"SPAMALOT" TO OPEN SEASON AT CMT

60th ANNIVERSARY MUSIC CIRCUS SEASON ANNOUNCED

TONY WINNER "SPAMALOT" TO OPEN SEASON IN
FIRST REGIONAL THEATRE STAGING ANYWHERE

"THE MARVELOUS WONDERETTES" AND "DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS"
ALSO TO MAKE IN-THE-ROUND PREMIERES

California Musical Theatre Executive Producer Richard Lewis has announced the line-up of shows for the 60th summer season of Sacramento Music Circus, America's Theatre-in-the-Round. The seven-show season will include the Music Circus premieres of "Spamalot," "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" and "The Marvelous Wonderettes" and new stagings of "Oklahoma!," "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat," "42nd Street" and "Funny Girl," the latter returning to Music Circus after an 18-year absence.

Season ticket holders from 2009 will receive renewal invoices by mail on January 25, and the Wells Fargo Pavilion Box Office will begin taking paid reservations for new subscribers on that day as well. For the 60th anniversary season, season ticket prices have been rolled back to their lowest since 2006, with seven-show package available for $235-$299. Subscriptions are discounted over 20 percent off the price of the tickets if sold separately. Reservations and renewals are available at 1419 H Street or by phone at (916) 557-1999 beginning Monday, January 25. >complete season ticket prices


The season will open with the Music Circus premiere of Monty Python's "Spamalot," the Tony Award-winning best musical of 2005. Written by Eric Idle and based on the film "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," "Spamalot" will play a 13-performance run July 9-18. The comedy tells the tale of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, and includes a bevy of beautiful show girls, cows and a killer rabbit. The Broadway production played for over 1,500 performances in New York and had an extensive national tour. (An extended engagement at Winn Las Vegas blocked the tour from being presented anywhere in California.) CMT Executive Producer Richard Lewis negotiated the rights for Music Circus to present the major regional theatre premiere of the show. The production, to be staged by CMT Artistic Director Glenn Casale, will include the Tony-nominated original Broadway costume designs. >more about "Spamalot"


The season will continue July 20-25 with "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat." The early work by Broadway legends Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber is a favorite for Music Circus audiences, with its vibrant costumes and its energetic songs. "Joseph" is a fanciful retelling of the Bible character whose talent for interpreting dreams takes him on incredible adventures through Egypt. Directed and choreographed by Richard Stafford who has staged a national tour of the show, this summer's production will use the new London script for the first time, utilizing a 40-person choir of local children. Tickets will be half-price for children 4-11. >more about "Joseph"


The works of Rodgers and Hammerstein are the foundation of the American musical theatre as well as Music Circus. To celebrate the 60th Music Circus season, "Oklahoma!," the first collaboration between Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, returns to the tent July 27-Aug. 1. Perhaps the most American of musicals, "Oklahoma!" celebrates the pioneer spirit on the Western frontier and features many of the most recognizable musical classics, including "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'" and "Surrey with a Fringe on Top." Marcia Milgrom Dodge, whose production of "Ragtime" just completed its critically acclaimed Broadway run, will direct "Oklahoma!" for Music Circus. >more about "Oklahoma!"


The second of three Music Circus premieres this summer will be the recent Broadway hit "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels," Aug. 3-8. The musical comedy, which ran for over two years on Broadway and was nominated for 10 Tony Awards, is an adaptation of the 1988 film about two charming con men on the French Riviera and their competition to swindle a beautiful young American woman. Being presented for the first time in-the-round, this production will be directed by Richard Stafford, who directed last summer's Music Circus production of "Cats." >more about "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels"


By popular demand, "Funny Girl," the 1964 musical biography of Vaudeville legend Fanny Brice, returns to Music Circus for the first time in 18 years Aug. 10-15. Both personal and opulent, the celebrated musical comedy includes extravagant Ziegfeld-style production numbers as well as intimate show-stopping songs like "People" as it follows Brice's career from ugly duckling to headliner. Artistic Director Glenn Casale, who directed the 1992 tent production starring Laurie Beechman, will direct the 2010 production. >more about "Funny Girl"


The original creative team of the recent New York hit "The Marvelous Wonderettes" will recreate the magic under the tent along with members of the original off-Broadway cast Aug. 17-22. This Music Circus premiere takes the audience back to the 1958 Springfield High School prom where they will meet the Wonderettes, four girls with hopes and dreams as big as their voices. Nearly every song from the era that was made famous by a girl group or female vocalist is highlighted in this cotton candy-colored blast from the past, including "Lollipop," "It's My Party" and "It's In His Kiss." Creator Roger Bean will direct. >more about "The Marvelous Wonderettes"


The season will close with "42nd Street" Aug. 24-29. The stage adaptation of the 1933 movie musical is being produced at Music Circus for the first time since 1999, and only the third time ever. The winner of the 1981 Tony Award for best musical, "42nd Street" is famous for its show-stopping precision tap dancing, its unforgettable Harry Warren songs like "We're in the Money," "Shuffle Off to Buffalo" and "Lullaby of Broadway," and for being the quintessential chorus-girl-becomes-a-star backstage musical. >more about "42nd Street"


Music Circus was founded in 1951 as the first professional musical theatre in the round west of the Mississippi. Until 2002, its first-class summer stock productions were presented under a canvas tent, the last of its kind in the country. In 2003, the company introduced its new, modern tent-theatre, the Wells Fargo Pavilion, which combines the traditional arena stage with improved audience comfort. Music Circus is the largest, continually operating musical theatre-in-the-round in the country, making it a landmark in the professional theatre community and a living museum of musical theatre history: Sacramento Music Circus is America's theatre-in-the-round. Music Circus operates under a contract with Actors Equity Association, the union for professional actors in the United States, and the majority of the principal and ensemble cast have extensive Broadway and national tour credits. The acting company will be announced in late spring.

Seven-show season subscriptions will be available at the Wells Fargo Pavilion box office at 1419 H Street beginning at 10 a.m. on Monday, January 25. Last year's subscribers will receive invitations to renew by mail and have priority to retain their seats or to upgrade. Piad season-ticket reservations can also be made by phone at (916) 557-1999. The seven-show packages are $299 for Friday and Saturday evenings, $235 for Thursday matinee and $285 for all other performances. >complete season ticket prices

Discounts are available for groups of 12 or more by calling the group sales department at (916) 557-1198. Groups can reserve seven-show or single-show packages beginning Monday, January 25.

Single-show tickets will be available for purchase beginning Monday, May 17, at 10 a.m. Single show tickets are $53 for Friday and Saturday evenings, $41 for Thursday matinee and $50 for all other performances. All ticket prices include a facility fee. >complete single ticket prices. Three-show Mini-Series ticket packages will go on sale on Monday, April 19. >more information on Mini-Series


For more information about the season, please visit www.SacramentoMusicCircus.com.