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Announcing: The Lyric Theatre on La Brea’s 2011 Season of Musicals

THE LYRIC THEATRE ON LA BREA
ANNOUNCES 2011 SEASON OF MUSICALS

LOS ANGELES PREMIERE OF NUNSENSATIONS! BY DAN GOGGIN,
WEST COAST PREMIERE OF
LUST ‘N RUST, THE TRAILER PARK MUSICAL
BY FRANK HANEY, CAROL KIMBALL & DAVE STRATTON,
AND JERRY HERMAN’S RARELY PRODUCED DEAR WORLD

The Lyric Theatre on N. La Brea Avenue in Los Angeles, Dorrie Braun, Founder and Executive Director, has announced a season of musicals for 2011, which will kick off on February 11 with the Los Angeles premiere of Nunsensations! by Dan Goggin, followed by the West Coast premiere of Lust ‘n Rust, The Trailer Park Musical by Frank Haney, Carol Kimball & Dave Stratton, and concluding with the rarely produced Jerry Herman musical, Dear World.

Nunsensations! – The Nunsense Vegas Revue takes place in the Pump Room Lounge of the Mystique Motor Lodge in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Sisters have been told by a Hoboken parishioner that he will donate $10,000 to their school if the Sisters go to Las Vegas and perform in a friend’s showroom. Reverend Mother has serious doubts about appearing in “Sin City.” However, after convincing her that “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas,” the Sisters plan their program. This is the seventh Nunsense musical. With book, music and lyrics by Dan Goggin and directed by Amy Rowell, Nunsensations! opens February 11and runs through March 13.

Lust ‘n Rust, The Trailer Park Musical starts as the story of Steve, a corporate manager from New Jersey who is transferred by his company to a small Southern Illinois town to run the local Agribig food processing plant. He moves into the Redbud Mobile Estates and meets the quirky characters that live in the trailer park. We soon find that the story is also about Connie, Steve’s neighbor in the park, who is in the process of splitting up with her husband. Connie’s relationship with Steve complicates matters, and their lives are further complicated when Steve gets a difficult assignment … one that could have a disastrous impact on the local economy. Lust ‘n Rust, written by Frank Haney, Carol Kimball & Dave Stratton and directed by Thomas Colby, will open on April 1 and run through April 30.

Dear World is a Broadway musical with a book by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee and music and lyrics by the legendary Jerry Herman. With its opening in February of 1969, Herman became the only composer-lyricist in history to have three productions running on Broadway simultaneously (Hello, Dolly!, Mame, and Dear World). Based on the Jean Giraudoux play The Madwoman of Chaillot, Dear World focuses on the Countesses Aurelia, Constance and Gabrielle, who deviously scheme to stop businessmen from drilling for oil in the Parisian neighborhood of Chaillot. The forces of idealism, love and poetry win over those of greed, materialism and science, still a relevant message for today. After the Broadway closing, Herman, Lawrence and Lee rewrote the show, which was originally conceived as a chamber musical, restoring the intimacy they felt had been undermined on Broadway. Dear World, directed by Thomas Colby, opens on May 20 and runs through June 19.

Tickets for Nunsensations! (opening February 11) are on sale now, and may be purchased by visiting http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/144372, www.Goldstar.com or by calling (626) 695-8283. The Lyric Theatre is located at 520 N. La Brea Avenue in Los Angeles, 90036. Street parking is available. For more information on the Lyric Theatre and the season of musicals, visit www.LyricTheatreLA.com.

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01-11-11

Announcing: The Blank Theatre Company Announces Final Production of 20th Anniversary Season

THE BLANK THEATRE COMPANY ANNOUNCES FINAL PRODUCTION
OF ITS 20TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON
THE TEMPERAMENTALS BY JON MARANS
DIRECTED BY MICHAEL MATTHEWS

WEST COAST PREMIERE BEGINS PREVIEWS APRIL 9, 2011
AT THE BLANK’S 2nd STAGE THEATRE IN HOLLYWOOD

The Blank Theatre Company logoThe Blank Theatre Company (Daniel Henning, Founding Artistic Director) has announced the final production of its 20th anniversary season, the West Coast premiere of The Temperamentals by Jon Marans. Directed by Michael Matthews, The Temperamentals will begin preview performances on Saturday, April 9, 2011 and is set to open on Saturday, April 16 at 8pm. The engagement will run through Sunday, May 22.

“Temperamental” was code for “homosexual” in the early 1950s, part of a created language of secret words that gay men used to communicate. The Temperamentals tells the story of two men – the communist Harry Hay and the Viennese refugee and designer Rudi Gernreich – as they fall in love while building the first gay rights organization in the pre-Stonewall United States.

Of the 2009 off-Broadway production, The New York Times called The Temperamentals “Intellectual, emotional, and sexual.” “Combines savvy context and ascending flights of bittersweet fabulousness,” said New York Newsday. And the Associated Press called it, “Fascinating, entertaining, and emotionally affecting.”

Playwright Jon Marans is well known for his play Old Wicked Songs, which was a 1996 Pulitzer Prize finalist for Drama, and has been produced throughout the United States and translated and produced in a dozen countries around the world. Other plays by Marans include A Strange and Separate People, Child Child, and Jumping for Joy. Director Michael Matthews is currently represented by the critically acclaimed, sold out hit Take Me Out at Celebration Theatre. Other L.A. credits include The Women of Brewster Place – The Musical, Haram! Iran!, Three Tall Women, Porcelain, Stupid Kids, Beautiful Thing, and The Bacchae (which was recently seen at the Edinburgh Theatre Festival). On Broadway, he served as assistant director on Butley. Previously for The Blank, Matthews directed The Jazz Age and The Santaland Diaries (in both 2009 and 2010).

Tickets will go on sale February 1 and may be purchased by calling (323) 661-9827 or online at www.TheBlank.com. The Blank’s 2nd Stage Theatre is located at 6500 Santa Monica Boulevard (at Wilcox), in Hollywood. Secured valet parking is available.

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01-04-11

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