Urban Cowboy: The Musical Saddles Up At Miller Outdoor Theatre

Theatre Under The Stars (TUTS) will present Urban Cowboy: The Musical from July 14 - 19, 2011. This Houston-inspired, Tony-nominated story will mark TUTS' 44th summer of free musicals at Miller Outdoor Theatre (6000 Hermann Park Drive). Based on the smash hit Paramount film starring John Travolta and Debra Winger, Urban Cowboy: The Musical tells the story of Bud, a new breed of cowboy who's lookin' for love in the biggest honky-tonk in the world, and his rollercoaster romance with local cowgirl Sissy. Their courtship plays out among a Texas-sized setting including oil fields, trailer parks and the infamous Pasadena bar and dance hall Gilley's.

Urban Cowboy: The Musical features romance, big country dance breaks, a trademark mechanical bull and a song list people have been humming for decades in their pick-up trucks. The hootenanny score rocks a jukebox of country music tunesmiths including Clint Black and Charles Daniels. Dashed throughout the production are some of the most iconic country songs made popular by Garth Brooks, Lee Ann Womack, the Dixie Chicks, Willie Nelson and Sara Evans.

Urban Cowboy: The Musical features a book by Aaron Latham - the journalist whose article about Western nightlife inspired the original movie - and Phillip Oesterman. Latham's other article-turned-film, forming yet another John Travolta hit movie, was the fitness craze romance Perfect.

For more information on Urban Cowboy: The Musical, visit Theatre Under The Stars on the web at www.tuts.com or Miller Outdoor Theatre at www.milleroutdoortheatre.com. To contact TUTS by phone, call (713) 558-TUTS (8887). Free tickets for the covered seats are available on the day of performance between 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. at the Miller Theatre Box Office. Free tickets are limited to four per person. Any tickets remaining will be given out one hour before curtain. Don't want to wait in line? For each $50 tax-deductable donation to TUTS, the organization will set aside two reserved tickets under the covered pavilion so you may enjoy the show and experience firsthand how your generosity makes the music happen. Contact Seth Malin at 713-558-2656 or Seth@TUTS.com to take advantage of this deal. No tickets? Bring a cozy blanket or lawn chair and enjoy the show from the Miller Theatre lawn, the perfect place for a picnic and a show!

TUTS' presentation of Urban Cowboy: The Musical is made possible by the generosity of the Miller Theatre Advisory Board, Inc., The Brown Foundation, Inc., The Wortham Foundation, Inc., Wells Fargo, the Texas Commission on the Arts and the George and Mary Josephine Hamman Foundation.

Theatre Under The Stars 2010-11 Sensational Season is generously sponsored by St. Luke's Episcopal Health System. For all of Theatre Under The Stars' 2010-2011 shows, air transportation is provided by United Airlines, the official airline of Theatre Under The Stars. Media sponsors include ABC-13 and Houston Chronicle. Season support is funded in part by grants from the City of Houston through the Theater District Association and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Founded in 1968, Theatre Under The Stars is Houston's acclaimed non-profit musical theatre company under the direction of President and CEO John C. Breckenridge. TUTS was the first theatrical organization in Houston to perform free to the public in 1968 at Miller Outdoor Theatre in Hermann Park, and is the only Houston arts organization that has performed there free to the public every year since the building opened. Since its founding by Frank M. Young, TUTS has produced more than 300 musicals including many local, national and world premieres such as Kopit and Yeston's Phantom, Disney's Beauty and the Beast, Jekyll & Hyde, and Irving Berlin's White Christmas as well as critically acclaimed re-inventions of classics Cabaret and Les Miserables. Through its membership in the Independent Presenters Network, TUTS has helped bring Bombay Dreams, 9 to 5, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Spamalot, Legally Blonde, Ragtime, Curtains and The Color Purple to Broadway.

As a way to continue the tradition of musical theatre, TUTS Education provides instruction and stage experience for more than 21,000 students annually, allowing students to flourish in a year-round schedule of classes. With a common goal - to expand arts access to children of all abilities - The River Performing and Visual Arts Center (The River) merged with Theatre Under The Stars in 2010, creating a unique, barrier free, arts education model for non-profit musical theatre performing arts organizations. With the merger, TUTS Education now provides extended on-site programming as well as off-site programming for children in schools, hospitals and other community-based sites. Housed in the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, TUTS also annually presents the Tommy Tune Awards, honoring the best and brightest in Houston's high school musical theatre programs.

 

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