WICKED Leads Broadway Sacramento Season, Subscriptions On Sale 4/25

Broadway's biggest blockbuster musical, "WICKED," will be the highlight of the 2011-12 Broadway Sacramento season at the Community Center Theater, which will include five other recent Broadway hits, including three currently playing in New York . In addition to "Wicked," the season will be "Shrek: the Musical," "Rain, a Tribute to the Beatles," "West Side Story," "Mamma Mia" and "Million Dollar Quartet."

Broadway Sacramento, presented by the nonprofit California Musical Theatre, is the largest performing arts event in the Capital Region. Broadway Sacramento is sponsored by Wells Fargo. The season media sponsor is The Sacramento Bee. All performances are at the Community Center Theater, 1301 L Street, in downtown Sacramento.

Current season ticket holders will receive renewal packets by mail on April 25, and the Wells Fargo Pavilion Box Office will begin taking reservations for new subscribers on that day as well. Season ticket buyers will save an average of 15 percent off of the price of the tickets if sold separately. Six-show subscription packages are $112.80 to $378.40. Five show packages (not including "Mamma Mia!") are only $96.20 to $317.60. Season tickets available only at the Wells Fargo Pavilion Box Office, 1419 H Street, Sacramento, or by calling (916) 557-1999.

While most Broadway Sacramento presentations over the last decade have been presented for two or more weeks, this season, "Wicked," will be the only show this season with a multi-week run. It will be play the Community Center Theater May 23-June 17, 2012.

The season will open with SHREK the Musical on September 27-October 2, 2011. Based on the Oscar-winning DreamWorks film, the Broadway musical brings the hilarious story of everyone's favorite ogre to life on stage. In a faraway kingdom turned upside down, things get ugly when an unseemly ogre - not a handsome prince - shows up to rescue a feisty princess. The Broadway musical was adapted for the stage by an esteemed team that includes Pulitzer Prize winner David Lindsay-Abaire and four-time Tony-nominee Jeanine Tesori.

The season continues with RAIN, a Tribute to the Beatles December 27, 2011-January 1, 2012. Called "the next best thing to seeing The Beatles" by the Associated Press, "Rain" performs the full range of The Beatles' discography live onstage, including the most complex and challenging songs The Beatles themselves recorded in the study but never performed for an audience. Together longer than The Beatles, (and currently playing on Broadway) "Rain" has mastered every song, gesture and nuance of the legendary foursome, delivering a totally live, note-for-note performance in this multimedia concert.

WEST SIDE STORY will play at the Community Center Theater January 24-29, 2012. More than 50 years ago one musical changed theatre forever. Now it's back and mesmerizing audiences once again. Directed by David Saint, using Tony Award-winning librettist Arthur Laurents' Broadway direction, "West Side Story" remains as powerful, poignant and timely as ever. The new Broadway cast album recently won the 2010 Grammy Award for best musical show album.

MAMMA MIA! returns to Sacramento March 13-18, 2012. The ultimate feel-good show that has audiences coming back again and again, makes its fourth stop in the Capital City. It's being presented as an option to the season subscription package. The smash-hit musical combines ABBa's greatest hits, including "Dancing Queen," "S.O.S.," "Super Trouper," "Take a Chance on Me" and "The Winner Takes It All," with an enchanting tale of love, laughter and friendship.

The season continues with Million Dollar Quartet April 17-22, 2012. The smash hit Broadway musical, inspired by the true story of the famed recording session that brought together rock 'n' roll icons Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins for the first and only time. On December 4, 1956, these four young musicians were gathered together by Sam Phillips, the "Father of Rock 'n' Roll" at Sun Records in Memphis for what would be one of the greatest jam sessions of all time.

The season concludes with a limited four-week engagement of WICKED May 23-June 17, 2012. Long before Dorothy drops in, two other girls meet in the land of Oz. One - born with emerald green skin - is smart, fiery and misunderstood. The other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular. "Wicked" tells the story of their remarkable odyssey, how these two unlikely friends grow to become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good. "Wicked" has "cast quite a spell" (Washington Post) throughout North America, breaking box office records in every city that it has played, including Toronto, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, DC, Philadelphia and Boston to name a few. Called "a cultural phenomenon" by Variety and named "the defining musical of the decade" by The New York Times, "Wicked" continues to thrill audiences around the world.

Groups of 12 or more may reserve tickets for any or all Broadway Sacramento shows beginning April 25, by calling (916) 557-1198.

For more information, visit www.BroadwaySacramento.com.

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