La Jolla Playhouse Extends World-Premiere Musical DIANA

Due to popular demand, La Jolla Playhouse announces a week-long extension for its upcoming world premiere musical Diana, featuring the Tony Award-winning Memphis creative team of Joe DiPietro (librettist/lyricist), David Bryan (composer/lyricist) and Playhouse Artistic Director and 2017 Tony recipient Christopher Ashley (director), along with Tony Award nominee Kelly Devine (choreographer) and Ian Eisendrath (music supervisor).

Diana will now run February 19 - April 7, 2019 in the Playhouse's Mandell Weiss Theatre. Tickets for the extension week go on sale today for subscribers and on December 6 for the general public at LaJollaPlayhouse.org or 858-550-1010.

In 1981, an assistant kindergarten teacher married the Prince of Wales and, overnight, became the most famous woman in the world. But behind the fairytale, there was a troubled marriage and a young woman struggling to find her voice. Facing an entrenched monarchy and unprecedented media scrutiny, Princess Diana surprises everyone - including herself - as she grows into a global phenomenon and manages to change the world. Playhouse Artistic Director Christopher Ashley and the writers behind the Tony Award-winning musical Memphis create this highly-anticipated musical, featuring an epic and sweeping contemporary score.

Joe DiPietro is a Tony Award-winning playwright and lyricist. He won two Tony Awards for co-writing Memphis, which also received the 2010 Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Musical. He was nominated for a Tony Award and won a Drama Desk Award for Nice Work If You Can Get It starring Matthew Broderick. His other plays and musicals include I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change (the longest-running musical revue in Off-Broadway history), The Toxic Avenger and The Thing About Men (both winners of the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Off-Broadway Musical), the much-produced comedy Over the River and Through the Woods, The Art of Murder (Edgar Award winner for Best Mystery Play) and the Broadway musical All Shook Up. In 2016, his play Hollywood had its world premiere at La Jolla Playhouse, and Clever Little Lies, starring Marlo Thomas, debuted at George Street Playhouse. His work has received thousands of productions across the country and around the world.

David Bryan is a Tony Award-winning composer and lyricist. He won three 2010 Tony Awards for Best Score, Best Orchestrations and Best Musical for the hit Broadway musical Memphis, as well as the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Musical. He is a Grammy Award-winning keyboard player and founding member of Bon Jovi. Over the past 30 years the band has sold more than 150 million records and toured the world, playing to millions of people.

Their recent Because We Can tour was the #1 grossing tour in the world. He and Joe DiPietro have also co-written the award-winning musical The Toxic Avenger. Mr. Bryan is also a National Spokesperson for VH1's Save The Music Program. For more information visit davidbryan.com.

Christopher Ashley has served as La Jolla Playhouse's Artistic Director since October, 2007. During his tenure, he has helmed the Playhouse's productions of The Squirrels, Hollywood, The Darrell Hammond Project, Chasing the Song, His Girl Friday, Glengarry Glen Ross, A Dram of Drummhicit, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Restoration, as well as the musicals Escape to Margaritaville, Xanadu, Memphis, which won four 2010 Tony Awards including Best Musical, and Come From Away, for which he won the 2017 Tony Award for Best Director of a Musical. He also spearheaded the Playhouse's Without Walls (WOW) series, the DNA New Work Series and the Resident Theatre program. Prior to joining the Playhouse, he directed the Broadway productions of Xanadu (Drama Desk nomination), All Shook Up and The Rocky Horror Show (Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations), as well as the Kennedy Center Sondheim Celebration productions of Sweeney Todd and Merrily We Roll Along. Other New York credits include: Blown Sideways Through Life, Jeffrey (Lucille Lortel and Obie Awards), The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told, Valhalla, Regrets Only, Communicating Doors, Wonder of the World, Bunny Bunny, The Night Hank Williams Died and Fires in the Mirror (Lucille Lortel Award), among others. Mr. Ashley also directed the feature films Jeffrey and Lucky Stiff, as well as the American Playhouse production of Blown Sideways Through Life for PBS. Mr. Ashley is the recipient of the Princess Grace Award, the Drama League Director Fellowship and an NEA/TCG Director Fellowship.

Kelly Devine's Playhouse credits include Escape to Margaritaville, Come From Away, Peter and the Starcatcher, Zhivago and Private Fittings. Her Broadway credits include Come From Away (Tony Award nomination), Escape to Margaritaville, Doctor Zhivago, Rocky (Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Award nominations) and Rock of Ages. International: Rocky (Germany), Rock of Ages (West End, UK tour, Toronto, Australia; Helpmann & Green Room Awards). Opera: Faust (The Met & ENO), Wozzeck (San Diego Opera). Off-Broadway: Rock of Ages, Fat Camp, Frankenstein, Anne Wrecksick. Regional: Come From Away, Toxic Avenger, A Christmas Story, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson. Stratford Shakespeare Festival: Cabaret, Romeo and Juliet. Select film and television credits include: Mozart in the Jungle, Wormwood and Untouchables starring Nicole Kidman and Bryan Cranston.

Ian Eisendrath served as Musical Supervisor for the Playhouse's world-premiere production of Come From Away. His Broadway credits include Come From Away and A Christmas Story. Regional: Aladdin, A Room with a View, Secondhand Lions, Vanitites, Oklahoma!, On the Town, Sunday in the Park with George, Cabaret, Into the Woods, West Side Story, Company, Sweeney Todd, Carousel, Titanic and Miss Saigon (5th Avenue Theatre); The Nutcracker and Susan Stroman's Take Five (Pacific Northwest Ballet); A Christmas Story (Kansas City Rep); Cabaret (Theatre Under the Stars, The Ordway (American Musical Theater of San Jose); Miss Saigon (Casa Manana). Mr. Eisendrath is the Music Supervisor and Alhadeff Family Director of New Works at the 5th Avenue Theatre. Education: B.M.A. in conducting musical theatre from University of Michigan.

La Jolla Playhouse is a place where artists and audiences come together to create what's new and next in the American theatre, from Tony Award-winning productions, to imaginative programs for young audiences, to interactive experiences outside our theatre walls. Currently led by 2017 Tony Award-winning Artistic Director Christopher Ashley and Managing Director Debby Buchholz, the Playhouse was founded in 1947 by Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire and Mel Ferrer. Renowned for its development of new plays and musicals, the Playhouse has mounted 98 world premieres, commissioned 52 new works, and sent 32 productions to Broadway - among them the currently-running hit musical Come From Away - garnering a total of 38 Tony Awards, plus the 1993 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre.

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