JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS, THE TRUMPET OF THE SWAN and More Set for Wallis Annenberg Center's 2014 Family Lineup

Family offerings at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in the 2014 season are highlighted by the novel symphony The Trumpet of the Swan, May 2 to 4, 2014, adapted by Pulitzer Prize winner Marsha Norman from the E.B. White novel, with music by Tony Award winning composer Jason Robert Brown. Baseball Swings: A Musical Event, produced in conjunction with the Baseball Hall of Fame, will run from April 3 to 6, 2014. Baseball Swings celebrates the unique love affair between baseball and music with a "major league" concert featuring the greatest music about the greatest sport, with 2,000 images and video synchronized to the live performance. Both will be performed in the Bram Goldsmith Theatre.

Children's programming with longer engagements in the intimate 150-seat Lovelace Studio Theater will be a focal point for The Wallis. The award-winning Catherine Wheels Theatre Company from Scotland presents White, February 28 to March 23. The production won three 2010 Edinburgh Fringe Festival Awards (including Total Theatre) and the 2011 Scotland Critics Award for Best Production for Children, Design, and Technical Presentation. A two-actor import from the Visible Fictions children's theater of Scotland, Jason and the Argonauts, based on the classic Greek myth performs January 14 to February 2, 2014.

Executive Director Lou Moore said, "Children's programming is a major part of who we are. This year, we are bringing two acclaimed theatre companies - Visible Fictions and Catherine Wheels Theatre Company from Scotland, a country known worldwide for its high quality professional theater for young people. Then we will be producing two very different musical events. E.B. White's novel The Trumpet of the Swan has been transformed into a chamber symphony by Marsha Norman librettist for the Broadway musicals The Secret Garden and The Color Purple, and Tony-winning composer Jason Robert Brown, who wrote the scores of The Last Five Years and Parade. Norman and Brown are currently preparing their musical version of The Bridges of Madison County for Broadway. The other is a wholly original performance called Baseball Swings - where America's greatest pastime will be celebrated for the entire family."

Family Subscription tickets for performances for the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, are available by visiting www.thewallis.org, in person at the Box Office at 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA 90210 and by phone at 310-746-4000

Jason and the Argonauts

Visible Fictions

January 16 - February 2, 2014 Lovelace Studio Theatre Tickets $xx to $xx

Thursday and Fridays at 7pm; Saturdays at 3pm and 7pm; Sundays at 2pm and 5pm

Using two actors, a handful of action figures and one incredible wooden cart, Visible Fictions from Scotland innovatively recreates this classic Greek myth. Jason's uncle isn't exactly lovable...he's murdered his brother (the king) and stolen the crown and now no one dares stand up to him. After being banished as a baby, our wannabe hero returns to claim his rightful throne and make some big changes. Things are about to get a major shake-up though because Jason is BACK! The New York Times said, "Sly, silly, sophisticated and altogether winning take on an ancient Greek myth." For ages: 8 years old and above.

White

Catherine Wheels Theatre Company

February 28 - March 23, 2014 Lovelace Studio Theatre Tickets $xx to $xx

Thursday and Fridays at 7pm; Saturdays at 3pm and 7pm; Sundays at 2pm and 5pm

Children are invited into an all-white world in this offbeat comedy from Scottish children's theater company Catherine Wheels, which is an enchanting production for the very young. Two friends, Cotton and Wrinkle, diligently look after a grove full of birds, making sure that everything stays "bright, ordered and white." But when colors start to appear, things become truly magical. Catherine Wheels was formed in 1999 by director Gill Robertson. Its productions have been seen in theatres throughout the UK, Ireland, at the New Victory Theatre in New York, and at festivals in Shanghai and Singapore, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the New Zealand International Arts Festival, and Australian Ten Days on the Island Festival in Tasmania. "This may be the only show that will remind you simultaneously of "Teletubbies" and Waiting for Godot." - The New York Times. For ages: 2 - 5 years old .

Baseball Swing with The All-Star Baseball Jazz Band

Produced in conjunction with Robert Thompson and the National Baseball Hall of Fame

April 4 - April 6, 2014

No other sport has been celebrated in music like Baseball, our national pastime. Baseball Swing celebrates the unique love affair between baseball and music, with a major league concert featuring the greatest music about the greatest sport. With more than 2000 images and video from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, all synchronized to the music and narrated by a noted baseball legend, Baseball Swing is a hugely entertaining event that the whole family will remember.

The Trumpet of the Swan

A Novel Symphony for Actors and Orchestra

Adapted by Marsha Norman from the novel by E.B. White

Music by Jason Robert Brown

May 2 - 4, 2014

E.B. White's classic novel is now a brilliant symphonic concert experience for the whole family. The Trumpet of the Swan, like all of White's (Stuart Little Charlotte's Web), novels concerns a youngster who must overcome a problem. In Louis's case, he is a trumpeter swan born without a voice. On an epic journey of challenge and discovery, Louis finds the gift of music through his father's heartbreaking and heroic love. Marsha Norman, librettist for the Broadway musicals The Secret Garden and The Color Purple, adapted the novel to music and lyrics by Tony-winning composer Jason Robert Brown, who wrote the scores of The Last Five Years and Parade. Norman and Brown are currently preparing their musical version of The Bridges of Madison County for Broadway. For ages: 7 years old and above.

ABOUT THE WALLIS: Located in the heart of Beverly Hills, the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts (The Wallis) transforms a Beverly Hills city block, facing Santa Monica Boulevard, between Crescent and Canon Drives, into a vibrant new cultural destination with two distinct, elegant buildings: the historic 1933 Italianate-style Beverly Hills Post Office (now the Paula Kent Meehan Historic Building) and the new, contemporary 500-seat, state-of-the-art Goldsmith Theater. Together these two structures embrace the city's history and future, creating a new cultural landmark. Within the treasured Post Office, existing spaces are re-imagined into the 150-seat Lovelace Studio Theater, a theater school for young people (opening in 2014), a café and gift shop. The Wallis, the first performing arts center to be built in Beverly Hills, will be a home for artists from around the world and audiences of every age. For its Inaugural Season, The Wallis will produce and present outstanding theater, music and dance, as well as exciting programming for the family audience. The venue will also enhance the live theater experience through special exhibitions that will reveal another layer of meaning to a show or presentation.

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