FLASHDANCE Makes Orange County Premiere at Segerstrom Center, Now thru 5/19

FLASHDANCE - THE MUSICAL, the stage adaptation of the 1983 hit film that defined a generation, will make its Segerstrom Center premiere tonight, May 7 - 19, 2013.

Single tickets start at $20. Tickets will be available online at SCFTA.org, at the Box Office at 600 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa or by calling (714) 556-2787. For inquiries about group ticket savings for 10 or more, call the Group Services office at (714) 755-0236. The TTY number is (714) 556-2746. The 2 p.m. performance on Saturday, May 18 will include audio description, open captioning and sign-language interpretation.

With electrifying dance at its core, FLASHDANCE - THE MUSICAL tells the inspiring and unforgettable story of Alex Owens, a Pittsburgh steel mill welder by day and a bar dancer by night who has dreams of one day becoming a professional performer. When romance with her steel mill boss threatens to complicate her ambitions, Alex learns the meaning of love and its power to fuel the pursuit of her dream.

Celebrating its 30th anniversary, the original Paramount Pictures film was a worldwide smash hit that became a pop culture phenomenon, grossing more than $150 million and featuring a Grammy Award- winning soundtrack. FLASHDANCE - THE MUSICAL features a score including the hit songs from the movie, all of which became Top Ten hits on the radio around the world, including the Academy Award-winning title song "Flashdance - What a Feeling," "Maniac," "Manhunt" and "I Love Rock & Roll." In addition to these hits, 16 brand new songs have been written for the stage with music by Robbie Roth and lyrics by Robert Cary and Robbie Roth.

Directed and choreographed by Sergio Trujillo (Jersey Boys, Memphis, The Addams Family), FLASHDANCE - THE MUSICAL features a book by Robert Cary and Tom Hedley (co-writer of the original screenplay with Joe Eszterhas).

In addition to the U.S. touring company, a Second Company will be assembled for the creatively reworked production of FLASHDANCE - THE MUSICAL, which will begin performances on Broadway in August 2013 for an open-ended engagement.

Tom Hedley (Book, original screenplay for the Flashdance movie). As editor-in-chief of Toronto Life, Hedley turned it into the "Magazine of the Year" and published, among others, Margaret Atwood, Leonard Cohen and Robertson Davies and won national magazine award for fiction by Alice Munro. He was the youngest editor of Esquire Magazine during the magazine's golden age, working for the legendary Harold Hayes in New York. During his four-year tenure, he worked with important writers and artists of the time including Tom Wolfe, Michael Herr, Diane Arbus, Jean Genet, William Burroughs, Gay Talese and Robert Coover. He produced a number of celebrated cover-sections including: "The Decline and Fall of the American Avant Garde" in which he commissioned a play by Sam Shepard that was eventually performed at Lincoln Center, Claes Oldenburg's last happening and a photographic essay on The New Theater by Andy Warhol. He commissioned and published essays by Fedrico Fellini, Francois Truffaut, and Michelangelo Antonioni among others, and asked the great directors to direct their own self-portraits. He produced and directed four documentaries for the CBC's flagship current affairs program and wrote a number of produced screenplays including, among others: Circle of Two, directed by Jules Dassin, starring Richard Burton and Tatum O'Neil, Mr. Patman, starring Kate Nelligan and James Colburn, Double Negative, starring Michael Sarrazin, Tony Perkins and John Candy, Fighting Back, starring Patti LuPone and Tom Skerrit and Flashdance, an international hit which won an Academy Award for best- song and has since become a film classic. He has written screenplays for Barbra Streisand, Michael Jackson, David Geffen, Jean-Paul Goude, Sean Penn, among others. In 2001, he completed a three-year period in London as an editor and publisher of Duckworth, the venerable publishers of Virginia Woolfe and D.H. Lawrence. His titles were generally well received and garnered both awards and books-of-the- year status in leading British journals and newspapers. He also created a new imprint called Duck Editions. Hedley received the Humanitas Prize 2002 award as executive producer of the movie Iris, directed by Richard Eyre, starring Judi Dench, Jim Broadbent and Kate Winslet. The film won any number of international awards, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA Award. He is currently President of The Hedley Media Group LLC in New York City. He will both write and direct The Last Laugh, an independent film centered on the 1980s comedy scene in Los Angeles.

Robert Cary (Book and Lyrics) is the director of the feature films Ira and Abby, Save Me and Anything But Love. Ira and Abby received the Audience Favorite award following its premiere at the 2006 Los Angeles Film Festival and was released by Magnolia Pictures in 2007; Save Me, which premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, and was released in the U.S. in 2008. Cary is also the director and co- writer of Anything But Love, starring Andrew McCarthy, Isabel Rose and Eartha Kitt, released by Samuel Goldwyn in 2003. Anything But Love appeared in over a dozen film festivals internationally and received numerous audience and jury awards. In addition to his film work, he is co-book writer with ZZ Top of the musical Sharp Dressed Man, directed by Andy Fickman and the lyricist and co-librettist of Palm Beach, produced in 2005 by the La Jolla Playhouse and directed by Des McAnuff, and he is also the co-author and lyricist of musical adaptations of The Thomas Crown Affair and Heartbreakers, both commissioned by MGM On Stage.

Robbie Roth (Music and Lyrics). Roth's music has been heard on stage, screen, and radio all around the world. His songs have graced the Billboard charts in America and appeared on record alongside Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, Johnny Cash and many others. His work has been featured on "Good Morning America," NBC's "Last Comic Standing," and in a number of films and documentaries. He is most often hired to write and produce for established and upcoming recording artists. In the theatre world, Roth has been hired as composer on a number of new musicals and has written and produced records for Tony Award nominee, Gavin Creel.

Sergio Trujillo (Director and Choreographer) Broadway: Choreographed the 2010 Tony Award winning Best Musical Memphis (OCC Award, Astaire and Drama Desk Award Nominations); 2006 Tony and Olivier Award winning Best Musical Jersey Boys (Olivier, Drama Desk, Dora, OCC Award nominations.); The Addams Family; 2010 Pulitzer Prize winning Next to Normal; All Shook Up, Guys and Dolls (Astaire Award nomination) and Leap of Faith. Off Broadway: Saved (Playwrights Horizon, Lucille Lortel Nomination); The Capeman, Romeo & Juliet (Public); A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Kismet (Encores!); Salome (NYC Opera). Regional: The Wiz, Zhivago (La Jolla); Mambo Kings; The Marriage of Figaro (L.A. Opera); Chita and All That Jazz. International: Disney's Tarzan (World Theatre Award Nomination); West Side Story, The Sound of Music (Stratford); Peggy Sue Got Married (West End); Kiss Me, Kate (Japan). TV: Judging and choreographing on "So You Think You Can Dance: Canada" (CTV), "Broadway: The American Musical" (PBS), "The 14th American Comedy Awards" (ABC), "Triple Sensation" (CBC). Ovation Award for Empire: A New American Musical and four Dora Award nominations in Canada. Upcoming: Director/Choreographer: Havana; First National Tours: Memphis, Next to Normal and The Addams Family.

TERRI AND Timothy Childs (Producer). For the past 23 years, Terri and Timothy have produced or coproduced 25 shows on Broadway, in London's West End, and for tours in North America and the United Kingdom. Known for innovative producing, they presented Patrick Stewart's one-man A Christmas Carol, James Mapes (hypnotist), The Flying Karamazov Brothers do the Impossible, Priscilla Queen of the Desert The Musical and the La Cuadra de Sevilla's version of Carmen, complete with a dancing horse. Their most recent productions include Priscilla Queen of the Desert The Musical, Kim Cattrall in Private Lives (both Broadway) and Ralph Fiennes in The Tempest (London). In addition to Flashdance, future productions include The Conjuror (U.K. 2013), and Richard Bean's Honeymoon Suite (Broadway, 2014).

NETworks Presentations, LLC Since 1995, NETworks has produced and managed more than 45 touring productions in the U.S.., U.K. and internationally. Current Productions include Disney's Beauty and the Beast, Billy Elliot The Musical, Blue Man Group National Tour, Elf The Musical, Flashdance The Musical, La Cage Aux Folles, The New 25th Anniversary Production of LES MISERABLES, Disney and Cameron Mackintosh's Mary Poppins, Shrek The Musical and National Theatre of Great Britain's production of War Horse touring the U.S.

For more information, visit: www.flashdancethemusical.com.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts is unique as both an acclaimed arts institution and as a multi-disciplinary cultural campus. It is committed to supporting artistic excellence on all of its stages, offering unsurpassed experiences, and engaging the entire community in new and exciting ways through the unique power of live performance and a diverse array of inspiring programs.

Previously called the Orange County Performing Arts Center, Segerstrom Center traces its roots back to the late 1960s when a dedicated group of community leaders decided Orange County should have its own world-class performing arts venue.

As Orange County's largest non-profit arts organization, Segerstrom Center for the Arts owns and operates the 3,000-seat Segerstrom Hall and intimate 250-seat Founders Hall, which opened in 1986, and the 2,000-seat Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, which opened in 2006 and also houses the 500-seat Samueli Theater, the Lawrence and Kristina Dodge Education Center's studio performance space and Boeing Education Lab. A spacious arts plaza anchors Segerstrom Center for the Arts and is home to numerous free performances throughout the year as part of Segerstrom Center for the Arts' ongoing Free for All series.

The Center presents a broad range of programming each season for audiences of all ages from throughout Orange County and beyond, including international ballet and dance, national tours of top Broadway shows, intimate performances of jazz and cabaret, contemporary artists, classical music performed by renowned chamber orchestras and ensembles, family-friendly programming, free performances open to the public from outdoor movie screenings to dancing on the plaza and many other special events. It offers many education programs designed to inspire young people through the arts. These programs reach hundreds of thousands of students of all ages with vital arts-in-education programs, enhancing their studies and enriching their lives well into the future. In addition to the presenting and producing institution Segerstrom Center for the Arts, the 14-acre campus also embraces the facilities of two independent acclaimed organizations: Tony Award-winning South Coast Repertory and a site designated as the future home of the Orange County Museum of Art. Segerstrom Center for the Arts is also proud to serve as the artistic home to three of the region's major performing arts organizations: Pacific Symphony, the Philharmonic Society of Orange County and the Pacific Chorale, who contribute greatly to the artistic life of the region with annual seasons at Segerstrom Center for the Arts.