Laguna Playhouse to Open HERSHEY FELDER AS IRVING BERLIN, Jan 10

The Laguna Playhouse Executive and Artistic Directors, Karen Wood and Ann E. Wareham are thrilled to present the Orange County premiere of HERSHEY FELDER AS IRVING BERLIN, written and performed by Hershey Felder and directed by Trevor Hay.

"We are so very pleased to have the extraordinary Hershey Felder back on our stage as IRVING BERLIN," comments Wood. "The songs of Irving Berlin hold a very special place in the American musical lexicon and our subscribers and audiences are going to be delighted by this magnificent performance," adds Wareham.

HERSHEY FELDER AS IRVING BERLIN will begin previews on Tuesday, January 6; will open on Saturday, January 10 and runs through Sunday, February 8, 2015 at the LagunaPlayhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Road in Laguna Beach.

Called "the greatest songwriter that has ever lived" by George Gershwin, Irving Berlin is known for innumerable American classics such as "White Christmas," "God Bless America," "Anything You Can Do," and "Top Hat, White Tie and Tails." Jerome Kern said it all: "Irving Berlin... is American music."

ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM:

HERSHEY FELDER (Irving Berlin/Playwright) Broadway, London's West End: George Gershwin Alone (Helen Hayes Theatre, Duchess Theatre). Composers Sonata 1999 -2014 - George Gershwin Alone, Monsieur Chopin, Beethoven As I Knew Him, Maestro Bernstein, Franz Liszt in Musik - at dozens of theatres across the U.S. and around the world. Winner of 2007 Los Angeles Ovation Awards, Best Musical and Best Actor for George Gershwin Alone. Compositions and recordings include Aliyah, Concerto for Piano and Orchestra;Fairytale, a musical; Les Anges de Paris, Suite for Violin and Piano; Song Settings; Saltimbanques for Piano and Orchestra; Etudes Thematiques for Piano; An American Story for Actor and Orchestra. Worldwide live broadcasts, George Gershwin Alone. As director, Mr. Felder premiered Mona Golabek in The Pianist of Willesden Lane at the Geffen Playhouse in April 2012 and recently premiered Chris Lemmon in Jack Lemmon Returns. Mr. Felder has been a Scholar in Residence at Harvard University's Department of Music and is married to Kim Campbell, former Prime Minister of Canada.

TREVOR HAY (Director) Directed the world premieres of An American Story For Actor and Orchestra, Abe Lincoln's Piano and Hershey Felder As Franz Liszt In Musik. He is Associate Director for Mona Golabek's The Pianist of Willesden Lane and for Jack Lemmon Returns. Former member of the historic Old Globe Theatre in San Diego where, at the age of nine, his first position was selling Old Globe memorabilia. Over the next 32 years, Mr. Hay went on to various aspects of production on more than 80 presentations, including the Broadway productions of Jack O'Brien's Damn Yankees, How The Grinch Stole Christmas, and Twyla Tharpe's The Times They Are A-Changin'. Included in his 23 seasons at the Old Globe were eleven seasons of the Summer Shakespeare Festival Repertory, as well work on Tracy Letts' August: Osage County, directed by Sam Gold, and Hershey Felder's George Gershwin Alone, Monsieur Chopin and Maestro Bernstein.

HERSHEY FELDER AS IRVING BERLIN will preview on Tuesday, January 6 at 7:30pm; Wednesday, January 7 at 7:30pm; Thursday, January 8 at 2:00pm & 7:30pm; Friday, January 9 at 7:30pm; will open on Saturday, January 10 at 7:30pm and run through Sunday, February 8, 2015 at the Laguna Playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Road in Laguna Beach.

Performances will be Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays & Fridays at 7:30pm; Saturdays at 2pm & 7:30pm; Sundays at 1pm & 5:30pm. There will be additional performances on Thursday, January 22 & Thursday, February 5 at 2:00pm. There will be no performance on Tuesday, January 20.

Tickets range from $41 - $66 and can be purchased online at www.lagunaplayhouse.com or by calling (949) 497-ARTS (2787). Group discounts are available by calling 949-497-2787 ext. 229. The box office is open Mondays - Sundays: 12p.m. to 5 p.m. (open until 7:30pm on performance days). For more information on all shows and programming visit www.lagunaplayhouse.com. LAGUNA PLAYHOUSE is located at 606 Laguna Canyon Road in Laguna Beach.

Founded in 1920, The Laguna Playhouse is one of the oldest continuously-operating not-for-profit theatres on the West Coast and is noted for its artistic excellence, wide-ranging theatrical programming, award-winning youth education offerings and community partnerships. A member of the League of Resident Theatres, The Laguna Playhouse is a valued part of the Laguna Beach arts community that serves all of Southern California with year-round, professional, high-quality productions in theatre, music and dance.

Because of its longstanding commitment to the arts, The Laguna Playhouse has been recognized for excellence by the LA Drama Critics Circle, NAACP, Backstage, ArtsOC, OC Weekly, Laguna Beach Chamber of Commerce and more. Laguna Playhouse educational programming, which includes classes, productions by and for children and teens (Youth Theatre) and a school tour, has been honored by the American Alliance for Theatre and Education, Arts Orange County and the Orange County Department of Education.

Serving more than 100,000 patrons each season, The Laguna Playhouse has brought many talented performers to Southern California, including Leslie Caron, Val Kilmer, Ed Asner, Davis Gaines, Donna McKechnie, Stephanie Zimbalist, Rita Rudner, Sally Struthers, Cloris Leachman, Julie Harris, Harrison Ford, Charles Durning, Marlo Thomas, Roddy McDowell and Bette Davis, who have performed in world, national and regional premieres, as well as national tours of The Belle of Amherst and Copenhagen.

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