Leslie Caron to Star in 6 DANCE LESSONS IN 6 WEEKS at Laguna Playhouse, 11/26-12/29

The Laguna Playhouse is thrilled to present film great Leslie Caron (An American In Paris, Gigi, Fanny) in a comic and heartfelt valentine to the human condition, SIX DANCE LESSONS IN SIX WEEKS, written by Richard Alfieri and directed by Michael Arabian (Waiting for Godot). Additional exciting casting news to be announced shortly! SIX DANCE LESSONS IN SIX WEEKS will begin previews on Tuesday, November 26 and will open on Saturday, December 7 at 7:30pm and run through Sunday, December 29, 2013 at the Laguna Playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Road in Laguna Beach.

A touching and human comedy about a formidable retired woman, Lily Harrison, who hires an acerbic dance instructor, Michael Minetti, to give her private dance lessons -one per week for six weeks- in her gulf-front condo in St. Petersburg Beach, Florida. What begins as an mercurial relationship blossoms into an intimate friendship as these two people from very different backgrounds reveal their secrets, fears, and joys while dancing the Swing, Tango, Waltz, Foxtrot, Cha-Cha, and Contemporary Dance. Michael and Lily learn to overcome their outward differences and discover an unlikely but profound connection. By the final lesson, Lily shares with Michael her most closely guarded secret and he shares with her his greatest gifts, his loyalty and compassion.
Since its Broadway premiere in 2003, Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks has been translated into 12 languages with more than 50 productions. This life affirming comedy with music, dance and Miss Caron will be a "must-see" and one you won't want to miss.

Comments Director Michael Arabian, "How honored I am to be working with one of the greatest actor/dancers of all time! Leslie Caron is THE one to play this part! We may even see some of the magic she created with Fred Astaire, but this time live on stage! This is a once in a lifetime experience and I am thrilled to be staging it at the Laguna Playhouse!"
ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM AND CAST

Leslie Caron is a French film actress and dancer, who appeared in 45 films between 1951 and 2003. In 2006. Her performance in "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit " won her an Emmy for guest actress in a drama series. Her autobiography "Thank Heaven," was published in 2010 in the UK and US, and in 2011 in a French version.

Caron is best known for the musicals "An American in Paris" (1951), "Lili" (1953), (1955), "Daddy Long Legs" (1955), "Gigi" (1958), and for the non-musical films "Fanny" (1961), "The L-Shaped Room"(1962), and "Father Goose"(1964). She received two Academy Award nominations for Best Actress. She speaks French, English, and Italian. She is one of the few dancers or actresses who has danced with Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Mikhail Barishnikov and Rudolf Nureyev.

Caron started her career as a ballerina. Gene Kelly discovered her in Roland Petit Company "Ballet des Champs Elysées", and cast her to appear opposite him in the musical "An American in Paris" (1951), a role in which a pregnant Cyd Charisse was originally cast. This led to a long-term MGM contract and a sequence of films, which included the musical "The Glass Slipper" (1955) and the drama "Man With A Cloak" (1956), with Joseph Cotten and Barbara Stanwyck.
Still, she has said of herself: "Unfortunately, Hollywood considers musical dancers as hoofers. Regrettable expression."

In 1953, Caron was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her starring role in "Lili".

For her performance in the British drama "The L-Shaped Room"(1962) she won the BAFTA and Golden Globe awards, and was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar. In the 1960s and thereafter, Caron worked in European films as well. Her later film assignments included "Father Goose" (1964), with Cary Grant: Ken Russell's "Valentino" (1977), in the role of silent-screen legend Alla Nazimova; and Louis Malle's "Damage" (1992). She has continued to act, appearing in the film "Chocolat" (2000).

She is one of the few actors from the classic era of MGM musicals who is still active in film-a group that includes Mickey Rooney, Debbie Reynolds, Dean Stockwell, Rita Moreno, Margaret O'Brien and June Stockwell, . Her other recent credits include "Funny Bones" (1995) with Jerry Lewis and Oliver Platt, "The Last of the Blonde Bombshells" (2000) with Judi Dench and Cleo Laine, and "Le Divorce" (2003), directed by James Ivory, with Kate Hudson and Naomi Watts.

On June 30, 2003, Caron traveled to San Francisco to appear as the special guest star in The Songs of Alan Jay Lerner: I Remember it Well, a retrospective concert staged by San Francisco's 42nd Street Moon Company. On April 27, 2009, Caron traveled to New York as an honored guest at a tribute to Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe at the Paley Center for Media.

On December 8, 2009, Caron received the 2,394th Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In February 2010, she played Madame Armfeldt in A Little Night Music in Paris, which also featured Greta Schaachi and Lambert Wilson.

Richard Alfieri (Playwright) Born in Florida, Richard Alfieri graduated from Yale University and began his professional career in New York. He wrote the feature film, Echoes, and the novel, Ricardo - Diary of a Matinee Idol, which he adapted into the screenplay, Moonlight Blonde. He produced the feature film, Rescue Me, and executive-produced the NBC film,False Witness.

He wrote the film adaptation of Robert James Waller's novel, Puerto Vallarta Squeeze. His play, The Sisters, suggested by Chekhov's Three Sisters, premiered in Los Angeles. Mr. Alfieri adapted the play for feature-film production, and the film premiered as an Official Selection at both the Tribeca and Hollywood Film Festivals. The Sisters subsequently won the Santa Fe Film Festival's Milagro Award for Best American Independent Film.

Mr. Alfieri was awarded the Grand Prize at the New York Film and Television Festival and a Writers Guild Award nomination for his screenplay for the film, A Friendship In Vienna. He received a Writers Guild Award for the HallMark Hall of Fame film,Harvest Of Fire. He also received a Writers Guild Award and an Emmy nomination for his work on Norman Lear's ABC special, I Love Liberty.
Mr. Alfieri's play, Six Dance Lessons In Six Weeks, opened on Broadway at the Belasco Theater. The play premiered in Los Angeles and has since opened around the world with productions in London, Berlin, Sydney, Madrid, Vienna, Tel Aviv, Tokyo, Helsinki, Budapest, Amsterdam, Miami, Prague, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Munich, and many other cities. Mr. Alfieri has adapted Six Dance Lessons In Six Weeks for feature film production later this year.

Michael Arabian (Director) just mounted Waiting for Godot at the Mark Taper Forum, where he previously directed Beckett's Krapp's Last Tape, Albee's The Sandbox, Pinter's A Slight Ache, and workshops of new works. Michael has directed and produced numerous World, West Coast, Los Angeles, and New York premieres.

His site-specific company, Theatre InSite, formed a partnership with CBS (Radford) Studios, a first for LA theatre, to produce live TV pilots ("Third Rock From The Sun" picked up) and inventive, large-scale productions (an updated Romeo & Juliet where audiences followed scenes and car chases through the backlot's suburban streets and The Trojan Women(starring Mariette Hartley), set during the Gulf War and staged in 400,000 gallons of water at the old Gilligan's Island Lagoon with an amphibious Humvee from the Marine Corps. Locally, John Patrick Shanley's Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, (14 critics' choices), The Laramie Project, Ten Years Later by Moises Kaufman starring Barbara Bain for the Tectonic Theatre Project in one of 150 presentations around the world, and an unknown play by Arthur Miller, Some Kind of Love Story, produced by Martin Landau and Mark Rydell for The Actors Studio. His productions have garnered over 50 awards. His film "King of the Ants" shot in 35mm was distributed by Larry Estes for Outrider Films Up next is a feature film titled "The Custodian."

ABOUT THE SCHEDULE AND PRICING
SIX DANCE LESSONS IN SIX WEEKS will begin previews on Tuesday, November 26 and will open on Saturday, December 7 at 7:30pm and run through Sunday, December 29, 2013 at the Laguna Playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Road in Laguna Beach.

Performances will be Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays & Fridays at 8pm; Saturdays at 2pm and 8pm; Sundays at 2pm. There will be additional performances on Sunday, December 1 and 8 at 7pm & Thursday, December 12 and 19 at 2pm.

PLEASE NOTE: Leslie Caron will appear in six of the eight performances per week. An alternate (to be announced shortly) will perform: November 30 (matinee), December 1 (evening), December 5 (matinee), December 8 (evening), December 14 (matinee), December 15 (evening), December 19 (matinee), December 21 (matinee), December 26 (matinee), December 28 (matinee) and December 29 (matinee).

Tickets range from $35 - $70 and can be purchased online at www.lagunaplayhouse.com or by calling (949) 497-ARTS (2787). Student discounts are available at the Box Office. Group discounts are available by calling 949-497-2787 ext. 229. The box office is open Tuesdays - Sundays: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (open until 8 pm on performance days).

For more information on all shows and programming visit wwwlagunaplayhouse.com. Laguna Playhouse is located at 606 Laguna Canyon Road in Laguna Beach.

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