THEATRE UNDER THE STARS
Sponsored by UBS Investment Bank
www.tuts.com
Presents
THE TUTS 2007 - 2008 SEASON
THEATRE UNDER THE STARS ANNOUNCES ITS 2007-2008 40TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON SPONSORED BY UBS INVESTMENT BANK
HOUSTON,
TEXAS…Theatre Under The Stars’ President and CEO John C. Breckenridge today
announced TUTS’ 2007-2008 40th Anniversary Season, sponsored by UBS Investment
Bank and extending from September 2007 to June 2008 at the Hobby Center for the
Performing Arts. “Thanks to the generous support of UBS Investment Bank, I am
thrilled to celebrate TUTS’ 40th Anniversary Season as we announce the most
exciting season line up in TUTS history-including four Houston premieres and two
Broadway classics!” said Breckenridge. In its 2007-2008 Season, TUTS will unveil
some of Broadway’s most acclaimed new musicals combined with spectacular
Broadway classics:
·Featuring music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, TUTS will launch the US premiere of the
new musical, Whistle Down The Wind, an uplifting tale about the transforming
power of love, from September 11-23, 2007.
·The Tony and Academy Award-winning musical takes it back to the Motown era with
a riveting story of a “supreme” girl-group-rise-to-fame when TUTS produces
Dreamgirls, October 9-21, 2007.
·The holiday season celebrates the meaning of family and faith when TUTS
produces A Wonderful Life, December 11-23, 2007.
·TUTS reunites with composer Jerry Herman to produce its own dazzling production
of Hello, Dolly!, February 26-March 9, 2008.
·Broadway’s Tony Award-winning new musical comedy The 25th Annual Putnam County
Spelling Bee makes its Houston premiere when TUTS presents the First National
Tour, March 25-April 6, 2008.
·The five-time Tony Award-winning musical, The Drowsy Chaperone, will transport
audiences to a magical, wonderful 1920’s world filled with riotous laughter when
TUTS presents the National Tour of the new Broadway musical, May 20-June 1,
2008.
Subscriptions to the Theatre Under The Stars 2007-2008 40th Anniversary Season
sponsored by UBS Investment Bank are available to the public by phone at (713)
558-TUTS, outside the Houston area at (888) 558-3882 or in person at the Theatre
Under The Stars Box Office (800 Bagby at Walker). For a full brochure, call
Theatre Under The Stars at (713) 558-TUTS. Current subscribers may renew their
subscriptions online at www.tuts.com. Group subscriptions of 15 or more are also
available by calling (713) 558-8888.
Producing Artistic Director Frank M. Young founded Theatre Under The Stars (TUTS)
in 1968. TUTS was the first theatrical organization in Houston to perform free
to the public in 1968 at Miller Outdoor Theatre in Hermann Park, and is the only
Houston arts organization that has performed there free to the public every year
since the building opened. Since its founding, TUTS has produced more than 300
musicals including many local, national and world premieres and is currently
represented on Broadway with Beauty and the Beast. TUTS is also noted for
mounting many International tours, including Debbie Reynolds in The Unsinkable
Molly Brown, Juliet Prowse in Mame, Robert Goulet in Man of La Mancha and the
Tony Award-winning revival of Carousel. As a way to continue the tradition of
musical theatre, TUTS’ Humphreys School of Musical Theatre provides instruction
and stage experience for more than 1,700 students annually. Now housed in the
new Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, TUTS also annually presents the Tommy
Tune Awards, honoring the best and brightest in Houston’s high school musical
theatre programs.
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SEPTEMBER 9 – 23, 2007
WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND
Houston Premiere
Based on the much-loved film, Whistle Down The Wind is an extraordinary and uplifting tale about the transforming power of love. Set in America’s deep South a 15-year old girl discovers a mysterious man hiding out in a barn. When she asks his identity, the first words he utters with frightening alarm are “Jesus Christ;” it’s as if all her prayers have been answered. The girl and the town’s other children vow to protect the stranger from the world that waits outside; meanwhile the townspeople are determined to catch an escaped fugitive.
From the creative team of Andrew Lloyd Webber (composer) and Jim Steinman (lyricist), Whistle Down The Wind features multi-award-winning songs including one of the most popular hits of recent times: “No Matter What” (Boyzone), and a powerful all new staging combines epic storytelling with intimate emotion as the innocence of children collides with the cynicism of the adult world. London’s Daily Telegraph hailed Whistle Down The Wind as “Andrew Lloyd Webber’s best show since Phantom.”
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OCTOBER 9 - 21, 2007
DREAMGIRLS
Broadway Classic
Dreamgirls can
make your dreams come true! Following its 2006 smash hit premiere on the silver
screen, Dreamgirls returns to the TUTS stage.
Dreamgirls is the rags-to-riches story following an all-girl singing trio from
Chicago called The Dreams who experience much heartache, but also find their
dreams come true. The story of the Dreams is partially modeled after the
real-life Motown group the Supremes. With music by Henry Krieger, lyrics and a
book by Tom Eyen, Dreamgirls features memorable songs such as “And I Am Telling
You I'm Not Going,” “I Am Changing” and “Dreamgirls.”
Dreamgirls opened December 20, 1981, at Broadway’s Imperial Theatre and ran for
nearly four years (1,522 performances). It was nominated for 13 Tony Awards,
including Best Musical, and won six, including Best Book of a Musical.
Photo courtesy of Theatre Under The Stars
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DECEMBER 11 – 23, 2007
A WONDERFUL LIFE
Houston Premiere
The musical
adaptation of Frank Capra’s 1946 classic film, starring Jimmy Stewart, “It’s a
Wonderful Life” will come to life on stage when TUTS produces A Wonderful Life
as its holiday production.
Featuring a book and lyrics by Sheldon Harnick and music by Joe Raposo, A
Wonderful Life is an inspiring family musical blending music, comedy and drama.
Recently, It’s A Wonderful Life celebrated 60 years as one of America’s favorite
holiday traditions when it topped the American Film Institute’s list of Most
Inspiring Films of All Time.
Set in the small town of Bedford Falls in the 1940s, A Wonderful Life is the
story of George Bailey, who has a heart of gold but has long felt like a
failure. When George wonders what life would be like if he had never been born,
an angel shows him how different the world would be if he didn’t exist. As TUTS’
holiday show, A Wonderful Life is a timeless story, perfect for the whole
family.
Photo courtesy of Theatre Under The Stars
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FEBRUARY 26 - MARCH 9, 2008
Broadway Classic
Well, Hello Dolly!
The Tony Award-winning musical, Hello, Dolly! returns to the TUTS stage after
more than 15 years, bringing acclaimed composer Jerry Herman back to Houston.
With a book by Michael Stewart and lyrics and music by Herman, Hello, Dolly!
features unforgettable songs including “Before The Parade Passes By,” “It Only
Takes A Moment,” and “Hello, Dolly!”
The famous story was taken from Thornton Wilder’s 1938 play, The Merchant of
Yonkers, which was revised and retitled as The Matchmaker in 1955.
The original Broadway production, directed and choreographed by Gower Champion,
opened on January 16, 1964 at the St. James Theatre, where it ran for 2,844
performances. The stellar cast included Carol Channing, David Burns, Charles
Nelson Reilly, Eileen Brennan and Alice Playten. Although facing stiff
competition from Funny Girl with Barbra Streisand, Hello, Dolly! swept the Tony
Awards in 1964, winning awards in 10 categories (out of 11 nominations), a
record that remained unbroken for 37 years until The Producers won 12 Tonys in
2001.
Photo courtesy of Theatre Under The Stars
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MARCH 25th through APRIL 6th, 2008
Houston Premiere
In the Tony-Award
winning new musical comedy The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, six young
people in the throes of puberty, overseen by grown-ups who barely managed to
escape childhood themselves, learn that winning isn’t everything and that losing
doesn’t necessarily make you a loser. Spelling Bee has been hailed by the Wall
Street Journal as “perfect in every possible way – that rarity of rarities, a
super-smart musical that is also a bona fide crowd pleaser.” This tuneful,
offbeat and at times heartwarming show offers audience members the opportunity
(strictly voluntary) to become part of the action as on-stage spellers. The New
York Times calls Spelling Bee, “irresistible, riotously funny and remarkably
ingenious – gold stars all around.”
Spelling Bee is directed by James Lapine, the Tony Award and Pulitzer
Prize-winner (Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods) who also directed
the Broadway production. The musical, conceived by Rebecca Feldman, with
additional material written by Jay Reiss, features music and lyrics by Tony
Award-winner William Finn (Falsettos, Elegies, A New Brain) and a Tony
Award-winning book by Rachel Sheinkin.
Photo courtesy of Theatre Under The Stars
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MAY 20th through JUNE 1st, 2008
Get ready to be
transported to a magical, wonderful world! A world where the critics are in awe,
the audiences are in heaven and the neighborhood is buzzing with excitement.
Welcome to The Drowsy Chaperone, the new musical comedy that is swooping into
town with tons of laughs and the most 2006 Tony Awards of any musical on
Broadway!
It all begins when a die-hard musical fan plays his favorite cast album, a 1928
smash hit called “The Drowsy Chaperone,” and the show magically bursts to life.
We are instantly immersed in the glamorous, hilarious tale of a celebrity bride
and her uproarious wedding day, complete with thrills and surprises that take
both the cast (literally) and the audience (metaphorically) soaring into the
rafters.
For all of Theatre Under The Stars’ 2007-2008 shows, air transportation is
provided by Continental Airlines, the official airline of Theatre Under The
Stars. Additional support is
provided by St. Luke’s Episcopal Health System, the Official Healthcare Partner
of Theatre Under The Stars. Media sponsors include ABC-13 and Houston Chronicle.
Season support is funded in part by grants from the City of Houston through the
Theater District Association and the Texas Commission on the Arts.
Photo courtesy of Theatre Under The Stars
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