ELVIS LIVES to Kick Off 2016-17 Tour This Month in Fort Worth

It's Elvis' birthday week, and BroadwayWorld has just learned that the award-winning theatrical attraction ELVIS LIVES "THE ULTIMATE ELVIS TRIBUTE ARTIST EVENT" will kick off the 2016-2017 touring season on January 26, 2016 with its third return performance at Bass Hall in Ft. Worth, Texas.

The multi-media live musical is a co-production of On Stage Touring's Legends in Concert division and producing partner Elvis Presley's Graceland.

ELVIS LIVES is a journey across Elvis' life featuring winners and finalists from Elvis Presley Enterprise's (EPE) annual worldwide Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Contest, each representing Elvis during different stages in his career.

The tour marks the second time in the production's six-year history that all three Elvis tribute artists are top winners of the contest. Bill Cherry, Dean Z and Jay Dupuis from 2009, 2013 and 2014 have reunited as the featured touring cast of ELVIS LIVES during the initial leg of the 2016-2017 tour. They will be joined by a live band, back-up singers and dancers, along with an Ann-Margret tribute artist. As a co-producer of the tour, Graceland is providing rarely seen restored video and photo assets from its Graceland Archives to enhance the production.

Additionally, Graceland will be furnishing a new array of co-marketing resources to local presenters of the tour to ensure 'event quality' promotion in every market.

"The partnership between Legends in Concert and Graceland provides the only authentic touring showcase of Elvis tribute artists for fans who want to experience the music and live performance charisma of one of the most popular and beloved recording artists in history," said Elliot Ordower, Producer of ELVIS LIVES for On Stage Touring. "Our thriving production showcases each performer portraying Elvis in one of four eras: the 1950s, 1960s, his movie career and his concert years, so it is a unique and complete musical package."

"We are very pleased that ELVIS LIVES continues to delight audiences and that more Elvis fans will be given the opportunity to see these talented entertainers in the tour's expanded markets," said Gary Hahn, Vice President of Marketing and Media for Elvis Presley Enterprises and Graceland. "We are especially happy that we will be able to include many new, enhanced elements to the production for the audience's enjoyment. ELVIS LIVES is the only Graceland authorized touring co-production featuring Elvis tribute artists."

With its most successful ever 2014/2015 touring season and the increasing number of worldwide preliminary rounds of the Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Contest, there is a growing demand from local presenters and venues around the world to present ELVIS LIVES. Offers from international markets are currently being considered. To date, the tour has been to over 125 markets throughout North America, performing for over 250,000 people during the past four tour cycles. Performances are currently booked through February 2017 and will continue through June 2017.

2016-2017 ELVIS LIVES - INITIAL ANNOUNCED SCHEDULE:

2016

January 26 Ft. Worth, TX Bass Hall

January 28 Conway, AR Reynolds Performance Hall

January 29 St. Louis, MO River City Casino

January 30 Rosemont, IL Rosemont Theater

January 31 Sandusky, OH State Theater

February 12-13 Prior Lake, MN Mystic Lake Casino

2017

February 21-23 Palm Desert, CA McCallum Theater for the Performing Arts

Fans can visit www.elvislivestour.com for updated performance dates and markets for the 2016/2017 tour of ELVIS LIVES and to purchase tickets. ELVIS LIVES fans are also invited to enter a sweepstakes for a chance to win a seven-day cruise for two in an ocean view stateroom on board the Norwegian Pearl. For more information, visit www.elvislivestour.com.

ELVIS LIVES is produced by On Stage Touring, LLC, subsidiary of the company that produces Legends in Concert, which began in 1983 with a limited six-week engagement in Las Vegas, and now celebrates 32 years of success. Featuring live re-creations of superstars of yesterday and today, with performers singing with their own natural voices and backed by a live rockin' band and the Legends singers and dancers, Legends in Concert, recently voted the Best Tribute Show in the Las Vegas Review Journals Best of Las Vegas 2015 poll, is a one-of-a-kind concert experience. The success of the show has afforded On Stage the ability to bring the live celebrity tribute spectacular to many tourist and urban markets. In addition to Las Vegas, On Stage produces Legends shows in such markets as Myrtle Beach, Branson, in Waikiki at the Royal Hawaiian Theater, in Foxwoods Resort Casino, on Long Island at the Gateway Playhouse, Niagara Falls, and on the high seas aboard the Norwegian Pearl. Legends in Concert will commence a North American tour of performing arts centers beginning October, 2016 also currently being booked by Columbia Artists. For more information on Legends and On Stage, visit www.legendsinconcert.com.

Elvis Presley's Graceland, in Memphis, is music's most important and beloved landmark, with hundreds of thousands of fans from around the world visiting the historic home each year. Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc. (EPE) manages the operations of Graceland, its related properties, including the 450-room Guest House at Graceland, opening in Memphis in the fall of 2016, as well as the Graceland Archives, featuring thousands of artifacts from Elvis' home and career. EPE also produces and licenses Elvis-themed live events, tours and attractions worldwide, including the Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Contest, currently in its ninth season, recognizing the very best Elvis tribute artists around the world, as well as "Direct from Graceland: Elvis at The O2" in London, and the new "Graceland Presents ELVIS: The Exhibition" at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino. Graceland Holdings LLC, led by managing partner Joel Weinshanker, is the majority owner of EPE. In 2015, Graceland was named the world's "Best Musical Attraction" and "Best Historic Southern Attraction" in the USA Today 10Best Reader's Choice Awards and in 2013, voted the #1 "Iconic American Attraction" in the same poll. For more information on EPE and Graceland, visit www.graceland.com.

Image via Elvis Lives website.

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