World Premiere of 'The Four Musicians' at Media City Ballet

Natasha Middleton, Artistic Director of Media City Ballet (MCB), has announced the ballet company will present the World Premiere performance of "THE FOUR MUSICIANS," a new ballet, with words and music by Tom Pease, written for Media City Ballet at the Seventh Annual West Hollywood Book Fair, to be held on Sunday, September 28, 2008 in West Hollywood Park; 647 North San Vicente Boulevard; West Hollywood, CA 90069. Media City Ballet's performance will be presented on the Target Kids' Stage from 1:35 - 2:05 p.m. For additional information, please call 323-848-6515 or visit http://www.westhollywoodbookfair.org.

"THE FOUR MUSICIANS" is staged by Ellen Rosa (of Los Angeles). The cast includes Amara Baptist (of Sunland) as the Cat, Kristine Gregorian (of Hollywood) as the Dog, Tatiana A'Virmond (Burbank) as the Rooster and Robson Tadeau dos Santos Freire (of Venice) as the Donkey. Oscar Reyna (of Reseda) plays the role of a Robber. Award-winning actress Elmarie Wendel (of Studio City) is the Narrator.

"THE FOUR MUSICIANS," a new ballet for children, is based on the classic Grimm's fairy tale, "The Four Musicians of Bremen." "THE FOUR MUSICIANS" tells the story of four animals whose owners are upset with them: a donkey with allergies, who pulls a cart full of tin pans but every time he sneezes he shakes the cart so hard that it smashes and damages the pans; a dog who is owned by a man who hunts birds but gets so excited on the hunt that he barks, runs around, and scares away the birds; a cat who has grown lazy and no longer has the energy to hunt mice; and a rooster whose job it is to wake the farm animals every morning but who has forgotten the words to "cock-a-doodle-do."

"THE FOUR MUSICIANS" was written for Media City Ballet's educational outreach program. Among the several successful productions the outreach program presents is one involving Prokofiev's "Peter and The Wolf." After seeing that program schools wanted a second show that would compliment the Prokofiev piece. "THE FOUR MUSICIANS" was written to fill that need. Tom Pease, the creator of the new ballet states: "Musically, the work has stylistic similarities to 'Peter and The Wolf,' but also incorporates a variety of new compositional techniques. I wanted the work to contain enough musical substance so that a savvy listener would find musical merit in it, while at the same time a younger less experienced audience would still find it accessible."

Tom Pease (Book, Music and Lyrics - of Burbank) earned his Masters Degree in Music Composition at USC. He teaches choral music at Taft High School where he is also the lead teacher and the coordinator of the Visual and Performing Arts Academy. Pease is one of Media City Ballet's board of directors and he is actively involved in the ballet company's educational outreach program.

Elmarie Wendel (Narrator - of Studio City) is best known as Mrs. Dubcek, the wacky landlady in the Emmy Award-winning series, "Third Rock From The Sun," and the equally wacky Gina in "The George Lopez Show." Aside from her television credits, Wendel has performed extensively in theatre productions and cabaret shows as well. Her Broadway and Off-Broadway credits include: "Little Mary Sunshine" and "The Decline and Fall of the Entire World As Seen Through The Eyes of Cole Porter." Her theatre appearances in leading roles with major companies around the country include: "Annie," "The Music Man," "The Wizard of Oz," "Grease," "Carousel," "Cinderella," "Gigi," "Company," "La Cage Aux Folles," "Pajama Game" and "Steel Magnolias," to name a few. Her awards include: an Emmy Award for "Third Rock From The Sun" (Best Show), a Golden Globe Award for "Third Rock From The Sun" (Best Ensemble), a Screen Actors Award for "Third Rock From The Sun" (Best Ensemble), an Obie Award, a Clio Award, a Drama-Logue Award and An Outstanding Female Performer of the Year as a headliner in Las Vegas.

The Seventh Annual West Hollywood Book Fair, hosted by the City of West Hollywood and LA Weekly, will feature 12 stages with more than 400 celebrated authors and artists appearing in more than 100 panels and book signings, storytelling, poetry and theatrical performances and writing workshops. The West Hollywood Book Fair is one of Southern California's largest, most eclectic literary events attracting more than 25,000 readers and writers of all ages and interests. Numerous booksellers and literary non-profit organizations will exhibit at the West Hollywood Book Fair.

The Seventh Annual West Hollywood Book Fair is also sponsored by Target; ClearChannel Outdoor; Time Warner Cable; West Hollywood Marketing & Visitors Bureau; The New York Times; House of Blues; Athens Services; Urth Caffe; Whole Foods Market-West Hollywood; RYAN WARD; Ronald Kurniawan; UCLA Extension Writers' Program; Pacific Design Center; Hornburg Jaguar and Land Rover; Casden Properties; Charles Company and Ramada Plaza Suites Hotel-West Hollywood.

The complete schedule of appearances, panels, performances, book signings and exhibitor hosted activities for the Seventh Annual West Hollywood Book Fair, which will be held from 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m., is posted on the website www.westhollywoodbookfair.org. To learn more about Media City Ballet, please visit www.mediacityballet.org

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