p.m.

Friday, December 18 8 p.m.

Saturday, December 19 8 p.m.

Sunday, December 20 3 p.m.

700 SUNDAYS, an autobiographical journey, is an original two-act play in which Billy plays numerous characters that have influenced who he is today. It deals with his youth, growing up in the jazz world of Manhattan, his teenage years, and finally adulthood. It is about family and fate, loving and loss.

In its opening week on Broadway, 700 SUNDAYS broke the house record for highest weekly gross at the Broadhurst Theatre and then continued to top its own record every week. The week ending May 22, 2005, marked the highest grossing week, not only for the Broadhurst Theatre, but also for any non-musical production in Broadway history, taking in $1,061,688 at the box office.

The show won the 2005 Tony Award for Special Theatrical Experience and both the 2005 Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Outstanding Solo Performance.

Following the Broadway production, Billy played sold out limited engagements of 700 SUNDAYS in Toronto, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Billy then took 700 SUNDAYS to Melbourne and Sydney, Australia, where both engagements sold out upon announcement and won the 2007 Helpmann Award for Best Special Event.

Produced by Janice Crystal, Larry Magid and Face Productions, 700 SUNDAYS has a scenic design by David F. Weiner, lighting design by David Lee Cuthbert, projection design by Michael Clark and sound design is by Steve Canyon Kennedy.

BIOGRAPHIES

Billy Crystal (Playwright/Performer) has created one of the most versatile and prolific careers in the entertainment industry, finding success in front of the camera, as a performer in film and television, and behind the scenes as a writer, director and producer. After touring with such stars as Billy Joel, Barry Manilow, Neil Sedaka, and Sha Na Na, he became a regular on the popular series "Soap" playing the first openly gay character on a network television series. During the 1984-85 television seasons, Billy met with phenomenal national success on "Saturday Night Live." He created, wrote and produced the critically acclaimed HBO series "Sessions" and became the first comedian to perform in the then-Soviet Union with his special "Midnight Train to Moscow," one of four one-man specials he has done for HBO. He has hosted the Grammy Awards three times and, of course, the Oscars eight times. He starred in Running Scared, Throw Momma from the Train, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, City Slickers, Mr. Saturday Night, Forget Paris, Hamlet, Deconstructing Harry, Analyze This, Monster's Inc. and America's Sweethearts. Crystal's film 61* for HBO films showcased Billy as both director and executive producer. It garnered 12 Emmy nominations including nods for Best Director and Best Made for Television Movie and also earned him a prestigious Director's Guild nomination. Crystal made his Broadway debut with "700 Sundays," an autobiographical one-man play. It opened to stellar reviews, and broke box office records, becoming the highest grossing non-musical in the history of Broadway and garnered Crystal the Tony in 2006, Outer Critics Circle Award, and the prestigious Drama Desk Award. Crystal also took "700 Sundays" on tour to Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Toronto, and Australia also breaking box office records there and earning him the Australian Tony Award. Crystal also adapted "700 Sundays" into a book which joined Billy's two children's books, I Already Know I Love You and Grandpas Little One on the New York Times Bestseller's List. A dedicated human rights advocate, he has co-hosted with Robin Williams and Whoopi Goldberg all eight "Comic Relief" telethons on HBO which have brought the plight of the nation's homeless to the public and raised over $40 million for housing and medical care for these needy people. Billy, Robin and Whoopi reunited in November 2005 for a special "Comic Relief," to aid those affected by Hurricane Katrina. Billy has won six Emmy Awards, six American Comedy Awards and seven Cable Ace Awards. Most recently, he was honored with the 2007 Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at the Kennedy Center in Washington. He has been married for 39 years to Janice, with whom he has two daughters, Jennifer and Lindsay, and granddaughter's Ella and Dylan.

Des McAnuff (Director) is a two-time Tony Award-winning director and Artistic Director of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival. His 2006 Broadway production of Jersey Boys earned four Tony awards including Best Musical, and now has seven companies across the world. He is Director Emeritus of La Jolla Playhouse, which he headed for much of the past 25 years. Broadway: Guys and Dolls (2009), Aaron Sorkin's The Farnsworth Invention (2007); Billy Crystal's 700 Sundays (2004, Theatrical Event Tony); Dracula: The Musical (2004); How to Succeed... (1995); The Who's Tommy (director/co-author with Pete Townshend, 1993 Tony, Best Director of a Musical; 1997 London Olivier Best Director/Best Musical); A Walk in the Woods (1988); Big River (1985, seven Tonys including Best Director of a Musical, Best Musical). Stratford: Macbeth and Sondheim's ...Forum (2009); Romeo and Juliet and Caesar and Cleopatra starring Christopher Plummer (2008). Additional Playhouse productions: The Wiz (2006); Zhivago (2005); Palm Beach (2005); Private Fittings (2005); Tom Donaghy's Eden Lane (2003); Tartuffe (2002); Michael Ondaatje's The Collected Works of Billy the Kid (2001). Film: Cousin Bette and The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle (director), Iron Giant (producer), Quills (executive producer). Upcoming: a commission with the Metropolitan Opera for a new piece with Michael Korie and Michael Torke; adapting Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots for stage with Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips and Aaron Sorkin.

About Atlanta Broadway Series

The Atlanta Broadway Series, created in partnership by WH Management Group and Key Brand Entertainment, is a new series of blockbuster Broadway programming presented at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, a state-of-the-art venue that opened to popular and critical acclaim in September 2007. For more information, visit www.atlantabroadwayseries.com.

About Cobb Energy Centre

The Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, a $145 million, state-of-the-art facility, is located at 2800 Cobb Galleria Parkway in northwest Atlanta, inside the Perimeter. Cobb Energy Centre is a premier venue for opera, concerts, Broadway shows, ballet, educational shows, family shows and corporate meetings and events. The Centre hosts three resident companies, the Atlanta Ballet, Atlanta Broadway Series and The Atlanta Opera. The facility includes the 2,750-seat John A. Williams Theatre, 10,000-square-foot Kessel D. Stelling Jr. Ballroom and other meeting spaces, 1,000 parking spaces including a 700-space parking deck, and full-service food and beverage capabilities. The Centre, part of the Cobb-Galleria complex, is governed by the Cobb-Marietta Coliseum and Exhibit Hall Authority. Additional information about the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre is available at www.cobbenergycentre.com.

Photo credit Peter James Zielinski

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