San Francisco Playhouse Adds A CHRISTMAS STORY to 2017/18 Season

San Francisco Playhouse (Artistic Director Bill English; Producing Director Susi Damilano) announced the final selection for its 2017-18 Mainstage season-A Christmas Story: The Musical. With a book by Joseph Robinette and music and lyrics by Oscar-winning duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, A Christmas Story is based on the classic 1983 film of the same name. The play will be presented in the previously-unannounced holiday slot, running November 22, 2017 to January 13, 2018 (Press Opening is November 29, 2017).

Nine-year-old Ralphie Parker wants nothing more for Christmas than an official
Red Ryder Carbine-Action 200-Shot Range Model Air Rifle. But first, he'll have to navigate past a maniacal department store Santa, an infamous leg lamp, a triple-dog-dare to lick a frozen flagpole, and much more. Nominated for three Tony Awards in 2013, A Christmas Story is a classic and heartfelt holiday tale backed by a magnificent score.

"There's a reason A Christmas Story is one of the most beloved holiday tales of our time," said Producing Director Susi Damilano. "This musical captures all of the joy and wonder of the original film, and enhances it with an amazing score by two of the most gifted composers of their generation." Pasek and Paul composed the lyrics for the film La La Land, winning the Academy Award for Best Original Song, and their musical Dear Evan Hansen is currently enjoying a critically-acclaimed Broadway run at the Music Box Theatre.

A Christmas Story: The Musical will be directed by Susi Damilano, and joins the previously announced season that begins with the Bay Area Premiere of Robert O'Hara's Off-Broadway critical hit Barbecue, a ferociously funny and incisive look at poverty, race, and social class. Following A Christmas Story, the new year begins with Garson Kanin's American classic Born Yesterday, a comedy that explores personal and political oppression. The Mainstage season continues with the West Coast Premiere of The Effect, Lucy Prebble's critically acclaimed 2012 play that premiered at London's National Theatre. Next, the World Premiere of Melissa Ross's An Entomologist's Love Story-an uproarious, edgy, and explicit look at love in our times-will hit The Playhouse stage. San Francisco Playhouse will conclude their 15th season with Sunday in the Park with George, Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Pulitzer Prize-winning musical based on the life of artist Georges Seurat. The Playhouse's 3-Play Sandbox Series of World Premieres will be announced at a later date.

Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (Music and Lyrics)'s musical Dogfight had its world premiere at Second Stage Theatre, where it won the Lortel Award for Best New Musical. Theater credits include A Christmas Story: The Musical on Broadway, which received Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle nominations for Outstanding New Broadway Musical; James and the Giant Peach; Edges. TV credits include "Smash," "Sesame Street," "Johnny and the Sprites." Pasek and Paul created the song "Unlimited" for Old Navy's 2014 back-to-school campaign, which earned them a Daytime Emmy Award nomination. Film projects include La La Land (Lionsgate), for which the song "City of Stars" received the Academy Award for Best Original Song; The Greatest Showman (FOX); Trolls (Dreamworks Animation); Medusa (Sony Pictures Animation); Tom and Jerry Return to Oz (Warner Bros Animation). Honors: Richard Rodgers Award for Musical Theatre (American Academy of Arts and Letters), ASCAP Richard Rodgers New Horizons Award, Jonathan Larson Award. Both are B.F.A. Musical Theatre graduates of the University of Michigan and members of the Dramatists Guild of America, Inc.

Joseph Robinette (Book) is the award-winning author of fifty-five published plays and musicals. His works have been produced in all fifty states and in seventeen foreign countries. Twelve of his plays have been translated into foreign languages. His plays have been produced by Lincoln Center, Pittsburgh Playhouse, Barter Theatre, Laguna Playhouse, Goodman Theatre and the BBC, among others. Robinette collaborated with E.B.White on the authorized stage version of Charlotte's Web, and he wrote the musical version with Charles Strouse. Among his honors is The Children's Theatre Foundation of America Medallion for his "body of dramatic works for children and young people in the United States and beyond." Joseph is a member of the Dramatists Guild, Inc.

Sandbox Series
The Playhouse's award-winning Sandbox Series of World Premieres will begin its eighth season of new plays in 2017. The lineup for Sandbox Series will be released in a separate announcement this spring.

San Francisco Playhouse
Founded by Bill English and Susi Damilano in 2003, San Francisco Playhouse has been described by the New York Times as "a company that stages some of the most consistently high-quality work around, and deemed "ever adventurous" by the Bay Area News Group. Located in the heart of the Union Square Theater District, San Francisco Playhouse is the city's premier Off-Broadway company, an intimate alternative to the larger more traditional Union Square theater fare. San Francisco Playhouse provides audiences the opportunity to experience professional theater with top-notch actors and world-class design in a setting where they are close to the action. The company has received multiple awards for overall productions, acting, and design, including the SF Weekly Best Theatre Award and the Bay Guardian's Best Off-Broadway Theatre Award. KQED/NPR recently described the company: "San Francisco Playhouse is one of the few theaters in the Bay Area that has a mission that actually shows up on stage. Artistic director Bill English's commitment to empathy as a guiding philosophical and aesthetic force is admirable and by living that mission, fascinating things happen onstage."
San Francisco Playhouse is committed to providing a creative home and inspiring environment where actors, directors, writers, designers, and theater lovers converge to create and experience dramatic works that celebrate the human spirit.

Ticket Information
Season Subscriptions are available immediately online at www.sfplayhouse.org, or by calling the box office at 415-677-9596. Packages range from $160 to $420 for Premium Orchestra seating, with savings averaging over 40% off single ticket rates. Single Tickets will go on sale to the public on June 1st, 2017. Copyright © 2017 SF Playhouse, All rights reserved.

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