RIVERDANCE, STOMP, And THE COLOR PURPLE Among Broadway/L.A.'s 2010 Season

Broadway/L.A. today announces the lineup for its 2010 Season, with all productions scheduled to play at its flagship venue, Hollywood’s historic Pantages Theatre (6233 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood).

The eight-show Broadway/L.A. Season features the Los Angeles area premieres of the Tony
® Award-winning Best Musical of 2008, In the Heights, the hugely successful new Mel Brooks musical, Young Frankenstein, and the stage musical version of 101 Dalmatians, featuring music by Dennis DeYoung of Styx. The season will also feature American Idol Fantasia reprising her acclaimed Broadway performance as Celie in Oprah Winfrey Presents The Color Purple, and will be rounded out with four time-honored favorites: Riverdance, Stomp, Cats and Chicago.

Broadway/L.A. and Pantages Theatre General Manager Martin Wiviott stated, “So far in 2009, every show has performed to near-capacity crowds in this beautiful theatre, and we’ve had to turn away so many patrons that wanted to join us, simply because so many performances have sold out. Only Broadway/L.A. Season Ticket Holders were guaranteed access to all these hits, and we expect the same to be true in our coming season.”

Wiviott added, “There’s an exhilarating moment during In the Heights when the lead character realizes and embraces the true importance of what it means to be home. I believe that Southern Californians have that sense of belonging when we welcome them at Broadway’s Home, the Pantages. I think hospitality is a virtue, and I impart that value to all of those on our staff.”

Season Ticket Holders enjoy a host of benefits not available to the general public, primarily the ability to access the best seats in the house, often at savings of 10% off single ticket prices. They also get a slew of other benefits like lost ticket insurance and any-time-any-reason exchange. Season Ticket Holders have 24/7 account access through a custom website that provides the ability to check performance dates and seating locations, update account information, secure additional priority seats, and make payments online with a few simple clicks.

Later this month, Season Tickets will go on sale to the general public through an exclusive online offer at www.BroadwayLA.org, where visitors may sign up to receive an email giving this priority purchase opportunity. Following an exclusive online-only ordering time frame, Season Tickets will be available for order by phone toll-free at 866-755-BWAY (2929) or by mail order. To encourage the public to take advantage of our faster and easier online ordering option, those ordering Season Tickets online will also enjoy savings of up to $16 for each person in their season package.

In addition to the full 8-Show Season Ticket Package, Broadway/L.A. will offer a smaller 5-Show Package that covers the first shows of the year. Season Packages start as low as $165 for a 5-Show Plan, or $264 for an 8-Show Plan. Those choosing to order online save even more – up to $16 per Season Package.

Once again this season, Broadway/L.A. is proud to offer the discriminating theatre patron “the ultimate theatrical package,” offering VIP service, prestige, privileges and convenience. A limited number of positions are available in The President’s Club®, which provides members four priority seats to our eight-show season -- priority seat access to all Nederlander theatres worldwide, the ability to purchase extra “house seats” to all Broadway/L.A. shows, free parking for all season productions, access to theatre VIP Suite for members, and invitations to any opening night parties during the season. To find out more about becoming a member, please visit www.BroadwayLA.org/PrezClub, or call Jeff Loeb at 323-468-1732.

While tickets for individual productions will not go on sale to the public until later dates (to be announced), those who wish to purchase 10 or more tickets to any single performance are welcome to reserve priority seats now by calling Nederlander Group Sales West toll-free at 866-755-3075 or by visiting www.nedgroups.com. Broadway/L.A. is the Los Angeles theatrical division of The Nederlander Organization, owner of the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. The Nederlander Organization also owns or operates nine theatres on Broadway, three theatres on the
West End in London, and operates Broadway Seasons in several other U.S. cities.

Season Production #1:
Riverdance – Farewell Performances
Jan 12-24, 2010

Riverdance is the thunderous celebration of Irish music, song and dance that tapped its way onto the world stage over a decade ago and has since thrilled millions of people around the globe. This January, Riverdance will return to the theatre where it celebrated its West Coast Debut back in November 1996, this time not to say “hello,” but “goodbye” with 16 Farewell Performances.
What began as a seven-minute dance segment on the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest (televised to over 300 million people in Europe) and then quickly turned into a full-scale production has become much more than an international theatrical success. "I believe Riverdance has been basically a pathfinder,” said Niall O’Dowd, founder of Irish America Magazine and the Irish Voice newspaper. Along with the peace process in Northern Ireland and the economic miracle in Ireland proper, the show “has been a hugely important part of a transformation of the image of Ireland in the last 20
years."

In a flash, Riverdance became Ireland’s greatest ambassador and the thirst began. Riverdance changed the face of Irish dance and despite its imitators, has remained on top and was voted the #1 Variety/Family Entertainment Show in the US (1998).

Composed by Bill Whelan, produced by Moya Doherty and directed by John McColgan, to date, Riverdance has played over 10,000 performances, been seen live by more than 21 million people in over 300 venues throughout 32 countries across 4 continents. They have traveled well over 563,000 miles (or to the moon and back!), played to a worldwide television audience of nearly 2 billion; sold over 3 million copies of the Grammy® Award-winning CD (certified Platinum in the US) and over 10 million videos making it one of the best-selling entertainment videos in the world!
Riverdance had its world premiere at the Point Theatre, Dublin, in February 1995, where it opened to unanimous critical acclaim.

“The success of Riverdance in North America has gone beyond our wildest dreams,” said producer Moya Doherty.

“The fact that the show continues to draw and excite audiences 14 years after its debut in Dublin is a tribute to every dancer, singer, musician, staff and crew member who have dedicated themselves to the show.”

There have been many milestones along the way including the distinction of being the largest Western musical to play China; a record-breaking line of 100 Irish dancers mesmerizing 85,000 people at the 2004 Special Olympics in Dublin; a 10th Anniversary celebration at Radio City Music Hall; dancing in Red Square and on the Great Wall of China and much more.

Of all the performances to emerge from Ireland in the past decade, nothing can compare to the energy, the sensuality and the spectacle of Riverdance. An innovative and exciting blend of dance, music and song, Riverdance draws on Irish traditions and the combined talents of the performers propel Irish dancing and music to the present day capturing the imagination of audiences across all ages and cultures. This extraordinarily unique show features an international company all performing to the magic of Bill Whelan’s music.

Season Production #2:
Stomp
Jan 26-Feb 7, 2010

Stomp, the international percussion sensation, returns to the Pantages Theatre, bringing some new surprises. With some sections of the show now updated and restructured, co-creators Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas have also added two new full-scale routines..

“After creating new routines for Stomp_Out_Loud/">Stomp Out Loud in Las Vegas, Luke and I decided it was time to rework elements of our main production, Stomp,” said Steve McNicholas. “Stomp has evolved a great deal ever since its first incarnation at the Edinburgh Festival. Every reworking has involved losing some pieces and gaining new ones, but has always stayed true to the original premise of the show: to create rhythmic music with instantly recognizable objects, and do it with an eccentric sense of character and humor.”

The changes that can now be seen in the tour of Stomp are the biggest since the late 1990’s. A new piece “Paint Cans” evolved out of the “Boxes” routine in the Vegas show, and “Donuts” is a piece that implements huge tractor tire inner tubes, worn around the waist on a bungee cord. For many years, the creators had looked for a Stomp equivalent of the Latin percussion instrument the guiro, a gourd-shaped open-ended instrument with ridges along the side that are rubbed by a wooden stick to create its sound. The climactic trashcan sequence “Bins” has been restructured to include a guiro-like new found instrument: strip-lighting recycling containers.

From its beginnings as a street performance in the UK, Stomp has grown into an international sensation over the past fourteen years, having performed in over 350 cities in 36 countries worldwide. Stomp continues its phenomenal run with the ongoing sell-out Off-Broadway production at New York's Orpheum Theatre, a North American tour, and two productions overseas – a London company and a European tour.

Stomp, an overwhelming success marked by rave reviews, numerous awards and sell-out engagements, is the winner of London’s Olivier Award for Best Choreography, an Obie Award, and a Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatre Experience.

The young performers “make a rhythm out of anything we can get our hands on that makes a sound,” says Cresswell.

Stiff-bristle brooms become a sweeping orchestra; Zippo lighters flip open and closed to create a fiery fugue; wooden poles thump and clack in a rhythmic explosion. Stomp uses everything but conventional percussion instruments – trashcans, tea chests, plastic bags, plungers, boots, and hubcaps – to fill the stage with compelling and infectious rhythms.

Season Production #3:
The Color Purple starring Fantasia
Feb 10-28, 2010

Broadway/L.A. is proud to announce that American Idol Season 3 winner Fantasia Barrino will reprise her starring role of Celie for the Los Angeles engagement as the Pantages hosts the touring production of Oprah Winfrey Presents The Color Purple.

Fantasia made her Broadway debut in The Color Purple on April 10, 2007, winning the 2007 Theater World Award.

As a 19-year old single mother, Fantasia began her path to international stardom when she became the winner of American Idol. Now 23, Barrino has garnered critical acclaim for both her debut album, Free Yourself, and her second album, Fantasia. To date, she has garnered more than 20 award nominations including the Grammy® Awards, American Music Awards, Vibe Awards, Soul Train Awards and Soul Train “Lady of Soul” Awards, Billboard Music Awards and R&B & Hip Hop Awards, BET Awards, NAACP Image Awards, and Teen Choice Awards.

Fantasia revealed her acting chops when she starred in the Lifetime Original Movie adaptation of her New York Times best-selling autobiography, Life Is Not A Fairy Tale. For her performance, she was nominated for a 2007 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special. The biopic, also nominated as Outstanding Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special for the 2007 NAACP Image Awards, ranks as the channel’s second most watched movie. With her Broadway debut as Celie, the heart and soul of The Color Purple,
she added the distinction of being the first ever American Idol winner to star in a Broadway show.

Nominated for eleven Tony® Awards, including Best Musical, The Color Purple opened in 2005 at the Broadway Theatre, where it ran for over two record breaking years. Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Alice Walker and the moving film by Steven Spielberg, it is the unforgettable and inspiring story of a woman who finds the strength to triumph over adversity, and who discovers her unique voice in the world. With a joyous Grammy®-nominated score featuring gospel, jazz, pop and the blues, The Color Purple is about hope and the healing power of love.

The Color Purple is directed by Gary Griffin and features a libretto by Pulitzer Prize-winner Marsha Norman, music and lyrics by Grammy Award winning composers/lyricists Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray, and choreography by Donald Byrd. The original creative team of Tony Award winner John Lee Beatty (sets), Paul Tazewell (costumes), Tony Award winner Brian MacDevitt (lighting), Jon Weston (sound), Jonathan Tunick (orchestrations) and Kevin Stites (Music Supervisor) was reunited for the tour, which is produced by Oprah Winfrey, Scott Sanders, Roy
Furman, Quincy Jones, Creative Battery, Anna Fantaci & Cheryl Lachowicz, Independent Presenters Network, Lowy Family Group, Stephanie McClelland, Gary Winnick, Jan Kallish, Nederlander Presentations, Inc., Bob and Harvey Weinstein, Andrew Asnes & Adam Zotovich and Todd Johnson.

Season Production #4:
Cats
Mar 9-21, 2010

Cats, the show that revolutionized musical theatre, is coming back to its the Pantages for a limited engagement in 2010, marking 25 years since the show’s original Los Angeles production, which opened at the now-extinct Shubert Theatre in early 1985. Since that time, generations of Angelenos have come together to share Cats’ unique blend of magic, mystery and wonder. This national touring company of Cats is the only production in North America sanctioned by its
composer, Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber.

On May 11, 1981, Cats opened at the New London Theatre in the West End. Eight years later it celebrated its first important milestone: after 3,358 performances Cats became the longest running musical in the history of British theatre.

Cats played its final performance on its 21st birthday, May 11, 2002.

Cats opened on Broadway October 7, 1982 at the Winter Garden Theatre in New York City. With music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics by Tim Rice, direction by Trevor Nunn, and choreography by Gillian Lynne, Cats achieved unprecedented notoriety, heralding a new “British invasion” that would change the face of Broadway for decades to come.

Based on T.S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, and with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Cats won seven 1983 Tony® Awards including Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, Best Lighting and Best Costumes.

On June 19, 1997, Cats became the longest running musical on Broadway. The show continued to live up to its famous motto, "Now and Forever,” until it finally ended its 18 year run on September 10, 2000.

Cats holds the record as the longest continuously touring Broadway musical in American theatre history. Five continents, 26 countries, over eight and a half million audience members and 26 years later, Cats is still America’s most loved family musical.

Season Production #5:
Chicago
Apr 20-May 2, 2010

“Isn’t it good? Isn’t it great? Isn’t it grand? Isn’t it swell? Isn’t it fun? Isn’t it?” Now celebrating eleven glorious years of girls, glitz and glamour across the country, the record-breaking smash hit musical Chicago is bringing its brand of pure entertainment back to the Pantages.

Murder. Greed. Corruption. Violence. Exploitation. Adultery. Treachery. Set amidst the razzle-dazzle decadence of the 1920s, Chicago is the story of Roxie Hart, a housewife and nightclub dancer who maliciously murders her on-the-side lover after he threatens to walk out on her. Desperate to avoid conviction, she dupes the public, the media and her rival cellmate, Velma Kelly, by hiring Chicago’s slickest criminal lawyer to transform her malicious crime into a barrage of
sensational headlines, the likes of which might just as easily be ripped from today’s tabloids.
With a book by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb, Chicago is the winner of six 1997 Tony® Awards including Best Musical Revival and the Grammy© Award for Best Musical Cast Recording.

Directed by Walter Bobbie and choreographed by Ann Reinking, Chicago features set design by John Lee Beatty, costume design by William Ivey Long, lighting design by Ken Billington and sound design by Scott Lehrer. The production also features orchestrations by Ralph Burns, supervising music direction by Rob Fisher.

Produced by Barry and Fran Weissler, Chicago has become a worldwide phenomenon. The London production of Chicago continues to hold the record as the longest running American Musical in West End history. Other previous international engagements include productions in Abu Dhabi, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, Dubai, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland and Taiwan.

Season Production #6:
101 Dalmatians
Jun 8-20, 2010

The Pantages is the “spot” for the Los Angeles premiere of the brand new stage musical 101 Dalmatians, based on the beloved book written by Dodi Smith and featuring a lively contemporary score by Dennis DeYoung, the keyboardist, songwriter and founding member of the rock group Styx.

A musical experience for the entire family – about what it means to be a family – 101 Dalmatians is directed by Broadway legend Jerry Zaks, and features a book by B.T. McNicholl. Pongo and Mrs. Pongo are loving the good life in London with their “pets” Roger and Anita. When their 15 puppies are “dognapped” by the villainous Cruella de Vil, they summon the help of the dog network, and set off by the “Twilight Bark,” they set off to rescue their pups. There's a happy ending for all with laughter, mayhem and music along the way.

In keeping with the spirit of the original story, the stage musical production promises a quirky, upside-down view of the world, where The Audience is allowed to see life from a dog’s point of view. Embracing this proposition, theatergoers are transported to an exciting and altogether fantastic reality that gives grand license for song, dance and spectacle. In keeping with this vision, the creators of 101 Dalmatians will present humans in a heightened form of dress and scale so as to appear larger than life, and the actors who play the animals will thus seem more human than their humans.

Dennis DeYoung has penned three number one records and nine top ten singles. His song, “Babe,” won the People’s Choice Award for Best New Song. His music has appeared in 15 major motion pictures and more than 25 television shows, ranging from E.R. to South Park. In 2008, his musical The Hunchback of Notre Dame won Chicago’s prestigious Jefferson Award for Best Musical.

Jerry Zaks has received four Tony® Awards, four Drama Desk Awards, two Outer Critics Circle Awards, and an Obie. Having directed more than 30 productions in New York, among his Broadway credits are Guys and Dolls, Six Degrees of Separation, Smokey Joe’s Café, House of Blue Leaves, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum and La Cage Aux Folles.

Over his 15 years on Broadway, B.T. McNicholl is proud to have been on the creative teams of such landmark hits as Cabaret, Monty Python’s Spamalot and Billy Elliot. He is a BMI Award-winning librettist, whose work includes the critically acclaimed musical The It Girl. With Stephen Sondheim, McNicholl adapted the book of A Little Night Music for the concert stage.

What would 101 Dalmatians be without, well, Dalmatians? Professional animal trainer Joel Slaven is on the team to create what promises to be a one-of-a-kind stage finale that will leave everyone cheering. Slaven has over 30 years experience working with animals. His production work includes training animals for Ace Ventura Pet Detective, That Darn Cat and Rain Maker.

Season Production #7:
In the Heights
Jun 22-Jul 11, 2010*

In the Heights, winner of four 2008 Tony© Awards and the 2008 Grammy® Award for Best Musical Show Album, will have its Los Angeles Premiere engagement at the Pantages Theatre in the summer of 2010.

In the Heights tells the universal story of a vibrant community in Manhattan’s Washington Heights – a place where the coffee from the corner bodega is light and sweet, the windows are always open and the breeze carries the rhythm of three generations of music. It’s a community on the brink of change, full of hopes, dreams and pressures, where the biggest struggles can be deciding which traditions you take with you, and which ones you leave behind.

In addition to winning the 2008 Tony Award for Best Musical, Lin-Manuel Miranda, the show’s creator, won the Tony for Best Music and Lyrics, Andy Blankenbuehler won for Best Choreography, and Alex Lacamoire and Bill Sherman won for Best Orchestrations. The original cast recording won the 2008 Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album, and Universal Pictures has acquired the rights to produce a feature film based on the smash hit musical.

In the Heights opened to critical acclaim on March 9, 2008 at Broadway’s Richard Rodgers Theatre, where it continues to play to wildly enthusiastic crowds eight shows a week. The show is produced by Kevin McCollum, Jeffrey Seller, Jill Furman, Sander Jacobs, Robyn Goodman/Walt Grossman, Peter Fine and Sonny Everett/Mike Skipper with associate producers Ruth Hendel and Harold Newman.

With a book by Pulitzer Prize finalist and Tony Award nominee Quiara Alegría Hudes and conceived by Lin-Manuel Miranda, In the Heights is directed by Joseph A. Callaway Award-winner and Tony Award nominee Thomas Kail. The music arrangements are by Alex Lacamoire and Bill Sherman. In the Heights also features Tony-nominated scenic design by Anna Louizos, Tony-nominated costumes by Paul Tazewell, Tony-nominated lighting by Howell Binkley and Tony-nominated sound by Acme Sound Partners.

Season Production #8:
Young Frankenstein
July 27-Aug 15, 2010*

Robert F.X. Sillerman and Mel Brooks present Young Frankenstein, a new musical comedy from the creative team of the 12-time Tony® Award winning smash The Producers. The New Mel Brooks MusicAl Young Frankenstein features a book by three-time Tony Award winner Mel Brooks and three-time Tony Award winner Thomas Meehan and music and lyrics by Brooks. Young Frankenstein is directed and choreographed by five-time Tony Award winner Susan Stroman. Musical supervision is by Glen Kelly.

Young Frankenstein opened on Broadway November 8th 2007 at the Hilton Theatre, and it was named Best Broadway Musical 2008 by the Outer Critics Circle Award and won 5 Broadway.com Audience Awards, including Favorite New Broadway Musical.

* These Season Ticket Holder dates are part of a longer engagement.

Based on the Oscar-nominated smash hit 1974 film, Young Frankenstein is the wickedly inspired re-imagining of the Mary Shelley classic from the comic genius of Mel Brooks. When Frederick Frankenstein, an esteemed New York brain surgeon and professor, inherits a castle and laboratory in Transylvania from his grandfather, deranged genius Victor Von Frankenstein, he faces a dilemma. Does he continue to run from his family’s tortured past … or does he stay in Transylvania to carry on his grandfather’s mad experiments reanimating the dead and, in the process, fall in love with his sexy lab assistant Inga?

Unfolding in the forbidding Castle Frankenstein and the foggy moors of Transylvania Heights, the show’s raucous score includes “The Transylvania Mania,” “He Vas My Boyfriend” and the unforgettable treatment of Irving Berlin’s “Puttin’ On the Ritz.”

Released in 1974 to unanimous critical acclaim, the film received two Academy Award nominations, including one for Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder’s script, also nominated for a Writer’s Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Young Frankenstein was also the recipient of the two highest honors accorded films of science fiction: winning The Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation and The Nebula Award, given by The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America, for Best Dramatic Writing. Since its release, the film has become part of the national consciousness: in 2000, it was selected as #13 on AFI’s 100 Funniest American Movies of All Time and in 2003, Young Frankenstein was chosen for preservation in the Library of Congress National Film Registry.

The production team includes three Tony Award winning designers of The Producers: three-time Tony Award winning set designer Robin Wagner, five-time Tony Award winning costume designer William Ivey Long and Tony Award winning lighting designer Peter Kaczorowski. Jonathan Deans is the sound designer. Two other Producers alumni complete the music department: Tony Award-winning orchestrator Doug Besterman and musical director Patrick Brady.

To post a comment, you must register and login.